Islam: What's your opinion?

[Guy]

Now the majority of my friends are practising Muslims and I live in a fairly racist English town. Most hold a very negative opinion towards them and are often slandered by English folk, sometimes even in the streets. This said, the media is also a criminal in the way it demonises the religion. Every time the BBC mention Islam it's often followed by words related to the immoral practice of extremism. But as a friend once said to me: "If every Muslim wanted to blow themselves up, the religion wouldn't exist today." - I love that.

I fully understand the religion and personally believe everyone should be allowed to practice what they choose. At the end of the day religion is a personal choice. You're religious or you're not and how you interpret it is completely down to your little self.

I'd like to know what is your own personal opinion on the religion? I'm not talking about the extremists (who contradict the religion completely), but the genuine Muslims. Do you view it in a negative way? Are you against Islam? Are you for it in a liberal mindset?

It'd be nice to get some feedback on the issue seeing as TWCenter is the hub of everything different.

[konstantis]

i cant judge the beliefs of others but if everyone of us followed his religion's basic tenets (e.g christian love your fellow people ) world would be a better place

[fox991]

I am with you

[Tacitursa]

Putting people in prison for kissing there loved ones , Stoning people to death for trivial crimes , Executing people for sorcery and other nonsense , Sexism and hatred towards women. The list goes on..

I really don't see a difference between extremists and genuine Muslims. In my opinion there all extreme just varying degree's of it but extreme none the less.

And i'm sure someone will mention Muslims that disagree with all of that and i'd argue they are not Muslims but cherry pickers, Every religion has them. They cherry pick all the positives and ignore anything/everything that makes others see them in a negative light or they just ignore or dodge questions about it because they themselves know that its wrong but don't have the balls to admit it.

They are generally the Muslims living in Europe/USA that ignore all the parts westerners disagree with, It's hard to maintain faith in such things when not surrounded by people who disagree with it. Middle eastern community is very different.

[Sher Khan]

Putting people in prison for kissing there loved ones , Stoning people to death for trivial crimes , Executing people for sorcery and other nonsense , Sexism and hatred towards women. The list goes on..

I really don't see a difference between extremists and genuine Muslims. In my opinion there all extreme just varying degree's of it but extreme none the less.

And i'm sure someone will mention Muslims that disagree with all of that and i'd argue they are not Muslims but cherry pickers, Every religion has them. They cherry pick all the positives and ignore anything/everything that makes others see them in a negative light or they just ignore or dodge questions about it because they themselves know that its wrong but don't have the balls to admit it.

They are generally the Muslims living in Europe/USA that ignore all the parts westerners disagree with, It's hard to maintain faith in such things when not surrounded by people who disagree with it. Middle eastern community is very different.

There are no true Scotsmen except for the Scots you don't like.

Islam is a barbaric and blatantly false religion. Its actually predicated on Jesus not being crucified, the one literally incontestable historical fact. No matter how crazy you are, everyone knows he was crucified.

Actually, it doesn't really care.

Hell, Islam answers "God did it" in a hell of a lot more direct way, God in Islam literally sustains and causes every action theres no mechanical determinism there. Fire does not burn you, God causes you to be burnt after you touch the fire.

I don't think you're properly acquainted with al-Ghazali. And neither are most Muslims since his metaphysics hasn't been relevant in Islamic theology for centuries. We should discuss Islam, not Calvinism.

The greater majority of Islam is hostile to science, how bloody naive can you get? All but an insignificant percentage of Islam lives in the bloody third world where your sooner to be stoned to death for holding someones hand than getting a highschool education. Meanwhile huge tracts of Christian demographics come from the West where historically and currently are overwhelmingly in favour of science.

There are three trains of thought here that don't really connect. The first, a supposed hostility to science, isn't actually explained by the rest of the paragraph. The second doesn't really make sense when people hold hands in the Middle East a lot, and that basic or higher education is lacking because of poor access and government policy, not some imagined anti-intellectualism.

