It's not the person.. its the religion

Submitted by Mark (United Arab Emirates), Mar 14, 2006 at 09:50

Thanks Daniel for this perspective.

The problem with radical Islam is as you say, not that we have to look out for rabid, psychotic sociopaths. The problem with radical Islam is in its ability to seduce good, intelligent, compassionate and personable people to do extreme things.

This is why we can never convince Muslims that there is any problem with their religion. Their own personal experiences inform them that, for example, all the muslims they know, their friends and family, are gentle, kind and generous. They would put this down to Islam. I would put that down to being human...

Living in an Islamic country this is my experience also. The people are wonderful. But the problem is the religion, it is so absolute, so 'pure' in intention that it allows no doubting of dogma, no internal criticism.

Having created the myth of the absolute monodiety, Islam has let the genie out of the bottle as it were and there is no getting in back in. The idea is so powerful and the religious structure is so weak that Islam has become like an internal combustion engine that has burst its walls and created a grass fire. The basic idea may have been good enough and may have giving millions structure to their lives but it is not able to be controlled once introduced into a different environment..

The net result may even be positive in the absence of any externalities. But Islam's uncompromising nature means that it leaves its adherents unable to operate with the humility necessary to accept non-muslims on equal terms.. Muslims will not inter-marry with non-muslims and in many other ways resist any assimilation. Thus when Islam is introduced into a non-Islamic milleau there is inevitably tension and often violence.

For Muslims who may read this I will be blunt. You as a person I accept, I respect you and many of you I know I would be proud to call my friend. The religion however, I am sorry, I do not accept it and feel compelled even to resist it as it is the source of so much trouble.

Pym Fortune died because he called it as he saw it. Islam just is not working in Europe to the benefit of the nations there. The same is true in many other countries..

Although I have always beleived that all should be able to worship, how, when, who and what they may, I can;t see that we can accept the continued spread of Islam without some kind of moderation of the absolutism that it embodies. Since we are unlikely to be able to moderate Islam, the only thing for it is to resist...

As mentioned in a previous post, some politicians are now coming to the same conclusion. From Australia to England politicians are starting to say that to live in our nations you must accept the supremacy and sovereignity of the laws of the land above any other laws or creeds. And if you can't accept that, then go somewhere else..

Democracy in the west is about an idea, it must be accepted by all as a social contract for our societies to work. The problem with Islam is that it elevates itself above any social or political contract.

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