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Al Barger and MoreThings - getting people's goats since 1998.
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September 26, 2002
A letter to John Derbyshire at National Review
Derb,
In your "Don't Blame Islam" column you argue against judging the Koran by the standards you would apply to any other literature. Your argument goes something like that you can't judge religious writings the same way you do any others. "The tenets of my religion assert that when I take communion I am ingesting the actual flesh and actual blood of an itinerant preacher who died 1,973 years ago in a backwater outpost of the Roman Empire."
This is not an argument in defense of Islam. It is an argument AGAINST Christianity. Christianity, like Islam, is simply WRONG. Things didn't REALLY happen like they say in those books.
Religious literature should be read and held to the same standards of judgment as any other. If it is irrational, or contradicts known facts, then it should be judged as such. Basing your belief systems on things that aren't true is prone to get very bad results. In the immortal words of Stevie Wonder, "When you believe in things you don't understand, then you suffer. Superstition ain't the way."
You CAN believe in the Koran and Allah and be a decent, kind person, such as your auntie's neighbors- or you can be a big POOPY head, such as most of the Muslims who have projected themselves onto our radar screens. The Koran surely seems to have some evil stuff in there, but then so does the Christian bible, particularly the Old Testament. An individual may carefully pick and choose what they want to emphasize and how to interpret things.
Overall, though, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The "eating" ie actual practical results of Islam in modern times strongly suggests that it is an inferior belief system. Not only is it palpably not true, but is the driving force behind many of the world's worst evil and hateful political and social regimes, producing little but poverty and terrorism.
It may be that this is not due to anything inherent in the Koran. It could just be that a big portion of modern adherents are individually wicked.
Then there is reality. If Muslims wish me to have a better opinion of their religion and culture, they're going to have to show me something different. I'm willing to give any individual Muslim a chance, but I won't apologize for noticing that the lion's share ["jackal's share" might be a better phrase] of the world's worst wickedness is currently coming from their general direction. Nor will I choose to carefully not notice the lack of strong rebuke for their radical brethren among many of the supposedly more moderate Muslims.
Rather than coddling Muslims in their false beliefs, and trying to show them how they can pick and choose the nice stuff (just as you "politely ignore" the guides to slave holding in Leviticus), perhaps there is a better way. Perhaps we would be better served by (very nicely and solicitously) educating them with truth and reason, so that they can individually come to grips with the fact that Islam is simply NOT TRUE. Now THAT is the beginning of being open to reason.
posted by Al at 9/26/2002 01:27:00 AM
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