Now that I am officially infuriated with Islamic intolerance and hypocrisy I should take a moment to make sure people understand that I do not share those traits.
Yesterday I blogged about the murderous overreaction to the Koran burning pastor. Afghanistan is the same country that blew up Buddhist statues in 2001 in an act of national religious intolerance. Both intolerant actions were wrong. While I don't recall murderous Buddhist rampages, I still say what the pastor did was wrong. I would not disrespect a religion like that.
Still, he had every right to do so. And those U.N. Victims had every right not to be killed for it. The pastor is not responsible for the murders - the murderers are.
For the record, I support the notion that Muslims are free to practice their religion. I expect no serious American wants to interfere with that. I certainly do not. Nor do I wish to insult the religion. In that regard my comments about the thugs responsible were directed at the thugs responsible. In a broader sense, Muslims who tolerate it are hypocritical if they believe Islam is a religion of peace.
Any time their practices include harming non-Muslims I have no tolerance for that. Further if they are practicing their religion in a non-peaceful way I expect the same tolerance to be returned when I criticize them. Freedom requires free speech. Religion requires faith, not force. If they do not subscribe to that, they do not deserve the same freedoms and respect afforded those who do subscribe to the precepts of free speech and freedom of religion. You want respect? Earn it. You want tolerance? Earn that too. That applies to all religions and belief systems. Most of them, though, get that.
That's my line in the sand.
Dean, You continue to make the same error as your last post?
ReplyDeleteNo one has a problem of denying one to practice their religion (except China) if it is based on religion. Only when it is a cult-run State like say Iran or Saudi Arabia is there a problem, a BIG PROBLEM.
At the risk of repeating my self somewhat, if one uses the correct terminology then one sees the importance of wiping out what has been a stain on the human cause and that is the CULT of islam.
I replied to your comment in my previous post. It's detailed better there, but I would say this - Islam is practiced as a cult far too often. However but broad brushing an entire religion is a disservice to those who follow it more shall we say, gracefully, than the cult-like followers which indeed exist in numbers far too large to ignore.
ReplyDeleteAs a Christian I do not wish to be lumped in with Jim Jones, Fred Phelps or Obama's own Reverend Wright. They do not represent my view of my religion. I'm sure many Muslims feel the same about the psychotic end of their brethren. However, they have not convinced me they are willing to stand up for their religion as a religion of peace and they are therefore losing the force of their claims of being a religion of peace.
Ultimately I think you and I are on the same page, except for the term cult. I agree the religion is being run poorly. I agree there are large cult-like sects. I do not agree with the premise of the religion, since I'm Christian. I believe that those who practice it are following a false religion. But I would not condemn everyone who practices it as a cult member (I'm not saying that's what you are doing). And I would not deny them their right to make that religion their own. I would merely seek to grant them the opportunity to freely choose other religions as an option without coercion.