One could have said the exact same thing about Christianity for the past 2 thousands years. However, since it's not your religion now, Islam must assimilate itself to western religions or be destroyed without a chance to overcome(As was given to Christianity).
This is simply incorrect.
The Enlightenment was largely driven by values endorsed and reinforced by Christianity. Simply put, the West would not have evolved beyond tribalism and territorial wars were it not for the influence of Christianity.
Christianity as a religion has never been a threat to civilization. At worst, the ambitions of nations attempt to bolster support for a territorial acquisition by espousing an evangelical cause - but no religion, or even philosophy, is exempt from this as evidenced by the Taoist influences that are strong throughout East Asia and the Pacific Islands.
Further, it is logically impossible for Islam to reform. The very premise of Islam is that all of Judaism and Christianity's key figures were Muslims and that it was through the distortion of scholars and clerics that Jews and Christians came to be. Islam is the 'final word' - the revelation of wisdom that has existed in heaven with god/allah for all eternity. The Qu'ran is allah's final say in what laws humans are to follow and how people are to go about their lives.
The "reform" in Islam was attempted. Shiite Muslims are Persians who refused to completely yield their culture to the Arab barbarism. All of Islam's "gifts" to humanity come from Shiite culture that was a passive-aggressive move on behalf of the conquered Persian empire. The Arabs were just fine destroying everything that wasn't Muhammad - and anything made in his likeness.
Islam in India was dampened considerably because of the language barrier. Because native Arabic speakers were few and far between, the Qu'ran had to be dealt with through translation of meaning - and much of this was done by native individuals who later learned Arabic... who padded the interpretations and focused lessons away from the whole "fight those who do not believe" part of the Qu'ran.
Part of the recent up-tick in Islamic fundamentalism has been the effort of Arab Muslims to release what they have deemed to be more accurate translations of the Qu'ran's meaning. For a long time, Arabs had little interest in seeing the Qu'ran in print or seeing it circulate abroad. That has changed, particularly after Arab muslims traveled from the middle east to areas around the world with local muslim communities who were seen as being far too permissive and as not understanding the Qu'ran because of poor translations.
It is not possible for Islam to reform so long as it believes that Muhammad is the prophet and that the Qu'ran is the revelation of God. If you believe in one - you have to believe in the other. If you don't believe in one, then can't believe in the other - and you aren't a Muslim, a follower of Islam.
Logically, you can "reform" Islam by pretending that about 2/3 of the Qu'ran doesn't exist - but this still leaves an institution that could only be honestly described as a front for "radicals" who will bother to read and believe the other 2/3.
A similar situation would be like slavery. A once barbaric and uncivilized group becomes civilized and enslaves a group of uncivilized people. The civilized free their slaves and expect the uncivilized former-slaves to simply assimilate to their civilization, whilst segregating them from that very civilization. The segregation soon stops and the civilized realize to atone for their past mistakes, they will now throw money at the very newly civilized former-slaves and expect them to assimilate faster and better to their civilized culture.
The first civilized group now claims that since they were able to become civilized, why can't these civilized former-slaves be equally civilized? Why can't they be more like them?
Black slaves were not uncivilized, at all. In fact, entering into the 1950s, Blacks had the lowest out-of-wedlock birth rates, the highest marriage rates, and some of the most stable and religious of families.
Then the "civil rights act" hit as a result of Blacks moving into the northern "free" states and under-bidding White unions. This is where "prevailing wage" laws came from. Black laborers would come into town from the Southern states and bid 30% less than what a White union worker would - the Blacks would get the job. "Free" states didn't like this idea, and soon started lobbying to try and force Blacks out of the market and 'back where they came from.'
This is also where a lot of construction permit concepts come from. By having the government adopt a set of codes that only your unions know and have agreed upon, you can keep rival unions from being able to obtain licenses in your domains.
You'll hear a lot of fuss over Jim Crow and other such issues - but these were a very minor thing compared to what was the real driving factor behind racism in the 60s. Simply put - "Equality" and "Freedom" are very nice slogans to club someone else over the head with, but a real ***** when it means you have to deal with your trade's market value deflating.
Then, when the Federal government got into play - things got all kinds of crazy. State and Federal policies essentially set up "black" and "white" districts that were in effect into the 70s and even 80s at the federal level (yes, the same institution that was supposed to be the hero in the civil rights movement). This compounded upon targeted benefit programs that made it more cost-effective to be a single mother than to be a married couple.
The remarkably strong Black Family core was destroyed by these policies and led to a feedback system of decay. Because these programs were so heavily geared toward 'benefiting' blacks and they had also been more or less relegated to 'black' districts within many densely populated areas - maintenance in these areas declined as did property values and quality of life.
