Ok, Fundamentalist - One who interprets their holy text in a literal way.
Do you see women being forbidden to go to school in the UK?
From a Guardian article:
And Afghanistan was worse than this!
So don’t even attempt to try and say a Muslim in Afghanistan interprets the Qur’an in the same way as a Muslim in England. It is plain to see that’s not true. The English ones quietly forget all those particular passages, while still calling themselves Muslims, meaning they are taking a NON-literal interpretation, the usual thing that a believer says is that it was nothing more than a allegory. It’s like saying that a Mormon in the colonist days of America was like an Anglican Christian today.
Journalists are completely right for using Fundamentalist for those who wish to see the Qur’an taken literally in it’s entirity, it is the right word. (Oh, which reminds me, theatlantic.com/issues/99jan/koran.htm )
A massive minority of Muslims? Who are you kidding!!! Jubilation was seen on the streets of many muslim countries when they heard the news. All their flag burning and cheering as the rest of the world watched the tragedy unfold with shock and horror. It was disgusting.
They’re not referring to the same god. For each of them there is only one god and that is their God. If not they’d all be the same religion. The Muslims may say that Christ, Abraham, etc. were all prophets setting the stage for Mohammad, but a (true) Christian doesn’t believe in a God as the Muslims see it, a Jew doesn’t believe in a God as the Christians do, etc. So the essential character of the God is completely different as they say different things. Anyone who says that they’re all worshipping the same god is plain mad. What the hell do you think the Crusades were for. To get the heathen bastards. What do you think Jihad is for. To get the heathen bastards. Anyone who practices a religion who then says that he’s worshipping the same god as the others has lost the plot, lost his faith, or he’s just not really practicing his religion as his holy text proscribes it.
What I am getting pissed off with is that people for some reason think because a culture is different it is automatically above question. That’s simply not true. Would it have been correct to stand by and let the Nazis get on with it, anti-semitism is all part of their culture after all! Gordy you’re damn right, I am intolerant, I’m intolerant because the way the Islamic text is used in some areas is to create pain and suffering, to supress freedom and to keep power in the hands of people who should be wiped from history’s guilty conscience. And then people have the gall to say it’s none of our business as it’s all part of their culture. So was ritual sacrifice by the aztecs, are you saying that’s right? Come on, please, explain why I SHOULDN’T be intolerant. Culture is not an excuse for torture, supression and all the other wonderful things religions tend to accidently spawn because it’s words are twisted.
I am a firm believer that Religion is in it’s entirity a pretty much evil thing, not that the idea behind it was, I’m sure there were good intentions behind every fable story religion, but it’s the way it gets used by people. And let’s face it, they were all written in the past when people didn’t know better.
To me a society which bases itself on a particular religion is a quite revolting concept. Again, if I were a politician, I’d keep stum, smile, nod, say polite things. But I don’t have to, this board exists to discuss, and this is my real view. To be honest in my view people who hide behind the shelter that it’s just another’s culture are commiting an immoral act themselves. Evil is always evil, whether you dress it with a white sheet with a red cross in it, wrap it up with stirring words of jihad against the infidels (just look for some sources on islamic scholars justifying jihads TMR, they’re all over the place) or have a swaztika on their arm. You seem to think an attack on fundamentalist Islam is the same as an attack on Islam itself, it’s not, they’re two different things. But I will ferociously attack anyone who suggests that theocracies are a good thing too, but that’s because I’m an atheist and from my view point religion breeds hate, creates inequality and attempts to apply out moded concepts on a world that they no longer belong in. Enlightenment is the only way.
Look what the Islamic religion has so far created, the Taliban, a load of terrorists screaming Jihad and Iran.
Well done, applause all round.
Not that any of the other religions has done any better.