What, according to you, is the reason many Christians see your faith through the lenses of fear and condemnation--even though the violent aspect is part of Christianity as well?
There are plenty of people in America who confront Islam in the same spirit of confrontation as we do any other religion--on its own terms.
That said, I would especially like hearing from you on these issues:
1.Mohammed as a child molester, supposedly proved true by the Koran.
2. Islam as a religion of war against all “unbelievers” as shown clearly in the Koran.
3. The idea that the “Califate’s” only purpose is to kill everyone who is not a Muslim.
It's because people are always scared of that which they are uncertain of, especially another religion that has a lot of followers. In their mind, they ask: How does the religion view us? Are we Christians safe? What if they get the power, are we going to be marginalised?
These are healthy fears and curiosities.
There is a violent aspect in the Judaeo-Christian scripture, but it has found a place in society over the many years and is not causing any suspicion, so we all relax and don't really look into the texts.
However, Islam does pose a threat to what I believe to be a 'zionist' agenda. For if the world was run with the TRUE Islamic Shariah law, it will cultivate the growing of Faith and Religion as Muslims, Christians and Jews will have their faith protected and muslims are commanded to go as far as building churches that have been destroyed, for example. It's just too much God-consciousness, and if there's God consciousness, we have people with their eyes open. Instead we have a society that cultivates the growth of Atheism. No muslim can take it upon himself and just go and slice someone up, that is an abhorrent sin in Islam, and such things need to be addressed by authorities.
Because Islam is not the religion that Christians follow, unfortunately they see it as an opportunity to jump on the bandwagon to start demonising it.
The Qur'an itself seeks to positively impose itself on the mind of anyone, believer or not. In many occurrences it calls upon one to 'think and reflect'.
With regards to Muhammad and his marriage to Aisha:
a. calling him a 'child molester' would be superimposing your own understanding of the world that is formulated by the backdrop of your current culture, onto another. In the study of Anthropology, an important principle that is taught is to empty yourself from this.
Although Muslims agree today that in this landscape, marriage to the likes of Aisha who was 9 years old is forbidden and..abhorrent, we also take into account the importance to see this through the landscape at the time. So sure, I find young girls gross, it is classed in this time as Paedophilic without a doubt.
And with that said:
b. Muhammad waited until Aisha had actually well and truly reached puberty. Some can at 9, some older.
c. Arabs at the time lived in tough conditions, which lends to girls 'coming of age' at a younger time than today for example.
d. They were psychologically prepared for becoming wives from a young age. It was the cultural norm.
e. Muhammad's marriages were not out of some lust-hungry surge. They were strongly rooted in Politics. Muslims understand what is permissible and what isn't, by analysing the life decisions of the prophet, also. For example, he married widow (who was described by Islamic sources as heavy lol - not by Muhammad himself) to show that you can marry widows and you mustn't be stunted by 'social stigmas' - otherwise pre-Islamic Arabs used to leave widows for dead and without help, they were outcasts in their society.
Muhammad's marriage to Aisha developed ties between himself and her father, who was happy and approved the marriage.
f. Let's not forget Muhammad was married to a woman 15 years his senior called Khadija.
Islam finds forced marriage an evil sin.
f. Marriage and Sexual Relations in the Old Testament.
The Jewish Talmud said in many places that in reference to this verse "They fought against Midian, as the LORD commanded Moses, and killed every man........Now kill all the boys [innocent kids]. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man. (Numbers 31:7,17-18)....
the age was as young as 3.
Sexual Relations in the Old Testament -
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...hool-the-joy-of-old-testament-sex-792761.html
g. Marriage in recent times as well as Christian history
Visit these links:
http://www.muhaddith.org/earlymarriage/EarlyMarriage-part1.html
http://www.muhaddith.org/earlymarriage/EarlyMarriage-part2.html
In 1880, the minimum age of marriage in USA Delaware was 8, in Russia, 10.
Girls as young as 12 TODAY are legal for sex in Mexico.
With regards to your second and third question about 'wars' against unbelievers, the easiest thing to do is to take it from a surface level and then say 'look, the Qur'an is inciting violence!' But it's important to remember what the Qur'an is, it's a series of revelations that came down, many a time to address the current situation Muhammad pbuh was in. In this case, it was in the context of defensive wars, whereby non-muslims broke treaties and forced a war, by which it became a war of muslims vs non-muslims, that's why you see things like instructions to kill the unbelievers. The historical context is paramount in understanding this.