AL RAZI,
There is I think differences between criticising and blasphemy. I accept criticism and I find it quite healthy and one should have the right to do it and ask questions. There many things witch I don't like within the community and actually I prefer to live in a secular society where nearly everyone can live as he like to do it.
@deusvult "Until they can prove their assertions I just can't get on board with the things they advocate"
Religion is here as a belief. Or you believe in it or not, that's the challenge. You will find it out the moment of your death. Faith is like feelings, like love, hate, jalousy; will you find it somewhere in a body?.
I find the term "blasphemy" rather inadequate. It does not quite reflect ones intention. Criticism or blasphemy against any religion should not be a crime. Besides, i'm blaspheming against my own religion which I grew up in, this is my reaction to it. True it may be a tad shocking and aggressive, but even the most heinous blasphemy is dwarfed by the crimes committed by religion (or in the name of it) against humanity.
Not to say that I would condone things like "National burn a koran day" and so forth, that is not constructive "blasphemy". But to say such things about the prophets and the holy books is an idea that, to me at least, shines more truth than what is taught in revealed scripture.
Religion is just words in a book. Someone like Stalin, was just a man. Dare say something bad about him when he was alive and you would disappear into thin air. Islam has unfortunately built around the prophet the same cult of personality where we scare ourselves into "submission". Fear plays a huge part in the orchestra of religion, and therefore we must allow ourselves to be defiant.
Faith. A tricky thing. We can all write thousands of words about what faith means to us and everyone would come up with a different essay. But the question remains, is faith an innate emotion? and if so, faith in what? Every baby is born an unbeliever until it learns from its surroundings and begins to build its own system of truth. Faith in god (one or many, be it allah, jehova or vishnu) is not innate. Faith is something that is learned, and it can either be easily abused. It is not innate since it is clearly not necessarily for survival. Love, and fear, we need these to survive, just like animals, whom we are closer to than we think. Animals exhibit no faith, at least non that humans can recognize.
I do have faith. I have faith in myself and in my own abilities which we work hard for. They're not some reward from blah blah blah. I also have faith in others, in the human mind to do fantastic things despite all odds. My faith is constantly fed by proof and reward, religion has given me nothing to work with. I've taken plenty of leaps of faith in my life, but my faith is in the here and now, not in the heavens and hereafter.
Topic: Hello from Cairo