Muslim's are NUTS

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So, when you send someone to life in jail for selling drugs, that's a big difference from sentencing someone to death for cheating on their spouse right? It's very easy to criticize other cultures, where you can never possibly make an impact or create change; but it is much harder to take your own society, that you could change, to task.

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I dont give two [censored] about what is happening in any other country, that is why I choose to live in the US. I dont think our laws are perfect, but they are much better than 99% of the rest of the worlds, and I still strive to change what i can/speak my mind. What I dont want to happen is pockets of communities that decide it is ok not to listen to US laws, and enact Shariah (which is already happening).


And yes, selling drugs and cheating on a spouse, unless you are a complete moron, are two totally different areas of laws, and each have a different impact on society, and should be treated differently. Life in prison, is much different from a death sentence, and one "crime" has a MUCH bigger affect on society than the other, so relating them seems asinine and retarded.

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I'm saying that I don't believe they are all that radical. I think the religion itself is. If an islamic individual posted a response perhaps I would change my mind. It's the media that is saying radical this radical that. Some just act on their religion and others dont. I dare someone here to tell me it's not absolutely [censored] wacko to blow people up over cartoons.

[guids]

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I'm saying that I don't believe they are all that radical. I think the religion itself is. If an islamic individual posted a response perhaps I would change my mind. It's the media that is saying radical this radical that. Some just act on their religion and others dont. I dare someone here to tell me it's not absolutely [censored] wacko to blow people up over cartoons.

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This is the fundamental misunderstanding that Americans (especially your typical 20-something, uninformed, liberal apologists) do not understand. If you have ever read the Koran (of which I have, and a few texts clarifying what was said), you will see that Koran is not much different from the Old Testament in regards to the harshness, and unjust rules it sets forth, but yet, its not "cool" to rip on the Koran, even though there are about 100 times the amount of inherently evil people that are basing their actions on the koran, than the bible. If there were daily suicide bombings across teh world because of the bible, I would be saying the same thing.

[Taraz]

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http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pi..._Apr07_rpt.pdf

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Thank you for linking to that. I noticed that they only polled in Egypt, Morrocco, Indonesia, and Pakistan however. I wish they had included more countries in that poll because Egypt and Pakistan are known to be the most extreme in terms of the application of Sharia. Also a large percentage of those polled said they "agreed somewhat" which I believe is unclear.

In other polls, the majority of Muslims believe that Sharia should be a source of legislation, but not the sole source. Here is an interesting quote from an article about a recent gallup poll. (article)

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In Egypt, for example, 66 percent of those polled said that Sharia must be the only source of legislation while in Pakistan 60 percent felt that way, in Iran 17 percent, and in Turkey 9 percent.

Interestingly, Gallup posed the same question to Americans, 55 percent of whom felt that the Bible must play a role in legislation.

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Also, a large percentage of Muslims believe that application of strict Sharia is the definition of Islamic extremism according to polling done by the Pew Global Attitudes Project link.

[Taraz]

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I'm saying that I don't believe they are all that radical. I think the religion itself is. If an islamic individual posted a response perhaps I would change my mind. It's the media that is saying radical this radical that. Some just act on their religion and others dont. I dare someone here to tell me it's not absolutely [censored] wacko to blow people up over cartoons.

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If you give me a specific statement I'd be happy to respond to it explaining if what you say is accurate or not.

I'm not a Muslim but my dad studies religion professionally and I consider myself to be pretty knowledgeable about Islam.

[guids]

That poll is weird though imo.

muslims define extremism as:

violent removal of non-muslims

strict shariah



so I dont really know what percentage think what, becuase there is a lot of overlapping between violent removal, and following shariah etc. And in all reality, for me to think "ok, its just a very small segments of nutballs doing this kind of stuff" those numbers should all be up in the 90 percentile.



You are also being very false when you say a "large percentage". It is only half of the people polled. An average of 50ish % is not a large percentage imo.

[Taraz]

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That poll is weird though imo.

muslims define extremism as:

violent removal of non-muslims

strict shariah



so I dont really know what percentage think what, becuase there is a lot of overlapping between violent removal, and following shariah etc. And in all reality, for me to think "ok, its just a very small segments of nutballs doing this kind of stuff" those numbers should all be up in the 90 percentile.

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I agree that none of these polls are very clear. But the various polls by the Pew guys are very illuminating. They've done a series of projects, the most recent of which was completed last year. It's interesting to read through them to see how different opinions are in different countries and how it's so different from what is popularly portrayed in the media.

With respect to Sharia, I agree that it is alarming that there are so many people willing to embrace it worldwide. I think you are mistaken, however, when you claim that the majority want a strict application of Sharia as their sole source of law. I'm also skeptical of whether you have the same idea of what Sharia entails as these Muslims do.

I also think it's silly that you think that 90% of these people should be against sharia. Why would this be the case if you grow up in a Muslim society? I also wish we had access to what these people think Sharia law actually entails. I have a strong suspicion that it wouldn't be as barbaric as many non-Muslims would have us believe.

[Taraz]

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You are also being very false when you say a "large percentage". It is only half of the people polled. An average of 50ish % is not a large percentage imo.

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LOL at 50% not being a large percentage. Half the population isn't a large number? That's enough to get a president elected in this country. Would you be happier if I used the phrase "significant percentage"? If I had meant majority I would have said majority.

I was just trying to show that there is a lot of disagreement within the Muslim community about these issues. It's simply disingenuous to claim that there is a prevailing "Muslim" opinion on most of these matters as many people try to claim.

[guids]

Honestly enough, I have no idea of what muslims think Shariah entails, the only thing I have to go on, is what ive gotten out of the actual texts that make up Shariah law. Muslims may take most of the laws with a grain of salt (like 99% of christians do in regards to Old testament laws) but I tend to think that they dont.

[guids]

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You are also being very false when you say a "large percentage". It is only half of the people polled. An average of 50ish % is not a large percentage imo.

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LOL at 50% not being a large percentage. Half the population isn't a large number? That's enough to get a president elected in this country. Would you be happier if I used the phrase "significant percentage"? If I had meant majority I would have said majority.

I was just trying to show that there is a lot of disagreement within the Muslim community about these issues. It's simply disingenuous to claim that there is a prevailing "Muslim" opinion on most of these matters as many people try to claim.

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I would have been happy if you said half. when talking about extremism (as I view strict shariah as being extreme), half of one billion believing that shariah is extremism misleads imo, if you are claiming "a large percentage". it might just be a hangup on my part, but i could just as easily spin it my way and say that "a small percentage of muslims believe that shariah is too extreme" and since the numbers are basicalyl 50/50, we would both be right.