"The difference is that the Taliban happily sacrifices freedom for truth, while Clinton and the others obligingly sacrifice truth for freedom. Both agree, however, that you are either a truth-owning jihadi or a freedom-loving relativist. Choose your corner, and come out swinging."
Very insightful. This statement demonstrates how the extremists engender contagion among loyalists. Very well put.
"Andrew Sullivan warns, "in a world of absolute truth . . . there is no room for dissent." Huh, a world of absolute truth?....not the one I live in. I live in a world of paradox, illusion, corruption, struggles for justice, as well as greed and lasciviousness. I live in a world where I have been granted the free will to seek truth and work to free myself and my fellow human beings from injustice and oppression. I would not be able to believe the Quran if it didn't qualify all of this.
That, however, does not mean that I don't believe in absolute truth or that it can not be known. I can even relate to Bill Clintons statement:
Everybody is just "trying to get closer" to it.
I would hope that everyone is a truth seeker. But the extremists are not. One group claims to own it (seeking is beneath them) the other claims seeking "the" truth is a pointless pursuit. Each seeks the other's destruction. I am not much for spectator events but...oh, never mind.
"...the solution to reconciling Islam with pluralism lies not in lecturing Muslims about the supposed virtues of relativism but in helping find within the Koran the absolute truth of human dignity."
Well this is a silly statement that assumes all Muslims are simple minded and easily manipulated. This person has made a straw man enemy. Of course none of use has ownership over absolute truth in the All Knowing sense. It would require an all knowing grasp of eternity and the alpha and omega. That doesn't mean it doesn't exist, simply that you are not "IT." A problem for human pride and vanity.
I would recommend shedding the light of Western media on enlightened, humble, and decent Muslims instead of on Extremists and instead of naive lectures to demonstrate how ignorant, arrogant, and obstinant one can be. Understanding and unity should be greatly encouraged.
And the only way to reconcile Islam and pluralism, amens Thomas Friedman, is for Islam to affirm "that God speaks multiple languages and is not exhausted by just one faith." The only good religion is a relativist one.
The Quran states that all people and nations have recieved the Truth (the absolute one). On the subject of differences between the world religions that profess belief in God (The All Powerful One) the Quran says the reason for these will be made clear on judgement day and that it is pointless to dispute over them in the mean time.
"Serious Muslim friends tell me that the Koran provides a basis for them to affirm the human dignity of every person, just as Genesis (all are made in the image and likeness of God) does for Jews and Christians."
Absolutely. All are God's creatures. Of course it is gossipy and fun to use extremist views and misunderstood foriegn cultural norms as universally applicable in defence of the agenda or assemblage one is bound to. |
