Michael,
++++If the same kind of scrutiny were applied to other religions, I doubt they would pass the test with complete flying colors too
However, the only difference with other religions (at least the major ones such as Christianity and to some extend Jewdism) is that they have been sanitized and have been properly adjusted to meet the more humanistic aspects of 21st century and beyond. Besides, they do not have such great followings as Islam does to create any threats to our civilization.
Compare to other major religions (already sanitized), Islam by all standards and in its present form constitutes a framework that by far exceeds its peer religions in promoting violence, hatred and oppression of thoughts and soul. It provides a framework that tells people exactly what to do. It is a way of life. Its teachings range from politics, economics, having sex, eating, beating, killing, praying, doing good, how to threat others, when to threat others, etc. etc. etc. It is meant to provide a detail framework for people to follow.
It has 1.2 billion followers with the majority being either poor or uneducated, or both. The reason it has so many followers and is considered to be the fastest growing religion on earth is that it is most popular among the poor and the uneducated (which goes to show with all the progress we have made as human beings, we really have not accomplished much)! The Poor and the uneducated tend to find it much easier to be told as what to do than to think for themselves.
When you have a religion that is not sanitized, and is meant to create a framework for the complete control of human mind and thought process, and is followed by the poor and uneducated, you end up having with a world that refuses to use its own intellect to distinguish between the right and the wrong. Nazism, and Communism meant to also do the same by providing a detail framework of thought process for people to live their lives. This in my view is dangerous to the human race.
Just read Mr. Alsuezi's post. He is not willing to even question the verse in Quran that talks about a man beating his wife for which he believes it is from God and he does not wish to question God's wisdom! The same with Mohammad Atta and his thugs and murderers who thought they were doing good based on specific verses in Quran which they refused to question for which they also thought there were coming straight from God. What baffles me is that they were not poor or uneducated (like the vast majority of population in Islamic countries are), and that is what worries me greatly.
I liked your comment where you stated; "The events of 9/11 have crystallized in my mind that we cannot afford to sit-back and assume they will get the message that freedom and democracy works *best*. We must unabashedly promote it, like we promote a can of Coka-Cola."
Perhaps, only then Islam can be sanitized.
Sincerely,
Soroush Stevenson |
