This scares me to death! Is all the Islamic world mad?

[Jac de Molay]

Let's not start asserting the moral superiority of Christianity over Islam- it won't fly.

I dont think that's the point IMO. And it shouldn't mean that Islam is immune to criticism As it stands today, the "interpretation" that governs the one Billion+ in islamic countries tends toward the fundamentalist side of the spectrum.
Why hasn't Islam had a Martin Luther to question absolutism? Why hasn't there been a steadily increasing secular influence that Western nations have experienced since the late Middle Ages?

[molly bloom]

You cannot talk of Islam as if it were a 'monolithic' religion- just like Christianity, it has different aspects, and the way it is interpreted in different countries is also dependent upon the pre-existing cultures in those countries, before the adoption of Islam.

People also talk as though there were no 'political' element to the 'conflict', and yet simultaneously choose to ignore the 'religious' element to conflicts in Christian countries.

Some of my Muslims friends let their children have Easter eggs, and Christmas presents, and the women don't wear veils, or the hijab, or abas, or chadors. They have nothing more in common with fundamentalist suicide bombers or hijackers, than I do with the people who nailed a man to a makeshift cross in Northern Ireland, or who assassinate doctors who perform abortions, simply because those people profess to be Christians, or were born into Christian families too.

Demagogues and political opportunists occur in all countries and religions, and the wedding of religion to politics makes for an unpleasant combination, wherein the ditching of moral values becomes surprisingly easy- after all, if you have the blessing of your 'big imaginary friend' and the sanction of your imam, or rebbe, or pastor, or pope, then crimes against humanity become much easier to perform.

[MRT144]

i martin luther

[Zylka]

Guys, I think you're missing the point here.

A man has a harem and raises a large family of children and then sells the children as sex slaves. This takes place all over the rocky mountain region between British Columbia and Utah and probably in many other places in North America.

SEE??? The kind of stuff you're so outraged over is happening in our own backyard! It's easy to point the finger - now maybe you'll think twice over who's fault it is that muslims are burning people alive with tires - OURS

[Carver]

Zylka, the conversation was begining to evolve beyond your pre-adolescent slurs. Grow a brain and come back when you can compose logical statements.

[Zylka]

Carver, maybe you should grow a brain and come back when you realise we're just as bad as that that we criticize

[Tolls]

nye, events in Afghanistan have nothing to do with events in Nigeria at the moment...nothing at all. These have everything to do with the political and social situation that has existed in Nigeria for the best part of 40 years.

So yes...you are talking crap.

As for Muslim rioters in India...how about the Hindu riots in the past year or more?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Tolls and molly, exactly right. You can't view these 'religious' conflicts without looking at the political background.

For example in India the government decided to build a Hindu temple in Ayhoda, where a mosque was destroyed a few years ago. That's the dirty secret of democracy... you just need 51% and the Hindu Nationalist Party realizes there are more then 51% Hindus in India.

[Heresson]

Originally posted by Kingof the Apes
I would say more like 600 years.
If people said that Jesus might have chosen a wife from the Miss World pageant in Nigeria, I doubt a riot would occur. Would anyone even care? It sure doesn't seem like an outright blaspheme.

The sexuality of Jesus and Muhammad can't be compared.

[Worthingtons]

The only thing i have to say here is, reffering to the title - I figured this out about a year ago, when they started flying planes into towers


cant even get onto a train/bus/plane these days without wondering whether some muslim fanatical nutcase has a bomb with him


Cheers!
Matt

[gsmoove23]

No but people get upset if you suggest that Jesus might have had a wet dream about Mary Magdalena

[Sava]

jimmy is a victim of the media's scare tactics. All of the Muslim world is not mad because of a few incidents of violence.

[gsmoove23]

I don't see any response to Molly Bloom's excellent post. People who make the idiotic connection between dirt poor Nigeria, wracked by political violence for decades and the rest of the Islamic world then scoff at the example of Mormons as being an inconsequential part of western society don't seem to get the joke. Stupid zealots are part and parcel to American life as I can attest. Its financial and political stability which allows for reliable systems of education to combat these dangerous idiots that has worked so well in the states.

Everyone is so quick to jump on racial and religious associations but fails to notice economic and political reasons or the fact that all the places mentioned in these rants tend to be earlier victims of european colonialism.