General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOn "Christianity vs. Islam" and why I can't stand white "Islam critics".
Simply put: If one starts from the (questionable) premise that it is possible to judge entire cultural blocks as a whole then the Islamic world has a long way to go to even come close to the body count that the "Christian Occident" has produced in the last century alone.
Aside from the fact that the "Christian Occident" played a crucial role in creating the conditions (economic and otherwise) that lead to the rise of radical Islam, nothing in the Islamic world ever came close to the Holocaust, carpet bombing of cities, dropping of nuclear bombs or use of napalm.
In my opinion most of goes under "Islam criticism" is simply an attempt at deflection. There is no question that the "white Christian man" is the champion of atrocities of the past century by a long shot.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)....
Today in most of the Islamic world homosexuality is not socially or legally accepted. In these countries, Afghanistan, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, the UAE, and Yemen, homosexual activity carries the death penalty.
....
With few exceptions all scholars of Sharia, or Islamic law, interpret homosexual activity as a punishable offence as well as a sin. There is no specific punishment prescribed, however, and this is usually left to the discretion of the local authorities on Islam.
....
Despite the formal disapproval of religious authority, the segregation of women in Muslim societies and the strong emphasis on male virility leads adolescent males and unmarried young men to seek sexual outlets with boys younger than themselvesin one study in Morocco, with boys in the age-range 7 to 13.[40] Men have sex with other males so long as they are the penetrators and their partners are boys, or in some cases effeminate men.[41] Liwat is regarded as a temptation,[42] and anal intercourse is not seen as repulsively unnatural so much as dangerously attractive.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_in_Islam
It's not a competition. You can be critical of the Westboro Baptist Church, and sex abuse in the Catholic Church, and Christian fundamentalists who shoot abortion doctors, AND the backward and barbaric aspects of Islam, all at the same time.
shenmue
(38,497 posts)whether anyone likes to remember it or not.
Not every Muslim leader in history was a misunderstood cuddly bunny.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Spain was no picnic after the re-conquest either.
FLPanhandle
(7,107 posts)I can complain about things happening right now though and work to change it.
Throd
(7,208 posts)Dreamer Tatum
(10,926 posts)Because let's face it, worse than disregarding a group that stands diametrically and murderously opposed to everything progressives believe is appearing to agree for one scant moment with someone whose values you do not share 100%.
WillowTree
(5,325 posts)Which of those were done in the name of Christianity?
I'll save you the trouble of looking it up. The answer is "None".
redgreenandblue
(2,088 posts)Wars are fought for power and resources. Relgion or nationhood are simply means to an end.
Dreamer Tatum
(10,926 posts)It's gotten stupid, the intellectual cowardice of people like yourself, who see threats and atrocities
by Islamists, and respond with moral equivalence lest someone think you're uncool and right wing.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)hughee99
(16,113 posts)sibelian
(7,804 posts)You've done exactly what you're accusing your target of.
whatthehey
(3,660 posts)and think that any lunacy can be questioned and criticized, without having to list every other historical lunacy first.
"He started it weeks ago!" should stay on the playground.
Dreamer Tatum
(10,926 posts)Adrahil
(13,340 posts)I believe in white privilege. But white guilt will not stop me from criticizing people of color who I think deserve it.
Also, I'm an atheist. I'm pretty critical of religion in general.
redgreenandblue
(2,088 posts)Unfortunately far too often people do the later, who really aren't in a position to.
Adrahil
(13,340 posts)... but your criticism was directly at whites with only minor qualification. It doesn't happen TOO often, but it does happen in "progressive" circles where I am told I have no right to speak as a straight white man. I freely admit that straight white men have oppressed many for a long time. But I refuse to allow myself to be oppressed on their behalf. I wish to work with my brothers and sisters as a full partner, though a partner who listens to their needs and wants and expresses, but does not impose, my own opinions.
sibelian
(7,804 posts)What differentiates legitimate criticism from being on a high horse? What actual standards are you applying here?