# What exactly is good about Islam? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 28, 2016, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304 "2016-11-28T18:48:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/61 "2016-11-28T19:59:18Z")
The Bad Thread Starter Pack 1. Create an OP full of straw man arguments, unsupported suppositions or any poorly reasoned set of statements with no evidence. 2. When asked to back up your assertions, do more of the same. 3. Continue missing the point, but claim to be interested in hearing counter-arguments. 4. Get snippy, defensive and later on claim that all the people pointing out your assertions are BS really haven’t presented any good factual, counter claims to your silly OP. It’s obviously either personal and / or the inherent bias of the board. 5. Very helpful to have a recent join date and be still in high school, or at least argue as if you were. 6. Leave the board in a huff, claiming victory all along. Honestly OP, I’d rather you didn’t do #7. Stick around, listen a bit, learn about good evidence and arguments, then try again. ---
**Author:** ![KimJongUn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/87869e/32.png) [@KimJongUn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KimJongUn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/62 "2016-11-28T20:01:41Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > The Bad Thread Starter Pack > > 1. Create an OP full of straw man arguments, unsupported suppositions or any poorly reasoned set of statements with no evidence. > 2. When asked to back up your assertions, do more of the same. > 3. Continue missing the point, but claim to be interested in hearing counter-arguments. > 4. Get snippy, defensive and later on claim that all the people pointing out your assertions are BS really haven’t presented any good factual, counter claims to your silly OP. It’s obviously either personal and / or the inherent bias of the board. > 5. Very helpful to have a recent join date and be still in high school, or at least argue as if you were. > 6. Leave the board in a huff, claiming victory all along. > > Honestly OP, I’d rather you didn’t do #7. Stick around, listen a bit, learn about good evidence and arguments, then try again. It seems you’re completely deluded. Give me an example of _one_ good counter-argument made in this thread. Also, making up an age for the OP and insulting him is a very good tactic. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/63 "2016-11-28T20:03:50Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > The Bad Thread Starter Pack > > 1. Create an OP full of straw man arguments, unsupported suppositions or any poorly reasoned set of statements with no evidence. > 2. When asked to back up your assertions, do more of the same. > 3. Continue missing the point, but claim to be interested in hearing counter-arguments. > 4. Get snippy, defensive and later on claim that all the people pointing out your assertions are BS really haven’t presented any good factual, counter claims to your silly OP. It’s obviously either personal and / or the inherent bias of the board. > 5. Very helpful to have a recent join date and be still in high school, or at least argue as if you were. > 6. Leave the board in a huff, claiming victory all along. > > Honestly OP, I’d rather you didn’t do #7. Stick around, listen a bit, learn about good evidence and arguments, then try again. You forgot 8. Use a detestable dictator for a username. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/64 "2016-11-28T20:05:48Z")
It’s like a CyberMonday extravaganza. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/65 "2016-11-28T20:06:09Z")
> [@KimJongUn](#): > > It seems you’re completely deluded. About what? You keep throwing out vague statments as though we can read your mind and then get mad and call us deluded and nonsensical when we can’t. [johnhodgeman] SPECIFICITY IS THE SOUL OF NARRATIVE[/johnhodgeman] Get specific or…you know, don’t. But if you chose don’t we will never really have any fun here. Edit: man you got in there ninja quick with your own edit and added some specifics. The specifics were a non sequiter, but it’s getting closer. ---
**Author:** ![KimJongUn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/87869e/32.png) [@KimJongUn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KimJongUn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/66 "2016-11-28T20:07:27Z")
> [@NAF1138](#): > > About what? > > You keep throwing out vague statments as though we can read your mind and then get mad and call us deluded and nonsensical when we can’t. > > [johnhodgeman] SPECIFICITY IS THE SOUL OF NARRATIVE[/johnhodgeman] > > Get specific or…you know, don’t. But if you chose don’t we will never really have any fun here. What do you mean “about what?” You won’t get very far with that hypocrisy. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/67 "2016-11-28T20:09:08Z")
> [@KimJongUn](#): > > Give me an example of _one_ good counter-argument made in this thread. Virtually every single one not posted by you. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/68 "2016-11-28T20:09:19Z")
> [@KimJongUn](#): > > What do you mean “about what?” You won’t get very far with that hypocrisy. You ninja edited me. Then I ninja edited you right back. Turn about is not hypocrisy. ---
**Author:** ![KimJongUn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/87869e/32.png) [@KimJongUn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KimJongUn)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/69 "2016-11-28T20:13:35Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > Virtually every single one not posted by you. Get specific. [johnhodgeman] SPECIFICITY IS THE SOUL OF NARRATIVE[/johnhodgeman] ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/70 "2016-11-28T20:17:50Z")
> [@KimJongUn](#): > > Get specific. > > [johnhodgeman] SPECIFICITY IS THE SOUL OF NARRATIVE[/johnhodgeman] If you insist Post 1, 3, 9, 11, 14, 17, 18, 20, 27, 28, 30, 33, 34, 37, 42, 47, 49, 52, 54, 55, 57, 62, 66, 69. ---
