Then, my apologies. I've had the FBI at my door for much less. The agent wrote a permanent attached to my file as an absolvement to the claims made. You should be more careful with your words. If someone over-reacts, could you blame them?
I would also like to add more insight to my perspective. Being raised Muslim, I found an inherent quality of Islam different from other religions that makes it even more dangerous than any actual violent, misogynist text in the Quran. It is the "brotherhood" nature of Islam. It might sound nice... Calling others regardless of race and nationality your "brother" but it also divides nations and causes much unrest. As a child I can recall how my imam would always ask for our prayers for our "brothers" in Palestine or Bangladesh or Iraq or Afghanistan., people I have no affiliation with other than religion, while some sort of tragedy that occurred to American citizens would be ignored. The mosques I attended always being sympathetic to ONLY Muslims in despair. Now, none of them called for violence against the U.S. Instead they seemed rather apathetic towards the nation they call home, a nation that guarantees them them rights that they never would have in Muslim theocracies. Never did I hear a imam during jummah prayer service ask us to pray for non Muslims that were in despair. The biggest problem with Islam or the culture that results from Islam is that many Muslims seem to be attached to every other Muslim from all over the planet and their allegiance is to them rather than the actual nation that they reside in which can be detrimental. Another example which in all honesty is a rather innocent example of this is my mother. She is nice caring lady who has no qualms with America, however after living here for 35 years and as a U.S citizen she still does not refer to herself as American. This divide comes out plenty of times. My mother knows that I drink socially. I can understand why she is against it but the way she phrases her resentment shows how Islam can divide. She would say something along the lines of "O, you have been drinking with your American friends...". I would become more frustrated in her calling my friends "American" rather than her admonishing me for having a few drinks. I would explain to her that she is American as she is a U.S. citizen. It frustrates me, because I know plenty of immigrants who became U.S. citizens who love saying that they are American.
Summary | TL/DR: This is a very long post that defends against the notion that Islam is inherently violent and that any examples of peaceful Muslims are those who cherry-picked the Quran. It's not that simple. Islam lacks a central authority; there are no middle men in Islam. It hasn't been through a reformation (or Renaissance) like Christianity and the West. 99% of translations are built upon a patriarchal and backward foundation dating since Muhammad's death. Most non-Muslims and former Muslims rely on these translations as justifications for their opposition to Islam. They fail to realize that this is like asking the 15th century Catholic Church for their opinion of Luther, Waldo, Wycliffe, Calvin, et al. These translations are quasi-Vatican in their powerful influence/stranglehold on contemporary Muslim thought. In their defense, most Muslims blithely follow these translations without doing their own research and independent thinking. Finally, there is no freedom of expression in Muslim societies, and the majority of Muslim families even here in Houston. The result above is Islam today. My family and I consider ourselves devout Muslims, and we dutifully follow the Quran according to tawhid. We are a living example of Muslims not cherry-picking the message to live in peace. However, I know most Muslims find it hard to identify with us. Although my family and I are unlike most Muslims, no one but God can say we're wrong or heretics. Please don't let our few numbers fool you. If you support more freedom of expression, better education, and more employment, Muslims like my family will stop being a minority. Long answer: I stayed away from this thread because I thought it would be the rehashed discussion with very entrenched parties. Indeed, it followed the same path as the other Islam-conversations I've seen in life and the Internet. This conversation keeps popping up in one form or another nevertheless. It's as if those who argue have collective amnesia and a stubborn clinging to their pre-formulated beliefs. Here are several examples of what's already been said in the D&D before, and what's been missing in this thread: From jgreen91's thread, "Buddhist Temple Bombed" [On what is Tawhid and why selective reading is mandatory] From ATW's thread, "Moderate Islam - does it exist?" [The attitude needed for Quran interpretation, and the sources of jurisprudence] From slandballa's thread, "[Pakistan] Vice Guide to Karachi" [On the problem with Quranic translations] From ATW's thread, "Pakistani policeman kills sister for wearing jeans" [On why Islamic societies are so violent] From ATW's thread, "11-year old girl forced to marry" [On Muhammad's supposed relationship with a young girl]
