Replies

Is she even a practicing muslim? I would say not very much since doing all the things she is doing is probably not allowed.

I have heard her call herself a very liberal Muslim. Kind of like some distant relatives in my family - they were born into a Muslim family, and know about the holidays, but that's about it.

Your question is worth thinking about. It is also worth thinking about why you might ask it. On FR we see threads that spotlight the primitive islamic element. It is a large population, most of them are poor and uneducated beyond your imagination. And they will always be poor, uneducated, and behave like wild animals, like feral cats. Like the wild child found surviving in the woods, there were things she could not be taught because she had passed a certain teachable age. Back to topic: "Behead those who insult Islam!!!," those types become the official Free Republic stereotype for all muslims. This stereotype justifies the armchair generals' "kill em all!" responses to such threads.

But then you have this type of muslim. I worked with one. Educated, comfortable income, civilized, loves the US, loves freedom, name is Mohammed. He was cool to the team and the team treated him no differently than everyone else. There was seldom any discussion of religion. But I gather he simply had enough education since childhood that he could see the Koran for what it is, the muslim book, and not feel he has to do everything it tells muslims to do down to killing infidels. He could still fast at ramadan, have family over for eid, pray at a mosque, do that stuff, and live like an American. He would not agree that he is non-practicing. He might feel a little sad that the view FR has of muslims is that if a muslim is good, he must be non-practicing. He practices his religion his way, and it didn't appear to include the notion that islam must dominate the world. He coexisted quite well. I feel bad for him sometimes when reading posts that suggest all muslims are as seen in the pictures, yelling, screaming. His sort of muslim compared to the worlds' muslims may be a fraction of a percent, I don't know. I didn't have the heart to ask him what he thought of those muslims, but if I were to guess, I'd guess he views them as we do, backward fanatics, and wishes they'd disappear, and stop embarassing his religion as he practices it. Because of the way they are, he can't just say he's a muslim, he has to qualify it with "liberal" muslim, so as not to be taken for the wild kind everyone now expects a muslim to be.

I myself would just as soon terminate in massive numbers muslims who are a threat to the west as I would German Nazis, communists of any race or nationality, or Japanese imperial fanatics. But I would not stereotype to the point of denying the existence of muslims like this lady, or my teammate. To stereotype that far is a sort of fanaticism in itself. If there is another 911, it will be people like my teammate and this astronaut lady who will be threatened and menaced by the mob mentality.