Don’t Bother: It’s Not Worth the Effort
Robert Spencer, author of one of the trashiest and least enlightening books I’ve read, The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) (part of what seems a generally low-brow and unreliable series of books), has gotten himself very upset at my remarks.
Tom,
I do believe that most Muslims just want to live in peace like everyone else in the civilized world. However, I, also, believe that radical Islam is mainstream.
I like to suggest that you check out http://www.faithfreedom.org. This site is operated by Muslims that have left the faith because they have come to realize that Islam, and the violence sanctioned by some of its practitioners, is a menace to the civilized world. You’ll find that their arguments are very compelling and insightful.
Most of the time, Tom, I agree with your outlook and opinions on many subjects. But, when it comes to liberal democracy gaining a foothold in the Middle East, and the Muslim world as a whole, I must side with pessimism.
Thanks for the comment; I’ll check out the site. I have responded to your comment on the original thread (http://www.tomgpalmer.com/archives/041174.php ), as follows:
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Finally, it’s not that I am especially optimistic about the progress of liberty. It’s worth a defense, however, under all circumstances. And I am unwilling to write off millions and millions of allies by arrogantly telling them what their religion means and insisting that they are betraying their religion if they ally themselves with the cause of justice, of toleration, of peaceful coexistence, of freedom.
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I’ll have you note that Faith Freedom is very one-sided. As a Muslim myself, I’ve always looked for answers to this religion – Faith Freedom does not provide it. They simply insult Islam in a manner that isn’t considered constructive criticism. Many of the articles are challenging, but if you want a productive audience, I suggest that people start maintaining respect for those who choose to be Muslim through love for the religion. That site is now full of people who aim to eliminate Islam from Planet Earth, as they think our problems today have absolutely nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with Islam. How… irresponsible.
The writers at Faith Freedom laugh at Arabs and Muslim who blame everything on the Jews, and then do exactly the same thing by blaming everything on the Muslims, claiming that their main goal is to establish a global Caliphate and they’re misled enough to link today’s wars to our Prophet’s past.
People go as far as to say that Mohammed started such wars in the 7th century. It is sad that these same people incite and justify hatred and terrorism that represent their own ideologies which they always discuss with a “holier-than-thou” attitude, just to make you sure that they’re always right. Visit Faith Freeom if you want to be blinded by a tremendous amount of bias, and a generally rude and unaccepting atmosphere.
It is also somewhat ironic that those who bash Islam for not being “tolerant” are in fact intolerant of Islam and Muslims to the point where my comments get deleted or I get personally attacked despite the fact that I add my thoughts to the discussion in a very civil manner. Some people are not open to challenge, and when they are, they ignore it and insist that no one ever attempted to oppose their views with evidence because they “simply can’t.” This argument is something people resort to when they want to band-aid their self-esteem. It doesn’t make them any more “right,” it just highlights their insecurity.
I am a Muslim who went through a phase of being hateful towards my own religion because I allowed corrupt cultures to define it. I strongly disliked Islam because of what I thought it represented. I was wrong. It was only through extensive reading and research that I was attracted back to this religion, and now I am no longer a Muslim by name, but I’m someone who has deep admiration and love for her religion. I welcome challenging opinions but only if their owners make a point of respecting me and my views – and that is very rare to find. If I’m a Muslim by choice, I must be “too stupid” to argue with them, and they will invest no time in such “ignorant fools.”
The amount of misinformation out there is unbelievable, so if you want a reliable book on Islam, its history and its evolution, I suggest you read Reza Aslan’s “No God but God” and leave the works of Spencer behind. Spencer’s work is for the paranoid and will leave you profoundly confused, if not a little sickened by the tone. I also recommend “Islam and the Destiny of Man” by Charles Le Gai Eaton.
Correction –
“That site is now full of people who aim to eliminate Islam from Planet Earth, as they think our problems today have absolutely nothing to do with religion, and everything to do with Islam.”
I meant to say they think our problems have nothing to do with bad politics and everything to do with Islam.
There is also a difference between political Islam, radical Islam, the practice and application of Islam in different cultures, and actual Islam in its purest form – and that is the Koran, most of which has to do with biology, science, the miracles of Prophets, and judgement day, but you will not hear people talking about this. Fear-mongerers will tell you that Islam is a book for warriors.