I'm glad you brought this up. I've had many quarrels with the local mosques because of this. The brotherhood concept is a muddled-down idea of tawhid. Unfortunately, it limits itself to Muslims. Instead, tawhid says a Muslim should strive to be one with other people regardless of their creed and lack of one. I actually love this aspect because it breaks down national borders and ethnic groups. However, where you (rightly) see an issue that Muslims only stick up for other Muslims in far-off places, I see (perhaps naively) the future of human organization with a world without borders or labels. Everyone is connected without labels. Sadly, in practice it's much different. Your mother is a common example I see in certain Muslim families. I always get irritated when I hear their criticism without appreciation for this country's civil liberties that allows that kind of discussion. Only in America can a person talk smack about its people and society and be protected by that society. You couldn't do that in Saudia Arabia or the UAE. As an aside, please don't let your social drinking make you think that you were a bad Muslim (before you left the faith). Everything in moderation says Islam, and the Quranic verse for the alcohol prohibition has been badly mistranslated over the centuries. I dabble in substances other than alcohol with friends of all faiths or lack of them. We have great discussions because those chemical substances allow us to perceive the world and an idea in a different way. What would be wrong is if it begins interfering substantially with your duties to your family and friends or employer; don't become an alcoholic or drug addict in other words.
There is so much truth in this post. This is a big cause of problems, also in Germany. Islam promotes an "us vs. them" mentality. Even Mathloom admitted that he was basically taught that the life of a Muslim was worth much more than the life of a non-Muslim. That is not surprising, because this cult (similar to what fundamentalist Christians think) teaches that non-believers will end up in hell.
Please share your experiences with Synagogues. You guys have no idea how bad things are in other religions. They are not as transparent as Islam. Jews keep their secrets, and either you know about them or you don't. What they do actually effects the quality of your life. When was the last time a terrorist blew up your home?
You don't even know what I'm talking about, so whatever. The second I post something you don't like you resort to dumbass posts like this.
The gangs of Western Sydney...my home, regularly shoot up houses with little or no regard for the occupants, randomly fire into streets, commit home invasions, kidnappings, rapes, armed robberies & are responsible for a majority of gun crime & violent crimes. They rape the Aussie girls just for being 'uncovered white sl*ts', even the grand mufti of Australia gave his support to these gang rapist by calling the girls 'uncovered meat' and saying that if the meat is uncovered the cats will come to eat, or words to that effect. Blowing up houses? Not yet, but they have been known to burn your home or business to the ground for not giving protection money, or moving in on their turf. It's happening here, it's happening in France & Europe, especially Britan. Just started in Deerborne, Michigan & now beginning in Minnesota. By the way, I'm not Anti-Muslim, I'm anti-idiocy.
^ No wonder that section of Blaxcell St was blocked off that night. Who knew it was because of gangs.
I apologize for editing your comment, fchowd0311;8582049, but I felt that, if I was going to say anything in my complete and well-known ignorance about this and any topic, I'd prefer saying it to someone who has a personal perspective. I don't know that it matters in the larger context of what I'm about to say, but for the record, I'm Christian (Baptist or Pentecostal denomination...depends on the weather, I've found:grin. My own faith has grown and developed as I've gone through life seeking a peaceful coexistence with friend and foe alike. We all have too short a time in this life to spend as inordinate an amount of time as we do generally finding new and improved ways to crap on one another. I've taken great liberties in finding out for myself what my faith means, not simply to me, but also what helped shape it in it's current form in our society. I'm sure this has been talked about somewhere else, but it seems obvious, unfortunately, that the largest problem with Islamic religion today is that it has yet to decide what its appropriate place is in any attempt to build a modern society. And that determination is made doubly difficult, to me, because the "reformation" that Islam will have to undergo will be done through the lens of a global audience that no other modern religion has had to weather. The most egregious thing to do with any disposition of faith, to me, is to ignore the social context within which it is shaped, grows, and matures. Too many times, as many of us have found, religion is often used as a way to promote societal forces that, if left to the actual day-to-day care of the people involved, would do its own work in determining what is acceptable and right in relation both to God (or whatever