Dear P:
Thanks for your email. In response to yours and others that have come, I would suggest that you consider the sources you hope to use in this discussion. The material you use from the Infidel.org source is like using a Muslim source to condemn Hinduism.

Second, your comments about slavery are off the wall. There are no slaves in Christian society and slavery was fought by Christians. Islam still has slaves to the in modern society. A recent imam in Saudi Arabia declared that slavery is a part of Islam. Get used to it.

Third, some of your material draws on Islamic sources. My experience with Islamic sources is that they are often out of context, misrepresentation, and often fraudelent. For example, they use the Gospel of Barnabas as a way of repudiating Christian thought. They claim the Gospel was a first century document. It has been shown by non-christians to be a fraud written in the 16th century on paper made at that time reflecting an Italian culture rather than a Palestinian. The writer did not know that Nazareth was not a port city, etc.

From a Christian perspective, what really counts as evidence is what can be found in the New Testament. The rabbinical tradition is something that Jesus denounced as hypocritical, legalistic, and enslaving. For a better understanding of some of the issues raised about killing in the Old Testament I would refer you to http://www.christian-thinktank.com/midian.html
in which a more detailed discussion takes place. Another article at http://www.christian-thinktank.com/qamorite.html Relates to the similar issue.

Now in conclusion it would help our conversation if you would read the Old Testament rather than quote someone who rejects it. For example, the text says nothing about the age of the young woman. The rabbis made a lot of oral laws that are not Scripture and should not be given attention. Check out Numbers 31:17-18 The two articles listed above will give you a context for understanding the real issues in that passage.

Oh, yes, one more item, the article you enclosed is so biased and out of date. Some of the people quoted lived over 150+ years ago. I recently read a Muslim article in which they claimed that lots of Christians did not believe in the deity of Jesus. Those people were self-claimed atheists, but the Muslims regarded them as Christians because they lived either in the UK or the US. There are lots of inaccuracies concerning historical events as well.

I hope we can clear the way for a mutual conversation based on real issues, not manufactured one by slanders of Christian faith.

With best wishes,