Islam a peaceful religion??

I think not...

Islamic teachings, history suggest it’s not quite so peaceful

Every day, I feel bombarded by someone telling me Islam is not the violent, hate-filled religion it seems to be but, instead, the religion of peace.
I don’t see how anyone logically could say Islam is a religion of peace. The terrorists who attacked this nation on Sept. 11, 2001, were Islamic fundamentalists, terrorists following the teachings of the Quran and doing Allah’s bidding in bringing down the great Satan.

Islamic leaders have pushed forth the notion that every good Muslim must fight and destroy the non-believers.

The Quran makes it very clear Muslims “must” present non-Muslims with only three choices: conversion, submission to second-class status under Islamic rule or death.

The problem is not strictly the directive to convert or kill non-believers, but instead the degree to which it is carried out. Islam is not the religion of peace it claims to be. It instead appears - through the actions of its followers - to be a religion of intolerance and violence toward non-believers.

We only need to go back to recent history to understand Islam’s widely reported “peaceful teachings” are most often “misunderstood” by its most fundamental followers.

In the early 1990s, the United States sent peacekeeping troops to Somalia on a mercy mission to stop starvation in the region. Instead, local Muslims fought the non-believers for their offense of being non-Muslim.

Why do you think that every time we pressured Saddam Hussein, he appealed to his Islamic brothers to come to his aid in the name of Jihad? Because strictly implying that any action against any Muslim is an attack on their religion is a simple, easy way to get support.

Like clockwork, protest in the Muslim world would erupt. Soon on CNN, you would see President Clinton - back when he was president and believed Saddam was bad - or Bush burning in effigy next to a flaming, American flag and 10,000 Muslims dancing and chanting “Death to America” in the name of Allah.

How peaceful.

It would seem the religion of “peace” and “tolerance” would be for co-existence and getting along with your neighbors. Instead, the Palestinians have made it clear they can’t live side-by-side in peace with non-believers. And the only answer for that region is going to be the extermination of Israel - the death of every man, woman and child in Israel is the only road to peace.

In the name of Allah, suicide bombers are martyrs to be rewarded with paradise and virgins. This is not the exception to the rule in Islam. It is the doctrine of extermination of non-Muslims.

When people speak of Islam as a religion of radicalism and intolerance, they are told the religion is misrepresented and misunderstood. The problem is not a public relations issue. It is an indoctrination issue.

Everywhere but in the modernized world, where its teaching are much more moderate, young Muslims are taught in school that all non-Muslims should be killed in the same way we are taught that we need to be compassionate to those different from us.

The solution is not to deny the problem as the Muslims of the world have done, but to accept, educate and change it.

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Reply #1 Top
Everywhere but in the modernized world, where its teaching are much more moderate, young Muslims are taught in school that all non-Muslims should be killed in the same way we are taught that we need to be compassionate to those different from us.


You are very naive to believe that young Muslims are fortunate enough to go to school... no one denies young mulims are preached hatred, but this doesn't happen at schools... it happens in some of the poorest communities in the world, where there are no schools.

I think I will just laugh at your notion that Islam is violent... hahahaha.

Ever heard of the Crusades?

Please get over the fact that this war is religious... It's basically a bunch of fanatics claiming it is in the name of Allah... trust me... Allah would be frowning upon this at the card table next to God and Buddha and the rest of the deity club. Attitudes like yours encouraging the religious element does nothing but ostracise the entire Muslim community... not a smart move.

BAM!!!
Reply #2 Top
I would just add that you consider such racist hate groups in the present day as the Ku Klux Klan and the John Birch Society, both of which advocate racial and religious hatred against Blacks, the Jewish, and Immigrants. Hate knows know religious base. Consider the song "Winchester Cathedral" by Crosby, Stills and Nash who sing:
Too many people have died in the name of Christ for anyone to heed the call." Hate knows no racial bounds, nor religious, nor social.....
Reply #3 Top
Its my right to say and feel as I do and I appreciate you understanding that. If I want to hate I can, I did not say I am going out and harming anyone. That would be wrong, but hate is just a feeling, until its acted on. Which I don't tend to do. I am tired of the "lets just love one another" movement. All people are not good, not everyone has good in them, and I am allowed to hate if I like. I am sure if you were honest with yourself, which I don't expect you to do, you hate something, be it a person, a food, a TV show or even me. At least I am honest enough to admit it. To hate is one thing, to act on that hate to harm another is something different.
Reply #4 Top
If you look at the old Testament in a literalist way we might be pretty brutal too. "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" and all that. Much of Islam is funtioning just as it was in the 7th century AD.

