“You’re going to Hell, but I’m not driving.”
Human beings are not reliably rational. They can behave in horrid ways when swept up in passionate group. Looking at the 3 Abrahamic religions as memes we should consider two important and separate aspects. First, how violent and intolerant are the core ideas, are second, how viral is it?
- Judaism has a harsh set of laws but its virality is too low to consider. This is the strategy of continuity and withdrawal. There is a high value in the group about staying with the group and no interest at all in bringing in outsiders.
- Christianity has soft set of laws (even though the old testament is straight from Judaism). Its virality is strong since evangelism is basicly its mission statement. Christianity can be awful and vicious in the wrong hands but overall it has probably played a part of TENDING to lead toward humanistic, tolerant cultures.
- Islam is a combination of harsh laws and extreme virality. It is this combination that makes it worrisome. Because warfare and eventual governmental control and elimination of differing beliefs are givens within Islam, it poses a threat to western humanist values.
For Christ’s sake, Islam isn’t a RACE!
Many of my friends seem to feel that dislike of Islam is racist or wrongly discriminatory. This drive to assume the best of people and reach out with welcome is completely admirable. It’s a good instinct and it’s been the correct instinct over and over for the United States. And there’s no doubt that there are meat-heads out there with simple bigotry and malice in their hearts toward Islamic people. But first, there is no Islamic race, and secondly there is nothing wrong with discriminating against ideas and social movements that you oppose. Islam is not like being black or Asian, it’s like being Mormon or Scientologist. The minute you tell me I have no right to critique a belief system or its cultural impact you have cut the throat of free speech. The word “Islamophobia” is a jeering insult accusing the target of racism. It is meant to silence all opposition, rational or not.
Ironically it’s my liberal friends – the very ones who post political messages decrying the old testament based political actions of our extreme right wing – who act like Islam is a harmless and misunderstood victim. There are liberals and people who dream of a safe, secular state within Islamic cultures. These people want equality for women, and intellectual freedom. Liberals who refuse to critique the dark side of Islam are siding with oppressors. They are siding with the equivalents of the fundamentalists they feel threatened by here at home. If you cherish western humanist values of free speech, free thought, etc. but you act as an apologist for Islam, then understand, you are playing the frog in the old story of the frog and the scorpion.
Here are some polls on what Muslims believe:
Pew Research (2013):
- Only 57% of Muslims worldwide disapprove of al-Qaeda.
- Only 51% disapprove of the Taliban.
- 13% support both groups and 1 in 4 refuse to say.
http://www.pewglobal.org/2013/09/10/muslim-publics-share-concerns-about-extremist-groups/
Wenzel Strategies (2012):
- 58% of Muslim-Americans believe criticism of Islam or Muhammad is not protected free speech under the First Amendment.
- 45% believe mockers of Islam should face criminal charges (38% said they should not).
- 12% of Muslim-Americans believe blaspheming Islam should be punishable by death.
- 43% of Muslim-Americans believe people of other faiths have no right to evangelize Muslims.
- 32% of Muslims in America believe that Sharia should be the supreme law of the land.
http://www.andrewbostom.org/blog/2012/10/31/sixty-percent-of-us-muslims-reject-freedom-of-expression
ICM Poll:
- 40% of British Muslims want Sharia in the UK
- 20% of British Muslims sympathize with 7/7 bombers
Pew Research (2010):
- 82% of Egyptian Muslims favor stoning adulterers
- 70% of Jordanian Muslims favor stoning adulterers
- 42% of Indonesian Muslims favor stoning adulterers
- 82% of Pakistanis favor stoning adulterers
- 56% of Nigerian Muslims favor stoning adulterers
http://pewglobal.org/2010/12/02/muslims-around-the-world-divided-on-hamas-and-hezbollah/
WZB Berlin Social Science Center:
- 65%% of Muslims in Europe say Sharia is more important than the law of the country they live in.
