In a recent blog post, Krazy Kristian Guy Ray Comfort (the "Banana man") notes that atheists are planning a billboard campaign that will point out the barbaric nature of passages from the Christian and Muslim texts. He goes on to note that anyone who offends Islam is likely to get their heads cut off, and he tastelessly uses a photograph of a living, smiling Daniel Pearl (who was beheaded by his terrorist captives in 2002) to make his point.
Comfort goes on to say that Atheists may be captured by people of Islamic faith and beheaded, and that would be bad for the Atheists. Therefore, he pleads, the Atheists should only mock Christians, because Christians "genuinely love (Atheists) and ... can take it with grace."
Comfort is of course out of line making these claims, and more importantly, making fun of these activities. Using terrorist activities as the basis of a joke is obnoxious and hurtful to their victims, and making absurd and senseless, offensive claims about what organized Atheists will do with their first amendment rights is offensive. Claiming that he and all others of his ilk love Atheists is either a cynical and hypocritical lie or an unnecessary over the top joke.
All of which, however, pales in relationship to the racist comment he hid clumsily within his blog, which, if his own description of people of the Islamic faith is half correct, will lead to his, Ray Comfort's, horrible death through beheading or possibly stoning.
Comfort uses the spelling "Moslem" instead of Muslim.
In Arabic, Muslim means "one who give himself to God." In Arabic, Moslem means "one who is evil and unjust." For this reason, the Society of Editors recommends using "Muslim" instead of "Moslem." Muslims will want to engage in a fatwa against Ray Comfort, assuming his own logic is correct. He is doomed.
I wonder if they film it. The beheading. And what will they do with his head? Maybe it can go here. Or, better yet, here!
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The difference in meaning is not between Muslim and Moslem but between Mslm and mzlm. In Arabic, each word has four letters, but neither them has a U or an O. It's M-S-L-M vs M-Z-L-M
I've always said, "Muslim". But now I'm wondering; how is it actually pronounced in Arabic?
I wonder what Ray Comfort will do without his head - I mean, will it even make any noticeable difference in his specific case?
Actually, Moslem is the historic English term. That or Mohammedan. The use of the term Muslim goes back (as far as I can tell) only about ~150-200 years.
What caused that change, I don't know, but as Arabic is a Semitic language, the transliteration may have changed with the way English has changed pronunciation.