Amir Taheri: "Islam Is Incompatible With Democracy"

Benador Associates ^ | May 19, 2004 | Amir Taheri

[Humidston]

The more I read about Islam the more I tend to agree with Ann Coulter. They need to be converted to Christianity ASAP. (Judaism would be fine as well.)

[F14 Pilot]

You run right off the road here >>>>>

Screw Islamofacism and the UDHR in equal measure.

UDHR is great and remember that Islamofacsits deny that too!

[rogueleader]

Thank you. Christian doctrine is that the Trinity is the combined three aspects of God. These are: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God has three aspects and one unified essence. In Christian belief, there is only one God, and he has three aspects. There is a fundamental unity of
the three aspects in the one God. Hence, Christianity is monotheistic.

The Trinity is revealed in the Bible. The existence of the Trinity is simply not up for negotiation or compromise by Christians. Some offshoots of Christianity like the Jehovah's Witnesses deny the Trinity (usually they say they deny the divinity of Jesus Christ), but it is questionable whether those offshots are truly Christian at all.

In contrast, the Jewish holy book (the Tanakh) never explicitly endorses the Trinity, but Judaism does not exlicitly deny the Trinity either. Furthermore, Judaism does accept a second, "female aspect" of God (of a name I forget). Clearly there is tension between Christianity and Judaism, but that tension is theoretically reconcilable. According to the Koran, the Trinity is not God. Period.

In his piece, Taheri is speaking to Muslims, and perhaps feels pressure to give the orthodox Muslim doctrine that Christianity is "polytheistic." There is no excuse for such an error, however. That Islam is in grave error on the subject does not excuse anyone.

In Christian belief, to deny the Trinity is to deny God. It is as simple as that.

I realize people like Taheri may disagree, but that does not mean I must respect error-ridden opinions.

[Valin]

Bump for the morning.

[SpaceBar]

"Islam Is Incompatible With Democracy"

Well duh.

[freedom44]

Good point, but you have to remember that the Journalist himself is a Muslim.

[jonascord]

The idea of people here that muslims are inferior is a personal belief, not, as in the Middle East, a GOVERNMENT POLICY that Christians and Jews are less the totally human.

It is an unfortunate fact that somewhen, not to far in the future, these stupid people will do the equivalent of the Goettge Patrol. Look up 12 August, 1942, a full 8 months after Pearl, and then count the number of Japanese prisoners taken alive on all the islands the 1st Marine Division fought for after that date...

[Diddle E. Squat]

The idea of people here that muslims are inferior is a personal belief, not, as in the Middle East, a GOVERNMENT POLICY that Christians and Jews are less the totally human.

That doesn't square with the calls of some for the deportation of all Muslims, nor with the often invoked 'we are a Christian nation' rationale for such.

[nyslimes]

I can't deny that there is a radical segment of Christians, but isn't there always some form of over expressed radicalism everywhere. Frankly, I can't see how you can compare the Islamic radicalism to that of a small segment in the U.S.

And bear in mind you don't see that opinion shared or propagated by the masses. Islam is quite different, and unfortunately, as you mentioned, its actions and utter disrespect for humanity is quite disturbing to see in today's age.

We are dealing with a religiously suppressed world view that the cause of much of the anti-american views in the middle east.

I fear GW is right. This is a 50 year process that our country must be committed to for the long haul. We have to show the people in the middle east the benefits of a free religious society and disprove the notion of that man is not capable of governing himself.

They have no experience to realize how or why liberty and freedom will improve their lives. Their fear of democracy is as much an issue as is the extreme nature of their religious culture.

[NewLand]

Good post. This provides further proof of the God-given greatness and wisdom of our Founding Fathers, who:

-Built a representative democracy (Republic), understanding the weaknesses of pure democracy as defined by The Greeks.
-Incorporated God's sovereignty into The Constitution and The Bill of Rights, yet accounted for God's provision of Free Will to all people.

Not an easy task by any means, and imagine trying to create these in today's world...

May God continue to bless America...

[jnarcus]

Nice to know that there is NO category that says there exist FREE Christian or Jewish women...note the lowest rung of human form is that of slave women Christian and Jew....Just another reason that I call Islam for what it is EVIL...EVIL...EVIL

[A.J.Armitage]

In contrast, the Jewish holy book (the Tanakh) never explicitly endorses the Trinity, but Judaism does not exlicitly deny the Trinity either. Furthermore, Judaism does accept a second, "female aspect" of God (of a name I forget).

