I mean are we surprised that moral teachings from a thousand+ years ago are going to be incredibly misogynistic? That's why it's not a good idea to get our moral guidelines by a bunch of dudes who held sex slaves centuries ago.
My question has always been, what can we do about it? It seems backwardness and religion are a bad mix. Heck, backwardsness around the world is a problem. We can't even get our own backyard sorted out. We look at how anti-science and anti-liberty many Islamic countries are, and here we have people who are anti-Vax and anti-climate science, while villifying the LGBTQ community. It doesn't feel like logic will prevail.
Here is a place where we can start: Muslim Americans are more supportive of gay marriage than American Christians. That has little to do with the respective theology of the two faiths. It has almost everything to do with liberals embracing Muslim immigrants under their wings and over time those Muslims being exposed to liberal/leftist ideas. They are going to listen to the people who embrace them and not ostracize them as potential terrorists. So I think a solution is merely exposure and kindness and not dropping bombs on their countries of origin.
than Evangelical Christians? https://reason.com/2016/06/13/in-america-muslims-are-more-likely-to-su/ haven't seen anything about U.S. "Christians" in general
You have been very critical of Islam and how it is practiced. Having been born and raised as a Muslim religiously and culturally I am sure it has been very hard for you. The problem is that sometimes people use the religion or the manifestation of the religion to vilify every person raised or exposed to it. We have the same issue in the USA with fundamentalist Christians who support nasty things.
Unfortunately I don't think that this is going to erase that past 50 years of bad blood that's been created between the many sides. I think we're heading for MORE violence in our lifetimes, not less. The attack on Salman Rushdie shows that those who criticize religion are going to be targets. I think it will escalate beyond Muslim in the future. You are seeing the rise in fundamentalism amongst Hindus and Christians as well - it's only time. We're seeing the FBI now be considered the targets of violence. Judges, politicians, the capitol building. There's real anger out there.
Yeah, however there are some distinctive difference in how the actual practices and beliefs have manifested over the generations. There is a false equivalency at work here. I see the same thing when there is a discussion of rape and women.... and inevitably some man says "men are raped too", and while that is true it is a far smaller problem and isn't really an equivalent in the scenario. I will say though, that the media and the governments and the most fire and brimstone zealots will attempt to tell you that Islam is not ever questioned by those that are born into it through religion or culture - and that is absolutely not true. There are many people that question, renounce or do not believe in Islam, the problem is that in many cases the consequences are severe. There are some cultish Christian sects like the LDS or JW's that will use the other members to shame you and even possible abandon you if you are not an enthusiastic believer, but being actually imprisoned or raped or murdered for it is exceedingly rare. Religion does not rule the government in the West like it does in the East.
Would you rather beat beaten up or set on fire and burned to death? There are differences in 2022..... who knows how it will be in 2044.
What can we do about it? I am not sure there is a perfect answer. One thing that the West has done fairly well is separate religion from governance. It took at long time and it isn't perfect but it does provide some degree of a road map. With more options and with improved education and opportunities, we tend to see religion become less controlling. That is why someone like DeSantis wants to do away with the college degree requirement to teach/indoctrinate public school children. Granted it is on a smaller scale. As far as the old trope "yeah but look at you", I do think that it is important to be aware of the failings in the West when it comes to human rights and liberties, but it isn't accurate to believe they are remotely close to what we see in a majority of Muslim states. The issue I run into is that there are people that will agree with my general view that Islam is largely a negative, but then they seem to use it to justify racism or Christian nationalism which is the opposite of what I want. If it were governments controlled by extremist Christians I would be calling it out as well. I agree with you that there is no simple answer, and the West is also poor at prioritizing, so it isn't likely to be influenced by the West in positive ways.