The problem with Islam is that it is unchangeable by commandment. They don't believe that the written work is reliable, the true "word" is recited by memory and passed down. The written word is secondary. This leaves the most important figures in Islam with the ability to directly recite and interperate scripture. What you have on your book shelf is authoritative, but takes second place to what is in the mind of the elder religious leaders.

The true authority lies in the literalist interpretation of a book from the Dark Ages. Christianity has embraced moderation and updated interpretation over the last 400 years. Islam has only recently seen any moderation and if you moderate you face orders of execution from the vast majority of Muslims.

To sum up, I would say that 5% or so of Islam is peaceful, and the rest is still functioning in the beheading, lop-off-your-hand fashion it has enjoyed since Muhammad. IF Christianity was still functioning as it was in the year 640 AD, we'd be barbaric, too.

They either need to update, or find a way to make their beliefs jive with modern international law.
Reply #5 Top
What I've noticed is that it's wrong to call Islam a violent religion, even if Islam had a violent past and violent scripture, but it's all right to call Christianity a violent religion, because it had a violent past and violent scripture.
Reply #6 Top
Christian violence is an oxymoron even. The true practice of Christanity wouldn't allow much (any?) violence. Violence is *mandated* by literalist Islam. They didn't come up with the idea of beheadings and amputations as punishments in the last few years. Look at what happens to criminals in Saudi Arabia. You grow up witnessing people being mutilated and beheaded, and it is probably much easier to mutilate and behead people when you want to make a point.

Islam *could* be a peaceful religion, if it were open to reformation. Reformation is heresy in Islam though, not unlike it was in Catholocism in the Middle Ages. You can't even question out loud, much less reform.

Granted, there is a lot of moderate Islam in the West, but it really isn't the problem, is it?
Reply #8 Top
I am french, and i can affirm that muslims are very friendly, ISLAM is a peaceful religion , BUSH is the only extremist. Muslims and french are the best PEACE AND LOVE MY FRIENDS
Reply #9 Top
Your French?? That explains your point of view. French are ... well never mind. Thanks for standing up to the Terrorist...oh thats right your country didn't... never mind not worth debating... Enjoy your hard won freedom Mr. Frenchman. People died so you could bash the USA. Most of them US Service members on French soil. I can't even talk about it it pisses me off so bad.
Reply #10 Top
The French haven't treated muslims well at all. They refuse to allow muslim women to wear their head coverings to work and school, which completely goes against their religious beliefs, and essentially cuts them out of public life. The French government has been patently anti-religion, and abysmally anti-Semitic in the last few years. No suprise that they will be soft on terrorism when they seem to dislike Jews so much.

Not saying all French folks are that way, but then the twit above can't really say "muslims are very friendly, ISLAM is a peaceful religion" either. One blanket statement deserves another.
Reply #12 Top
Islam was a more peaceful, advanced, civilized religion than Christianity up until about 1800. When Christian nations finally embraced seperation of Church and State, Christianity became much more peaceful. Muslim nations, for a variety of historical and religious reasons, have trouble with church-state seperation.
Reply #13 Top
" Islam was a more peaceful, advanced, civilized religion than Christianity up until about 1800. "


That is like saying that the Spanish Inquisition was peaceful. Their nations were fairly peaceful because of the draconian and barbaric ways they kept the peace. I suggest you dig a little deeper into Arab/Islamic history.

Christianity, on the other hand, has been actively reformed over the last 500 years, and within the Catholic church in a slower fashion since the beginning. There is no violence required by Christianity. As I said before, Islam requires violence. Go look at Islamic law, go read it. It is a religious barely effected by 1400 years of social evolution.

Reply #14 Top
Islam is not the religion of peace it claims to be. It instead appears - through the actions of its followers - to be a religion of intolerance and violence toward non-believers.


Do you think it is the religion or the people who profess to follow it?

They either need to update, or find a way to make their beliefs jive with modern international law.


Thank God for evolution!
Reply #15 Top
"Do you think it is the religion or the people who profess to follow it?"


Actually, "Islamic Law" is pretty well set down in stone. I'd have to say in that case that it is the religion leading the people who following it literalistically.
Reply #16 Top
Hello , its me again ( the french )

It is funny these americans that criticize islam, the same ones who never go abroad .

