Muslims are ignorant & chauvenistic
Islam is ignorant & chauvenistic
.. I don't see much difference between the ..two statements.
There is a similarity & there is a difference, but some ex Muslims & pseudo liberals here are so keen to emphasize the difference, that they try to ignore the similarity, probably because they're just not brave enough to look at things in ways which would lead to discomfort & angst for their good selves.
It is because Islam is ignorant & chauvinistic that many Muslims become ignorant & chauvinistic. They'd be somewhat different people, & in all likelihood wouldn't be committing the same crimes had they been born elsewhere, in different societies & cultures.
A Jordanian man who honor kills his sister for freely intermingling with men would in all likelihood not indulge in the same act had he been born a Canadian Protestant. A Pakistani Muslim in Britain who gets his teenaged daughter married to her first cousin against her will would probably not indulge in the same act had be been a British born Anglican. A Saudi woman who is arbitrarily divorced by her polygamous husband via a triple talaq would not be treated in such an inequal fashion by her society & nation's laws had she been an Italian Catholic. Iranians would likely not stone had they been all Bahais, or Lutherans.The Talibanis couldn't blow up girls schools with the same easy in Communist Albania as they can do in Islamist Afghanistan. Had Salman Rushdie been a British Anglican by the name of Dan Brown & penned "The Da Vinci Code," instead of the "Satanic Verses," he'd not have fatwas for his death & the Japanese publisher of his book wouldn't be killed. Had the President of Chechenya been Orthodox Christian rather than Muslim, he wouldn't have praised the honor killings in his territory without being removed from his post & facing massive protests. The 8 year old Yemeni girl who was married off to a 30 year old man wouldn't be married had she been an Icelandic girl, rather than Yemeni. The Malay women who got lashed for out of wedlock sex yesterday wouldn't have been lashed had they been a Norwegian woman, where half of all babies are born out of wedlock.
A woman of Khadija's business acumen wouldn't have seen the same freedom to succeed in her profession in today's Saudi as she would in the Arabia of 14 centuries ago before Islam. A woman like Sajah who declared herself Prophetess in Muhammad's Arabia, couldn't do the same in today's Saudi or Yemen.
I know enough of the psychology of members here to realise that I would never convince anyone who doesn't want to be convinced, but I think the case is a slam dunk if anyone's willing toconsider it.
Yes, we as humans have tremendous capacities for imagination & interpretation & can do many wonderful things even if we come from the most backward & misogynistic cultures(& vice versa), but our religions & clutures do shape us to great extents, for better or for worse. Many of the crimes people commit, the inequalities & prejudices they exhibit towards women, towards homosexuals, etc are things which they'd
certainly not do had they been born in other cultures & religions. Also, the work ethic, the rational mindset, the interest in science & technology v. bombs & virgins etc are greatly shaped by our cultures.
Islam's ignorance & chauvinism does get translated very often into Muslims' misogyny & chauvinism. Placed in different environments, the ignorant & chauvinistic Muslims would often have been very different people. As a socio cultural indicator, Islam creates significantly more negatives than positives, which comes across in Muslim attiudes as well.
Topic: FFI vs. COEM [Split: Poster of the month!]