Notes on the Peaceful Religion of Islam

One thing I've learned is that pissing people off results in more hits on your blog (thanks, Beth) and also leads to a wealth of ideas for posts.  In this case, it was a rant about Islam and  "Our Teleprompter reading Muslim" as part of a long and angry comment from the AOTY post that started this post in my mind.  The comment ended with this gem of insight:

One thing you muslum trash can be assured of he will be punished by death at the hands of the INFIDEL, just like the rest of you in due time will also die at the hands of the INFIDEL.

PISS on the KORAN. PISS on allah

*sigh*

Now if you missed it, I favor killing every dirty raghead terrorist still alive, even if we have to shoot them through a baby they hold up to stop us from killing them.  I put less value on their lives than I do the pig and cow that were killed, ground up, and are simmering in my crock pot right now (a delicious pot of chili (yum-o).

However, like any religion, it's a matter of how it is used that I judge it.

A bit of comparative religion here, just in case you forgot (or are an intentionally ignorant slut).  Islam is related to Judaism and Christianity, does place value in the previous testaments that make up the current Christian bible, and views Jesus, Moses, and all the other prophets as prophets.  As with the Bible, there is some harsh damned language for certain groups and/or behaviors (I think I could find some passages where fucking anyone or anything gets you stoned).  And like with the other religions, there are some crazy-ass fringe kooks, people who aren't fringe but sympathize, and lots of decent people who live their lives in service to God.  Also, if we want to take a walk down memory lane, there's the Inquisition, the Crusades (which targeted Muslims, and all the fun things that happened to Native Americans if they didn't accept Jesus into their hearts (it usually involved having something shoved or shot through said hearts).

Now, this country was founded with a principle of religious liberty, so much so that we included it in the First Amendment.  And I, as the high source of all wisdom here on SPD, do not condemn a religion unless it is clear that the absolute core of the faith (and all of the faithful) either disrespects the rights of other faiths to exist, or preaches hate as their doctrine.  In this, Islam, while having many radical sects that fall under this definition and would not be missed if they were cut down by fire, does not earn universal condemnation (whereas pukes like the Phelps family of the Westboro Bastard Church, for example, would be easily and heartily condemned).  So while I do have issues with some aspects of Islam that do tend to threaten peaceful coexistence, there are enough peaceful Muslims in the world that the faith should be respected, and it should be the individual that we judge.

So on that, should we judge all Muslims as evil, or for that matter, use it as an epithet toward the President (who has identified himself as a Christian, and has been known to attend a church for a couple decades (albeit under the tutelage of the angry Rev J Wright))?  Probably not. That would be like judging all Christians to be bible-thumping kooks that believe the Earth is 6,000 years old, Jesus rode on a dinosaur, and that everyone that isn't baptized in their church is going straight to H!E!L!L!  Or judging all atheists as soulless bastards who eat babies, molest children and hate anything that ever used the word "God" capitalized.

So if you're feeling the urge to do so at the end of this post, don't, as it just marks you as an aforementioned ignorant slut.  And if you're patriotic, you're pissing on your country by a show of intolerance.  And if you're a Christian, you're hypocritical and pissing on Jesus, who I think would have the decency (were he to come back today) to smack the taste out of your mouth for doing so.

And if you're a peaceful Muslim, you should remember that the scumbag ragheads who attack us are attacking you as well, by giving intolerant asshats a reason to think feel that Islam is a hate religion.  Furthermore, if you value peace, then helping take down all the radicals is a good damned start.  And that means not bitching if the name Muhammad (or any variation thereof) gets you flagged for greater scrutiny (that whole profiling thing I mentioned a couple days ago).   Because as you know, our enemies will use everything against us they can.  Don't give them that power.

As for the rest of us, we need to embrace those who are trying to change, whether it be someone next door that's praying 5 times a day and politely declines your offer of pork rind-breaded pork chops (never tried it, but it sounds deliciously redundant) or these guys (found them in this article):




What can I say?  I'm broadening a few horizons on my slide out of Christianity.  And I'm finding that almost everyone else is also seeking answers.  And that's how Islamic terrorism will one day fail.

(I'm oddly optimistic that way.)

And if not, there's always Dick Cheney: