Can Islam reform?

[shadow9d9]

Originally posted by: Zebo
Absoulty not. Only those ignorant of history could ignore 1400 years of non-stop malevolent atittudes, hostile acts, persecution, mass-murder, of non-Muslims have been commited by muslims. Even today people seem unaware what has been the fate of Chrsitians/free thinkers/buddhists.. etc in Indonesia, in the southern Sudan, in northern Nigeria, in Pakistan and Kashmir and Bangladesh, in southern Thailand, in the Philippines...should I go on? Moderize as in what? Thier prophet calls for them to covert the world by sword if need be and that includes killing non-observant, i.e. moderate muslims.

Same as Christians, except they've been doing it for 2000 years.

 

[Rainsford]

Originally posted by: JS80

Originally posted by: Rainsford
Since when is a religion, and everyone who practices that religion, one big homogeneous group? Look at the United States, we have very tolerant Christians,and very intolerant Christians. Given the low bar for calling yourself a Christian, can either group truthfully claim that THEY are truly Christian and the other group is not? Islam is the same, why would we assume that a particular group is the "true" voice of that religion, while the other Muslims are just CLAIMING to be Muslim? The only reason I can see is that you're looking for some excuse to back up religious bigotry, but that can't possibly be it!

So what's my point? I think the problem is the people in the Middle East, and what needs reforming is their overall culture. This isn't a religious problem any more than George W. Bush is a religious problem. There is unfortunitly no price of entry into Islam OR Christianity (or any other religion for that matter), any idiot can start yapping about "his" religion and he has just as much claim as anyone else to it. The problem, then, would seem to be the idiots, not the religion itself.

you should try reading the koran, then the new testament, then give your opinion again.

I can't speak for the Koran, and I just might try reading it, but I spent a lot of years in Catholic school learning just how great the Bible was...and I got to say, on the whole I think you can use it to justify pretty much anything you want. And what's with this "new testament" bullshit anyways, Christianity's holy book is the ENTIRE Bible, or have they changed that since I was last in school?

 

[Rainsford]

Some quick research revealed something rather interesting when contrasting the holy books of Islam and Christianity. While contradictions to this idea are plentiful as well, it appears that Islam is the only one of the two that has anything nice to say about the other...or other religions in general. Passages in the Koran seem to indicate that it is possible that Christians and Jews will be treated the same way as Muslims in the afterlife...the Bible is not quite so charitable to infidels. Not only that, but a passage of the Koran reads "Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion.", quite possibly the smartest thing I've ever seen in ANY religious text (save for some gems from Buddhism). Not quite so black and white as you might think...

 

[Alaa]

Originally posted by: Rainsford
Some quick research revealed something rather interesting when contrasting the holy books of Islam and Christianity. While contradictions to this idea are plentiful as well, it appears that Islam is the only one of the two that has anything nice to say about the other...or other religions in general. Passages in the Koran seem to indicate that it is possible that Christians and Jews will be treated the same way as Muslims in the afterlife...the Bible is not quite so charitable to infidels. Not only that, but a passage of the Koran reads "Unto you your religion, and unto me my religion.", quite possibly the smartest thing I've ever seen in ANY religious text (save for some gems from Buddhism). Not quite so black and white as you might think...

Cheers, we have normal people who can think of Islam without being affected by what they hear. This is why you have brains ppl! Let Rainsford teach you how to use your brain.

 

[Kenazo]

Read up on Malcolm X if you want to see how Islam can reform. The wikipedia article on him is a good start.