On Oct 28, 2010, at 7:45 AM, Jerry Blevins wrote (Quoting Ron
Silverman):
Many of them make the following assumptions: That politically-active
Muslims are acting out of political motivations rather than Islamic
religious motivations; that they cherry-pick verses out of the Quran
to justify their actions, but Islam is not what motivates them;
The problem is that all the statistical evidence we have is that it IS
political motivations driving them. It is not an assumption but a
theory supported by much evidence. People may believe in Islam before
we invade their countries, but they do not necessarily blow themselves
up until we stir the kettle.
But even if that were not true, you cannot outlaw an *idea*. Even if
it were provably true that every single Muslim and his grandmother in
all of history were a stinking rotten scum, you accomplish nothing by
fighting "Islam". You fight the abuses actually committed--- not the
idea--- and you end up right either way. *If* you were right and Islam
is "not a religion" but a global anti-American, anti-Christian
conspiracy, you still end up in the same place, but you avoid
violating the very principles you claim to believe in and which you
claim they violate.
I don't think you can really argue against the hard evidence. But even
if you could win that argument, you would still face the harder
question of whether we should be evil to fight evil. That isn't a
question about what "they" do or do not do or what "they" do or do not
believe but rather a question about US and what we want to be, and
that is really much more important.
Sincerely,
Eric Vought
"Faith does not absolve us from trying to understand our world and
make moral distinctions with the eyes and brain given us. Religion is
as much responsibility as direction: Duty not Distinction."
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