When a priest is accused of raping or molesting a young boy, you will not hear his religion blamed. But God forbid if an Imam is guilty of the same crime, the world starts talking about Islam’s support of rape and paedophilia. When Christian extremists bomb abortion clinics, you will not fear their religion. But God forbid if Muslim extremists bomb a night club in Bali. It had to be religiously motivated and derived from the explanations in the Koran, because night clubs existed back then and our Prophet enjoyed bombing them. Yes it makes sense! Let’s air the connection on Fox News to convince people that the threat today is not nuclear ambitions, forgotten genocides, poverty, and corrupt politicians, but rather, Islam.
Esra’a
I beg to differ with you about faithfreedom.org. The arguments they present challenge the radicalism in Islam. From my observation, they have no beef with Islam, Muslims, or any religion that practice peace and pluralism.
The articles and debates that I have read suggest that the western world should approach some Muslims of the Islamic faith with caution. From some of the death threatening comments in reply to some of the debates, I can understand their reason to be cautious. You can read the same violent threats toward peaceful Muslims on Irshad Manji’s site and other peace minded Muslim websites.
I don’t believe all Muslims are radical in their ideology. But, I do believe that radical ideology is much more tolerated by Muslims.
In my opinion, the scandals by Catholic priest has made the Catholic faith in the US more discredited and irrelevant. In fact, Catholic priest are subjected to being humorously ridiculed to a lot of jokes and commentary on American media. The Catholic Church in America is under much more scrutiny than before.
Christian extremists are a fringe element and few in number in the US. They are not the mainstream and pretty much looked at with disdain and scorn by the majority of Christian and non-Christian Americans. You won’t find many people, in America, approving or celebrating their antics and violence.
Christian ideology doesn’t have much of an effect in American politics, except in two areas, abortion and same sex marriage. If you will notice, abortion is legal in most states, if not all. And, same sex marriage is legal in two, Mass. and Hawaii.
Anonymous,
Thank you for that very informative post. I will go back to the website and re-consider my opinion. But much of my comment was directed towards the likes of Spencer since he was the topic of discussion.
As for FaithFreedom however, I mainly formed my opinion about this website through my experiences in their forums and through the generalizations that some of the authors make. I do have respect and admiration for some of its writers, Ahmed Salib included.
This generation is being introduced to a whole new different Islam, where writers like Kareem are thrown in jail for anti-Islamic remarks and I myself get into a lot of trouble for writing religious satire. If you read the FaithFreedom forums, and the many forums that are not in favour of Islam, you will see that a lot of similar young Muslims go there in order to find answers to the questions that all educated Muslims at one point or another feel the need to ask themselves, and they sometimes get replies that convince them to leave the religion if they desire comfort. I just consider this to be unfair, that’s why I’m not a fan of FaithFreedom or any other website that encourages people to leave this faith. They write in such a tone that makes me feel as if their views are being imposed on me. I am not implying that FaithFreedom is actually trying to do that, but based on my own experiences, I do get that vibe from its authors, especially when they speak as if they are ex-Muslims because they’re more ‘enlightened.’
“You won’t find many people, in America, approving or celebrating their antics and violence.”
This has very little to do with faith and a lot to do with the society and political culture in America, in my opinion. You react differently (i.e, civilly) because you do not live under the conditions that most people in Arab and Muslim countries live under, and it is these conditions that inspire hatred, violence, and radicalist ideologies. The only way to battle these corrupt ideologies is through the recreation of our educational, media, and political institutions. This is why I’m such a strong supporter for freedom of speech and freedom of conscience, because it is only through such freedoms that we can crawl out of our depressing state. If we only had the freedom to critizize our governments perhaps people will start looking at the actual problems (that eventually lead many Muslims to having such radicalist ideas) instead of blaming our backwardness on Islam.
“I don’t believe all Muslims are radical in their ideology.”
It is not often that I hear this opinion from an outsider so I assume you have debated these concepts with Muslims before.
It is good to have websites like FaithFreedom around. But I witnessed friends turn their backs against Islam with the help of this website. They’re young and gullible so I guess I do not blame FaithFreedom as they are not directly responsible for this, but I still consider it a biased source. Not all opinions are welcomed there. And most of their “letters” is just random praise.