#l

Ever since the Crusades, when Christians from western Europe were fighting holy wars against Muslims in the near east, western people have often perceived Islam as a violent and intolerant faith - even though when this prejudice took root Islam had a better record of tolerance than Christianity. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#better #christianity #christians #crusades #east

I believe in holiness and sacredness in other people. It doesn't mean that the clouds part and I see God. That's a juvenile way of thinking about it. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#believe #clouds #god #holiness #i

I have a very sharp tongue, I'm very impatient, and it's a lifelong struggle. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#impatient #lifelong #long struggle #sharp #struggle

I like silence; I'm a gregarious loner and without the solitude, I lose my gregariousness. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#i #like #loner #lose #silence

In the past some of the most influential Jewish, Christian and Muslim theologians, such as Maimonides, Aquinas and Ibn Sina, made it clear that it was very difficult to speak about God, because when we confront the ultimate, we are at the end of what words or thoughts can do. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#because #christian #clear #confront #difficult

Jesus did not spend a great deal of time discoursing about the trinity or original sin or the incarnation, which have preoccupied later Christians. He went around doing good and being compassionate. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#around #being #christians #compassionate #deal

Religions have always stressed that compassion is not only central to religious life, it is the key to enlightenment and it the true test of spirituality. But there have always have been those who'd rather put easier goals, like doctrine conformity, in place. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#been #central #compassion #conformity #doctrine

Storytelling is fine as long as you can encourage people to act on the stories. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#encourage #fine #long #people #stories

Today mythical thinking has fallen into disrepute; we often dismiss it as irrational and self-indulgent. But the imagination is also the faculty that has enabled scientists to bring new knowledge to light and to invent technology that has made us immeasurably more effective. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#bring #dismiss #effective #enabled #faculty

Zionism was originally a rebellion against religious Judaism and the PLO Charter was essentially secularist. But because the conflict was allowed to fester without a resolution, religion got sucked into the escalating cycle of violence and became part of the problem. ↗

— Karen Armstrong

#allowed #became #because #charter #conflict