That’s a good question and while I’ve learned quite a bit about Islam in the 22 years I’ve been with my wife I’m no expert.
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You are wrong. I realize the concentric circles of issues as a result of the fear of Islamic terror.
But terrorism is at the heart of the fear. And why? Because unfortunately too many muslims for way too long have proven these fears justified.
Nothing you can do about facts. They move for no one.
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I had a friend from Bangladesh who was a Muslim. We were friends long before 9/11. He was a normal guy for the most part. He trusted me with information that I never would or have divulged.
He said something interesting to me once. He said, “You know, if all people lived out the true tenets of their religions, there would be peace.”
He said more than that but that was the most pertinent statement.
Sadly, he had a deep hatred of Israel, something I subtlety tried to change. But his face would change when it came to Israel.
I liked the guy and he taught me a lot about ‘regular’ Islam and day to day life. But we couldn’t find common ground on Israel and that was something sad that I could not overlook.
Edit: We did lose touch, not because of anything other than life cicumstances. I still like him and would gladly reconnect should the opportunity arise.
Quran does talk about fighting at times. Feel free to share specific verses and I’ll see what I can share about my thoughts on it if you want.
For starters though I would say that Islam taught me to view things very carefully. While Jihad is considered highly, there is also teachings that taking an innocent life is akin to killing all of humanity. This makes practicing militant jihad a very (spiritually) dangerous proposition. Other teachings include that saving a life is like saving all of humanity. And various similar fractal patterns where something small is like something much larger. At the end of the day I believe that God is concerned with what’s happening in our hearts rather than the magnitude of our accomplishments - all of this makes sincerity and depth of vision more important than having more/bigger guns - not that there’s anything wrong with guns.
Quran itself claims to lead some right while leading others astray - which would tend to give one pause - if noticed
edit: found a verse highly related to my post for anyone interested
It’s not just terror. The concern is that if they become a majority or at least a significant minority, they won’t need terrorism to get what they want as they will be able to use their vote.
Again, you have people who are afraid to criticize Islam not because of terrorism but because of fear of being labelled an islamaphobe.
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Ghadafi, the guy we bombed for no reason, said he didn’t need to bomb Europe, because they were going to out breed the Europeans.
That’s not a worry here. We are not concerned about having their culture imposed on us, we don’t want our people killed and our buildings destroyed.
Any other interpretation is simply a way to obfuscate the truth and villainize Americans with serious reservations about allowing a culture, that has vowed to kill us, a toe hold in the U.S.
I don’t have a problem with Muslims who are here to better their lives and live according to OUR values outside the home. I have a problem with radicals who’s job it is to subjugate and\ or kill as many Westerners as possible.
And the latter are harder to find because they play nice, until the order to kill comes in.
Do you have literally anything to back this statement up? I’d be interested in seeing it if so
If you mean that you find tremendous variation in how groups or individuals interpret scriptures? Differences in doctrine and interpretation? Yes. For sure.
@ Variation in behavior or belief among different denominations, or among individuals who identify as Christian? Yes.
I’ve share this before. From a psychology of religion perspective.
You can look at religious adherence according to three Bs.
Belief
Behavior
Belonging
People (and groups) vary tremendously in how much emphasis they put on these things. If these were a continuum, all of us would distribute ourselves at different points.
On an individual level, someone who identifies as Christian, or Muslim, or Jewish, or Hindu, might be very low on all three measures. Maybe their religion is something that has very little to no influence on their life, even in a personal way.
edited for clarity
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Most Somali youth grow up going to Islamic schools on the weekends learning Arabic and the quran. Memorizing sections of it and etc.
I was only one of the few kids who didn’t grow up like this. I’m lacking in some areas of Islam.
Reading though I have like i said read translations of the Quran. I have also been to numerous lectures and etc.
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I realized recently my cousins in Canada actually watch and love hockey. My mother has recently been taking my siblings to hockey games as well.
It might be too late.
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He has not heard anything said by people, from Hitchens, Dawkins and Maher to Milo Y. and Shapiro.
Trump gave a speech in Europe in which he talked about how Western culture was at risk.
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The same happens here but most of the kids are Yemen refugees.
Yup, reams… Wait a minute, aren’t you the guy to tell me to do my own homework and find it myself?
Maajid Nawaz, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Sam Harris and a few others…
For the record, I am glad you made it out of that hell hole. What I know about life in Somalia is pretty much all bad.
So I am glad your here and safe to speak freely.
If you have literally anything that you can show the GOP exclusively fears Islam due to terrorism and what portion make up that category as opposed to the “Dem lies” version I’d love to see it.
You have names of people? That’s your evidence that all GOP fear of Islam is rooted in a realistic fear of terrorism?
…This is a bunch of bullshit. It’s not the GOP nor the ASS. There is a lot of cross pollination on the issue. And yes, you want answers, those names have them.
I’m simply asking if you have the ability to back up the below statement at all, with anything more than your own views and life stories.
Those people have spoken out about Islam as a culture that is in opposition to Western values more than they mention terrorism. Ali has spoken out about the treatment of women in Islamic nations.
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You didn’t do a good job on your homework. Those people you brought up don’t help your case any. In fact, they disprove your position.
Oh I know the “nobody cares about the different culture” line is total horseshit. I know a decent number of people personally that would invalidate that.
That being said, I’m not opposed to believing the MAJORITY (51%+) of Republicans fear Islam for terrorism reasons. Those people just generally don’t understand math that well. I was hoping he had some actual stats. I think mass psychology and things like pew data is super interesting.
I mean shit, Trump became the most powerful man on the planet using only mass psychology, clearing an entire field of professionals