Among progressives, religion is rather unpopular, and for good reason. It convinces people to do sometimes do things that are bad on the basis of a guy (or maybe girl) in the clouds telling them to do so. Of course, many on the left focus on Christianity and its influence. Sure, we have a lot more Christianity than other religions in the domain of where this blog mainly relates, that being America. However, many events in the international community have been expressly justified in the cause and name of a religion by powerful and far-flung groups like ISIS, AQ, Boko, Hamas, Hezbollah, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, and their express justification/motivation they say is Islam. Yet many on the left give a knee-jerk reaction to any talk about it, which in today’s world, I don’t think is helpful.
Here’s a good analysis of what I’m talking about (and this is from a legit progressive site):
Let me start off by saying, I am in no way anti-Muslim. I’m very anti-organized religion – all organized religion. I’ve written many articles bashing the idiocy and ignorance of conservative “Christianity.” I also know that there are many peaceful Muslims in the world.
That being said, it’s undeniable that Islam, more so than any other major religion, is linked to violence, oppression, inequality, instability and anti-women beliefs. Even if you remove the radical extremists such as ISIS or al Qaeda, Muslim nations such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait and Egypt aren’t exactly beacons for freedom, free expression, equality, women’s rights or many other ideas liberals claim to support.
That’s why I wholeheartedly agree with Bill Maher when he says it’s difficult to call yourself a liberal if you defend the culture of Islam.
As a progressive, I’m a staunch defender of women’s rights, gay rights, religious freedom and equality. Those are values I don’t see reflected in the vast majority of Muslim nations, especially in The Middle East and south Asia. Right now in Saudi Arabia there are people in prison for preaching equality and freedom. In several large Muslim nations, women aren’t allowed to be out in public unless they’re covered. In at least a few others, homosexuality is still punishable by death.
I’m struggling to understand this; can someone explain to me how any of that is liberal or why liberals would defend this religion, while seemingly never having any problems bashing right-wing Christian idiocy? Like I said, liberals defending Islam is similar to how conservatives defend guns
And here’s the big point of this article I really like:
...Liberals will often respond with ridiculous comparisons. They’ll harken back to the Crusades from a 1,000 years ago to try to make a point, or they’ll claim any white male who carried out a horrific act of violence over the past several decades is a “Christian terrorist.” If a Muslim kills 5 people because they’re a lone psychopath, that’s not Islamic extremism. If a Muslim kills 5 people in the name of Islam, that’s Islamic extremism.
That above is a great summation of the problem. Now obviously, Islam is faith to close to a plurality of the world and its here to stay. There must be no war between general Islamic Civilization and The West: there doesn’t need to be. However, Islamic Extremism is a serious problem, occurs in countries allied and not allied with the US and/or Israel, occurred before and after Bush/Cheney, occurs in countries with and without oil, and has undertaken mass attacks on all inhabited continents. And they have their own beliefs about rapture, which are much more gruesome than people just simply thinking it will happen.
Before some try to blame it on colonialism, I’ll point out that the colonization of sub-Saharan Africa was much more brutal than the brief period during which France/Britain controlled the Levant (about 25 years): they controlled subSarahan Africa for almost 100 years. The economies and standards of living in Africa are far worse by nearly every metric than in the Middle East. Most of the Muslim countries in the Middle East were under the Caliphate before 1918 with coreligionists.
Point is: lets have a real discussion, stop the knee-jerk reactions, and tarring anyone who wants to.