Oops. I see that I wrote, "to a single issue" instead of "with a single issue."
There are a number of problems with Islamic countries. But the source of the problem is hardly ever Islam itself.
I'd be interested to know what problems you and Sarman do think are the ones for which "Islam itself" is the cause. Are there any?
It's true that I haven't spent much time here recently, so know I've missed many interesting arguments. Maybe I can catch up a little.
Would you and Sarman believe, for example, that opponents and critics of female genital mutilation were by definition enemies of Islam? What are your positions where this practice is concerned? Where fighting and speaking against it are concerned?
What about those who believe that the limitations placed on Muslim women in many countries are rightfully described as "oppression." Do you consider that argument to demonstrate a hatred of Islam? Do you approve the oft-cited limitations on women? Disapprove?
What do you and Sarman think of the jihad that was called against Salman Rushdie? Did/do you approve of it? (I'm not asking what you think of Rushdie; only what you think of the jihad.)
Just trying to get oriented. My questions reflect my attitudes toward those subjects, of course.
But to many non-Muslims, those are emblematic issues! When Muslims defend those practices, many of us feel that the values/ethics gulf is hopelessly wide. But when religious Muslims oppose genital mutilation and oppression (I call enforced limitations on the basis of gender 'oppression') and jihad against a literary figure for a novel he's written, non-Muslims are able to feel that it's not Islam, but some atypical Muslim extremists, who represent those views -- and they know that all religion has extremist fringes: For example, there are Christians on SI who support state-mandated gestation of a fertilized ovum to term. There are those who support this even in the case of juveniles, rape, incest! Even in the case of those females who don't share their religious beliefs they believe those women, or girls, should be forced by the state to gestate. To me, that's about as oppressive as anything short of iron shackles. But but I know the mandated-gestation position is a minority one, and so don't see all Christians as would-be totalitarians.
I hope these questions aren't in themselves offensive. If they are, please explain why, and that itself will educate me.
If all this has been clarified already, maybe others, also, have missed those exchanges.
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