Egyptian Jews, Facebook and tolerance

In my cautious elation about the Egypt situation I was surfing the web curious about the status of Jews in Egypt. In my web journey I found a fascinating Facebook group about Egyptian jews. Group seems to be made up of people of all religions in Egypt, US and around the world (Poland.) I joined and I found a wide range of knowledge of history and of the holy texts of Jews, Christians and Muslims. Here's my posting. The FB group is located here

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Very interesting discussion, I thank Tarek Saied for starting it. It's clear we all need to study each other's holy texts. Torah, Bible and Koran are all written a very long time ago and may not be relavent to modern people. Examples: Many wear two types of cloth together and are not stoned, shellfish is often consumed, many women show their hair in public and in church. I Corinthians 14:34-35 states that women should not be allowed to speak in church but they clearly do. Many women have become pastors in Christianity and Rabbis in Judaism. (Not sure about Islam, I'd be curious if women can become Imams..) Commandments read "Thou shalt not kill (or murder depending on translation.) Sadly, humans kill and murder all the time. Also, many translations of the holy books contradict each other. Some would argue that we must follow the writings to the letter. To these I ask: "Have you not sinned?" I believe Matthew 5:29-30 states they should cut their hands if they sin, cast out the eyes if they see evil... do they?

Here's an idea. Why don't we all agree to listen to each other, be open to new ideas but not to say that our TRUTH is the ONLY TRUTH. People who have the TRUTH and cannot live with others not having the same TRUTH are very, very dangerous. Avicenna, Muslim philosopher, wrote that if one lives near a city of "non-belivers" then it's one duty to convert those "non-believers" by word.....or...of course... by the sword. We have enough trouble in this world with climate change, 6 billion people straining the planet's resources, poisoning of air, oceans, water and land, lack of education for the vast majority of the population and rich countries hoarding resources, closing their minds to new ideas, voting for idiots, building weapons and invading countries that had not attacked them. Let's not fight over who's deity is best.

Thank you again Tarek for starting this discussion. Communication is key to increasing wisdom, knowledge and peace. I hold good thoughts for all the people of Egypt. May all sides have wise discussions like this one.