Ok, cool, lots of interesting views going on here, so since I started this I’ll guess I’ll chime in. Just so you all know, some of my facts might be a little off as I am reciting everything from memory right now.
So I’ll start with how each religion gets its message. Judaism and Christianity have their bibles, Jew having only the Old Testament whilst Christians have the New Testament in addition to the old. Islam has the Quran. Now, the most important aspect here, and some people WILL hate me for this, is that the Quran is simply the purest form of the word of God IF you believe that it is real. What I mean is that the Testaments were written by a multitude of people who winessed/participated in/heard of/ or read the accoutns that we can now read. On the otherhand the Quran, as Muhammad claims, is the direct word of God spoken to him through Gabriel (I think that was the angel, correct me if I am wrong). Another key point to note is that any translation of the Quran is always considered an interpretation and the only true Quran is the arabic text, whereas today the only Bible most of us know is a translated version, of which you can find several different versions.
Secondly, all 3 religions do have a history of violence, with Judaism if I remember correctly being the least violence of all 3. Christianity has its claim to fame in the crusades, the war in Spain against the muslims, and the wonderful Catholic Spaniards and South American Indians. Islam has its conquest of the middle east and North Africa, and then its wars with the European powers.
Now, if you look at the underlying effects of some of these violent instances, you can differentiate between religious reasons or human influence. Muhammad and his muslim followers conquered because that is what God told them to do, not a violent slaughtering conquer which unfotunately is what several Muslim leaders did do, Ottomans being an example, but they were told to spread his word and for them in their tribal system a show of arms was necessary at some point. (interesting to note that when Muhammad and his followers were kicked out of Mecca and went to Medina he gained control of the town with almost no violence and only used violence to reconquer Mecca). Also, for the most part Jews and christians were not forced to convert and were allowed to live peacefully in the Muslim controlled territories, this did change after the death of Muhammad and certain overzealous muslims took control. Now in Christianity it is well known that the violent episodes are all man-made, as in leaders using/twisting the teachings of the Bible to their own purposes (spaniards in South America the most notable example). The crusades were an attempt to free Jerusalem from Muslim control, unfortunately my knowledge of this area is rather limited so maybe some1 else can give in the major details here, but I am pretty sure that there were christians and jews living unharmed in jerusalem under muslim rule.
I can go on, and I will at a later stage, but I am burned out from work so I will close with some of my personal observations and thoughts. I would like to state that while I do not necessarily consider myself a christian, I do believe in God, salvation, and that whole ideal. Whether or not Jesus is the Messiah is debatable and comes down to your own personal beliefs. The major point in my religious views, is that Christianity pretty much considers itself the only correct religion, everyone else is worng ( or am i screwing this up here??), that implies that the majority of the world is going to hell, which for a loving caring God, seems rather odd to me. Islam, while it is debatable over whether their religion is the correct or purest form, have a history of tolerating the other 2 major religions because at their core they worship the same God (If Muhammad had thought them wrong and heathens I am sure he would have made a greater attempt to convert them).
But for me, what it comes down to, is that I worship God, and so do christians and jews and muslims, and while the details can be argued over, all speak of a kind and merciful God, and living a good life, however it may be; and for me, this is evidence enough that we all our brothers in faith.
