A different paradigm

Submitted by David W. Lincoln (Canada), Aug 29, 2007 at 16:09

First of all, Daniel, while there are those who call themselves "moderate Muslims", there is no "moderate Islam". It bears repeating - to the devout Muslim, the mosque is not only a place for the faithful to worship, but it is also the mansion of the caliph.

For those who show the credentials of traditional Muslim scholars comment on the verse in the Christian scriptures where we find, "render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and render to God what is God's" - we find the conclusion that this is weakness because it disperses the authority of the almighty. This is a refuting of Judaism as well, because all art, science and knowledge are roads that lead to a greater understanding of God and to the City of God. Put another way, the authority of the Almighty is not diminished because of the variety in the world.

So, to rely on the tools of government to tackle the empyreal is counter productive. Instead the best road to take is to take the road that those took, who have left Islam. Adherants of Islam have to be brought to the place where the scales fall off their eyes, and they see that other faith traditions have a better path to the future - as compared to the justifications of what stormed out of the Arabian Peninsula roughly 1400 years ago. This also means defanging the death sentence that is imposed upon "apostates".

For, in all honesty, the first commandment is being broken by those brigands who conclude they are doing the will of Allah. They have set themselves up as the final authority - and as such have hurled themselves even more behind in the task of building healthy societies. In other words, whatever gains they made in building a healthy society - those gains are gone and they have obliterated much too much. Not only have they lost their time and effort, but they have trapped themselves.

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