[Pew Poll on] How Muslims Think

Submitted by David Hogg (Canada), Jun 27, 2006 at 10:54

The results of the Poll are certainly reason for thought.

There are perceived contradictions in the theology of Islam which merit discussion:

First, in creating mankind, God must have given mankind free wills. Wills which are freely exercised, able to choose good or to choose evil. This is uncontestable, for if mankind does not have freewill, then they are either extensions of God under his control or puppets which he controls.

Given this situation, freewill a gift from God, how is it that Islam contrains this freewill? Through forced conversion, conversion through force and retention through force - the recent high profile case of the Afghani Christian convert who had to flee to Italy to preserve his life? Why does Islam pre-empt God's gift of freewill by superimposing the will of Islam with, if necessary, violent force?

Second, in creating the material world, God must be a God of construction. An elemental attribute of this contruct must be harmony, the universe existing in order and peaceful co-existence. So why does Islam promote a contrary mentality - the pursuit of destruction? Even of fellow Muslims through suicide bombings and 9/11? There is a discontinuity of thought here?

Is there a strain of Islam which could mirror the concept of service to others as in JP II and Mother Teresa of Calcutta and many of other Christian faiths?

I think there are many Brits, like myself, who still feel a strong attachment to the romantic era of Lawrence of Arabia.

Dave Hogg

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