Look at the world with a thousand year eyes...

Submitted by Frederick (United Kingdom), Aug 18, 2003 at 09:58

I have worked in Saudi Arabia and I am a Christian.

A sidenote before I being is: Why are the concerns on this board only about Christians rights in Saudi?? What about Hindu, Sikh, Buddhists, Jains etc? We all have a different path to God so let's make sure we all are FREE to CHOOSE the path we like. Fight for the rights to freedom for all faiths not just your own.

On to Islam...

Islam spread quickly through the world using violent force and dialogue. Other religions and ways of life in Muslim occupied territories have vanished over time. This has been going on for a long time and sometimes I feel that the West looks at the relationships with Muslim-dominated states in a too narrow timespan.

Google on Dhimmitude for more information.

Remember the aim of Islam is for the whole world to be Islamic. This is similar to Christianity i guess. At the moment Christianity uses more of the Book rather than the Sword though. Expansionist religious preaching is wrong. Lead by example instead.

I do not see any evidence of Muslims attoning for the crimes against humanity that pro-ponents of Islam has commited. Christians are not much better, but it seems like they are coming around to apologising for the genocide in South America etc.

Where the Christians have South America, the Muslims have as a few examples lets look at any faith east of Irak. The Parsees (sp) of Persia that had to flee to India, Hindu massacres, Buddhist massacres, Jains, Sikhs, the lot. Name a faith and the Muslims have/is persecut(ed/ing) them.

Basically the area of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Bangladesh etc was raped by continous Muslim invasions and rule. I have yet to read up on Indonesia (it used to be Hindu and Buddhist), supposedly the Islamisation of Indoneisa and Malaysia was peaceful. Maybe.

Bangladesh used to be one of the high centres of learning in the Buddhist world before the Muslims came. It had great exchange with China and Vietnam among other areas. Not many Buddhists left in Bangladesh now.

There are plenty examples of "peaceful co-existance" after the invasions between the different faiths of India. Aurengzeb made it into a sport to kill non-Muslims and let's not forget Tamerlane.

Islam in general (I will refer to Islam as the way it is practiced and has been practiced) is not compatible with a true democracy. When Islam looks down upon adherents of other religions and treats them as subhuman, then how can there be equality? Slavery is ok for non-believer but not for Muslim?

Freedom of thought and religion can only truly exist if there are no penalties to thinking different. Perfect freedom is impossible to attain but the west and other countries are a lot further ahead than the Islamic countries.

Gender equality is paramount for a working society and democracy. If a man is born from a woman, how can he disrespect a woman? A womans rights are not given to her by man they are hers from birth. Muslim men will become better and stronger men when the Muslim women enjoy the same rights (theory and practice) as Muslim men.

The freedom to change your mind. If being a Muslim is not for you, how come you should be killed for converting to another faith?? Why do they not have more faith in their religious message for the powers-at-be to be so scared of competition and dialouge?

A person looking into the history books will be shocked that things haven't really changed the last 1000 years.

Question is: why is it that this is not more widely discussed? How come people tip toe around discussing things that Muslims will find uncomfortable? Could this not be construed as discrimination of Muslims as they are then viewed as socially inept and retarded?
I cannot find another answer to this question. If someone is tip toed around, then the person is obviously not viewed stable enough to handle a discussion. I call on public debate without so called political correctness and lets bring open expression. The Muslims are very good at expressing their views about the rest of the world, let's do the same.

Anyway.. to sum it all up:
Treat people as you would like to be treated without compromising your integrity.
Eloquantly disagree with injustice to its face and stand your ground.
Educate them about your way of life and the beauty of many open points of view.

Maybe I have failed my own advice, maybe not :)

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