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Sunday, November 23, 2014

Islam: solution or problem, that is the question

This blog post has been moved. It can be read here.

8 comments:

  1. so wouldn't the solution be to abolish islam

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  2. Anon - you can't abolish ideas and Islam is an idea. Governments can suppress practices, but cannot police thoughts.

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    1. The Islamic nations *do* police thoughts, and murder critics and anyone who leaves Islam. People can change their minds...if people offering counterarguments aren't murdered for doing so.

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  3. For me, the real danger lies in the ethics of Islam, which is both a political and religious ideology. Western nations are mostly built on Utilitarianism whereas, Islam is Deontological. The most frightening thing about Deontological ethical theory is "the finger of God" notion. The concept that, if God (Allah) does not wish a particular result, he will prevent it, is terrifying. The result can only be the eventual nuclear destruction of Israel firstly and then the rest of us. Unless of course we retaliate. History is indeed repeating itself. The Left side of politics is again insisting that we tolerate and try to appease. Again, the only solution if for good men to do something so that evil does not prevail.

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  4. Submission (the meaning of Islam) to cruel leaders and teachings leads to beheadings and other atrocities. Jesus said: "do good to them that hate you." Mat 5 What a contrast.

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  5. I am puzzled by the whole emphasis of this article. It is supposedly about Islam, but actually writes exclusively about ISIS. Why not write a whole article about the 205 million muslims in Indonesia, and the choices they make about how they function as a multireligious society. Disappointing to see such prejudiced and selective reading of the current state of the world.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    2. Anon (December 19) can see from my other posts that I am concerned with the failure of Islam to deliver on its promises of a sharia utopia. Although this article is focussed on ISIS, it refers to Afghanistan, Libya, Iran, Sudan, Algeria, Egypt, Iraq and Syria. If Indonesia had had an Islamic revolution, I would be writing about it as well. But it has not.
      Indonesia has had a unique history. Europeans arrived almost as soon as Islam did: the result was that Indonesia was only ever superficially Islamicised. Indonesia, a nation which does not have an Islamic constitution, is not a case study for what happens when an Islamic political system is implemented. It is rather a case study in what happens when Islam has accommodated itself to pre-existing cultural traditions. Very interesting, but my focus is not on how Muslims live together with non-Muslims in a non-Islamic society, but on the impact of implementing an Islamic social and political system. Indonesia is a poor example of this.
      Finally I note that the phenomenon of ISIS is having a signficant impact on Islamic identity across the Middle East. However, according to Anonymous, apparently only a prejudiced person would write about such a topic. If one was really tolerant and open-minded, one would write on Indonesia, and not on what is happening in the Middle East. This is nonsense.

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