Submitted by Jeff (United States), May 10, 2021 at 22:28
Hello Down Under and thank you, AVCR, for your kind words.
Right, when we apply concepts like "moderate Muslim" to any other religion, it suddenly makes no sense, which shows how silly the concept is to begin with. What's a moderate Christian? A Christian who never built a hospital for homeless AIDS patients? That makes Mother Theresa a radical Christian? Mmm, this isn't working is it? As Prashant said, "we cannot run this world with one set of rules for everyone else and another for Muslims."
There is no moderate Islam. Despite that, and you may well be proven right over time, I continue to believe there are lots of Muslims who are at best casual about many tenants of their religion. But they can't say so the same way the rest of us can because that's apostacy and that's a death sentence. So there could be zillions of moderate Muslims but they keep their mouths shut and, unfortunately, can still be influenced to ruthless action by ruthless leaders.
People are complex, we all have our dark side. Religions try to control our dark side, to contain it, to shrink it, to give us good reasons to shove it aside. The forgiveness of sin (which presupposes the existence of sin) is central to Christianity. But one religion seems to cater to that dark side. Slavery, still legal. Marry a 9 year old. Marry four 9 year olds. Sigheh. 21st century witch trials. Dhimmitude. Death to America. Death to the Jews. Death to the Shia. Death to the Ahmadis. The only religion spread by the sword (as pictured on the flag of Saudi Arabia). Anyone who wants to prove me wrong, please do so. Please.
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