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Mick
If you’re making such offensive comments on here, we really need to challenge you if they’re to stay on.
You quote a Muslim scholar but you don’t say who. Was it a Western commentator, in which case you need to quote the source so we know it’s reputable?
I don’t understand this idea of a “socio-political-religious utopian ideology”. Lots of religious people, not exclusively Muslim, want to live their lives according to some moral code that they may have developed through religious instruction. I was raised as a Catholic and attended a Catholic school so know all about this – priests talk about voting according to your conscience and beliefs (and what’s wrong with that?) so why quibble when an Asian community votes a particular way? That’s democracy not theocracy – and your concern would be exactly the same in any US election where a candidate’s voting record on social, sexual, economic, etc issues are raised.
There are good reasons why Islam the religion developed social, political, economic, educational, health arms. Lots of communities have developed the same, particularly immigrant communities in the UK, Europe, America. We have Catholic schools because before there was a national system of, and entitlement to, education, the churches provided their own schools. So Catholicism, for example, developed all the same features that you ascribe to Muslim faith. And Muslim faith schools, in the public sector, are exactly like every other faith school in that they are inspected and have to deliver education – if not, they’ll be failed and closed down. Close down the madrasses? You’ll be asking us to burn down Sunday schools next.
Your history is a bit skew-whiff. A history of invasions? For centuries, the Arab Muslim world was peaceful (and tolerated all faiths), and was a centre for the arts and science, while Christian Europe was at war with itself and frequently killed on grounds of faith. Yes, there were invasions of Europe from Spain and to the gates of Vienna in the 17th century, but these weren’t just religious wars (and for religious wars, look at the 16-18th centuries for wars between Catholic and Protestant countries). And don’t forget the Crusades – even though they were 700-900 years ago, they still demonstrate a worldview that has caused problems ever since. The biggest problem when most people try and “discuss” issues is the use of myth, legend and downright fiction in place of facts.
Your comment about Islam being “evil” is ignorant, bigoted and wrong. Selective reading of the Qu’ran will give you bloodthirsty passages, exactly like in the Bible but both, I believe, have essentially peaceful messages. Like Bola says, it’s all about interpretation. Saudi Arabia is a bad example of a country as it has a particularly harsh brand of Islam; why don’t you quote Morocco or Malaysia?
The comment on honour killings was mine. Yes, they happen (not exclusively in Muslim communities) and there are people in those communities who protest against them. But the way you identify Muslims with honour killings is stereotyping in the worst way.
You seem like an intelligent and at the heart of it a decent bloke but you’re fundamentalist in your views. It saddens me to think that these words probably have no effect on you. If you’ve done so much thinking about Islam, why aren’t you trying to promote understanding and better relations rather than trying to build a massive barrier?
Ged
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this will comfort me while I wait to find out if I have any STDs...
