Islam (Religion)

by Carl, Wednesday, September 17, 2008, 20:01 (5909 days ago)

David; " I'm just as tolerant as I can be, but just what kind of accommodation are you proposing for the 5% radical Muslims who follow Wahabism and want to take the world back to the 7th Century? Religions have fostered all sorts of wars in the past, and they are still doing it. Moderate Muslims, whom we can certainly tolerate as part of our society, cannot control their fringe elements, but Muslim governments that foster terrorism should be held accountable."
There are about 1.5 billion Muslims. If we killed 150 million, we would just make the other 90% really angry. Obviously, violence is not a solution.
The kind of accommodation I am proposing is to avoid things that radicalize them, such as cartoons ridiculing the prophet and trying to tell the Wahabis how to run their own country. Allow them an opt-out sharia law where it does not conflict with basic laws and rights of the host country. Respect their daily prayers where possible. Allow them to wear the type of clothing they choose. Don't serve them pork.
I am as distressed as you at the primitive ideas some of them have, but good example and friendly persuasion are the best techniques to change them. If they are not faced with a false choice of Ben Laden or westernization, they will gradually adopt more western thinking. And they probably have some ideas that the West would do well to adopt. We did it during the Crusades. Public pressure at the top levels of their government can stop some of the most egregious practices, such as child execution. As far as other executions, the US only differs in the method of execution, needle rather than stone or sword.
If a significant minority of Muslims agreed with Ben Laden, we would already be in great trouble because of their numbers. Our challenge is to get them to work with us (which they are already doing) to fight terror, and avoid radicalizing the impressive youths.
As far as the Middle East, although the conflict is split along religious lines, it is really a political conflict. The peace between Israel and Egypt has held, although there is still no love lost. A way needs to be found to repeat that process with the remainder of the Arabs.