Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Atrocities/war crimes condoned in the Bible

Your points are noted and contribute

to the overall discourse, no doubt.

 Incidentally I  was recently asked by CHOICE

 to do a review of Falola and Griffin's "Religious 

Beliefs and Knowledge Systems in Africa. "

I  am still in the process  of reading the book.

The section on Biblical Criticism and Biblical

Epistemology pp125- 142 attracted my 

attention.

You may find the discussion on

Quranic epistemology, pp 105- 122

equally interesting.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

---

From: Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2022 12:15 AM
To: Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@ccsu.edu>
Cc: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Atrocities/war crimes condoned in the Bible

 

Please be cautious: **External Email**

Thanks Gloria.

It would be helpful to have a context to help readers assimilate such information.

If I'm getting right what might be your drift, I would argue that while all those horrors are true, along with others one could compile for Christianity as a sister Abrahamic religion with Judaism and Islam, and one could do same for classical African religions withsuch evils as human sacrifice, I know only one religion today in which clear inhumanities are officially condoned, and that is Islam.

It's the only religion I know where a person could be officially executed for not not respecting or not adequately respecting the founder of the religion, such sentences being passed recently in Northern Nigeria and the fatwa on Rushdie that threw the Islamic world into a frenzy, claiming so many lives.

It's the only one I know marked by adherents who go out of their way to murder those who criticise or make fun of their founder, as the two time terrorist killings in Paris on account of the Muhammed cartoons, the beheading of a teacher in France, if I got that right, since I did not follow up the news, the killing of van Gogh in Amsterdam, for a film critically examining something negative about Islam, and the recurrent massacres,  riots and beheadings in Northern Nigeria, all in defense of Islam.

It's the only religion in the world known to me whose members organise themselves into armed groups to compel others to follow their own brand of the religion, killing children, women, defencesless men, engaging in sexual slavery, massacres of Christians in packed churches, extortion, hijackings and other forms of terrorism along with destroying priceless historical treasures that don't  agree with their narrow religious views, all to compel people to live by their own creed, as is done by various Islamic terrorist groups around the world, from Boko Haram, Al Shabab and others in Africa to the Taliban in Afghanistan to those who want to teach a lesson to those they think interfere in the countries they want to control, as the Al Qaeda bombings of the New York Twin Towers and attempted bombing of the White House and attacks on transport systems in Europe on 7/7.

Yet, Islam is the religion of some of the greatest mystical literature and literature of love in existence, the religion of a banking system centred on kindliness to clients, if I understand that well enough.

What is wrong?

Others are moving beyond such atavisms and anti-female orientations as are evident in the Taliban and perhaps still in Saudi, but in Islam, glaring examples of both official and renegade actors, terrorist groups persist in pursuing inhuman forms of religion.

Why? Why such atavism? 

Thanks

Toyin

On Wed, Jan 12, 2022, 05:47 Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@ccsu.edu> wrote:

Motivation at this time?

For the last 50 years I have kept

my eyes and ears open for criticism 

of various religions with no exception

whatsoever.

No I did not compile this. It must

have been a tedious job for the compiler

listed. I note though that quite a few

Scholars  of religion have focused on

related issues.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

---

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2022 12:42 PM
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Atrocities/war crimes condoned in the Bible

 

Please be cautious: **External Email**

thanks Gloria.

did you compile this?

could i know what motivated your interest in this at this time?

toyin

On Tue, 11 Jan 2022 at 07:54, 'Emeagwali, Gloria (History)' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:

DWB Chapter	Killing Event	Scriptural Reference	Biblical number	Estimate
1	The Flood of Noah	Gen 7:23	–
2	Abraham's war to rescue Lot	Gen 14:17-19	–	1000
3	Sodom and Gomorrah	Gen 19:24	–	2,000
4	Lot's wife	Gen 19:26	1	1
5	Er for being wicked in the sight of the Lord	Gen 38:7	1	1
6	Onan for spilling his seed	Gen 38:10	1	1
7	God's seven year, world-wide famine	Gen 41:25-54	–	70,000
8	The seventh plague of Egypt: Hail	Ex 9:25	–	300,000
9	God killed all first born Egyptian children	Ex 12:29-30	–	500,000
10	God drowned the Egyptian army	Ex 14:8-26	600	5,000
11	Amalekites	Ex 17:13	–	1,000
12	Who is on the Lord's side?	Ex 32:27-28	3,000	3,000
13	God plagued the people because of Aaron's calf	Ex 32:35	–	1,000
14	God burns Aaron's sons to death	Lev 10:1-3	2	2
15	A blasphemer is stoned to death	Lev 24:10-23	1	1
16	God burned people to death for complaining	Num 11:1	–	100
17	God plagued the people for complaining about the food	Num 11:33	–	10,000
18	Ten scouts are killed for their honest report	Num 14:35-36	10	10
19	A man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day	Num 15:32-35	1	1
20	The opposing party is buried alive (with their families)	Num 16:27	3	9
21	250 burned to death for burning incense	Num 16:35	250	250
22	For complaining about God's killings	Num 16:49	14,700	14,700
23	The massacre of the Aradites	Num 21:1-3	–	3,000
24	God sent snakes to bite people for complaining	Num 21:6	–	100
25	Phinehas' double murder: A killing to end God's killings	Num 25:1-11	24,002	24,002
26	The Midianite massacre: Have you saved the women alive?	Num 31:1-35	6	200,000
27	God slowly kills the Israelite army	Dt 2:14-16	–	500,000
28	God the giant killer	Dt 2:21-22	–	5,000
29	God hardens King Sihon's heart so he can kill him and all his people	Dt 2:33-34	1	5,000
30	Og and the men, women, and children of 60 cites

On Jan 12, 2022 05:47, "Emeagwali, Gloria (History)" <emeagwali@ccsu.edu> wrote:

Motivation at this time?

For the last 50 years I have kept

my eyes and ears open for criticism 

of various religions with no exception

whatsoever.

No I did not compile this. It must

have been a tedious job for the compiler

listed. I note though that quite a few

Scholars  of religion have focused on

related issues.

Professor Gloria Emeagwali
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; vimeo.com/ gloriaemeagwali
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association

---

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovdepoju@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2022 12:42 PM
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Atrocities/war crimes condoned in the Bible

 

Please be cautious: **External Email**

thanks Gloria.

did you compile this?

could i know what motivated your interest in this at this time?

toyin

On Tue, 11 Jan 2022 at 07:54, 'Emeagwali, Gloria (History)' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:

DWB Chapter	Killing Event	Scriptural Reference	Biblical number	Estimate
1	The Flood of Noah	Gen 7:23	–
2	Abraham's war to rescue Lot	Gen 14:17-19	–	1000
3	Sodom and Gomorrah	Gen 19:24	–	2,000
4	Lot's wife	Gen 19:26	1	1
5	Er for being wicked in the sight of the Lord	Gen 38:7	1	1
6	Onan for spilling his seed	Gen 38:10	1	1
7	God's seven year, world-wide famine	Gen 41:25-54	–	70,000
8	The seventh plague of Egypt: Hail	Ex 9:25	–	300,000
9	God killed all first born Egyptian children	Ex 12:29-30	–	500,000
10	God drowned the Egyptian army	Ex 14:8-26	600	5,000
11	Amalekites	Ex 17:13	–	1,000
12	Who is on the Lord's side?	Ex 32:27-28	3,000	3,000
13	God plagued the people because of Aaron's calf	Ex 32:35	–	1,000
14	God burns Aaron's sons to death	Lev 10:1-3	2	2
15	A blasphemer is stoned to death	Lev 24:10-23	1	1
16	God burned people to death for complaining	Num 11:1	–	100
17	God plagued the people for complaining about the food	Num 11:33	–	10,000
18	Ten scouts are killed for their honest report	Num 14:35-36	10	10
19	A man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day	Num 15:32-35	1	1
20	The opposing party is buried alive (with their families)	Num 16:27	3	9
21	250 burned to death for burning incense	Num 16:35	250	250
22	For complaining about God's killings	Num 16:49	14,700	14,700
23	The massacre of the Aradites	Num 21:1-3	–	3,000
24	God sent snakes to bite people for complaining	Num 21:6	–	100
25	Phinehas' double murder: A killing to end God's killings	Num 25:1-11	24,002	24,002
26	The Midianite massacre: Have you saved the women alive?	Num 31:1-35	6	200,000
27	God slowly kills the Israelite army	Dt 2:14-16	–	500,000
28	God the giant killer	Dt 2:21-22	–	5,000
29	God hardens King Sihon's heart so he can kill him and all his people	Dt 2:33-34	1	5,000
30	Og and the men, women, and children of 60 cites