I know well Muslims, French Muslim are good citizens, we need them here. Islam is not a extremist religion , the only extremist is the stupid BUSH and USA which have helped Bin ladin at the past .

Do not believe on the stupid BUSH .

Bye
Reply #17 Top

It is funny these americans that criticize islam, the same ones who never go abroad


Actually, I've been abroad, quite extensively, and I criticize Islam.


Have you been to the US? 

Reply #18 Top
If the French love Islam, odd that they pass laws that restict the practice of it. The French seem to have disdain for religion in general. They have tried to make the Middle East their personal playground for 200 years, and pumped billions into Iraq right up until we invaded.

I would suggest a few history courses, " environnement ". North Africa is largely a French imperialist problem, as was, I might add, Vietnam, for which the US also gets the blame.

Much is said about Bush, a man that would take it upon himself to overthrow Hussein. What can be said though about France, a nation that knew full well what sort of monster Hussein was and still bulked up his military and filled their purses with his money?

If anyone wants to play the "The US made Iraq's military strong" I would school myself a bit first.

Anyway, this isn't about France, this is about Islam, and obviously our little French friend knows as little about Islam as he knows about Bush or history in general.
Reply #19 Top
I know well Muslims, French Muslim are good citizens, we need them here. Islam is not a extremist religion , the only extremist is the stupid BUSH and USA which have helped Bin ladin at the past .

Do not believe on the stupid BUSH .


Do you not realize that you would be speaking GERMAN if not for the USA? Might want to do a google on "D-Day" there, bucko.

You have painted Americans with a broad brush. While you may know good Muslims (heck, I know a few myself), the OP was referring to the Qu'ran (their holy book, the last time I checked). I don't agree with Bush on many issues, but I'd hardly call him "stupid". But, you're entitled to your opinion.
Reply #20 Top
Baker, I know you are well respected within the community, but must you always take such a condescending tone? I may be wrong, but lately you seem a bit snappy... I know it's frustrating when people chime in who obviously dont know much, but there are more constructive methods of letting them know as much...

Anywho... back to the argument at hand...

I personally think it's rather funny how Christians claim everyone as brothers under one god... which is fantastic... as long as it is their God...

I think the current attitude a lot of American's are showing at the moment is almost justified with the recent spate of beheadings, but the cardinal sin is being commited day in and day out, and I find it alarming... the terrorist claim this is in the name of Jihad and Islam, but they are just thugs... You people really need to be careful to make that distinction...

It's like the thugs of South Central LA having their little gangster wars in the name of Christianity... only they aren't claiming as much...

Isolate this as a religious problem at your own peril, it only adds complexity to the problem.

BAM!!!
Reply #21 Top

I personally think it's rather funny how Christians claim everyone as brothers under one god... which is fantastic... as long as it is their God


Muggaz, mark this day on the calendar...that statement scored you an insightful from me.

Reply #22 Top
muggaz: Read the French guy's post. He got what he gave, except he got substance in return. If I were a troll, I would just tell him that he is an ass. Instead, I tell him why he is being an ass...

If I am snippy it is because there is an odd blankness to debate these days. People come in and say "Reagan... blah, blah... AIDS... blah, blah... Bush... blah, blah, Iraq... blah, blah." You can see that they are spouting the same easily refutable propaganda, mostly lies. You take the time to tell them, present facts to back up your argument, and then they say "Yeah, but..." and recite the same thing again, as if you never spoke...

Sorry, but a perfect example is:

"Isolate this as a religious problem at your own peril, it only adds complexity to the problem."


How can you isolate it when beheadings are tolerated and even promoted by Islamic law? These people grow up in nations where people are beheaded and mutilated for offenses that are misdemeanors in Western nations. Are you shocked they turn to beheadings? Are you shocked that people associate it with Islam? How can we villify people's behavior and not the verbatim decrees that they point to to excuse it?

The Crusades, anti-semitism, all of it are *deviations* in Christianity. You can condemn the behavior of Christians throughout history and never touch the basic principles set down by Jesus Christ. Islam allows and promotes such brutality.

I mean no offense you you Muggaz, I made one harsh judgement of you, you cleared it up, and I apologized. Sorry if I am snippy elsewhere. When people are being beheaded, when US soldiers are being killed, and pubescent, ignorant assholes use it to make jabs and smartass remarks, I am gonna be intolerant. That kind of disrespect is not tolerable.


