If youve been at all interested in the public debate between Bill Maher / Sam Harris and Reza Aslan over whether progressives should take a stance against Islam, here is my comment from a friends thread... There are three questions being conflated here: 1. Should we be able to criticize religious communities / institutions for either promoting violence/oppression or refusing to speak out against violence carried out in its name, without being called bigots? Yes, of course we should. 2. Is a large segment of our media / culture promoting the idea that Islam is inherently much more violent/oppressive than other religions, the effect of which is that Westerners have a more favorable view of our own violence/oppression against Muslims? Yes, it is. 3. Is it true that Islam is inherently much more violent/oppressive than other religions, and is it true that the rise of ISIS and other such militant groups can be explained by looking at the Quran more than by looking at the sociopolitical & economic history of the region? No, it is not. Mahers and Harriss argument is a red herring. Of course most progressives dont think that groups like ISIS should be in power. But we also dont think that these conflicts will be made better by placing 100% of the blame & focus on a religion which the vast majority of adherents practice peacefully. In other words, yes, part of the progressive agenda should be to fight against memes that lead to violence and oppression, even if those memes take the form of religion. But one must be weary of a selective scapegoating of a particular set of memes, which can actually lead to an overall increase in violence and oppression.
Posted on: Wed, 08 Oct 2014 02:19:02 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015