One problem that Muslim Reformers claim that is not discussed in the media and by government officials is the difference between Islamism (political Islam) and other religions.  Dr. Zuhdi Jassar and others argue that Islamism runs opposed to the U.S. Constitution since the goal of Islamism is to remove the Constitution and replace it with Islamic Shari’a Law.   . They argue that most Americans (and the Federal judges who blocked President Trump’s “Travel Ban”) assume that Islam is a private religion like Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, etc. when Islamism is very different–it involves politics and the imposition of Islamic Law (Shari’a) on all Americans (and, eventually, the entire world).  . Since Islamism is not just a private religion like Judaism, Christianity, etc. Islamist Imams who promote it are committing what crime in the United States of America?   

What is the major difference between the God preached by Jesus (in the Gospels or the Injil) and the God preached by Muhammad (in the Qur’an)? 

Distinguishing the value of humans from the value of animals:  Kant believed that we do not have any obligations to animals because they:

According to Kant, one should perform moral duty solely:

An argument in the philosophical sense is a set of statements in which one or more of the statements attempt to provide reasons or evidence for the truth of another statement.  In other words, an argument consists of reasons to believe some claim.  Last Update: 8 June 2014

Problem for Naturalists and Ethics:  What is the ground for value of human beings?  Louis Pojman says, “If theism is false, then it may be doubtful whether all humans have equal worth, or any worth at all, and it may be more difficult to provide an unequivocal response to the question ‘Why be moral even when it is not in my own best interest?’ . . .” Discovering Right and Wromg, p, 202) Friedrich Nietzsche, Peter Singer, and many other philosophers (both atheists and theists) think that this is the biggest problem in constructing an ethical theory–finding good reasons to believe in the objective worth (or value) of human beings.  Instructor’s Document

The Moral Argument for God’s Existence (from Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, and William Sorley):  Frederick Copleston (Christian philosopher) debated the famous atheist, Bertrand Russell, on BBC Radio in 1948 and Copleston famously dismissed the moral argument (axiological argument) for God’s existence and instead appealed to the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus.   (Commentary and website of the debate:  nhttp://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/p20.htm ) 

Criticisms of Act Utilitarianism: We normally know all of the long-term consequences of our actions (e.g. Choosing one college over another, choosing to marry so and so, investing in Facebook stock, etc.).

Karl Marx’s Metaphysics:  . ´“History does nothing, it ‘possesses no immense wealth,’ it ‘wages no battles.’  It is man, real living man, that does all that, that possesses and fights; ‘history’ is not a person apart, using man as a means for its own particular aims; history is nothing but the activity of man pursuing his aims.”  . For Karl Marx, this future is ______________________.  The laws of history are “tendencies working with iron necessity towards inevitable results.”

Theories of Moral Realism: The following is an example of _____________________ reasoning:  In the New Testament, Caiphas, the High Priest, advises the Council to deliver Jesus to the Romans for execution: “You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish” (John 11:49-50).