"Is Islam to blame?"

[DeepModem Mom]

Los Angeles Times op-ed:

Is Islam to blame?
Despite claims of moderate Muslims, a literal reading of the Koran offers cover for acts of terrorism.

By Irshad Manji, Irshad Manji is the author of "The Trouble with Islam Today" (St. Martin's Press, 2005).


I believe thursday's bombings in London, combined with the first wave of explosions two weeks ago, are changing something for the better. Never before have I heard Muslims so sincerely denounce terrorism committed in our name as I did on my visit to Britain a few days ago. We're finally waking up.

Except on one front: the possible role of religion itself in these crimes.

Even now, the Muslim Council of Britain adamantly insists that Islam has nothing to do with the London attacks. It cites other motives — "segregation" and "alienation," for instance. Although I don't deny that living on the margins can make a vulnerable lad gravitate to radical messages of instant belonging, it takes more than that to make him detonate himself and innocent others. To blow yourself up, you need conviction. Secular society doesn't compete well on this score. Who gets deathly passionate over tuition subsidies and a summer job?

Which is why I don't understand how moderate Muslim leaders can reject, flat-out, the notion that religion may also play a part in these bombings. What makes them so sure that Islam is an innocent bystander?

What makes them sound so sure is literalism. That's the trouble with Islam today. We Muslims, including moderates living here in the West, are routinely raised to believe that the Koran is the final and therefore perfect manifesto of God's will, untouched and immutable....


http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-oe-manji22jul22,0,7186273.story?track=mostemailedlink

[napi21]

1. I think the Muslims have the same problems with fundies that we do.

Look at the mess our fundies are making out of our Contry!

The Muslim fundies are much more violent than ours, but it's the extremist part of a religion in both cases.

[finecraft]

2. Have to agree with you

It's the "true believers" of each that choose to prove the depth of their faith by violent means that cause the problems. Compare what Osama says with some of the things that have come out of Pat Robertson's and Jerry Falwell's mouths....IMHO there's not a big difference.

[NMMNG]

5. Indeed

It is not religion in and of itself that is the problem. It is fundamentalism.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[nolabels]

6. Patriarchy?

"Both laud people for continuing to be children and sucking up to some big daddy who will one day approve of them." in a nutshell

If you have children please help them to be self sufficient and to be able reason with their own eyes. The world would not be in such a mess if most did.

[blitzen]

8. Sorry fellow DUers, but you're really showing your...

ignoramus side tonight. I don't have the time or energy tonight to compose a full-scale refutation, but I will recommend just a couple of books that might start to help set you straight.

Khaled Abou El Fadl, "Speaking in God's Name"

Richard Bulliet, "The Case for Islamo-Christian Civilization"

[comradebillyboy]

4. yes, islam is to blame

in particular the wahabi brand of islam spread by our dear friends the saudis is a religion of hatred and intolerance. iuts like askinf 'was christianity to blame for the crusades?' and the answer is a resounding yes. if the god of abraham actually exists, he is one depraved mother fucker.

[Ladyhawk]

7. No, fundamentalism of any stripe is to blame. n/t

[LynnTheDem]

9. Reading his Koran is what made Timothy McVeigh a terrorist. And the IRA.

All the IRA read Korans, too.

JFC.

[muriel_volestrangler]

10. But she never claimed it produced all terrorism

so you comment seems fairly irrelevant. In the case of the London bombers, it is related to religion - Britons of Pakistani and Jamaican descent bomb fellow British civilians. Not for any nationalist or separatist purpose, or an ideology that hates public transport (which would be the equivalent of McVeigh bombing a federal building). The thing that tied the 4 together was an extreme interpretation of Islam.

[H2O Man]

11. I think you

can better make your point without attempting to link the IRA with these others.

[CJCRANE]

12. Is Christianity to blame for Bush?

Most supporters of the current administration are fundamentalist christians and self-styled "values voters".

Look at the things that have been in their name: "shock and awe", Abu Ghraib, Fallujah, draining of the American treasury, etc etc (i.e. all the things we talk about on DU).

Is Christianity to blame for these crimes? Is Christianity uniquely evil in allowing this to happen?

(/rhetorical question. Fundamentalism is to blame and also leaders who promote and exploit ignorance).

[Deja Q]

13. I could make very similar comments regarding Christianity.

But is it easier and more fun to be negative about one than to see the good and bad of all?

[Grooner Five]

24. A question...

Why does any article posted that links Islam to terrorism result in a slew of comparisons to Christianity?

Can't the Islamic connection to terrorism be discussed within itself?

[Lecky]

14. No it is not to blame

I used to think so, but it has much more to do with our foreign occupation.

I think it's used as a means to justify the unjustifiable but is not the cause.

[bridgit]

15. you cannot blame Islam for this...

http://www.palestine-info.co.uk/am/publish/article_13497.shtml

[Behind the Aegis]

18. Try this...

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/602680.html

[bridgit]

21. aw, the divergent views of the same rose garden path...

...classic. i hear you saying that it is entirely a matter of which propaganda source you feel the more comfortable with as to whether Islam, and all it's followers, are to be slaughtered en masse & out of hand. well, for all i know you may be right; they are the descendants of the worshipers of: Molech, and so, therefore, unclean ~

http://www.ancientroute.com/religion/Godsname/molech.htm

as it is plainly written

[Behind the Aegis]

22. That's a stretch!

I was just giving you an updated article!

[XemaSab]

16. a literal reading of the bible

promotes genocide.

[neweurope]

17. NO! Even if I were sure that the recent "terrorist attacks" were done by

Muslims - NO.

BUT I keep thinking of

Bologna

Bologna

----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[Taxloss]

19. Religion is to blame.

It transforms humans with free will into little guided missiles.

[jmm]

20. A literal reading of the bible promotes

playing with feces

Malachi 2:3
Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces!

not mixing fabrics

Leviticus 19:19
Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woolen come upon thee.

persecution due to religious beliefs

Exodus 32:26-28
Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men


but none of this is a reason to condemn Christians.

[sintax]

23. There is a more dangerous religion

It includes blind faith in technology, inordinate attachment to material gadgets and conveniences, uncritical acceptance of the march of scientific progress, devotion to the electronic media, and a lifestyle dictated by advertising. The modernist syndrome also tends to literalize everything it touches.

24,000 people die each day of hunger, most of this due to poverty. Most of that poverty is a direct cause of wealth in the West.