This meant that values of inheritance declined for families that remained composed and that it became more difficult to establish an enduring 'legacy' for black families to assist in education and the like.
To the people who voted for these policies - these amount to unintended consequences from the best of intentions. Many of them look at the state of blacks, these days, and say: "Oh wow, good thing we have these policies in place or these people wouldn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of."
Because, you know, blacks are somehow lesser of a human species than the rest of us are. They can't survive without someone else paying their way.... (yes, I'm deliberately extrapolating from that perspective the racist logic inherent to liberals).
As for the people who championed these policies before the people to vote upon - they wrote essays in college or, in some cases, wrote books describing why these policies were necessary as forms of controlling various undesirable population segments. They described how these policies would effectively destroy these population groups and make them subservient.
What frustrates me most about 'my fellow conservatives' is that they often times fail to understand that the Democratic party figures are not stupid - they know exactly what they are doing... that's just how evil they are. Conservatives, contrary to what is being taught in school these days, are actually very trusting and caring people. They like to believe that there is goodness in every human being and are more inclined to grant people the benefit of the doubt - to assume something was in error or a mistake.
It's somewhat ironic.
Actually, you did justify killing women and children a while back on a Christianity bash thread and you did say it would be a good idea taking out areas like Baltimore during the riots.
There's a saying: "Pics or it didn't happen."
In other words, quotes.
I'm actually doing you a favor. I am fairly certain I know exactly what you are referring to, and if you return to it, you will see how you are in error, here.
I have argued for the logic of extermination - to include women and children, yes.
If you wish to include Christianity into the issue, we actually have to go back to the Old Testament where God ordered the Israelis to kill everyone in a land they overtook. The Prophet who relayed this message noticed that Saul had disobeyed this order and was going to broker captured livestock for personal gain and there were others who were going to take and/or market the survivors as slaves.
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There are numerous things going on within the context of that section - other scriptures establish that the subject tribes were corrupt and unclean (could be higher rates of disease) and were to be destroyed. Even if we remove the divine judgment idea from the picture - the point of not taking plunder was to not turn war into a form of economic sustenance nor a cultural assimilation.
To return to within a religious context - this order was relayed by a prophet and the decision to enact such a policy is one strictly retained by God. Under no rational theology could one use this particular segment as an enduring command or encompassing philosophy.
If I were to adopt the same philosophy to my own strategy, it would be my own independent reasoning and between myself and God - a decision I bear the weight of.
There's a considerable difference between inductive reasoning and scriptural justification. Much of the Old Testament is, within Christianity, applied through a process of inductive reasoning. Even much of the New Testament must also be applied through inductive reasoning.
There are few literal, time-eternal commands.
Smh, trying to make me seem like the idiot here.
Even if it were the case that I am an idiot, that does not clear your name of the label. Though it is my experience that idiocy is a localized phenomena. It comes and goes.
Though some people go out of their way to save a seat at their table for it.
If you were born a Muslim, no doubt you'd be a terrorist. And before you say some half witted comment in response, you'd be a terrorist, not because you are a Muslim but because you have the same mentality as ISIS.
This would depend upon what region of the world I was born in and what my exposure to other values systems I had.
ISIS is simply reading the Qu'ran and applying it. They believe Muhammad was the prophet and that the Qu'ran revealed through him is God's command. Whether or not we 'like' it is irrelevant.
Which is precisely what the Qu'ran says Islam is about.
Therefor, whether or not I would be a part of ISIS depends upon whether or not I would believe that God revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad. The probability that I would believe this would be more likely to be influenced by my exposure, as I said, to other value systems and other spiritual systems.
If I were raised in Saudi Arabia - I'd probably be plotting the assassination of the Saudi Royal Family because they run against God's system.
If I were raised in India - it's possible that I would have decided that Muhammad was insane and become a Buddhist.
I'd like to think that I would have picked up on the multiple incongruities it the Qu'ran and seemingly erratic behavior of Muhammad in the Hadith to question his legitimacy as a divinely inspired prophet (Muhammad wants more than 4 wives, allah gives Muhammad a revelation saying that he can have more than 4 wives. Muhammad wants to marry a girl younger than he's allowed, allah gives him a revelation saying he can marry Aisha... rather convenient) - but this is not certain.
You can argue that I have the same mentality as ISIS, but this really is a failure to understand 'mentality.'
Your mentality is lawlessness. Things can mean whatever they want to mean to suit the purpose at the time. "How can you say what Muslims believe when you're not a Muslim!?"
