Good job Zaiba.
Kristianne Backker is a professional journalist and an experienced media type, so you threw yourself in at the deep end by debating her first time out. You did well too, kept your cool and made your points clearly and articulately.
However - and don't take offense at this, because you did come across very well - but there's times when inexperience shows. If you debated her again in a year or so you would walk all over her, but at this stage you just held your own. For example, when she was going on about how a Jew who went to Israel shouldn't leave their religion over the abuses of the Israeli state, a more experienced debater would have taken the fight right back into her court and demanded to know why the heck not? If Israel is behaving according to the Talmud and the Torah, and a Jew doesn't like their behaviour why on earth should they remain a Jew?
Same with a muslim who doesn't like what happens in Saudi and finds that they are acting in accordance with the Qur'an and hadith. Then she would be in the awkward position of trying to justify Saudi laws and customs with reference to a set of texts that I doubt she really knows much about.
I wouldn't go that route though because there is plenty of evidence that the driving ban isn't "Islamic" but more a hyper extension of the male guardian/ fear of illicit sex, but there are a multitude of "cultural practices" like prohibition of missionary ( and atheistic) proselytizing, the extreme punishments of homosexuality and deconversion, attitudes towards non Muslims, Jews, etc in which the "culture" is very well informed of the"doctrinal" issues of Islam which can't be easily weaseled out of.
Blaming your parents is hogwash as well. It doesn't matter how much Islam you would have gotten once you get that bug that things don't seem right and you start asking questions it doesn't matter how hardcore your parents were or how liberal you still would have questioned. You're parents loved you which I would think would be more important than silly doctrine issues. I mean what the fuck she just went strait into "it must have been your parent's fault" just like any ignorant person would say of any "deviant" problem like crime or whatever.
You did great Zaiba. You were honest.
Topic: Radio Show Discussion