this is just flat-out false. i’ve heard plenty of denouncement of terrorist acts from muslims. if you want to hear them YOU need to seek them out because they don’t have television shows on Fox News.
Have you considered Sufism? The “tolerant Muslims”, heh. Undogmatic, non-violent, mystical and joyful. Known for very beautiful poetry.
There is a community of the spirit.
Join it, and feel the delight
of walking in the noisy street
and being the noise.
Drink all your passion,
and be a disgrace.
Close both eyes
to see with the other eye.
-Rumi
Those people are takfiris. You can’t reason with takfiri.
I don’t think you’ll ever allow yourself to be convinced otherwise.
Immediately after 9/11 a local mosque in my area held an open-house. They answered questions put forth in writing by the attending quests. They did not choose my question so I waited until it was over to discuss it with the elders. I asked how they felt about the giant statues of Buddha that were destroyed in Afghanistan. I was told that Islam did not accept false idols so it was justified.
If you wish to act indignant at the prejudices of the world do not presume that you live in a vacuum. The acts of terrorism committed around the world would suggest that not only is prejudice not a one way street, it is heavily traveled by Muslims.
And in a city in NZ I lived in local Christians destroyed statues of Bast and Anubis in a public garden. Smaller scale yes, but they felt they’d done the right thing
No it doesn’t.
You can’t be an apostate if you were never a Muslim.
There are also very stringent conditions for what constitutes an apostate. It’s not enough just to leave the faith.
To the OP, do what feels right and fulfilling to you. In my opinion, the strongest arguemt against converting is the anti-Muslim bigotry you’d have to face from westerners.
Nah. I’m not handing out Warnings that easily.
I will note that you appeared to be quite capable of expressing your thoughts without resroting to the name-calling, so you would be well advised to refrain from repeating that part of your post.
[ /Modding ]
The Koran doesn’t say anything about that. It calls him Ibrahim throughout, and doesn’t mention her at all.
I don’t really care what religion you choose, but please spare us your shallow characterizations of Hinduism.
I missed that. What Christian terrorist organization took credit for it?
Um, did I just misread this or does kanicbird think there are multiple Gods and we can pick between them? This seems to be a serious departure from the monotheism line we’ve heard so far.
Good for you, K.B., glad to see you’re open to new, polytheistic ideas. In the meantime, I’m just gonna stand over here in case of lightning.
What are you talking about? The OP told of his experience in India. If that counts as a shallow characterizations of Hinduism, why aren’t you calling for many in this thread to not post their shallow characterizations of Islam?
I think clairobscur did exactly that in post #74
Not quite the same. shallora made the ridiculous claim that there aren’t any moderate Muslims. The OP wrote of about his observations of how cows got treated better than the poor and starving. If that counts as a shallow characterization of Hinduism, then plenty in this thread have done the same regarding Islam. Of course it was a silly charge by BrightNShiny in the first place.
Some people in India probably do treat cows better than people. That has nothing to do with the fact that India has a lot of poor people due to disastrous colonial policies and subsequest post-Independence economic mismanagement. That has nothing to do with any mainstream Hindu philosophy of how people should be treated generally. The OP stated that he got turned off of the Hindu religion because he saw some people treating cows better than people. I’m quite sure he didn’t bother to visit the numerous Hindu charitable organizations that strive mightily to help poor people on a daily basis (several of which my family are heavily involved with). He has used his shallow observations of India to make a shallow characterization of Hinduism, and I’m calling him on it.
As for defending Islam, while I’m not going to come in here and bash it, it’s not my job to defend it either. I’m not familiar enough with the ins-and-outs of Islamic doctrine to defend it against accusations, and there are already plenty of people in this thread defending it just fine.
If you can’t see that the OP was making insulting generalizations, there’s nothing I can do for you. :rolleyes:
There are several Muslim majority states today. As a whole, they are not democratic and don’t treat their citizens or their neighbors well. If you are serious about learning what you are getting into, try reading America Alone, by Mark Steyn. He doesn’t get into the theology at all (nor will I) but he does an excellent job of summarizing what happens when a state becomes more than 50% Muslim.
Also consider that the majority of wars in the world involve a Muslim participant. You are signing on to a lot of involvement in war for the rest of your life. Also, from one of your posts it sounds like you’re already contemptuous of Shiites. That’s how these things start. I’m an agnostic but I think I have more respect for the religion of the Shiites than you do.
The problem is theocracy, not Islam. Christian theocracies have taken a backseat to no one in oppression and terror.
Well if that’s how you’re making your decisions then why are you posting on a message board where you will get responses that appeal to reason? The thread title uses the word convince. Can you convince me not to enjoy strawberry cheesecake, or the Beatles, or anything mentioned in Cafe Society for that matter? Why not be consistent and say “I feel like converting to Islam. Can you make me feel bad about it?”
I’d agree if today’s date were December 8, 1493 or so. But have you any cites for the last 50 years or so? In fact are there any Christian theocracies right now? And if so, what have they done that compares to the stuff mentioned above? BTW, I’m signing off and have a busy week planned. If you choose to respond I can’t promise I’ll be back at SDMB within the next few days. But I will check in here eventually.