American cartoonist goes ghost over Muhammad cartoon

tater · 09-19-10, 09:27 AM

Religion deserves no special respect. The only thing I will grant it—being an American, after all—is the freedom to exist, and the freedom FROM it being imposed by the state.

Religion is nothing but a set of ideas people chose to hold. It is not an "indelible trait." Disliking it, even hating it is NOT racist—religion is a choice, not a "race." It is no different that membership in a political party. If you cannot hate or dislike a religion freely, then you cannot hate or dislike a political movement. It needs to be able to stand up as any other idea does. If it is so weak that it cannot survive scrutiny (or name-calling), then it's clearly not the strongest idea set.

Islam, IMO, is by far the worst of the world's religions. We'll have the "usual suspects" here leap in to defend Islam, as they always do. People will suggest that "not all muslims are extremist." Of course. Some don't actually practice Islam—and if you live in the muslim world and are not a strong believer you still have to fake it. The doctrines are clear, however, and the major branches (that contain the large majority of muslims) have regressive doctrines. A better way to look at things with an eye to a more statistically significant sets of people is to look for progressive, classically liberal NATIONS that are also muslim. Oh, wait, there aren't any.

That should be telling. The "west" has had monarchy, oligarchy, despots, plus several varieties of successful, secular liberal democracies. What % of the muslim world is the latter, historically? Zero.

The proof is in the pudding as they say. They've had a couple hundred years, plus "nation building" that did everything to encourage democratic, secular government. They invariably fall back into theocracy. The "light" of the muslim world democratically is Turkey—now with an islamist government.

09-19-10, 09:27 AM	#8
tater Navy Seal Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: New Mexico, USA Posts: 9,023 Downloads: 8 Uploads: 2	Religion deserves no special respect. The only thing I will grant it—being an American, after all—is the freedom to exist, and the freedom FROM it being imposed by the state. Religion is nothing but a set of ideas people chose to hold. It is not an "indelible trait." Disliking it, even hating it is NOT racist—religion is a choice, not a "race." It is no different that membership in a political party. If you cannot hate or dislike a religion freely, then you cannot hate or dislike a political movement. It needs to be able to stand up as any other idea does. If it is so weak that it cannot survive scrutiny (or name-calling), then it's clearly not the strongest idea set. Islam, IMO, is by far the worst of the world's religions. We'll have the "usual suspects" here leap in to defend Islam, as they always do. People will suggest that "not all muslims are extremist." Of course. Some don't actually practice Islam—and if you live in the muslim world and are not a strong believer you still have to fake it. The doctrines are clear, however, and the major branches (that contain the large majority of muslims) have regressive doctrines. A better way to look at things with an eye to a more statistically significant sets of people is to look for progressive, classically liberal NATIONS that are also muslim. Oh, wait, there aren't any. That should be telling. The "west" has had monarchy, oligarchy, despots, plus several varieties of successful, secular liberal democracies. What % of the muslim world is the latter, historically? Zero. The proof is in the pudding as they say. They've had a couple hundred years, plus "nation building" that did everything to encourage democratic, secular government. They invariably fall back into theocracy. The "light" of the muslim world democratically is Turkey—now with an islamist government.