to J.S. on what to do

Submitted by Mark (United Arab Emirates), Mar 21, 2006 at 09:38

J.S.
I hope that you don't feel that you have to convince me of the problem with Islam. I am no apologist for Islam. If there were no such 'religion' it would be fine with me. In fact if there were no religion at all then it would be fine with me..

The fact is there is religion and we seem to have this disconnnect between modern Western values and Islam.

I suppose if you looked at the state sponsored, political religion of Europe 600 years ago when the Borgias were running the papacy then we would find that that particular practice of religion was also out of step with the values that have developed in Western Society today.

Christianity and no doubt Judaism have more or less got their act together in the that 600 year period. Now depending on your point of view that is either due to a back to basics of Christ's teachings 'love your enemies' etc. or a proper reformation to a new church with more emphasis on service to the congregation and the world.

No doubt there are many in Islam who also, as individuals, have opened there minds and accepted values of tolerance, etc that are not necesarily the cornerstone of the Quran.

According to the consensus on this site, the problem with Islam is that it seems rooted in a book that at best is ambiguous and under certain other interpretations openly advocates violence and oppression toward non-believers. (And some believers e.g. slaves, women, in certain circumstances).

So here is a suggested solution. Most Western countries now have anti-vilification laws. These laws make it illegal to preach hate towards any group including ethnic or religious groups.

So use these laws, strengthen these laws, with the correct provisions, these laws could be used to proscribe against the publishing of the Quran without first removing any vilification found in its pages. As already shown on this site one doesn't have to look far to find evidence in the Quran of incitements against Christians and Jews.. Simply put, take hate inducing comments out of the Quran or it will be an illegal document. The same as Neo Nazi literature is illegal in many parts of Europe. This law might also require some modification of the Old Testament too but maybe that is not such a bad idea..

Some might balk at such a law as they would also have to trim their own comments about blacks, Jews, Muslims in order to make sure that they were within the strictures of such a law. Christians shouldn't find it too hard, except of course for some fundamentalists who also need to have their wings trimmed.

Make the law also have teeth to close down and arrest and try local leaders of establishments that openly preach hate. This would clean up a lot of mosques and possibly catch a few crazy Christian Fundamentalists at the same time.

Now I come back to this word 'Fundamentalists'. They are the problem, whether Islamic, Christian, Jewish.. they are always making a nuisance of themselves with their total inablility to compromise their narrow vision of 'the truth'.. Somehow they are able to wrest whatever 'scriptures' they have in front of them to show that God has ordained them somehow to inherit which ever part of the earth they have particular designs on plus heaven. So the rest of the world can figuratively and literally go to hell.

Now the problem I have with Islam over any other religion is that it lends itself to Fundamentalism. In a way it is the fundamentalists dream religion. There you have a religion that is the ultimate in dogmatic force. One God, no partners, no questions... accept it or pay the tax or die.. and with all those lovely verses written in the totally immutable Quran which are so easy to press into self service for mayhem.

Crack down on all fundamentalism and you crack down disproportionately on Islam.. basically I am saying to all religions, surrender some of your certainty, your pride on the alter of human dignity and acceptance. The laws of secular countries are the only hope here.. We can't have some kind of holy war to decide the issue or we would never stop fighting..

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