Posted on 01/31/2004 5:59:25 PM PST by quidnunc
In Davos this year there was much talk of Islam and its differences with the West. The emphasis was on trying to understand why rather than on dismissing the whole issue as that clash of civilisations Samuel Huntington wrote so prophetically about nearly ten years before 9/11. A whole gamut of Muslim intellectuals were invited to address sessions with subjects as diverse as religion and globalisation, modernity and Islam and the shared roots of Western and Islamic culture. Arab princes spoke, as did professors and scholars from the Islamic world and women in hijab who argued that the West try and understand that democracy and gender issues had different meanings in different cultures. The Grand Mufti of Bosnia was there alongside the former American Archbishop of Canterbury and representing the Indian subcontinent was, ironically, General Pervez Musharraf.
As I watched him expound on his theory that Islam was a peaceful religion that sought only friendship and peace with the world, I found myself wondering why then it had been necessary to break India up for reasons of Islam. But, that is the sort of politically incorrect question nobody asks these days just as we do not ask why the Kashmir Valleys struggle for autonomy has ended up becoming part of the international jehad against Americans, Jews and Hindus. Political correctness was very much the mood of the World Economic Forums annual meeting so many of those who spoke for Islam got away with blaming the West for their woes.
You must understand, they said, that terrorism was not Islamic or Christian but just terrorism. And, you must understand that at the root of what was going on lay unresolved political problems like Palestine and Kashmir. Our friendly, neighbourhood military dictator went so far as to say that because of these unresolved political issues young Muslims had developed a sense of persecution and had begun to believe that the world was against Islam. It was the duty of the West to not just help resolve these political issues fairly but also help solve some of the socio-economic problems of the Islamic world. Then, the world would be at peace once more and we could live without the threat of suicide bombers.
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(Excerpt) Read more at indianexpress.com ...
I am not a religious person but that's neither here nor there.
I have a couple questions for you:
(1) Can you document any (as opposed to 'not much') systematic Christian warfare against non-believers in the name of religion, and
(2) what makes you believe that Christians will again persecute non-Christians in the name of religion?
ItisaReligionofPeace wrote: But they do kill people who they believe are witches. But they do conquer and enslave in the name of God. But they do torture heretics.
Where, which Christians are doing this?
You're simply attempting to deflect attention away from Islam's bloody present onto Christianity's sometimes-violent past.
But the problem today is Muslims, not Christians.
Muslims not Christians are waging a religious war against those whom they deem to be infidels.
In the final analysis it's boiled down to either us or the Muslims in a fight to the death.
Everything else is bullbleep!
In Davos we were supposed to have heard the voices of moderate Islam but what we ended up hearing, at session after session, was an endless litany of complaints. It was the fault of the West that Islam was being labelled a terrorist religion, the fault of the West that most Muslim rulers were despots, the fault of the West that political issues had been allowed to fester, the fault of the West that Muslim countries had not progressed economically and the fault of the West that Osama bin Laden had got created. In vain I searched to hear one voice that would admit that there must be something deeply wrong in Islamic societies that they had bred the sort of hatred that created so much senseless violence.
Moderate Muslims need to ask why just as they need to ask why, despite all their oil, even rich Muslim countries are unable to create just and enlightened societies instead of ones that produce disaffected, desperate youths who are prepared to give their lives to kill innocent people. If the West is such a terrible place and America Satan incarnate then why do so many Muslims choose to migrate to cities like New York and London? Why are they not happy to live bigoted, blinkered lives in Riyadh and Jeddah?
This is a home run....
The Inquisition, the Thirty Years War, the Salem witch trials and the like took place centuries ago CENTURIES!
Jihad took place TODAY, and will take place again tomorrow, or the next day at the latest.
And the two principal Hajj sermons preached at Mecca in the last few days specifically sanctified jihad.
You got that?
Jihad was preached at Islam's holiest place during Islam's holiest event by Islam's two most influential clerics.
Yeah, a couple of things have changed with Christianity over the past 1400 years. A lot has changed in 1400 years with Islam, too.
You mean it hasn't...?
No, it's a matter of current facts.
However, with recent events, we can no longer put forth an agenda that is in sync with your train of thought for WE ARE BUSY DEFENDING OUR WAY OF LIFE BECAUSE OF THE THREAT OF FANATICAL PEOPLE THAT YOU APPEAR TO WANT TO DEFEND YOU PUTZ!!
Guess we'll have to wait another 400-500 years before Islam reforms itself. Thanks for enlightening us all.
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