Great questions, Zafar! I am just on my way out to beat up my Bridge group, so don't have time to answer them properly. Will do so when I get back. :-) 

Wish me luck at Bridge! We play social Bridge therefore much depends on the cards, and partners, one gets. Sometimes I do actually win, if the Force has been with me. :-)

It is so comforting to find that others have the same concerns as I do about Islam. 

Agreed, Edward, Muhammad is nothing like Jesus of Nazareth. 

Muhammad was a warrior, and unfortunately, the post-Mecca part of his life seems the most influential.

 Many Muslims, I suspect, haven't read the Qur'an, and without the injunctions to kill the infidel and apostate, the beliefs are similar to Judaism and Christianity. The three religious systems are all from the same source of the Semitic people.  

It does my heart good to hear you give this discerning analysis, Richard.

All I ever say to people is suggest that they ought to read the Qur'an for themselves, and even that is enough to have me branded as suffering from Islamophobia. 

That is one view point, Simon!

We all know the answer to that question, Donald! 

I also follow Ayaan Hirsi Ali, ET. She is such a courageous person. Her writings are so enlightening. And Islam, I agree, it totally incompatible with Western Civilization.

I wish more people would just read the Qur'an for themselves. It is the Holy Book of Islam, and Muhammad's words directly from Allah, and his example, have to be followed by true Muslims. Scary!

This is definitely frightening! If Islam were like Christianity, teaching love your neighbour, it wouldn't be so scary, but, of course, that is not what it teaches.

I am a Trekkie, and just love anything about Star Trek. I can't be too objective about it. I LOVED this new Star Trek into Darkness. I viewed it the day it was opened in Toronto, right slap-bang, in the middle seats in the middle row of the Imax Cineplex, downtown. 

The latest cast is perfect, especially Spock, whom I particularly LOVE, and Captain Kirk. I LOVE the story line, I LOVE Khan, I LOVE all the special effects. It was fabulous feeling right in the middle of all the action.   

As you can see, my little girl had a great time! This was the BEST Star Trek ever! My little girl can hardly wait for the sequel. :-)

My husband said he really enjoyed seeing the movie with me. It's not really his "thing", but he came along to please me, and let his little boy out to play. Such fun!

Fascinating the different way people look things!

The Head of the Church of Scotland is Jesus Christ, but everyone has access to Him, and is individually guided by him, no one more so than another. The congregation is a communion of saints, and everyone is equal to everyone else. No one rules, everyone ministers to everyone else, as equals. This has produced a particularly individualistic, self-directed, but friendly, helpful people, as anyone who has come into contact with Scots may have observed. :-)

 I always think the big question is, did the people mold their belief system to suit themselves, or did the belief system mold them? 

Och, this applies to most people in all religious worlds, Snirtler! I've had Hindus tell me I know more about their Classical Vedanta foundation than they do. Muslims, the same thing, because no one reads their original literature, whereas I have. Most people are too busy with life to bother with the fundamental beliefs of their religious systems.

This, to me, is the joy of Ricochet. As you say, we are self-selected by the fact that we love to debate, and can find others so inclined here. 

Thanks, James, I probably did extend my very general remark too far in time, but I still think of Christianity as an off-shoot of Judaism. There probably are Jews today who still think, also, of Christianity as an off-shoot of Judaism. I don't know if there are, but it would seem to me they would be right to do so. After all, we do talk of the Judeo-Christian roots to Western civilization. :-)

I love your reference to Trudeau. I have just discovered that there was, indeed, a belief that the North American First Nations were the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Fascinating what people believe!

It was the British Israelites who fell over backwards to claim to be descendants of those same Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. My mother was very interested in that theory, and I still remember her telling me about it.

We have wandered far, far away from the Pope "giving the financial world 'what for'!" :-) 

Talking of hierarchies, I was speaking only of the Church of Rome, Jeff! 

I, too, understand The Christian Church to mean the universal, catholic church. Part of the Apostles' Creed which is recited during Communion, speaks of belief in the catholic church, meaning the universal church. 

I know very little about the Orthodox Church and find it interesting that it is not organized in the same fashion as the Church of Rome. 

This is so true, Douglas! The Christian Church, as a whole, has been a hugely civilizing force in the world, bringing education, healing, comfort to many. In spite of the bigotry of the Church of Scotland, I am grateful to it for the foundation it gave me on which to base my life. 

On the other hand, I couldn't wait to leave Scotland, and move out to the wilds of Africa where religion hadn't the same hold on ordinary life. It had been stifling! 

Whatever gave you that idea, Joseph! :-)

You are probably quite right about my version of history of the Church of Scotland being a Sunday School pamphlet from the early 1900s. That was the version I was given, and when I was a child, one didn't question the source. 

This article about the Scottish Reformation gives the flavour of Scottish thinking.

This quote from Wikipedia is basically the version of history I learned:

On 1 August, the Scottish Parliament met to settle religious issues. Knox and five other ministers were called upon to draw up a new confession of faith. Within four days, the Scots Confession was presented to Parliament, voted upon, and approved. A week later, the Parliament passed three acts in one day: the first abolished the jurisdiction of the Pope in Scotland, the second condemned all doctrine and practice contrary to the reformed faith, and the third forbade the celebration of Mass in Scotland. Before the dissolution of Parliament, Knox and the other ministers were given the task of organising the newly reformed church or the Kirk.