Just the other night I watched a video of a debate that was
centered on this question.. It was given by some group called Intelligence, or squared. I found the website, though I have not been able to find the video I saw the other night… The web site is http://www.inteligencesquared.com.
I have to admit that I am not really good a remembering people’s names, so I do not remember the names of the people who spoke for or against the idea that Islam is a Religion of Peace.
One young lady, who spoke in favor of the topic, explained that where she grew up, here in the United States, she had as many rights as the men, and did not have to wear head coverings… All of the things she pointed to as reasons why Islam was peaceful and allowed equal standing for women were benefits of the struggles conducted by the “Women’s suffrage Movement” and not something that was allowed her by the Islamic Clerics.
One man told about how he had grown up to be a Jihadist only to spend time an a Cairo prison. It was here, if I understood what he had said, that he really started to read the Quran and began to see that there was a more peaceful side to it…
The other two people on the panel spoke against the concept.. and they all made some interesting points.
To me the most telling points were made by the people who spoke against the idea.. One man brought up the fact that in his life time Mohammad engaged in 65 conquest.
Forget the fact that ever since Mohammad died, or was poisoned, the Shiite and Sunni sects have been fighting over who would be in charge of this “Religion of Peace”. No, forget their several hundred years, since about the 4th Century, internal conflict.
Think about this : in the last couple of hundred years the only place where they have not been the aggressors was, it seems, in Bosnia, where they were attacked by the Serbs.. In that case the United States and NATO came the their aid and made the Serbs pull back..
Over the years I heard many people tell me that the Islamic religion is a religion of peace and tolerance, which might explain why people in places like Iran, for instance, have been tried for switching to some other religion, such as Christianity.
The left accuses the Republicans of having a “War Against Women” because the Republicans are against law that would require Religious organizations to pay for women’s contraceptive materials. When is the last time these people, who say they are for Womens Rights, has said anything about the middle eastern practice of stoning rape victims, for adultery, because the were unable to get 4 males to say that she was indeed raped..
There was an American movie some years ago that told how a Princess of the Royal Family was beheaded for Adultery. When the movie came out the Saudi Royal family said that these people should not have been allowed to make the movie, not on the grounds that it was untrue but because it cast a bad image on Muslims. If you don’t want the bad things to get out, then don’t do them…
Here is a story that I believe I have told here before but bears repeating.. When I was in the Air Force, while stationed at MacDill AFB, I was on a mobility team that, in case of emergency, would go to Riyadh Saudi Arabia. During the numerous rehearsal, when we would even go so far as to board a plane, part of out briefing was that any woman who was dark skinned could request to be excluded from the mission… Why you ask? Well it is rather simple.. Even though we would show up to help them, and in uniform, there was the chance that these women would be taken into custody for not wearing the required head covering.. Another show of tolerance?
I say: go by what they do and not what they say. When you look at it that way you can see how benign and tolerant they are..
Thanks,
That Joe Guy.
That Joe Guy 