[Yosemite]

Putting people in prison for kissing there loved ones , Stoning people to death for trivial crimes , Executing people for sorcery and other nonsense , Sexism and hatred towards women. The list goes on..

I really don't see a difference between extremists and genuine Muslims. In my opinion there all extreme just varying degree's of it but extreme none the less.

And i'm sure someone will mention Muslims that disagree with all of that and i'd argue they are not Muslims but cherry pickers, Every religion has them. They cherry pick all the positives and ignore anything/everything that makes others see them in a negative light or they just ignore or dodge questions about it because they themselves know that its wrong but don't have the balls to admit it.

They are generally the Muslims living in Europe/USA that ignore all the parts westerners disagree with, It's hard to maintain faith in such things when not surrounded by people who disagree with it. Middle eastern community is very different.

so you say talibans are the true muslims

looks like you dont know about islam my good fella

[Treize]

Tends to be intolerant to others. And backwards...

[Basil II the B.S]

It's a religion, therefore mental illness someway.
Overall tends more to extremism than other ones these days, and the fact that it's overprotected and treated in special way by political correctness idiots is probably what makes me dislike it more.

[Guy]

They are generally the Muslims living in Europe/USA that ignore all the parts westerners disagree with, It's hard to maintain faith in such things when not surrounded by people who disagree with it. Middle eastern community is very different.

I think the highlighted factor definitely exposes the difference between the few categories, if you will, of Muslims. What we see on TV is different to how Muslims are in person. Honestly, I think that's that's a factor for the negativity: the media manipulates them.

All the Muslims I know are peaceful and condemn the violence. They will openly take a debate and provide well-structured arguments. I think that's one of the key things that shows a great differing factor in Islam: it has the balls to say yes/no. Unlike Christianity, "God did it," it can challenge the mainstream.

According to the English Defence League, 30% of Muslims are in favour of Shariah Law. However, that's 30%, meaning a massive 70% aren't. I know of many who are very "fundamental," you might say, but say Shariah Law is wrong because we are playing the act of God. The same friend who I mentioned in the OP said to me: "Why should we judge the fate of man? Let God deal with them on the Day of Judgement - 'God-fearing.'"

[Denny Crane!]

Much the same as the other abrahamic religions. Society would be a much more moral and better place without them and much less divisive.

[(s)AINT]

Much the same as the other abrahamic religions. Society would be a much more moral and better place without them and much less divisive.

Pretty much this.

Is'nt this thread a littile bit raceist?

/failure

Islam is not a race.

[Carpathian Wolf]

Now the majority of my friends are practising Muslims and I live in a fairly racist English town. Most hold a very negative opinion towards them and are often slandered by English folk, sometimes even in the streets. This said, the media is also a criminal in the way it demonises the religion. Every time the BBC mention Islam it's often followed by words related to the immoral practice of extremism. But as a friend once said to me: "If every Muslim wanted to blow themselves up, the religion wouldn't exist today." - I love that.

I fully understand the religion and personally believe everyone should be allowed to practice what they choose. At the end of the day religion is a personal choice. You're religious or you're not and how you interpret it is completely down to your little self.

I'd like to know what is your own personal opinion on the religion? I'm not talking about the extremists (who contradict the religion completely), but the genuine Muslims. Do you view it in a negative way? Are you against Islam? Are you for it in a liberal mindset?

It'd be nice to get some feedback on the issue seeing as TWCenter is the hub of everything different.

I think it was a politically motivated innovation by an Arab merchant influenced by Christian heretics such as Arianism/Nestorianism with a dash of Gnosticism and the local Arab religion. To me historically Islam has pretty much just been one big conquest spree. Theologically speaking I think that the angel speaking with Mohamed was probably Lucifer which Mohamed himself claimed until his wife said other wise. I think Islam has its good aspects and its bad ones. I don't think all Muslims are terrorists but I DO believe that the "extremists" are the ones practicing Islam in the historically correct fashion. Personally I considered converting to Islam but decided against it once I studied more about it. The Muslims I have met have varied from the old noble and scholarly types that I imagine in One Thousand and One Nights or Sinbad stories I heard as a child, to the ignorantly savage. I look at people based on their own individual merits.