P.S. and by decrees, I don't mean militant clerics, I mean the Qu'ran itself. I got aquainted with it when I dormed with a lot of Islamic students during the first Gulf War. I could write a dozen blogs on that experience alone. Frankly, I looked really hard at the list of 9/11 bombers because it wouldn't have surprised me a bit if I hadn't tutored one of them in English or HIstory.
Reply #23 Top
Baker... I agree with you... but surely you cant place the blame on religion...

It is the powers that be behind the religion... The clerics who stand to lose everything if the Koran is updated as we have discussed before... they are the thugs here, not Islam itself...

Now we have redneck Americans saying we should kill all the towel heads, because their religion prophesises murder... Like I have said before, If the fundamentals of Islam are to kill everyone that isn't a muslim, the USA has my full support to eradicate all muslims in the most painful way possible...

The only way we can get out of this current situation is to embrace the global community... on a deeper level, these problems all stem back to religious fundamentals.... which created society as we know it... there are two possible outcomes... the global community embrace each other, all under heaven... no matter which God, and get to the core of these problems... or we can continue on our current path and all kill each other...

Albert Einstein once said, he doesn't know what type of weapons they will use in the third world war, but they will use rocks in the fourth.

BAM!!!
Reply #24 Top
Muggaz: As the religion itself stands, I have to place the blame there. Attitudes toward Jews are spelled out. Islamic law, with all the mutilations, beheadings, intolerance, all of it, are spelled out. Granted, Muslims in Western nations are doing their best to modernize and re-interpret the faith. I congratulate them and am grateful for it. To me at this point in history, though, it is akin to a reformist branch of the KKK.

I think the basic tenets, the definition itself, is possibly too much to overcome. It saturates every piece of propaganda, it is the go-to excuse for every violent action, and dammit, the words are there. When they quote scripture, it is literally there.

What do you do? You take a book that promotes this behavior, and say, "Well, sure, but people can re-interpret it to say mean something other than the obvious thing it is saying." Sure, that is possible, but look at Salman Rushdie, look at all the other Muslims that fearlessly write and plead that the religion must be reformed, and look at the judgment of the Middle East on them.

At this point, I have to say that the "protestant" form of Islam practiced in the West is not representative of Islam as a whole, and while I hope that someday it is updated, literalist, fundamentalist Islam is a serious threat to all of us.

You have to understand how hard it is for me to say that. I have had Muslim friends, I have been acquainted with Jordanian royalty in college, I was invited to the Middle East, I have known Saudis, Yemenis, Iranians, Lebanese, Palestinians... I was even offered a PLO ( Fatah kaffiyeh ) scarf. These people considered me to be sensitive to their ideas, respectful, and open. After all that, I have to say that what they believe is patently dangerous. I'm sorry, but that is how I feel.

I think in the next few weeks I will write some stuff on my own experiences. I am not a redneck that hates these people, but I am coming to the conclusion that their religion is the one insurmountable stumbling block to any hope of peace.

Muggaz, see this as my way of "the global community embrace each other, all under heaven...". I'm not blaming the race, I have no problem with what some people call "towel heads", but I have a fundamental ire for what their religion teaches at this point. I am blaming the brainwashing of an entire region, and the religion responsible.
Reply #25 Top
Absolute power corrupts absolutely my friend...

Christianaties interpretations were amended over the years, but I would argue that this was for the benefit of the powers that were at that point of time... This is the only reason the interpretation of Islam has not been amended...

The power and influence that has been installed in the clerics and religious figures within Islam society is frightening. I will maintain till the day I die that Islam is not the cause of the current situation in the middle east...

Attitudes to gentiles are spelt out in the Torah as well mate... they can be interpreted in much the same vein...

It's great that you have had theses experiences with Muslims from varying sectors of the middle east... I have also had the same pleasure... I lived in the same street with a couple of Afghani's, went to school with heaps of Egyptians, and so on... Why is my opinion different from yours?

I am interested to know, before globalisation, what was the Middle East's view on the west, or what it knew of the west? I think it was the industrial revolution, the discovery and distribution of Oil from the middle east that showed the Muslims about gold, money, power, wealth... etc... this is when the Middle East became a problem for the rest of the world... Islam corrupted by values that they knew nothing of.... untold riches that would never be imagined... bestowed upon the sheiks by christian cultures...

I look forward to your articles... however, I will maintain that Islam is no stumbling block to world peace... attitudes like yours presenting it as such is though.

BAM!!!