I'm not sure it's warranted to conflate Judaism with the Tanakh, especially from a Christian perspective. After all, if you're a Christian, you must believe the Old Testament points to the New. And even not from a Christian perspective, there's lots of more or less official Jewish writing (the Talmud, for example) outside the Old Testament. If I'm not mistaken, these do deny the Trinity, in reaction against Christianity.

As for the Trinity in the Old Testament, you should look up the Angel of the Lord. The "female aspect" idea comes from Wisdom in the Proverbs, but it makes a lot more sense to consider Wisdom a literary personification of "regular" wisdom rather than a person. Although if I'm not mistaken, Wisdom shows up in the Kabbalah as a person or emanation or something, and there's also Gnostic weirdness associated with "her" (Gnostic weirdness is a redundancy).

[nutmeg]

ping

[nyslimes]

This commission is not out to seek the truth, they are simply pandering to the left and trying to lay blame on the Bush administration prior to the election.

It is appalling and has turned into a circus sideshow. This commission's hearings should never have been published so widely or broadcast on TV. I am sick and tired of the news media's coverage of the precedings. How dare they disrespect the families and rescue workers who lost their lives. And Lehman - don't even get me started.
I don't remember his outrage about the terrorist attacks in that killed 241 marines in Beirut. How dare his declare 9/11's handling a scandal.

It is no wonder that with the likes of the crew on this commission, the rest of the world thinks were nuts.

This election season is just heating up, and before it is all over, it is going to get worse.

The left is never called upon to back their claims (I mean lies) with fact. Instead, our conservative representatives that are in office sit back and allow this administrations good name to be dragged through the mud. This modern monstrocity known as the democratic party has been hijacked by the peacenik, anti-war, anti-american, pro-UN, wackos that time and time again put the interests of the accused, and the well being of the enemy ahead of our own.

I am tired of the lefts contradictory rhetoric which out of the left side of its mouth lacks the courage and moral clarity to support our troops and our military, and out of the right side of its mouth - purports to support our troops. Let's wake up people. There is much work to be done if we are going to ensure this critical election goes our way this November.

[John Valentine]

You have outlined the orthodox Christian position in a nutshell.

Personally I am quite comfortable with the notion of a triune God. I can't see any way that position can be turned into polytheism or anything else at all but monotheism without distortion to the point of lying.

Of course, that has never been out of bounds to people with an axe to grind, as seems to be the case with Muslims.

Frankly, I think it stems from the early days of the religion when it was truly a cult and were trying to find ways to set themselves apart from Christianity and Judaism, from where it clearly derives.

[rogueleader]

Interesting. Thank you.

[norcalvet]

F14 Pilot:
I agree. He describes Saddam Hussein in an earlier incarnation. Hussein did manage to bring much more technological advancement to Iraq than was typical in the Arab world. He also happened to be quite evil. The lesser of evils at the time was the thinking (and AFAIK, we didn't provide what little support we did until after the Shah was deposed and Iran went radical), but obviously U.S. long-term planning either wasn't implemented correctly or wasn't well-planned in the first place.

Tom Jefferson:
I understand your frustration, but as F14 Pilot pointed out, it's been tried, and look at what we've had to deal with as a result. The problem with dictator strong-men is that they rarely remain anyone's. Their maniacal ego prevents them from remaining helpful pawns long. Sooner or later they figure they are meant for greater things, and decide to prove it to anyone who doesn't cower before them. Using them is a very short-term option at best.

No, Iraq would truly be better off, for them and for us, as a functioning democracy/republic/free-country, whatever you want to call it. I believe that is possible. Despite what the leftist press would have you believe, there are significant numbers of Iraqis with the will to do this, as soon as they can overcome their fear. Whether it will happen within Americans' and Europeans' short attention spans, that's another story.

[TEXOKIE]

"So this is the difference. Not the belief in God, not the belief in obedience, but rather the belief among muslims that obedience to God means slavery to whichever human is strong enough to demand it; whereas among Americans obedience to God means liberty from arbitrary rule of men."

Thanks for the great summary. Well said!