[The Dude]

I think Islam has got its basic tenets about as wrong as a religion can have them. I think that what religion should be, in its essence, the translation of high-end existential ponderings to a language everyone can work with. It does this through its reliance on symbolism, mythology etc.

But in Islam, the religion has become a purpose onto itself, and that is really just completely missing the point. The object of religion should always and ever be that what lies outside and beyond us and that we are trying to grasp, but cannot effectively find the means to. In Islam, the rules are enforced for their own sake. People do things because it makes them a good muslim, not because it helps them understand anything at all. What is being a good muslim, then? Well, it's in the name: a good muslim is submissive.

And in this way a culture has shackled itself to a codified dogma and finds it near impossible to escape from it. There is a theological side to Islam that can and should be appreciated, but those things are so far beyond the experience of Average Abdul, who mainly concerns himself with whether or not he is following the rules set out for him to the letter, that Islam's theology may aswell belong to another religion altogether.

[Pharoah]

Is'nt this thread a littile bit raceist?

[removeduser_4536284751384]

Now the majority of my friends are practising Muslims

So you live in a town where nearly everybody is English yet most your friends are immigrants? This is further evidence of what I said earlier, that you reject everything you consider normal just because you want to be different. I think you have a bit of a complex.

I mean, my friends are roughly the same as the demographics of my town.

[CamilleBonparte]

Just because most Muslims are casual and selective about their religion doesn't mean the religion doesn't have fundamental issues with it. I think The Dude says it pretty well in the post above mine.

I think that's one of the key things that shows a great differing factor in Islam: it has the balls to say yes/no. Unlike Christianity, "God did it," it can challenge the mainstream.

Please don't spew uneducated ignorant bias garbage like this. Christian apologetics is well-documented throughout the religion's existence and has not only taken up all arguments against the religion but in fact invented most of those arguments itself through healthy biblical criticism and philosophical debate.

My God, Guy, just because you like a Muslim girl doesn't mean Islam is suddenly this amazing thing that people just misunderstand and Christianity is some backwater religion for bigots. Educate yourself. Please.

[removeduser_4536284751384]

My God, Guy, just because you like a Muslim girl

I'm pretty sure he doesn't like her. I think he only likes her because she is muslim and thus in his mind different.

They will openly take a debate and provide well-structured arguments. I think that's one of the key things that shows a great differing factor in Islam: it has the balls to say yes/no. Unlike Christianity, "God did it," it can challenge the mainstream.

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

No. Christianity is the Abrahamic religion most open to argument and interpretation. Islam is the most monolithic one.

Again, I see you're rejecting Christianity because you consider it mainstream.

I fully understand the religion

No you don't. And most adherents of abrahamic religions don't understand their own religions either.

[The Noble Lord]

Christianity is the Abrahamic religion most open to argument and interpretation. Islam is the most monolithic one.

That is correct, and that is what makes Islam to be the world's greatest religion!

[Blau&Gruen]

The modern world can challenge a person that lives in traditions and applys to specific customs, but challenges are what our internal worlds come from.

Ideologies refering to religions are not helpful neither to the traditional no secular individuals nor to those have already arrived in the world of these days.

Assimilation is a right and I do not see what should be negative about.

That is correct, and that is what makes Islam to be the world's greatest religion!

That would mean you could compare inventions of human subjectivity and scale them which is a rather futile undertaking because there is not really anything to compare nor to scale. It's just a mind and mood thing in the conflicting and contingent relation that occurs if your subjectivity relates to the exterior world.

[basics]

" That is correct, and that is what makes Islam to be the world's greatest religion! "

The Noble Lord,

No, that is not true. It may well be great in numbers but it is lost by the Law which came by way of Jews who carried the oracles of God to us Gentiles by way of Jesus Christ. So when Jesus said that the path is narrow and few ever enter through its gate where does that leave the billions of Islam, remembering that He is a Prophet of God who silenced a lot that thought they were the greatest?