Answer to Riz's questions

Submitted by Pradeep (United States), Mar 23, 2009 at 02:48

Dear editor: Riz in the above message has posed some questions. He will probably not register but I will attempt an answer.

Q: Why not comment on the Catholic priest that are pedophiles!
A. Because there is no said or unsaid rule in the most of the non-Islamic world that some one gets an elevated status just because s/he belongs to a religion. Yes, some priests amont us are criminals but we are under no obligation to treat them as non-criminals. Their bad actions have no basis in the religion/scripture and when they do have a basis in the religion/scriptures most of us feel free to ignore that part of the scripture.

Q: The swinger clubs in All-American cities where wife and husband swapping is a weekend ritual; strip clubs filled with foreign born women bought into prostitustion mostly from Eastern Europe to please the American men; trips to Cuba, Cancun and the far east to buy cheap sex - sex with young teens for a dollar or more!

A: Which of the above activities has justification in religious text. If you can establish a causative relation between the western religion and the above activities, we will call teh religion bad. But none exists. Most of the non-islamic world separates secular and religious cultures. The above faults are due to secular cultures nad so religion cannot be blamed for these faults. Further, unlike most of the islamic theocracy, most countries in the world are not 98% belonging to one single religion. So no single religion can be blamed for (or be responsible for) the faults. In Islamic societies many societal faults can be traced to their religious roots.

Q: Why not talk about the escorts ads in most daily newspapers and the massage parlours that provide body rubs, body slides and nude reverse for different rates like going to a store. If you want sex stories there are many right here under our nose. Visit the battered women centers and see the issues right here - see the neglegted seniors in nursing homes; walk down the road after sunset in any city and see the prostitues coming out of the corner; what about the churches that support polygamy - in Utah, and other areas. Why go so far in finding issues in Muslim world when you can find the sensational items right here. Was it not the New York Governor Spitzer that hired a young expensive escort at taxpayer's expense. HA!

A. Repeated questions. No new answer needed.

Thanks,

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".