Theism alone fails to adequately account for the extreme levels of social violence we currently see in some Islamic states. Thus the impact of your dreampt-up army of 'reformed Islamic rationlists', will be negligible at best.

I don't see how anyone can so coolly and surely dismiss the effects of historical and contemporary patterns of invasion, occupation, poverty and economic exploitation (as the author has done) in an analysis of the 'problems afflicting the world of Islam'.

It isn't an 'imagined West' when you have a bunch of US Army militiamen kicking your door in to arrest your son and F-35s rocketing overhead when all you want is a quiet nights sleep.

Sam wrote;

'Hey tr...you are not seeing the full picture here...if a population believes that the seat of the soul is in a persons head region ie it is a current belief that developed over the ages...unless you have 'scientific evidence' to prove otherwise you cant shift that view...'

Sam, for centuries the majority of people thought that epilepsy and schizophrenia was caused by demon possession rather than by neurological pathology. They were wrong. Just because a supernatural explantion SEEMS plausible doesn't make it right. Only by careful assessment of the facts by the scientific method can we obtain something approaching certainty and truth.

The tragedy of the situation is that religious beliefs as determined by the majority opinion sometimes lead to unnecessary persecution and suffering. Epileptics were sometimes ostracised by the religious community and occasionally burnt at the stake.

In your case, you have used the unfounded 'fact' that the soul resides near the pituitary to help justify the decapitation of a fellow human being. Here we have a clear case of religious dogma suppressing reason.

A reasonable person would suggest that we "don't know all the facts about the soul" and therefore defer hacking the head of someone till more data comes to light.

A reasonable person would then apply the time honoured principle of "Thou shall not kill" and not murder the so-called criminal in the name of the state.

A reasonable person would also apply the concept that punishment and reform of the individual should go hand-in-hand. It's a bit hard for a criminal to repent and reform if their head is severed.

A reasonable person would also make the assumption that the process of law is not perfect and that innocent defendants are sometimes found guilty accidently.

To put it simply, to use religious dogma and majority religious opinion to determine Truth and carry out justice is completely irrational.

In fact Sam, I could very well say at this point that your previous post has proven the point that 'Islamic rationalism' is an oxymoron.

Lastly, you wrote;

'further you are trying to flip the onus to other side...ie those who believe this must prove it with science when the belief began when lot of people still thinking the earth was flat and would argue black and blue for it...this road leads to confrontational exchanges'

I would suggest that it is the closed dogma of religions that bring about 'confrontational exchange' because it evokes absolute certainty when none exists in reality. Dogmatic religion also has a tendency to close off debate because it assumes that all its texts have fallen straight from heaven and are therefore not open to discussion. When debate and discussion end conflict begins.

It is the duty of religion to listen to science and reason, not the other way around.

George, here is a link for your open letter to the Pope by the Islamic Imams.

http://www.islamicamagazine.com/issue18/openletter18_lowres.pdf

You will need acrobat reader or some other PDF application.

Cheers

So God is able to open the eyes of the blind?
Of the endless man made Gods what one would that be?
In truth man has outgrown his child the build in genius is to be admired in all the books of all the Gods.
Even the fear that was planted to keep us on our knees.
And the promise of a life forever on those knees worshiping a God who seemingly loves us so much he/she wants us to never be one humanity one world.
The thread is about a chance that exists for a better world.
If only we can tell some no God awaits to reward them for murder with so many wifes or is it slaves?

Well said Anti Green.

The author of this piece of rubbish does know what the term "renaissance" means I assume. It means rebirth. Which indicates that something had died in the first place. A dead religion is what he is telling you, dead. I agree, now it's just a ghost.