Islam seeks to dominate. Judaism & Christianity do not.

The fundamental goal of Islam is that all people submit to the rules of Islam (shari'ah), with all which that entails.  Whether your next door Muslim neighbor wants you personally to be a Muslim is irrelevant.  At its core, Islam seeks to dominate the world with its teachings and practices.  Recall that the word Islam means "submission" - submission to the will of Allah, which translates as submission to shari'ah (Muslim law).  It does not mean, as many Muslims and Muslim apologists would like us to believe, peace, shalom.  The word Islam may have etymological roots in shalom, but the word means submission.  Period.

Ah, you say, but does not Christianity want the same thing, for all people to recognize Jesus Christ as their personal savior?  Yes, it does.  But that is essentially where it ends with Christianity.  As Paul taught in the New Testament, the main law now is faith in Jesus.  Not in rituals, but in beliefs.  Christianity does not have a detailed set of rules which affect nearly every aspect of a person's life, as Islam does (and Judaism does, as well).  There was no law in Christianity on which the Medieval Inquisitors based their torture of innocents in order to have them accept Jesus.  They merely felt that it was better for the non-believer to suffer temporarily in this world than eternally in the next.  If the non-believer would have accepted Jesus and gone to church, then that would have been that.  But Christianity would not have directed the minutiae of his life  So, no, dear reader, Christianity does not demand the same of people as Islam does.

Judaism strikes a middle road between Islam and Christianity.  While Judaism does make demands of the non-Jew, these demands are not in the ritual realm, but rather in the ethical realm.  In Jewish tradition, there are seven laws which apply universally.  They are called the Seven Commandments of Noah's Children (Sheva Mitzvot B'nei No'ach):

1. Do not eat a limb torn from a living animal.  (Apparently, this was a problem in the ancient world.)
   
2. Do not curse God.
3. Do not steal.
4. Establish a court system to enforce the other six laws.
5. Do not murder.
6. Do not serve idolatry.
7. Do not commit sexual immorality.

Note, there is no desire for the non-Jew to become Jewish, to keep the Sabbath every Saturday, to refrain from eating pork or shellfish, to light Hanukkah candles, to fast on Yom Kippur, to eat matzah on Passover, etc.  The goal of Judaism is simply this: to bring the world to ethical monotheism.  Believe in one God, and treat each other respectfully.  That is all.  Judaism believes that all good people, both Jewish and non-Jewish, can earn a spot in the World to Come.  If one wishes to accept the myriad other laws which Judaism demands of its adherents, he or she is welcome to join the Jewish people.  But submitting the world to halakhah (Jewish law) is not Judaism's goal.

A microcosm of the fundamental difference between these three religions occurred in September 2006 in Minneapolis.  A group of Somali taxi drivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport refused to transport passengers who were carrying alcohol, as drinking is a violation of Islam.  (The airport's response was to accommodate the drivers, proposing that non-alcohol taxis put a different light on the tops of their cars.  A different response might have been: "You have a problem with your passengers bringing a legal substance into your taxi?  Get another job.")  Can anyone fathom a Christian driver refusing a fare because the passenger was eating a hamburger on a Friday?  How about a Jewish driver refusing a passenger wolfing down a ham and cheese sandwich?  The notion is preposterous.  But it is not preposterous at all when dealing with Islam.

I am not arguing, of course, that many Muslims would agree with the taxi drivers.  Most of them would recognize that the taxi drivers' complaint was absurd.  But this story speaks volumes about what a world dominated by Islam would look like.  And dominate the world with shari'ah, with dictating the details of life, is what fundamental Islam wishes to do.  Not fundamental Christianity.  Not fundamental Judaism.

If these words offend you, I am frightened for you.  One should not be offended by the truth.  Troubled, angered - yes.  But not offended.  If my analysis is wrong, please let me know.  But if my analysis is right, please let your friends and family know.  We are engaged in a life and death struggle against those who seek to impose the will of Allah, either peacefully or through force of arms, upon all of us.

Remember the Minneapolis taxi drivers.  Do not say you did not know what was coming.