name you assign to that spark of consciousness in all human beings) and to ones own fellow man. As I've worked to strengthen my faith in myself and in other people, I used as my litmus the author of my faith, Jesus of Nazareth. And as a man who had to spend an awful lot of time reconciling the fact that maybe God didn't make a mistake in giving a dumb-as-a-dog black kid from the ghetto a half-decent brain, I had to believe that this Jesus guy was just as human as he claimed to be before I'd give any thought to anything he might say or do. Con men are con men, after all. And I didn't (and still don't) see any need for a "Supreme Being" to run any three-card monty acts. You either are who you say you are and present yourself , or you're not. The simple answer to the OP, for me, is that Islam's eclectic construction around spiritual awareness and social constructs has, by and large, created an atmosphere among its most desperate practitioners of hopelessness and anger. It is a type of territorialism that won't ever find its relief in a forum like the modern world if its context is reduced to splitting hairs between who Islam decides deserves to die and who doesn't. The one salient tether between me and Christ that I fervently cling to, is the one where (if it is myth or not), is that his life was God's way of walking a mile in human shoes, to me. Despite what may be thought or believed or preached about him, it's probably very likely that Jesus died without ever intending to "create" a new religion. He was a devout Jew, as were most Jews of his day, and bound by the Torah in ways that even the societal upheaval the nation of Israel faced until the Romans ruled the area could not undo, because the Judaic faith moved from a place of nationhood to one of personal piety and relationship with their God. Jesus himself often said that he did not intend in any way to dismiss or discount the Jewish law;he had in fact lived to see it consummated in his life and death, and ultimately, his resurrection. Separating myth from legend from fantasy so far back in antiquity is for somebody a whole lot smarter than me to figure out. But the gist I always got was that, any interpretation of "faith" or "belief" in God cannot be separate for the conscious, tangible world that we inhabit. And we cannot simply create any construct as a liaison for that union (religion, for example) as a proxy for directly and compassionate and humanely dealing with our interpersonal relationships. If there was every any religion that needed a "Council of Nicea" or a "Council of Trent", it's Islam. I don't know if that can happen any less peacefully or less bloody than has happened with any other religion (namely Christianity), but as so many of the Islamic faith who profess and practice peace must attest... ...happen it must, or there won't be an Islam of any recognizable sort that will endure.
I don't keep up with Aussie news, but I don't hear about Muslim gangs here in America. Your country needs to get its act together and stop being so racist. Many shop owners have a no-hire Muslim policy which explains why they break in and steal. Is it justified? No. But it's pretty expensive to fly out of Australia. Two sides to every story. Australia isn't there yet.
Also, a few articles does not equal the majority. Back it up with stats. I found an older chart which shows Austrialian born citizens are the ones who commit a great majority of crimes. If you can do better then by all means feel free. I don't see any Muslim countries on the chart in pages 2 and 3. http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/B/3/B/{B3B48FE3-A70B-4290-A009-BD58861CF942}ti117.pdf
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/cSUMUvQUvp4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Spoiler
muslims who have no connection to oppressed muslims around the world really share their morose.. this isn't a bad thing, really.. empathy is a key aspect of our better selves.. but get over it. there are more groups of people that experience worse situations and they say nothing about those groups. a few individuals here and there do obviously, but the talking heads only make a point to bring awareness to muslim strife. why not others? because muslims believe they will rule the world eventually.. now its logical to assume that people who are most educated, worldly, accommodating and rational will eventually dominate the world scene of affairs.. but are ANY of those words applicable to muslims? no.
muslims are convinced that heaven exists and everything they do not participate in on earth will suddenly become okay for them to do in heaven. like having sex with magical women on the drop of a dime and drinking from rivers made of wine. muslims are convinced of this crap so thats why they become so withdrawn from earth pleasures.. maybe something great does exist after this earth life, but really you're going to throw away your entire earth experience so that you can possibly if it exists enjoy it in heaven?
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/IxjBjRnhUqA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> There was a time where I thought a man like Sam Harris was a bigot...
