Well it is important, as important as someone falsely accusing you of stealing a watch... despite someone DID steal the watch.
People even believe in UFOs ...
Point is its wrong when you incorrectly ATTRIBUTE something to a Religion or a Nation... its even Worse to hear things and then passing it on to others without confirming their Authenticity.
It is a pity that Christianity does not include fasting among its sacred duties and dogmas (for example as one of the Commandments). If it did, the US and the Western world would not be facing the dire problem posed by its increasingly obese populations. Healthcare costs would no doubt be drastically reduced if fat Joe could be convinced that God wants him to cut down on hot dogs and hamburgers for a whole month.
Perhaps Exodus can be extended to include a few paragraphs where God calls back Moses up Mount Sinai to transmit the virtue of dieting.
Usually people dont like to say that... Each religion try to believe in EXCLUSIVE God and claim the followers of other Religions are on the wrong path, as you stated in later part.
See, all that I have claimed so far, and still claim is, there are atleast a few people who believe in stuff like 40 virgins in heavan. Source? Hearing so many captured terrorists on TV say this with a straight face. Of course it would be wrong if I extrapolate their uninformed views and claim that that is what is written in the Quran. I never did that, did I
You can say what you want to say, I mean I dont want to single anybody out, but truth is we live in a funny world.
I mean.. any Muslim(s) commit a crime and the whole Nation has to bear the blame for it and even the Religion itself has to go under Trial... but for all others e.g. IRA, Nazis etc.. the Religion is never called into question..
People Believe what they WANT to Believe... it does has to be Believable Truth.
I'd be happy to get name of some lands and countries (now or back in history) that having had non-secular or religious system ruling, but not suppressing freedom and oppresing people,....
Norway and New Zealand to me are democratic countries,( though they might have some differences in formality and on the paper due to historical,.constitutional,... reasons compared to other secular lands).
I wish to give you right, but I can't. Even with the Iroquois, Attikamek, Cherokee, etc.
They all had, at a certain point, some cultural and historical believes who brang them to suppressed freedom and oppressed the ones who didn't want to conformed with the tribu rules and believes.
I will not claim there has ever been a Utopia on this Earth... but still with the advancement of means of communication and transportation, the proportion of suppression has grown manifold.
But then you can also argue that so has the population and size of cities grown.
However, I can give you one example of Toledo where people of different faiths and religions would get together and exchange ideas and work towards Human advancement. (Its based on what I have read about it and I might be wrong)