mozzaok wrote on Jan 11
th, 2009 at 10:21am:
[quote]Well I have to disagree with the general thrust of your position Calanen.
I do not see the extremist interpretation of Islam, as the only interpretation, and if you look to christianity you can see the parallels.
That's what Westerners dont understand, what is supposedly 'extreme' Islam, is just - Islam. What may be extreme are the methods employed, not the aims. That is some Muslims believe that the stealth jihad is the correct way of achieving the destruction of the West. While some believe terror is the way to do it. Nobody disagrees though that the West has to be destroyed.
Quote:We had a time when theocratic christians ruled, and a more violent, intolerant, repressive bunch of creeps would be hard to imagine.
Well, yes and no. It has been part of the great counter culture push, ie, hate yourself and white guilt to say how bad the Catholic Church was. Bad things were done, but, it was less about doctrine and more about individuals.
Quote:Christianity changed itself, it dropped the extremist stuff, and concentrated more on the central tenets of christ's teachings of love and understanding.
It did - but it reformed the Church, it didnt reform the Bible. A central tenet of Islam is that there must be warfare against unbelievers. The supremacy of Islam through warfare is a central and invioable part of the religion. I dont see that being reformed, I dont see how it can be.
Quote:We had a time when communism was a major threat to the world, and zealots campaigned for global domination, but the normal citizens who once supported them in this goal, changed their stance, and it is no longer a threat.
But they werent communists, they were people who lived under communism.
I can see the commonality, being that all systems require the support of their people, as the area of hope for a peaceful change of direction.
Quote:While we see many muslims currently supportive of the extremist interpretations of Islam, ultimately they are just average people, mums, and dads, who desire a decent future for themselves and their families, and when they get disenchanted with the extremists, and withdraw their support for them, then a new, moderate and more benign form of Islam may develop.
Why should it? What possible impetus is for their to have a moderate form of Islam, when apologists of every persuasion make excuses and blame Westerners for the most extreme, violent terror of Islam. See the worse that Islam behaves, the more it is our fault. So they never need to behave, because its ALWAYS our fault.
Quote:That should be our goal, to not ostracise all muslims, but to merely help them identify the extremists for what they are, not just the enemies of western culture, but the enemies of all peace loving, decent people.
You dont get it. It is like saying that we need to engage with the moderate Nazis in the Third Reich, or the moderate Stalinists under the Soviet Union. There is no such thing. It is the ideology that needs to change, not the people.
Islam needs to enter into a new lasting treaty with infidels, to say, sworn on the Koran:
- infidels have a right to exist, infidel nations have a right to exist under infidel law;
- muslims will never raise a hand against infidel nations or infidel systems or governments through jihad or otherwise.
If they dont do that, its pointless talking. Also, keeping muslims in muslim lands is important. They have their muslim government there, so no need for internal jihad. They do not have muslim government here, so there must be warfare until there is.