(no subject)
Sep. 3rd, 2004 06:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ceebeegeeThis whole Russian school hostage thing (by Chechen Muslim rebels) is making me sick.
As is the wholesale slaughter of 12 Nepalese civilians by militant Islamists in Iraq.
As is the murder of two Turkish civilians yesterday by--you guessed it--militant Islamists.
You know what? I'm going to come right out and say it--I really have a problem with Islam. Not as it's supposed to be practiced--there's a lot that's good about it in the abstract--but the current state of it. I really have a problem with the outright misogyny, anti-Semitism and general xenophobia of it, not to mention the concept of sharia (which I find incompatible with democracy). I can't ignore those in the name of...whatever...those are non-negotiable issues to me. And it pisses me off that any attempt to take a hard, critical look at Islam and its practitioners is considered racism (Arabs are not a race, and Arab =! Muslim, nor vice versa) or bigotry or something. There are serious problem with Islam as it's currently practiced and promoted today, and there's so much defensiveness within the community it's become the elephant in the room, about which everyone whispers but no one wants to say out loud, for fear of the finger being pointed at them.
And yeah, I get that there are psycho Christians as well. Falwell and Robertson come to mind--when Falwell made his lovely remarks in the aftermath of 9/11 about feminists and homosexuals, there was no moral difference between him and the hijackers. Hate is hate. The difference is, a storm of criticism greeted those remarks.
I would love to be exposed to the peaceful side of Islam. I've read enough about it to be very curious--I love comparative religions, I love studying belief systems. But I can't reconcile my serious reservations about Islam with my desire to know more about it. I think we have a huge problem on our hands.
As is the wholesale slaughter of 12 Nepalese civilians by militant Islamists in Iraq.
As is the murder of two Turkish civilians yesterday by--you guessed it--militant Islamists.
You know what? I'm going to come right out and say it--I really have a problem with Islam. Not as it's supposed to be practiced--there's a lot that's good about it in the abstract--but the current state of it. I really have a problem with the outright misogyny, anti-Semitism and general xenophobia of it, not to mention the concept of sharia (which I find incompatible with democracy). I can't ignore those in the name of...whatever...those are non-negotiable issues to me. And it pisses me off that any attempt to take a hard, critical look at Islam and its practitioners is considered racism (Arabs are not a race, and Arab =! Muslim, nor vice versa) or bigotry or something. There are serious problem with Islam as it's currently practiced and promoted today, and there's so much defensiveness within the community it's become the elephant in the room, about which everyone whispers but no one wants to say out loud, for fear of the finger being pointed at them.
And yeah, I get that there are psycho Christians as well. Falwell and Robertson come to mind--when Falwell made his lovely remarks in the aftermath of 9/11 about feminists and homosexuals, there was no moral difference between him and the hijackers. Hate is hate. The difference is, a storm of criticism greeted those remarks.
I would love to be exposed to the peaceful side of Islam. I've read enough about it to be very curious--I love comparative religions, I love studying belief systems. But I can't reconcile my serious reservations about Islam with my desire to know more about it. I think we have a huge problem on our hands.
