Absence of Islam...

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- David
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Absence of Islam...
OP - November 09, 2012, 02:30 AM

I've not been on here much recently because my Japanese ISP blocks this site, and the proxy server slows my computer to an agonising crawl.

But while I was away a strange thing happened. I realised Islam had barely crossed my mind in weeks.

I’ve spent a great deal of time in Nicaragua over that last fifteen years, and the physical absence of Islam is always a relief. But I was based in Britain, so it was never far from my mind.

We’re used in the West to Islam being everywhere and in everything because Islam insists that it IS everything. I had to move to Japan to feel the peace that comes with its absence.

And then I wondered whether Islam may actually depend on the absence of peace, whether ferment and anger are necessary for its very existence. Perhaps peace kills it.

(Sorry, I’ve not though this through properly. Too busy rebuilding my termite-addled loo. A bit thick too, but that's a given.)
- moi
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Re: Absence of Islam...
Reply #1 - November 09, 2012, 07:15 AM

That almost defines it as a mental health issue! A form of anxiety syndrome!

Quote
Religious Trauma Syndrome: It's Time To Recognize It
in Recovery from Religion

"I’m really struggling and am desperate never to go back to the religion I was raised in, but I no longer want to live in fear or depression. It seems that I am walking through the jungle alone with my machete; no one to share my crazy and sometimes scary thoughts with.

After years of depression, anxiety, anger, and finally a week in a psychiatric hospital a year ago, I am now trying to pick up the pieces and put them together into something that makes sense. I’m confused. My whole identity is a shredded, tangled mess. I am in utter turmoil."

These comments are not unusual for people suffering with Religious Trauma Syndrome, or RTS. Religious trauma? Isn’t religion supposed to be helpful, or at least benign? In the case of fundamentalist beliefs, people expect that choosing to leave a childhood faith is like giving up Santa Claus – a little sad but basically a matter of growing up.

But religious indoctrination can be hugely damaging, and making the break from an authoritarian kind of religion can definitely be traumatic. It involves a complete upheaval of a person’s construction of reality, including the self, other people, life, the future, everything. People unfamiliar with it, including therapists, have trouble appreciating the sheer terror it can create and the recovery needed....

http://www.marlenewinell.net/religious-trauma-syndrome-its-

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.

A.A. Milne,

"We cannot slaughter each other out of the human impasse"
- billy
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Re: Absence of Islam...
Reply #2 - November 09, 2012, 12:19 PM

Why is the site blocked in Japan I wonder

"we can smell traitors and country haters"

Quote from: arX on May 01, 2011, 03:33 AM
God is Love.
Love is Blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.
- Tonyt
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Re: Absence of Islam...
Reply #3 - November 09, 2012, 01:26 PM

It seems to ping fine from Tokyo:

http://www.just-ping.com/index.php?vh=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.councilofexmuslims.com%2F&c=&s=ping%21&vtt=1352216691&vhost=_&c=
- Tonyt
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Re: Absence of Islam...
Reply #4 - November 09, 2012, 01:35 PM

So what would Saudi Arabia be like without Islam?

With all that oil wealth, it would probably be a real cosmopolitan place on the cutting edge of technology, the arts, and fashion, sort of like a Silicon Valley, New York and Milan all rolled into one. Perhaps it would even be a leader in the space race, competing with the USA and China.
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Re: Absence of Islam...
Reply #5 - November 09, 2012, 02:01 PM

I think it is Carl Sagan who commented that we would have colonies on Alpha Centauri without Xianity. Is Islam a similar brake on humanity?

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.

A.A. Milne,

"We cannot slaughter each other out of the human impasse"
- yeezevee
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Re: Absence of Islam...
Reply #6 - November 09, 2012, 02:46 PM

Quote from: Tonyt on November 09, 2012, 01:35 PM
So what would Saudi Arabia be like without Islam?

.........................

well Human brain chemistry and the process that enables them to think/to project didn't change for the past at least 2000 or more years.. ..

So without Islam for that matter without stupid religious nonsense by now part of humanity will living and exploring the universe not just moon and mars.. On top of that the society would have better morals and better human nature than what we have now around the globe..

Do not let silence become your legacy.. Question everything
I renounced my faith to become a kafir,
the beloved betrayed me and turned in to a Muslim
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Re: Absence of Islam...
Reply #7 - November 09, 2012, 07:41 PM

Quote from: moi on November 09, 2012, 02:01 PM
I think it is Carl Sagan who commented that we would have colonies on Alpha Centauri without Xianity. Is Islam a similar brake on humanity?

Did Carl Sagan really say that? Even as an exaggeration it's rather silly.
- ateapotist
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Re: Absence of Islam...
Reply #8 - November 09, 2012, 08:01 PM

Quote from: David on November 09, 2012, 02:30 AM
And then I wondered whether Islam may actually depend on the absence of peace, whether ferment and anger are necessary for its very existence. Perhaps peace kills it.

Not sure aabout the correlation between peace and religiousity, but here's an article about the correlation between poverty and religiosity:
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2010/09/04/a-correlation-between-poverty-and-religiosity/

Quote
Social scientists have put forth numerous possible explanations for the relationship between the religiosity of a population and its average income level. One theory is that religion plays a more functional role in the world’s poorest countries, helping many residents cope with a daily struggle to provide for themselves and their families. A previous Gallup analysis supports this idea, revealing that the relationship between religiosity and emotional wellbeing is stronger among poor countries than among those in the developed world.

"Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so." -- Bertrand Russell

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Re: Absence of Islam...
Reply #9 - November 09, 2012, 09:02 PM

Quote from: ateapotist on November 09, 2012, 08:01 PM
Not sure aabout the correlation between peace and religiousity, but here's an article about the correlation between poverty and religiosity:
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2010/09/04/a-correlation-between-poverty-and-religiosity/

Interesting, though it does not always hold true. Especially for Islam, where some of the richest Muslim nations are also the most religiously conservative (Saudi Arabia and the Gulf).

Also, the question they asked "Is religion an important part of your daily life?" is a little simple and says nothing about whether people are scriptural literalists, whether they reject scientific knowledge such as evolution, etc.
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Re: Absence of Islam...
Reply #10 - November 09, 2012, 09:23 PM

I'm sure there are correlations between poverty and religiosity but I think there are several variables at play that make it not a hard and fast rule. For example, America is the richest nation on earth, and has levels of religiosity higher than anywhere else in the developed world.

"we can smell traitors and country haters"

Quote from: arX on May 01, 2011, 03:33 AM
God is Love.
Love is Blind. Stevie Wonder is blind. Therefore, Stevie Wonder is God.
- moi
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Re: Absence of Islam...
Reply #11 - November 09, 2012, 10:40 PM

The important vector is inequality. Islamic nations have very large numbers of poor very religious people and a few incredibly wealthy people who actually manage to skew the average incredibly.

CIA wealth per capita is thought provoking.

When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.

A.A. Milne,

"We cannot slaughter each other out of the human impasse"
- David
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Re: Absence of Islam...
Reply #12 - November 10, 2012, 11:18 AM

Quote from: ateapotist on November 09, 2012, 08:01 PM
Not sure aabout the correlation between peace and religiousity,

I was talking inner peace, not world peace. Should have made that clear.

As for why it's blocked in Japan, I've no idea. I can pick up a really crap connection on the neighbour's mobile wireless. Perhaps my ISP doesn't like the word 'Muslim' in the domain name.

I'm in Osaka not Tokyo, by the way.
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