Quote:
Originally Posted by Anteater
Nope. The "culture" surrounding Islam has not evolved an iota in centuries, whereas (for the most part) Christianity has grown up and found a way to exist in the modern world without the Pope and other heads of different denominations aiming to decimate the "enemy".
Unfortunately, many contemporary Muslims who don't care for the conquest-oriented rhetoric of their prophet are collateral damage in this battle against extremism. It's a complicated issue, but there's no solution where nobody gets hurt as long as you have thought leaders on the other side of the ocean who advocate for the type of society that Saudi Arabia has.
It doesn't matter if "historically" Christianity was violent: every religion has had its growing pains. That's not the point. The problem is we are living in the modern world yet Islam still hasn't gotten over its teething stage. If you go to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iraq, etc. you see what societies structured by that belief system are like, you would not want to live in those societies. If you speak out against them and say they're "really" following Islam, they'll cut off your head. That's the reality of the world we live in, so I'm sorry if you don't acknowledge that.
|
I don't think you are looking at the bigger picture. Persecute a group of people and of course that will galvanize their beliefs. Muslims who are engaged and accepted into mainstream society are just as peaceful and understanding as the next person. The Arab Spring happened as a result of western meddling. Every society has a group of uneducated and downtrodden people who are only looking for someone to lead them to a better life - in the west, the Republicans took advantage of that. In the middle east, it was Al Qaeda, ISIS, whatever extremist flavor of the month it is today. Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan - take a look at people from the 70's before the Islamic Revolution. I would say they were meshing just fine with contemporary society. I've been to Turkey, and while they are proud of their culture, it's not the oppressive wasteland people like to paint it as.
You don't think violent Christians willing to wage a war in the name of god exist? They do...and there are quite a few of them. The difference is, they currently have an outlet for their frustrations in the form of Donald Trump. If you think Christianity is beyond what is happening in the Muslim world, then again, you are kidding yourself.
If we ignore that frustration in the middle east is taking the form of religious zealotry, we can see that the real problem is just that these people want to be LEFT ALONE, free from western meddling. Just like anyone would want. Pinning this on the inherent violence of Islam is, as I said, ignorant and narrow minded.