Al Kafirun

LOL I feel like I'm defending it, but trust me, I'm not. But I still say its the lesser. I find it a thousand times more defined, consistent and smarter than Christianity. And as far as raw text, there's nothing restrictive in the Qu'ran or most widely accepted Hadiths. The concept of usury, tax and infidels, is purely an invention of the later 'church'. That's not an attempt to say its 'good', though. Don't get me wrong. The violence comes from the theocracy it inspires, which unlike Christianity and Judaism is a necessity of the faith. God requires being included in politics.

Still, I think Islam has benefited from its youth. Of the three ugliest girls, she's the least ugly. Doesn't mean I'd f**k her.

MilitantModerate

A solid "Islam is a religion of hatred and terror" here. Worst of the dirty Abrahamic three.

Only a good start if she ends up diest or better yet atheist! I just can't understand these female apologists. The whole thing just reminds me, both literally and figuratively, of an abusive relationship . Why even bother to try and change a system as patently, inherently, and steadfastly misogynistic as Islam. Cut and run girl!

Infidelettante

Any system that denies the feminine becomes pathological be it Islam or the Catholic priesthood. I think we will watch Islam descend into madness in the coming decades. So much the worst for the rest of the world I’m afraid. I voted mixed bag just to allow for hope.

JT

DaMan121

I agree. This is what I found in the letters section:

"You have done a great job but we all need to go a step further. The time to justify religion, conservative or reformed, is long gone. Do we really believe that Jesus walked on water or turned water into wine? If he did, he would have been a sensation in the Roman world and Pontius Pilate would have welcomed him into his residence. And do we really believe that Muhammad went to heaven on horseback? How many people have dreams like that and nobody pays any attention?

On the one hand, we attend science classes, learn all about rationality, then go and believe in irrational things. We need to give up the whole concept of God and associate paraphernalia, rather than waste energy in futile efforts to "reform" religion. We should realize that we are all alone in this universe and there is nobody up there to look after us; there is certainly no evidence of Him. Only then can we sit down and decide what is best for humans as a whole, not as a patchwork of antiquated "religious groups." - Mo

Irshad replies: Clearly, you're not convinced that human beings should have any use for faith, which you call "irrationality." But what about faith in science? Is it not possible that an unswerving belief in scientific supremacy is an orthodoxy unto itself?

Moreover, would scientific rationality have persuaded millions of African-Americans to pour into the streets and fight for their civil rights? I doubt it. Perhaps the counter-argument is that, without religion and its manipulation by racists, African-Americans wouldn't have needed to fight for civil rights. I doubt that, too. With or without religion, won't human beings always find a way to distinguish themselves from each other - what Sigmund Freud called "the narcissism of small differences"? In which case, isn't your belief in the notion of "humans as a whole" a little, shall we say, irrational?"

...

Im sorry, thats just fundie speak... At least she is thinking though.

rfwu

I call it a mixed bag as well. I was raised in Saudi Arabia and lived among equally fundy Muslims and Christians. Quite frankly, I believe that they are identical when it comes to core beliefs/morals/etc.

The only difference between Islam and Christianity today are the percentage of fundamentalists. If Christianity had more fundamentalists and more depraved and brutalized countries, then it would be identical to Islam.

And no, I am not an Arab or Muslim. I am Chinese and proud of it.

Postcard73

I voted "mixed bag." I'm obviously not a fan of Islam, but I think it is just like Christianity: people get what they want out of it.

Al Kafirun

That more or less sums up my opinion. Better than I could articulate it myself. A lot of rather dull agnostics are getting sucked into Christianity simply out of their contempt for Islam. Kinda of a 'pick sides' syndrome. That scares me more than Islamic terrorism.

Corgan Sow

I voted mixed bag and I think Islam is better than Christianity for some reasons:

- Islam contributed to rise of science and mathematics since Europe was in Dark Ages. Christianity on the other hand, are a backward religion with followers still hell bent on introducing Creationism in schools.

- Islam has none of the contradictions and hypocrisy as blatant as the Bible with the "Love thy Neighbour" bullshit. And like the other poster mentioned earlier, if Christians were as oppressed as Muslims, they'd be as violent as they are now.

- Muslims I met here so far, of course. I have friends who wears Hijab and have no problems with alcohol drinking friends and gals who wear tight and revealing clothes. Christians on the other hand, are fussy; no profanity, no 'Satanic' music, no using God's name in vain and yet preaches teh Gospel to us at least once in a while.

Al Kafirun

When I started studying Islam, I had to look a lot deeper to find the BS than with Christianity and Judaism. Especially Christianity. That might be due to the youth of the theology.

Oxymoron

The mistake in this is to characterise or confuse "liberal capitalist democracy" as "christian". Whilst Xinsanity is the predominant faith in the West, what characterises these countries is - for whatever historical reason - their government's relationship with their citizens, not the majority religion. They are broadly tolerant places (though potentially less so as Islam is turning liberal attitudes against itself as much as it is gaining new recruits to 'its cause'), unlike most Islamic regimes - particularly those under Sharia.

Contrast fundamentalist attitudes to women, for example: Xianity forbids abortion; I don't agree with this, but I can certainly see they have a respect for life at its root. Meanwhile, Islam executes women who have been raped - the most appaling lack of respect for life I can think of. At the fundamentalist end, Islam is orders of magnitude sicker.