Why are we trying to make an an ally and friend of Islam?
It seems that in the west there are ongoing efforts to remove the association of Islam from Islamic terrorism, depict Islam as a religion of peace, and strongly disassociate the violent terrorists and Islamists we fight in the Iraq war from proper or true Islam. The burqa has been spun as an attempt to make a woman feel safe and undiscriminated against, Muslims in certain European states are being accomodated in a manner that seems to exceed for example, the allowances that we would make for bizzarre sects of Christianity, or Jews.
Islam itself is a violent religion. In countries where it is a state religion, human rights suffer tremendously. Women are frequently second-class citizens, homosexuality is illegal, other religious practices are either illegal or violently attacked, honour killings occur, and wife beating and rape is much more prolific. When you read the Islamic terrorists' manifestos and ideology, you often see references to unambiguous praise of violence or intolerance of others. They aren't making it up, they quote their own holy book.
So I have two questions:
- What do we have to gain from pandering to Islam? Appeasing it? Welcoming it with open arms? Are we simply trying to make allies with the middle east and southwest asia? If that's the case we'd have to implement Sharia law and only allow one religion: (the correct form of) Islam. Are we trying to simply prevent immigrants from being persecuted? If this is the case why aren't we instead supporting secular institutions that protect apostates from violence? It seems roundabout but my reasoning is that since most (sane) people don't want to attack Muslims, instead they are intolerant of Islam, secular institutions such as these would provide a gateway for those Muslims who wish to leave their religion without being killed, thus they could become respectable citizens. Is this an attempt to prevent a double standard? I see many people explain that Christianity, another violent religion, was allowed into our countries. That's true, but wasn't it bad enough for the west to adopt and support Christianity for the last several centuries? Don't all the wars, racism, genocide, and erosion of science indicate that it's a bad idea to import violent religions into your culture? What good could come from adopting *another* violent religion?
- If you truly, utterly believe in embracing Islam into the west, I expect you to feel the same way about embracing Nazism, White Supremacy, Black Nationalism and all the other intolerant, racist, and violent ideologies so that they can be pandered to and assimilated into our culture. I expect you to support these organisations and ideologies having special accomodations made in the workplace, in schools, in government, and so on. If you object to this, I want a coherent, logical explanation why you can't embrace these ideologies, but welcome Islam (which like them is severely intolerant and violent).
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All the Muslims I have have meet personally have failed to be intolerant, violent or said any thing similar to supporting an ideology of violence and hate. It is not within my personal experience for American Muslims, and many Muslim immigrants to be as described. Such a description is an over-generalization, an inaccurate simplification of many complex and long acting social forces and thus makes Islam a scape goat, causing the real problems to be ignored and valuable resources to be wasted and a innocent minority to be unjustly discriminated against. Actually, If In roads are to be made to break the hate, spread love and harmony etc. Then an already accepted religion would be ideal as a vehicle or at least as reinforcement, considering the many ways a holy book can be interpreted. For example, Islam is all about "obedience" to god, well guess what, god said violence is generally bad and shouldn't be done just look at this quote and that quote.... Side: Because it is already a friend
I am talking about Islam here. It can be said that there are friendly white supremacists, Klan members, and Nazis. In Hitler's Germany, were all Germans who supported Hitler evil? Were they all mean-spirited? http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/ This resource has compiled the violence in a number of holy books. The statements are hardly ambiguous. How can one respect someone who believes in a book like this being holy? Going back to what I said earlier: could you respect the nice Germans who found themselves supporting Hitler? Actually, If In roads are to be made to break the hate, spread love and harmony etc. Then an already accepted religion would be ideal as a vehicle or at least as reinforcement, considering the many ways a holy book can be interpreted. Shouldn't they be the ones spreading love and harmony? What good is it to give love to an audience that won't reciprocate, or at least uses that tenderness as an opportunity to ask for more favours? How about looking at it this way, again with the Germany example: during WW2 would it have been wise to spread love to the Nazis? To embrace those friendly ones as brothers? How about a contemporary example: some day North Korea must fall, but its population will have had generations of indoctrination into a personality cult. There will be voices who strongly oppose democracy and personal liberty and support fascism. Should we give them tolerance, give them love and understanding? Shouldn't we instead consider them threats to civilisation? It is not within my personal experience for American Muslims, and many Muslim immigrants to be as described. Have you read any parts of the Quran? Such a description is an over-generalization, an inaccurate simplification of many complex and long acting social forces and thus makes Islam a scape goat, causing the real problems to be ignored and valuable resources to be wasted and a innocent minority to be unjustly discriminated against. Would you say the same about Black Nationalists, White Supremacists, Klan members, Nazis, and Fascists? They are a minority and blamed for much hatred, and surely some of them are decent people. So, should we not treat them as threats? I'll close with something I think is important: a religion like an ideology has tenets, beliefs that define it. If a person calls themselves a Muslim or a Christian but doesn't follow these principles, then they are ignorant and at worst lending support for a religion that they probably wouldn't agree with if they were knowledgeable. If they do follow these principles then they are a threat, in that they support ideas that undermine the ability of secular democracy to work. Side: Because it is already a friend
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The only difference from now and years ago is that liberals in our country are all for the pushing of religious freedoms now because some of it is anti-American. Why would a liberals fight conservative christians their whole lives because of seperation of church and state (they say), yet fight for the rights of a religion that is more restrictive to non-believers??? One reason, some in Islam are anti-American,anti-capitalism.This they have in common. Side: Because it is already a friend
In my opinion, the world is now terrified of Islam, considering Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. We believe that somehow, if we ever try to hurt the religion in any way, we may be in danger of becoming a target of theirs. So we may be trying to show Bin Laden or Al Qaeda that we mean no harm to them or their religion. therefore trying to show them how we are their friends and why they shouldn't hurt us. Side: we are terrified
1st, you can't and no one is trying to make friends with Islam. Islam is a religion, not a person. The original treaties and monitory help the West gave the Middle East was to get to their oil, nothing more. The Western companies, and by association, the Western countries, don't give a rat's behind about the people of the Muslim countries, then or now. Individuals and some NGOs do care and try to help. But, change comes from within and the people who are being abused by their leaders who are using this religion as a threat are the ones who have to ultimately stand up for themselves. Side: we are terrified
I don't think anybody's trying to be a friend or ally to Islam. People seem to take more of a live and let live approach. Attempting to force people to renounce something as important to them as their religion strikes me as repugnant. Terrorists, of course, must be dealt with. But declaring war on Islam is not the best way to do so. Side: we're not
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