I love Bill Maher but Reza makes some great points here, unfortunately, in conversation with a seemingly intellectually illiterate anchor. Im not a fan of any religion but when discussing world problems its crucial to identify patterns properly, distinguishing religion from regional, government, and societal influences. For example, Peru has been a Chirstian majority state since shortly after the Spanish arrived in the 16th century. It has been feudalist, socialist, communist, and at other times capitalist. None of these economic models were a reflection of Christianity but a reflection of Peru at the time. Additionally, Catholicism in Peru incorporates elements from indegionous religions that predate the arrival of the Spanish, so Catholicism in Peru is different than it is in Nigeria, or Mexico, or Rome, or Boston, or anywhere else. Going back to Islam, and I am not a scholar on the religion, there are clearly many Islamic-majority states in disfunctional regions of the world (which western states have indisputably made more disfunctional), but Muslims in affluent regions of the world, in my experience dont show a higher propensity for violent or antagonistic behavior. Like Reza said, people bring their own inclinations to whatever doctrines they represent (Im hesitant to say follow because so many people I know who claim to follow a doctrine seem the very opposite, ie. Putin is a communistic billionaire). Ive met violent and peaceful, cruel and kind, intelligent and idiotic people from every major group of people Ive ever encountered. cnn/video/?/video/bestoftv/2014/09/30/cnn-tonight-reza-aslan-bill-maher.cnn&hpt=hp_t4&from_homepage=yes&video_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fcnn%2F%3Frefresh%3D1#/video/bestoftv/2014/09/30/cnn-tonight-reza-aslan-bill-maher.cnn
Posted on: Thu, 02 Oct 2014 20:27:19 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015