We oppose all racism and bigotry and sexism, except Islam

The current favorable and Hollywood-acceptable logic (why the hell anyone would think that celebrities were people to guide public discourse I have no damn idea - most of them are not exactly flying a full set of sails) is that the western world is at fault in our relations with Islam. In addition to this, Islam is a misunderstood religion that is characterized as aggressive and intolerant by the right-wing etc, but those more intellectually enlightened know that Islam is simply a different and equal way of viewing the world. Morally speaking, we are the aggressive and intolerant ones, invading their lands, interfering with their affairs, and trying to manipulate the middle east in particular in our unending crack-addict need for oil.

Of course if you look a little more closely, or really, look at all, this is a load of bullshit. First of all, morality is not relative. It is not acceptable that women are treated as property under Islamic law - no matter what their book says or what they have been doing for the last 600 years.

If I said slavery should not have been abolished and is a valid, traditional practice supported by the Bible, I would be quite rightly accused of racism and prejudice, and would face censure from the public at large and whatever institutions I was affiliated with.

But hold on, what does the bible say about slavery?

Exodus 21:20-21
"When a man strikes his slave, male or female, and the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. But if the slave survives a day or two, he is not to be punished; for the slave is his property."

So according to the bible, not only is it acceptable to own slaves, it is acceptable to beat them to death, as long as they die a long, slow, agonizing death from wounds or internal bleeding, rather than dying on the spot. That's straight out of your bible folks. I can't imagine they spend too much time on that one in Sunday school.

The thing is, we all understand that in this case it is wrong. Modern Christians simply ignore a lot of the crap in the bible, because it is just that, crap. There is no valid moral relativist standpoint here saying that its ok because of culture, tradition, a funny little book etc.

But when it comes to Islam, that's exactly what we do. We accept their degradation of women because its part of their tradition, and their book says that's the way things are. If you do surveys, most Islamic women say they accept the tradition, and this is used to validate it and prove that those criticizing Islam simply don't understand. And yet if you did a survey of slaves on plantations in the 1700's, I wonder just how many would speak out against the institution. 1%? 2%?

And it really is just Islam that gets this treatment. We oppose female genital mutilation in Africa, thought it is also a long-standing tradition tied to their religion. But we don't really talk about the fact that it is prevalent in Islamic countries as well - in the Iraqi village of Hasira, a recent study found that 60 percent of the women and girls reported having undergone female genital mutilation.

The absolute hypocrisy of "liberals" being apologists for Islam astounds me. It is a racist, sexist, intolerant, and aggressive religion. That's not "my opinion" - that's what it is. It is not "my opinion" that Hitler was not a good person, that Stalin killed millions or that the 100 years war, slavery, and the inquisition were immoral.

Which leads me to my final point. Yes, in the past, Christianity was an aggressive, intolerant, racist and sexist religion. And to some extent, it is still all of those. But the vast majority of Christians and christian churches have become moderate, at least on a relative scale. Deeply indoctrinated Christians really piss me off, but mostly they oppose gay rights, abortion, pre-marital sex, and abstract science. They are obnoxious, intolerant, and frequently make me want to hammer them over the head with a copy of "On the Origin of Species" printed on lead tablets. In comparison, mainstream Islam believes in religious wars, women as property or second-rate citizens, and the eradication or at least expulsion of the Jewish race.

Just because the western world has "been there, done that" does not mean we should accept these things today.

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