My mentality is lawfulness. There are rules and defined consequences to the world. "I can tell you who is a Muslim based upon the book written to do just that."
If you believe that terms have definitions - then I'm correct.
If you believe that how we feel about things is all that matters - then you're correct right up until the point where you become a statistic.
Of course Isis's growth is contributed heavily from US made-weapons. Don't you know that when the US invaded Iraq, it captured the current Isis leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, and it released him afterwards? Don't you know that the weapons Isis is using are all American made-weapons, which are still being sent to Isis:
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You would save yourself a lot of effort if you'd just read what I've already posted.
Yes.
I know this.
I also know why it is happening.
The success of Isis's military is not only supported by the US; look at their finance. They millions everyday through Iraq's fields of oil, and since the US's growth in oil production increased significantly to where it can even match Saudi Arabia's production, it really raises the question of who is financing Isis? If their military providers are the United States, then their financial sponsors are also the United States.'
This is a failure to understand how the economy works.
Oil from these fields is produced by a company. This company pays ISIS not to kill its workers. Or, ISIS does kill their workers and sets up its own market. Either way is the same. The oil is not actually bought directly by any nation at this point. Another company - usually a regional distributor, purchases the oil before delivering it to a global distributor - such as BP, Exxon, etc. There may be multiple intermediaries in the mix, and it can be difficult to track just how much oil in a tanker truck or ship came from where.
It's really sad that the American people are still blind to see the truth. Even the country is ranked higher than Isis as global peace threat. We can only hope there will be a civil war to overthrow the corrupted government. Only the matter of time though.
Yes. The sooner we can get that minor complication over with, the sooner I can get down to my true purpose for being here.
But here, you are saying Isis is what true Islam preaches...Tell me, Aim64C, a mosque in Saudi Arabia yesterday was bombed by Isis and killed 21 people.
That's what they get for being hypocrites and supporting the Saudis.
The top Saudi religious cleric condemned it, saying ''This totally criminal plot aims to split our ranks and sow chaos in our country but, God be praised, it will not find a way. The nation and society are united and under a wise leadership."
A man paid by the Saudi Royal Family who originally supported the Sunni militants in Syria before it became painfully obvious that the motives of those rebels would have them toppling the Saudis, as well.
And this religious cleric is worth of +50 years of Islamic knowledge known as Wahhabism and the more than 95% of 1.7 billion Muslims have all condemned Isis, but you who is not Muslim and not Arabic is going to say we're wrong and tell us what is right about our religion?
95% of what Muslims, where?
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Part of the problem with polling countries like Saudi Arabia is that they have roughly 18 million citizens and 8 million foreign workers with 51% of the population being under the age of 25.
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Saudi Arabia is a troubled nation that is trying to balance Islamic fundamentalism against the draw of Western wealth and economics. We know it. The Saudis know it. The people in Saudi Arabia know it.
And, yes, I will tell you what your religion believes. Or, rather, all I have to do is point to the sections in the Qu'ran that tell us what a Muslim is supposed to do and the sections of the Qu'ran that explain why the Qu'ran was 'revealed' - to make it clear how the deity that created the universe would have people live. If you have a problem with that, might I suggest you consider that you find a different religion that supports your values?
Islam is not a religion for spiritual enlightenment. It was preached by a warlord possibly under the advisement of the devil. It is built upon the raw expression of the power to subjugate. Those who have the power to bend and break others to their will are those who are most factually able to argue that they are following Islam. Islam does not provide for 'denominations' or for 'factions' - it argues against these interpretations and commands adherence to a single outlook.
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This is what Islam does to people.
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Cry me the river, please.
You're not very familiar with how our euphemisms work, are you?
You are the one who is upset that your religion is not what you want it to be.
By the end of summer, bombings in Saudi Arabia will be quite common, and calls to join the Islamic State will be common. That is just how Islam has always been.
You may not like that. That may not be the type of religion you wish to be a part of - but you are part of a religion with a book that clearly commands that you subjugate others. You are part of a religion where it is ordained for you to kill and where you are condemned for not 'riding with the prophet.' You are part of a religion where the commands that extend directly from god's wisdom expressly state to kill those who have turned from your religion.
You have two options. Well... three.
1 - You believe that Muhammad was the messenger and the the Qu'ran is the revealed wisdom of god. You then rid yourself of the pollution that is the western value system and conform to god's commands.
2 - You do not believe that Muhammad was the messenger and you find a different religion that supports what you believe to be the values that God or the supreme deity would have us adhere to.
3 - you remain in denial and become a statistic.
What does who sold them have to do with anything? Regardless, they were very uncivilized in comparison to other western civilizations.
"Civilized" and "Advanced" are two different things.