Re: Atheist Experience Show - Sunday @22:30
Reply #9 - December 05, 2012, 02:12 PM
Its still at baby-infant stage, but been putting together a Mission Statement/Manifesto for CMHA (Cultural Muslim & Humanist Association) discussed in this video.
I hope to get Muslims of the Irshad Manji type on board too & want to donate all my future 'Allah Delusion' book sales towards it. I think it will mean we can start engaging with Muslims better, & also talk more openly without fear of losing our heads if we use the cultural muslim tag & push for more positive & constructive talks.
Anyhow here is what i have come up with so far, if anyone can think of a way of improving it then please let me know.
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Cultural Muslim & Humanist Association (CMHA) - Draft Manifesto/Mission Statement
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CMHA is a new Movement designed to bridge the existing impasse, negativity & fallout within the today's Islamic World.
Cultural Muslims are religiously unobservant, secular or irreligious individuals who still identify with the Muslim culture due to family background, personal experiences, or the social and cultural environment in which they grew up.
Cultural Muslims are anti-Islamists but bear no hatred towards Muslims. They are liberal/spiritual/nominal Muslims, who see themselves more Cultural (Pascal-Wager) Muslim than Islamist, more Humanist than Islamist; or exmuslims who no longer rely on faith.
They don't believe believe traditional interpretations of Islam; yet embrace its positive aspects e.g. hospitable culture, comradery, attend family get togethers on Eid & embrace in the traditional way, greet with 'Salam Alaikum', charity, respect for elders, foods, clothing, music, architecture, literature, poetry and even say Alhamdolillah when they sneeze etc. but push for the most potent & progressive memeplexes of our times; Rationalism, Humanism, Democracy, Equality, Secularism, Modernism & Science.
The term is a political neologism paralleling the term "cultural Christian". Malise Ruthven (2000) discussed the terms "cultural Muslim" and "nominal Muslim" as follows:
"There is, however, a secondary meaning to Muslim which may shade into the first. A Muslim is one born to a Muslim father who takes on his or her parents' confessional identity without necessarily subscribing to the beliefs and practices associated with the faith, just as a Jew may describe him- or herself as Jewishwithout observing the Halacha. In non-Muslim societies, such Muslims may subscribe to, and be vested with, secular identities.
The Muslims of Bosnia, descendants of Slavs who converted to Islam under Ottoman rule, are not always noted for attendance at prayer, abstention from alcohol, seclusion of women and other social practices associated with believing Muslims in other parts of the world. They were officially designated as Muslims by nationality to distinguish them from Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats under the former Yugoslav communist regime.
The label Muslim indicates their ethnicity and sometimes even group allegiance, but not necessarily their religious beliefs. In this limited context (which may apply to other Muslim minorities in Europe and Asia), there may be no contradiction between being Muslim and being atheist or agnostic, just as there are Jewish atheists and Jewish agnostics... It should be noted, however, that this secular definition of Muslim (sometimes the terms cultural Muslim or nominal Muslim are used) is very far from being uncontested."
Topic: Atheist Experience Show - Sunday @22:30