Hassan just served up some red hot truth ready for delivery straight to Liberateds place. No delivery charge since Lib also ordered up a side order of PWNAGE.
Well...Hassan's right of course, but there are times I feel like the summary executions of clergy by the Spanish anarchists in the 1930s and Enver Hoxha's ruthless suppression of Islam and Christianity in Albania were positive things. Religion is an extremely destructive force, responsible for many atrocities and injustices-- it is tempting to think that the ends may justify the means, and while I don't agree with those who view Islam as equivalent to Nazism, it's not that hard to imagine thinking like that, and thinking it needs to be dealt with in the same fashion.
Even growing up in the US with Christian fundamentalist nutjobs, when I was younger I would often think some mass executions and imprisonments of their leaders would be a good thing, and that's growing up in a relatively liberal society! If I were a 19-year-old atheist/antitheist in a place as religiously oppressive as Pakistan, I think I'd be completely okay with the idea of offing imams and burning down mosques. On an emotional level, I actually think liberated is showing more restraint than I would.
I think it's different for someone still in the Muslim world on both a practical and emotional level. Let me ask both you and Hassan a question-- if someone from an underground Saudi women's liberation group asked for some money to help them buy weapons and explosives for an assassination campaign against imams in their country-- if you knew they were on the level, if you knew you wouldn't get into any trouble for it-- wouldn't you at least be tempted to make a donation?
We don't need shit like that in the West, thankfully, and I would stand against violence against clergy or state oppression of religious leaders in the US or Europe-- but in parts of the world that are still suffering horrible oppression due to religious ideology and superstition I'm not sure I'd be so committed to liberal and non-violent resistance to religious oppression if I were there. Indeed, a strong argument could be made that even a violent and oppressive secular movement, in certain parts of the world would still likely be better than the status quo. The PDPA were a pretty violent and oppressive bunch, but I have no doubt I'd rather live under them than the Taliban, and that's speaking as a male-- if I were female it would be an even bigger no-brainer.
Topic: FFI vs. COEM [Split: Poster of the month!]