Islam

Submitted by Dr J (United States), Jul 26, 2007 at 20:15

We seem to be talking about freedom of religion. In Muslim countries freedom of religion, although allowed to some degree, is restricted. Why is this? Well, if you allow freedom of religion you open the door for a lot of other freedoms and pretty soon fornication, adultery, homosexuality and drinking are all legal. We in the US tolerate these things. But I think most people in Muslim countries do not want these things, so there will always be a restriction on freedom of religion in those countries. The most extreme version of religous intolerance of course is killing anyone who doesn't believe the way you do. I think the Taliban probably would carry this out, but not any other Muslim country, unless you were trying to convert others to your religion.

I'm a Christian Mormon. I would like it if we didn't have some of the "sins" that I metioned above, but at what price? How far do you go in restricting people's personal preferences? Society pays for fornication, adultery, homosexuality, drinking, etc. and I can see how Muslim countries clamp down on these things. However, the clamping down seems to inculcate a culture of violence, in that the only way to stop it is to threaten people with death, and actually kill them for violations. So society is kind of caught between a rock and hard place. If people would do good, all would be well, but that takes away free agency. Without free agency there is no existence. So conflict between the Islamic world, which tends to believe that good behavior has to be enforced by violent means, and the Western world, in which good behavior is kind of going by the wayside will result in...conflict. No way around it. Unless the western world repents or the Muslim world becomes more permissive, conflict will happen. No one will win, we'll just fight, maybe weapons of mass destruction might be used, who knows?

I don"t think we in the Western world really have the high moral ground here. Our moral compass is disintegrating. The Muslim world reacts to this with violence. More disintegraion, more violence....

Personally, I'm not afraid of the Muslim world, even if some Muslims do believe that all non-Muslims should be killed. If Christians live their religion, all will be well. But if we don't, destruction awaits us, one way or another.

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