Hi Foxy

'What do you really know about the religion
of Islam?'

mainly what those who were once muslims have said about their former faith. Many of them would lose their life for doing so if they went back to countries that practice Sharia. On the other hand former Christians have nothing to fear until they face God or repent.

Foxy wrote.

"As far as I know all Australians are free to follow
any religion they choose, so long as its practices
do not break any Australian law. Australians are
also free not to follow a religion. We have
secular government and no official or state religion.
And as I understand it religious laws have no
legal status in Australia."

Completely wrong, Foxy.

Australia's new religion is "multiculturalism" and it does not tolerate criticism of it's holy scriptures. It is so averse to criticism, that it has actually almost succeeded in preventing Freedom of Speech in Australia, which is an absolute right and the very basis of democracy. And you support that? You are not a liberal progressive, Foxy, you are a ideological totalitarian.

Islam is a religion that does not tolerate criticism. It's adherents will kill you if you criticise it. But Foxy supports Islam. Islam considers females to be the property of males, and that women who do not follow the strict conditions of female modesty deserve to be raped, but Foxy calls herself a "feminist" but will never criticise Islam. Islam believes that those Muslims who reject Islam and convert to another faith should be murdered, but Foxy sees nothing wrong with Islam. Islam encourages child marriages, but Foxy sees nothing wrong with Islam. Islam demands that religious law supersedes secular law, but Foxy sees nothing wrong with Islam.

And lastly, Islam demands the execution of homosexuals, but Foxy can't see the elephant in the room.

Isn't faith wonderful? All you need is faith and you can live in a fantasyland where black is white, and where your cherished ideology has the answer to everything. And when your fantasy world goes into turmoil you just refuse to look at the facts and just keep chanting the mantra.

"Islam is just another religion, and all religions are the same."

And.

"Don't criticise multiculturalism or we will burn you at the stake."

.

Dear Laurence (the author),

.

The reformation provoked by Martin Luther 500 years ago redeemed the tyrannical rule, excesses and abuses of the Christian Church and its ecclesiastics and rendered them more palatable and humane.

Muslims, in their vast majority are just as calm, peaceful and respectable as Christians.

According to Sami Zubaida, Emeritus Professor of Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck, University of London and a Fellow of Birkbeck College and also Research Associate of the London Middle East Institute, Islam has also undergone a certain number of reforms, including liberal and rationalist reforms.

It seems, however, that these reforms have little cultural appeal to Muslims. According to Sami Zubaida “those inclined to liberal ideas are more likely to be secular or nominal Muslims”.

He asks : “What is ‘reform’ in these contexts? It is the assertion of literalist orthodoxy against what was seen as heresy and innovation: that is, fundamentalism, parallel to the Protestant fundamentalists, but in vastly different contexts. And it was not one decisive ‘reformation’, but repeated cycles. Salafist and Jihadist trends in modern Islam, including Saudi Wahhabism and its spread, are part of that trend: hardly the ‘moderate’ and liberal reformation that is being sought” :

http://www.opendemocracy.net/en/north-africa-west-asia/islamic-reformation/

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Dear Banjo Patterson.

Christianity and Islam are two fundamentally different religions. Christianity was based upon the teachings of a Jewish pacifist and it is entirely pacifist in it's original form. Christianity changed from a pacifist religion to an extremely violent one because the Church hierarchy gained absolute control through such devices as preventing freedom of speech, which is a vice that you, yourself, support in this country.

Islam is a warriors religion started by a warlord to make his warriors suicidally brave and to justify imperial expansion. Your premise that Muslims are in the main peaceful and nice people is irrelevant. Germans, Japanese, Russians, and Chinese are really nice people too. But if they live in totalitarian communities and their leaders order them to kill you and your family, they will do just that.

