KnightWhoSaysNi

I just wanted to know the general opinion of the religion of Islam from the forum. Personally, I tend to be more on the ambivalent side, with Islam having a mixed bag. I recognize that there are many Muslims that appreciate tolerance and peaceful solutions to resolve conflicts.

However, I simply can't ignore the cruelty, murder, and hatred perpetrated in the name of Islam. Things like mowing down defenseless civilians in trains, buses, and office buildings, and cruel Shar'ia laws (e.g. stoning and decapitating limbs) all in the name of pleasing "Allah." Many ordinary and even educated Muslims approve of actions by groups like Al Quada and Hamas.

As much as my humanistic ethic tells me that there is good in everyone and that every belief system has its crazies, Islam just seems to constantly bring out the most depraved and monstrous evil I've ever seen.

What do you think?

Jason

The Evil One

I voted "terror and violence", but I'd just like to state for the record that I think it shares this with Christianity. In fact, as I have stated elsewhere of late, there is very little difference between Islam and Christianity.

PandaJoe

Islam is pretty much on equal ground with Christianity with me. A Christian theocracy would be as bad as an Islamic theocracy, and under the same situation, Christians could just as easily be driven to terrorism.

jafosei

Based on what we see in the news, it's obvious that Islam has inspired some terrible things. Societies run by Muslim religious leaders sound horrid.

On the other hand, I've only gotten to know one Muslim personally, and I found him to be an intelligent, honourable, and compassionate man who was disturbed by many of the things carried out in the name of his religion. From the way he described his beliefs, there is much love to be found there, but it doesn't make the news very often.

So I voted "mixed bag" myself. I find it hard to view anything as pure good or pure evil, though.

captainpabst

To be blunt, I think Islam is an even bigger bag of shit than Christianity. I think this has more to do with the culture it spawned from than the specifics of its writings. To generalize, Christianity is the religion of western Europe. Initial origins aside, the culture that has nurtured it has been a fairly progressive and increasingly secular one, at least since ~1500 AD. Islam is the religion of the middle east. The people are poor and desperate, the governments are oppressive and non-progressive, their culture is not open to new ideas and change, and a pathway for their modernization is nowhere in sight.

xorbie

Yes, but wouldn't this indicate that the issue is a political or socioeconomic one, rather than anything intrinsic in the religion?

Joel

captainpabst

Their religion is inexorably intertwined with their socio-political system, and their religion is the element that does not allow for change or progress. If they all became atheists tomorrow, they might look for a pragmatic way to solve their problems instead of consulting their convoluted holy writings.

Al Kafirun

I voted other. I don't know if its because Islam is younger than Christianity and Judaism or what, but I actually think its documentation is the lesser of the three evils. There's less raw insanity to work with as far as the texts go. Example: Qu'ran based tolerance of other faiths, acceptance of various cultures and races, non-provincial deity, doctrine of cosmic submission, laws restricting transgression, etc. But much like with the other two stooges its practioners don't require writ permission to behave the way they do.

The question really speaks to the fundamentals. If all religion were to disappear (as if to imply that they were ever suddenly inspired as they claim to be) wouldn't the lesser majority of humanity simply invent new faiths to support their base desires? A religion could pop up that teaches absolute love, total PC jargon and it'd still be twisted to excuse violence and prejudice.

hinduwoman

AlKafirun,
when you say Islam preaches tolerance for other faiths what exactly do you mean? Non-Muslims are required to pay jiziyah and live in subjection as dhimmis. The punishment for any apostate is death.

Islam seem to be more rigid than Christianity when it comes to reforms. It never managed to have an Enlightenment period.

Space Chef

Dude, there really isn't. Read the Quran. It's a fucking Clive Barker novel. The Quran specifically orders amputation of limbs, beatings, etc. And the Hadith is like Selby's "The Room".

As for Islam being "the lesser of the three evils", that's horseshit. Christianity as defined by the Bible IS peaceful, tolerant... it's just God who does the evil, not the followers (meaning that they aren't SUPPOSED to).

I voted "...hatred and terror".