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Won't Change Anything

Comment comment by VnutZ on 16 January 2008

I seriously doubt this will change anything. Let's say it's actually proven that the Koran has changed over time from the original version. In theory this should not impact the belief at all as the foundational beliefs of Islam will remain the same. The educated will see exactly that and continue on their merry way. The uneducated, illiterate masses however might be shaken on the idea that the rock of their faith is based on an untruth. But they'll never know because their Imams won't tell them.

Again, it's a case where history repeats itself. Christianity dealt with the same thing in the middle ages where the religion's growth and foundation was based on a small, elite power base taking advantage of the poor, uneducated wretches at the bottom of the food chain. And history will repeat itself again such that even though the basics of Christianity are based on "and the fish was THIS BIG" elaborations of a truth along with addendums introduced by popes and emperors needing to wipe out pagans ... people still believe.

So as I said in the beginning, it's not going to "change" anything except make a small group question their faith, make a large group simply accept it and allow a larger group to continue in ignorance. Unfortunately, on the extreme side, it will be viewed as a western attack and an attempt to undermine the culture fueling more hatred. As long as that group stays small and doesn't grow larger ....

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RE: Won't Change Anything by scottb :: NR7

I'm not so sure. Remember that the bible texts were gathered together and the canon was only gradually established. It seems likely that the Synods that voted on the canon were aware that the texts they had were copies of copies, and that the relative importance of them wasn't necessarily known to the copyists.

Islam, however, has this basic belief that the importance of their scripture was instantly recognized and they've been preserved perfectly since they were first written. I imagine that helps provide significant support for literalist interpretations. Introducing that little wedge of doubt could really be the tipping point for Islam to develop a more meaningful group "moderate" believers to help balance out the fundamentalists.

Posted 16 January 2008, Hide, Parent, Reply