Long Live World Religions

We talked in class about the Quran and how Muhammad had been an advocate for women's rights. Then after reading the pamphlet handed to us, i saw verses that really oppressed women. I know that maybe that was not the intentions of the Quran but i think that's why people call Islam out to be an oppressive religion. The verses in the Q'uran it self is hard on women and i think this makes some of the men do what they want because it is inscribed in the Quran. This is same with the bible, there are texts in Ephesians which asks women to be obedient and submissive to their husbands and not the other way round. What i think should be done is, the books be re-written and the oppressive words/statements taken out of them. What do you think?

Rules and Principles

We talked in class about rules and principles and about how if people keep following rules without knowing the principles behind those rules, they will never learn. An example is when in high school we are expected to be in class everyday because it is a rule and when kids get to college, it is up to them to decide to go to class everyday. Some don't go because in high school, they were forced to do so. I recently watched a video about the Kid who slapped his mom on  Dr. Phil Show  . I just wandering did the kid not understand the rule of obedient or the principle or both?

Divisions in Heaven

In Chapter 3 page 83-84, the author talks about the different heavens and the different prophets in them. "Adam presided over the 1st heaven, Jesus and John the Baptist in the 2nd heaven, Joseph in the third, Enocj in the fourth, Moses and Aaron in the 5th and 6th and finally Abraham in the 7th.
My question then is, if both Jesus and Abraham are sent by the same God and knowing that God/Jesus hates hierarchy, then why are the divisions in heaven?

Islam

I am very interested in the Muslim traditions and also about their religions. We talked in class about how people think Islam is a very aggressive and pushy religion and also i found it quite baffling about the philosopher Prof. Matthew told us about who wrote a book fueling such ideas. I have friends who are practicing Muslims and they have gone through a lot of discrimination, embarrassment and harassment since the 9/11 attack. One of my friends was asked if she got a bomb for Christmas. I just feel so bad when this things happen and i wonder what could be done to stop said discrimination? I feel like 9/11 had so much impact on peoples life that people will keep telling the story and passing down false information about Muslims

We talked in class about pets and about the passages in Fingarette that made Confucius seem more or less an animal hater. I am not a pet loving person and i found it interesting the various things that animals could do that we humans couldn't. I also found it strange and fascinating that animals do have rituals of their own. This i think shows that animals do have li and are such, are important. The question I was and still fascinated about is the idea about if animals do have consciousness?

Confucius on Punishment

We talked in class about punishment in America's society and the justification of punishment: Deterrence, vengeance and retribution. We also talked about how American's have trapped the convicts in by not educating them while in prison and also some states not allowing them to vote. Looking at the present day America, how can one input Confucius views on punishment into the system and how effective would it be?

Confucius

We talked in class about what Fingarette was saying about Confucius. He was not trying to deny or push away anything but Fingarette wants us to look closely and understand it. We also talked about the hierarchical system in Confucius; assigning different titles to different people due to their relationships to us and how this had no intention of being hierarchical.
My question then is, in looking at the people in Jesus' time and what they did, can an assumption or at least a claim be made that those people also had no intentions of being a hierarchical society? That it just happened?
Also i have noticed that both Fingarette and Crossan use magic figuratively rather than literally. They some how believe that the word 'magic' meant something else. I want to ask is this what most philosophers believe due to recovered evidence? And if so, could those evidence be wrong or could their(philosophers) interpretations of the evidence be off track?