The “discoverer” of Secret Mark had previously written a monograph speculating that Jesus was perhaps a homosexual ritual magician. (The author himself was gay.) Lo and behold, he discovers an ancient text which says exactly that–a letter by Clement of Alexandria, copied down into the pages of another book in the library of Mar Saba (a Christian monastery in Palestine). But we can’t get a look at this book, because it has disappeared. We just have the photos which this guy took. Anything in this story sound suspicious to you? 
I recommend Donald Harman Akenson’s two books on the Bible. “Surpassing Wonder” has a piece about Secret Mark in the footnotes. “Saint Saul” puts it into the body of the text.
As far as Muhammad being warlike, I would say that he did what he had to do, to protect himself and his people in a country that had no government and little protection for those without family connections. Thanks to him, this changed. Jesus lived in an entirely different setting (an occupied country). His attitude toward war is not really fleshed out, but he is recorded as having used violence against foreign exchange dealers whose activities he disapproved of.[/quote]
Wow, SJ. you are well-versed in religious history and literature. I am truly impressed. :bravo:
I find it interesting that no one has brought up Mary whose age has ranged from 9 to 16 in various texts. It’s one thing for Mohammed to have been a pedophile in modern context, but by the same right, you’d have to accuse God of the same. Or doesn’t it work that way?
In any case, it’s silly to apply modern ethics to people who lived thousands of years before under very different circumstances.