**Author:** ![NAF1138](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naf1138/32/3245_2.png) [@NAF1138](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NAF1138)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/71 "2016-11-28T20:26:46Z")
> [@Grey](#): > > If you insist > > Post 1, 3, 9, 11, 14, 17, 18, 20, 27, 28, 30, 33, 34, 37, 42, 47, 49, 52, 54, 55, 57, 62, 66, 69. John Hodgeman would be so proud. Honestly OP. The reason why no one is taking you seriously is that you haven’t put together a cohesive argument about anything. There are people out there who have made cogent (if, in my opinion, wrong) arguments about this topic. Go find them and come back with something that makes sense. And this is critical, it has to make sense TO YOUR AUDIENCE. It doesn’t matter if \*you \*think it makes sense, if everyone you present it to tells you it’s half baked and illogical. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/72 "2016-11-28T20:26:59Z")
> [@KimJongUn](#): > > It seems you’re completely deluded. Give me an example of _one_ good counter-argument made in this thread. To receive a counterargument, you have to have made an argument to counter. “Muslims r bad, mkay?” is not an argument. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/73 "2016-11-28T20:30:17Z")
Y’know? Enough. To the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/74 "2016-11-28T20:37:01Z")
Oh good. We hadn’t had one of these in a while… ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/75 "2016-11-28T20:45:02Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Oh good. We hadn’t had one of these in a while… I know! What’s it been - a week already? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/76 "2016-11-28T20:48:43Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I know! What’s it been - a week already? I hear that Islam is the religious of Peace. Doesn’t that count as good? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/77 "2016-11-28T20:58:31Z")
> [@KimJongUn](#): > > Get specific. > > [johnhodgeman] SPECIFICITY IS THE SOUL OF NARRATIVE[/johnhodgeman] Why does the left not care? Why offend a potential voter. Religion for some unexplained reason gets a pass for irrational and illiberal messages. Now if it were merely an ideology it would be condemned as being the second coming of Nazism. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/78 "2016-11-28T20:58:58Z")
> [@KimJongUn](#): > > No religion at all. Also, in my OP I didn’t mention people who were Muslim, I mentioned actual Muslim beliefs. You mention the beliefs of some Muslims. Islam is diverse as any religion, and there are Muslims (and Christians) who believe they are justified in beating women by their religion, and there are Muslims (and Christians) who believe that their religion specifically outlaws beating women. It’s trivially easy to find scripture from just about any religious text, including the Bible, the Quran, the Torah, and many others, to support and oppose terrorism, wife-beating, rape, slavery, etc. There’s nothing special about the Quran and about Islam, and it’s largely a coincidence (or a result of non-scriptural geopolitical factors) that at this moment in history, there is a slightly larger association between extremist violence and Islam than for other religions. In the past this was different, and there are various points in history in which Christians and Christian societies were more violent than Muslims and Islamic societies. One of the big reasons is that, by and large, the most wealthy and powerful countries in the world are not Islamic. Extremist violence is generally a tool of the powerless, and there are a lot more relatively powerless groups of Muslims than groups of Christians. In places in which Christian groups are similarly powerless, like in many parts of Africa, Christian extremist violence is as common or more so than Muslim extremist violence. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/79 "2016-11-28T20:59:19Z")
> [@KimJongUn](#): > > Speaking in an objective sense, for those who argue that Islam is not a bad religion, and that it is peaceful and not a threat or danger, and not illogical, tell me, how is it good? Because it seems like many of the things people who don’t condemn Islam condemn are part of Islam. > > For example, the beating of women: the Quran says that hitting women is allowed if they do not obey your orders, which can include not leaving the house or speaking to certain people. An example of how it is illogical: fasting. It also claims that it is the only true religion and nonbelievers should be shunned, apostates killed. > > There are many other examples, but I just want to hear some of the reasoning behind your unfounded support for Islam. I don’t ‘support’ Islam. I support religious freedom, for willing participants who are of no harm to others. I do not support oppression of any religion where the vast majority of its practitioners are completely harmless. I don’t support your rather vague arguments because you are erroneously attempting to claim that the actions of a few zealots accurately represent the beliefs of all the adherents of a certain faith. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304/80 "2016-11-28T21:02:08Z")
> [@KimJongUn](#): > > What exactly is good about Islam? Nothing; it’s a religion, and all religions are innately worthless and destructive. That’s what they are for; a repository of horrible, indefensible beliefs that can’t survive without the “religion” label. > [@KimJongUn](#): > > There are many other examples, but I just want to hear some of the reasoning behind your unfounded support for Islam. Opposing persecution isn’t the same as “supporting Islam”. And the great majority of the harping about how evil Islam is, is nothing more than a Christian attempt to destroy their rival and push Christianity. That’s why everyone goes on and on about Islamic terrorism and bigotry and whatnot, but instantly starts making apologies for Christianity when anyone points out it has the same flaws. > [@KimJongUn](#): > > I’m atheist, not that it matters. Sure it does. That’s an unpopular religious position, at least as unpopular as Islam; and if Islamic people can be legally persecuted, so can atheists. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-exactly-is-good-about-islam/773304.md?page=5)