2-26-2002
Islam sucks
Joe Fisher
I'm not very fond of religion. The practice is
merely normative statements without credible positive statements
to support them and is largely determined by socialization. This
is why many people just adopt the religion in which they were
raised.
This is also why you don't find many white people
attending a mosque or why people raised in Orthodox Judaism don't
embrace Christ. These cultural differences are nothing more than
subtleties in the cesspool of religion.
Some religions suck more than others, though, and
one of them is Islam. It's not Muslims that I dislike - I just
dislike their faith.
Many atrocities have been carried out in the name
of Islam. Terrorism is a prime example. Some complain that movies
involving terrorism predominantly and unfairly portray terrorists
as Muslims.
But I fail to see how this is an
"unfair" portrayal. Where are the terrorists fighting on
behalf of Christianity, Hinduism or Judaism? They exist, but
they're on the ultra-fringe. I don't think Americans act as
sub-human as the Palestinians did following Sept. 11, dancing in
the streets and rejoicing. That brief moment in history will
forever leave me apathetic to their fate, if not hopeful for their
demise.
What about the Crusades? What about the Israeli
treatment of the Palestinians? These are religious acts of
violence carried out by non-Muslims. I must be wrong.
But am I? The treatment of the Palestinians by the
Israelis is not a religious matter; it's a security matter. The
people of Israel enjoy a fairly secular society where fear, not
faith, determines policy. The Crusades weren't just about God.
They were about expanding trade and general control. Hijackers and
suicide bombers actually think they're going to get some sort of
eternal reward for this. How stupid is that?
Islam also presents a danger to the welfare of
many due to its influence in Middle Eastern and North African
governments. Islam subjugates hundreds of millions of women,
sexual minorities and other religions where it's the law of the
land. The over-emphasis on treating people's faiths equally is the
reason most vocal people are on the anti-war side of the debate.
Fortunately, we have a secular public school
system in America that can deprogram the children of Muslim
immigrants and help them adopt more productive values.
Unfortunately, we have countries like Saudi Arabia
where children are taught to make friends with Muslims and adopt
their traditions.
Did you know that in Islam, reading the holy books
of other religions is a serious sin? So is screwing your
brother-in-law apparently. A man in Saudi Arabia recently was
convicted of raping his sister-in-law with punishment of six years
in jail and 4,750 lashes, to be administered 95 at a time. This is
the part the Saudis got right.
Violent rapists should be dealt with brutally. The
Saudis screwed it all up when the court ruled that the woman did
not consent but still committed the grave offense of banging an
in-law. She will receive six months in prison and 65 lashes. Don't
you just love the Islamic world where the women are raped, then
beaten?
Muslim extremists also get the honor of being
lumped together with the likes of the KKK. Apparently, they are
one of the last groups that don't consider anti-Semitism a taboo.
Munich 1972 is a good example. So is the past week. A Pakistani
official said Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's last
words before having his throat slit were, "I am a Jew, and my
father is a Jew."
I'm aware this isn't an exact representative of
all Muslims, but compared to other religious fanatics, it happens
quite frequently. Furthermore, if governments that perpetuate such
atrocities exist, there must be enough support for these values
among their citizens. Being that the women probably can't vote,
they are hopelessly trapped in the result of one of the most
destructive religions of all time.
This should tell you there is something uniquely
flawed with this one.
Turkey is the shining light amidst all this
madness. There's an understanding that a Muslim society can
prosper, as long as it downplays the whole Islam thing. Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, understood this.
"Countries may vary, but civilization is one,
and for a nation to progress, it must take part in this one
civilization," he said. "The decline of the Ottomans
began when, proud of their triumphs over the West, they cut their
ties with the European nations. This was a mistake which we will
not repeat."
I'd like to close by saying that the Muslim world
is the poorest, most illiterate, backward, unhealthy,
unenlightened, deprived and weakest of all the races. I don't have
to defend these words because I didn't say them. Pakistani
President Pervez Musharraf did at a science and technology
conference last week. Good job Pervez. The first step to recovery
is admitting you have a problem.
Daniel Pearl, you will not be forgotten. E-mail
Joe at joe@wayne.edu
http://www.southend.wayne.edu/days/feb2002/2262002/oped/islam/islam.html
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