Christianity reformed because of freedom of speech (which you oppose) through Gutenberg's printing press, and the subsequent publishing of the Bible in national languages (instead of Latin) which the Roman Catholic church vehemently opposed. Islam stayed a violent religion because Mohammad himself decreed that Islam was perfect as it was and could never be changed. That message was written in the Koran for all Muslims to see.

That is the problem for Islam. It can't reform itself. As a social and economic system it is a complete failure. The more Muslim any nation is, the more dysfunctional it is. Unable to grasp why Islam is so backward, Muslim leaders today have convinced their masses that it is because ISLAM IS NOT ISLAMIC ENOUGH. Which is why ISIS, Jemaah Islamiah, and Boko Haram are now in existence.

Another reason why Islam can not reform itself is because we have a class of people in the western world who think that all it takes to be considered "intelligent" is to always sneer at your own culture and defend every minority culture, no matter how despicable that minority culture really is. Since you believe in opposing free speech because you consider it "hate speech", then whatever you think you are, a liberal social progressive you are not.

Looking at the 3 major religious traditions that
believe in one God (Christianity, Islam, and
Judaism) all 3 make references in their religious
texts to both violence and peace.

So the fact that a religious text contains violent
verses does not make it a violent religion. But it's
also a fact that a religious text containing peaceful
verses does not make that religion peaceful either.

Violence is not new to the history of religions, nor
is it a phenomenon solely attached to the history of
Islam.

Christians and Buddhists also have a track record of
fanaticism, such as the bombing of abortion clinics,
and the hardliner Buddhists in Myanmar. Religious
content may be a catalyst for violent action, but it
should be remembered that it's reading relies heavily
on human interpretation. To put it mildly - "The world
is bleeding to death through misunderstanding."

Of course - it can never be right to kill in the name of
God - but it should be dawning on all peoples that it is
time to let go of pretensions that anyone knows the
will of God.

Rather than listening to the claims and counter claims
about what "authentic" Islam really stands for, we might
be better to pay more attention to how advocates of their
faith choose to live their lives.

That way it might be easier to avoid making assumptions
about what the religion might mean, and instead focus more
on how the faithful live.

The enemy of peace is not religion, but those who pursue
acts of terror and violence against the innocent in the
"name" of religion.

Another false equivalence, Foxy.

That is like saying that Frank Partridge VC and Ivan Milat are equally violent men and both must be equally despised, because both of them killed people.

The teachings and "Hadiths" of Jesus Christ were

Love your neighbour
Love thine enemies
If a man strikes you, turn the other cheek
Blessed are the peacemakers
The parable of The Good Samaritan (just because somebody is of another religion, that does not automatically make them bad people.)

The teachings and Hadiths of Mohammad

Fight the unbelievers who are near to you... terrorise them.
We will win through terror.
Slay the idolaters wherever you find them.
Crucify them, mutilate them, cast their heads under their feet.
Take not Christians and Jews as friends.
Be prepared to fight people that Allah knows and you knowest not.

They don't equate, Foxy. Trying to equate Islam with generally peaceful religions like Christianity and Buddhism is a loser for you. The more you try to equate them, the sillier you look. Switzerland has violent crime and Mexico has violent crime. The Swiss homicide rate is 1.5 per 100,000, the Mexican homicide rate 30 per 100,000. But claiming that Switzerland and Mexico are therefore equally violent would be laughable. But you are trying the same leap of logic with religions.

As for "looking at how the faithful live." The Sydney Muslim suburb of Auburn is the domestic violence capitol of Sydney. Hardly surprising, given that Islam wholeheartedly approves of wife bashing. In 2000 AD, the NSW Bureau of crime Statistics reported that 55% of the handgun shootings in the entire state of NSW occurred within the boundaries of two notorious Muslim ghettoes. Auburn and Westmead hospitals now have specialised surgical teams to treat Muslim girls suffering from complications caused by genital mutilation. All Muslim suburbs have high rates of serious criminal behaviour and welfare dependency.

All Religion may approve of violence in certain situations, but that does not mean that in terms of violence, they equate, Foxy.