Maybe part of the problem these days is we’re too polite about religion. Basically, in society you either ignore religious differences and act like all religions are the same or you burn Korans, but there isn’t really anything in between. There is no actual public, polite discussion of whether some religions are flawed or some are better than others. That just isn’t done. You all remember the reactions when Brit Hume actually suggested that maybe Christianity was superior Buddhism; that’s something every Christian should believe, but mentioning out loud was national news.
In this country, the civilized view is that religions teach pretty much the same thing and the differences are just a cultural thing — one religion is no better than the other. To even question religion is like making fun of someone’s clothing from their native country (except if you’re an atheist questioning Christians, as they’re not the minority and known to be used to that sort of thing). And if anything bad pops up about a religion, it’s just waved off as extremists without even checking if those tenets are core to the religion or not. But religion is supposed to be more important than that in this country. Most people here call themselves Christians, and Christianity is in direct conflict with the beliefs of Islam, but how many Christians are actually able to argue for the beliefs of Christianity over that of Islam? That’s left for a few kooks shouting about how Mohammad was a pedophile.
Anyway, maybe the reason so many Muslims freak out over silly things like pictures of Mohammad is they aren’t as used to their religion being questioned as Christians in this country are. And they are going to continue to be that way if they get coddled. Basically, the only way to ensure moderation in a religion is to make sure it’s used to polite questioning. There needs to be more of a discussion of religion in this country, and not just in a happy, “Yay all religions!” way. But also not in a shouting “Islam is of the devil!” way. An academic discussion — something you’d think a country as religious as this one would be used to.
Pingback: Bull Moose Strikes Back » The Terrorists Have Won.
so…. can i say “islam is of the devil” if i don’t shout it?
I slam Islam!
the bad guys don’t want you talking about their faults. Monicagate as compared to W’s devotion to his wife just is not brought up in polite liberal comopany. Nor do does one discuss violent Islam, but those evil women hating Christians is okay. We’ve let them define the argument.
How can there be an academic discussion with Islam – something that doesn’t like academics?
It’s difficult to have a discussion with someone about faith who doesn’t have any. They don’t understand it because they have not been given it so it’s impossible for them to get it. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try but expect the vitriol and blank stares as you do… There is no faith in Islam. It is a dedication to a set of rules and regulations given to men by a man. Same thing with all other religions of man. If you do enough good works you can “earn” your way to heaven. Christianity is the only religion that teaches that you can’t do anything to please God except trust in Christ who payed for your sins on the Cross. So they are not simply different themes to the same end.
The lack of discussion about Islam, in my opinion, has more to do with a lack of humility. American Christianity isn’t humble because it’s been questioned; it’s able to be questioned (by people who don’t want to die) because it’s humble. You may recall that Christianity in certain past ages has been decidedly un-humble, and during those ages we saw Christians warring both inside (heretic burning, inquisitions) and outside (crusades) of their countries to defend perceived insults to their religion, not sending missionaries to gently persuade people and work by their sides as we do now. People have always questioned Christianity: Manichaeans, Albigensians, etc. The difference in how they’re treated now vs. then says more about how far Christianity has come in an atmosphere of religious tolerance.
Taken on it’s merits; Islam is a giant, smelly ball of crap and everyone on Earth would be better off if it just went away.
Selah
ccoffer, you’ve got it exactly right. What we need to do is convince about 1.5 billion people of that so they’ll give up Islam. Either that or kill them all.
These Isalami folks must have no sense of humor. Replace their Korans with dot-matrix printouts of IMAO and make them listen to old Bill Cosby records (i.e., Driving a VW Bug in San Francisco). This would make for great reality TV as well and would fund the purchase of dot-matrix printers.
Discussion and debate is scarce because
Christians say, “Believe, and live.”,
Jews say, “Believe, or not.”,
and Muslims say “Believe, OR ELSE!”
Nicholas Von Hoffman wrote about the “Mush God” that politicians
(and the politically correct) invoke. I can’t find the full text anywhere online, but there are lots of pieces out there.
“The Mush God…is the lifeless deity President Carter was referring to when suggesting peace might come to the Middle East because the Egyptian president and Israeli prime minister both worshipped the Great Mushy One.
… “The Mush God has no theology to speak of, being a Cream of Wheat divinity.
The Mush God has no particular credo, no tenets of faith, nothing that would make it difficult for believer and non-believer alike to lower one’s head when the temporary chairman tells us the Reverend, Rabbi, Father, Mufti, or So-and-So will lead us in an innocuous, harmless prayer, for this god of public occasions is not a jealous god.
You can even invoke him to start a hooker convention and he/she or it won’t be offended. … This is a god that will compromise with you, make allowances and declare all wars holy, all peaces hallowed.”
According to liberals, the message of Jesus, which somehow (Mel) Gibson missed, is something along the lines of “be nice to people.” … In fact, Jesus’ distinctive “message” was: People are sinful and need to be redeemed, and this is your lucky day because I’m here to redeem you even though you don’t deserve it and I have to get the crap kicked out of me to do it. That is the reason He is called “Christ the Redeemer” rather than “Christ the Moron Driving Around in a Volvo with a ‘Be Nice to People’ Bumper Sticker on It.”
– Ann Coulter, The Passion of the Liberal, 3-3-04
You can’t compare the Muslim so-called religion to other real religions. It’s the only “religion” who’s main objective is to destroy every other religion.
You can’t have an academic discussion without a couple of academics.
Imagine there’s no countries full of Muslims
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or be blown up for
And no religion of peace too
Imagine all the civilized people
Living life in peace
“polite questioning”
That’s a LOL. The problem with Muslims is that they have never grown up with people insulting them at every turn. Let them ride on a school bus and have other kids saying “Your mother wears combat boots under her burka!” or “Your birth certificate is signed by the Seventh Fleet!” and they would get used to insults at an early age like we did. Let them drive to work and get the finger three or four times a day and they would learn humility. I’ll do them a favor and say Hey raghead take a bath this year!