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4092/europe-islamic-fundamentalism
Pew Global (2006)
- 68% of Palestinian Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
- 43% of Nigerian Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
- 38% of Lebanese Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
- 15% of Egyptian Muslims say suicide attacks against civilians in defense of Islam are justified.
World Public Opinion (2009)
- 61% of Egyptians approve of attacks on Americans
- 32% of Indonesians approve of attacks on Americans
- 41% of Pakistanis approve of attacks on Americans
- 38% of Moroccans approve of attacks on Americans
- 62% of Jordanians approve of some or most groups that attack Americans (21% oppose)
- 42% of Turks approve of some or most groups that attack Americans (45% oppose)
http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/pdf/feb09/STARTII_Feb09_rpt.pdf
NOP Research:
- 62% percent of British Muslims say freedom of speech shouldn’t be protected
- 1 in 4 British Muslims say 7/7 bombings were justified
- 78% of British Muslims support punishing the publishers of Muhammad cartoons
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/14/opinion/main1893879.shtml&date=2011-04-06
People Press Surveys
- 31% of Turks support suicide attacks against Westerners in Iraq.
http://www.people-press.org/2004/03/16/a-year-after-iraq-war/
Belgian HLN
- 16% of young Muslims in Belgium state terrorism is “acceptable”.
ICM Poll:
- 25% of British Muslims disagree that a Muslim has an obligation to report terrorists to police.
Pew Research (2007):
- 26% of younger Muslims in America believe suicide bombings are justified.
- 35% of young Muslims in Britain believe suicide bombings are justified (24% overall).
- 42% of young Muslims in France believe suicide bombings are justified (35% overall).
- 22% of young Muslims in Germany believe suicide bombings are justified.(13% overall).
- 29% of young Muslims in Spain believe suicide bombings are justified.(25% overall).
pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf#page=60
Al-Jazeera (2006):
- 49.9% of Muslims polled support Osama bin Laden
http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden
Populus Poll (2006):
- 16% of British Muslims believe suicide attacks against Israelis are justified.
- 37% believe Jews in Britain are a “legitimate target”.
http://www.populuslimited.com/pdf/2006_02_07_times.pdf
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2005/07/more-survey-research-from-a-british-islamist
GfK NOP:
- 28% of British Muslims want Britain to be an Islamic state
http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/ShariaLawOrOneLawForAll.pdf
NOP Research:
- 68% of British Muslims support the arrest and prosecution of anyone who insults Islam;
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/14/opinion/main1893879.shtml&date=2011-04-06
MacDonald Laurier Institute:
- 62% of Muslims want Sharia in Canada (15% say make it mandatory)
- 35% of Canadian Muslims would not repudiate al-Qaeda
http://www.torontosun.com/2011/11/01/strong-support-for-shariah-in-canada
al-Arabiya:
- 36% of Arabs polled said the 9/11 attacks were morally justified; 38% disagreed; 26% Unsure
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/09/10/166274.html
Gallup:
- 38.6% of Muslims believe 9/11 attacks were justified (7% “fully”, 6.5% “mostly”, 23.1% “partially”)
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/just-like-us-really
Policy Exchange:
- 1 in 4 Muslims in the UK have never heard of the Holocaust;
- Only 34% of British Muslims believe the Holocaust ever happened.
http://www.imaginate.uk.com/MCC01_SURVEY/Site%20Download.pdf
http://www.civitas.org.uk/pdf/ShariaLawOrOneLawForAll.pdf
To equate being concerned about Islam with racism is a disproportionate attempt to shut down a very important conversation about our own culture. What does it mean to truly respect Freedom of Speech? What does it mean to truly accept the right of other cultures to exist? What does it mean to respect the separation of church and state? To respect civil authority as being ABOVE religious divisions. Like to respect the idea that by living in this country you agree to see others as being free agents with equal rights and not subject to your own chosen rules.
This is a test that many, many current American citizens would not pass. There are many Christians in this country who fight separation of church and state and who want Christian beliefs enshrined in law. It’s pure cognitive dissonance that they can see that Iran is a theocracy but they cannot see that their own actions are trying to create one here!