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Originally Posted by Immacolata
Perhaps that is all the islamic religion needs. A sound theological overhaul to drag it into the 21st century, screaming and kicking. Awful lot of screaming and kickin' going on already. Just isn't well on the dragging side of things.
It would help if some of the oh-so-liberal-egalitarian european countries would create a modern theological faculty for islamic studies. Not just the dissection of ancient text but actual education of imams and theological study. Might even develop some new doctrines out of it. Problem is perhaps that today the imams are educated in countries that are not keen on that kind of debate.
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We have such academies in Germany. As far as I know, all of them are rated as extremely hostile towards the constitution, our Bundesverfassungsschutz reports year for year. they are under constant obervations, but demands of the BVS to shut them down for the BVS has things no longer under control, are ignored by politicians. Most famous one is the Saudi-founded king Fahd-academy in Bonn. BVS lists it as a centre of terror-breeding.
See my longer remarks here that adress that problem, too:
http://people.freenet.de/Skybird/DialogueWithIslam.rtf
You cannot squeeze out of Islamic ideology what it does not include, in any way or another. That's why educating imams in Europe will not work (it is the old idea of Europe'S left and Eurocrats to create an Euro-Islam by that). But that is feeding the beast with your own hand, and literally so. What would the church's religion be withoiut Jesus? No new testament, only the old one. No christianity therefore, just that old hack-'n-slay-stories of the OT. It would effectviely be where Islam has been and still is today thorughout all the last 13 centuries. Problem is - Islam does not hold those potentials like other religions. It stagnated, it had no one coming after Muhammad. no parallelfigure to jesus. Only the old dogma, and stagnation. No reformation. no enlightenment. no dispute, only the riigid sticking to the reamrks of Muhammad, and that is all. Squeeze it as you want, you will not get much more out of it, no matter how many European academies you found.As far as I do have red information about several figures in Islamic history that had shown up with more liberal thiughts, and questions to Islam, all of these fiugures were not depending on the quran, but had stepped beyond it. They had left it behind in a way. And most payed with their freedom and/or their lifes with that. None was able to found a tradition that ever developed any signifoicant influence in the islamic world and changed the going of Islamic history.
That we in Germany is under pressure by Turkey to accept Turkish teachers and Imams in Germany, and Turkish language for educating, and that we do not state-control this process and shall not allow it being done by state-controlled Imams indicates that the reality is shifting towards exactly the opposite direction of what you wished for. I bet it is the same in all other European countries. Just look wherew Britain is standing today: a representiave survey showed just weeks ago that one third of Britiosh muslims would like to see sharia implemented, and excuse violance and terror acts if it helps to push islam in Britan and the West. the quote is even higher amongst the young ones. The British are fighting a lost battle, they were tolerant and reasonable for too long. One could also put it into other words: they were too arrogant for too lo0ng, assuming that their civilized superiority would be enough to tame Islam and domesticate it. Now the beast has escaped it's box, and grows stronger and stronger. Good luck, Britain. Luck will not help you, but such a phrase is considered to be well-meaning and polite when parting.