Article

2007-09-04 Olde Tyme Religion

An inability to tolerate Islam contradicts western values

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Posted by john frum 2007-09-04 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11131 views ] Top
File under: Global Jihad

#1 Words fail.

Posted by Seafarious">Seafarious 2007-09-04 00:17|| 2007-09-04 00:17|| Front Page Top

#2 Why. SF? What did you expect?

K.A. has always been N.M.E.

Posted by twobyfour 2007-09-04 00:59|| 2007-09-04 00:59|| Front Page Top

#3 An inability to tolerate Islam contradicts western values

'Tolerance' is a two-way street, Karen. Only an 'intellectual' such as yourself could twist that into a 'contradiction.'

...the principle of free speech implies respect for the opinions of others.

Only in your universe, Karen. In mine, it implies that if I disagree with this cartload of dung, I can say so loudly & freely, and with utmost disrespect.

Posted by PBMcL 2007-09-04 01:06|| 2007-09-04 01:06|| Front Page Top

#4 Try contradicting Karen, PBMcL, and see what happens.

Posted by gromgoru 2007-09-04 01:16|| 2007-09-04 01:16|| Front Page Top

#5 Armstrong is a low grade panderer. Her books are listed on Muslim reading lists. She makes money off dhimmi service. Her screed about Muslim tolerance and mutual respect is deceitful to the highest degree.

Posted by McZoid 2007-09-04 01:32|| 2007-09-04 01:32|| Front Page Top

#6 Boy howdy, whatta goldmine!

Modern society could not function without independent and innovative thought, which has come to symbolise the inviolable sanctity of the individual. But culture is always contested, and precisely because it is so central to modernity, free speech is embroiled in the bumpy process whereby groups at different stages of modernisation learn to accommodate one another.

There are certain things that Western free people do not accommodate. Among them are counted terrorism, theocracy, unequal civil rights, Abject Gender Apartheid, Female Genital Mutilation, public beheading and amputation plus a host of other barbaric practices common to almost all Muslim majority countries. Any desire by Islam to retain even a single one of these specifically noted practices disqualifies it from participation on the worldly stage. There is no accommodation to be had with such savagery.

None of this makes note of how the author promotes Islam, even though she admits that: "Modern society could not function without independent and innovative thought". This is moral and intellectual bankruptcy.

Muslim protests against Rushdie's knighthood have recalled the painful controversy of The Satanic Verses

Painful only if you have and your collective creed have an eggshell ego.

four British Muslims were sentenced to a total of 22 years in prison for inciting hatred while demonstrating against the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Not just demonstrating but calling for the murder of anyone who blasphemes Islam. Like this chap:

It would, however, be a mistake to imagine that Muslims are irretrievably opposed to free speech.

No it would not. It would be the prudent and logical assumption to make from all evidence to date.

"liberty and freedom and being open-minded with each other"

This amounts to a one lane one-way street in Islams favor and no other.

a time of extreme political vulnerability in the Islamic world

Islamscompletely self-inflictedpolitical vulnerability is a strict byproduct of its amoral and corrupt nature.

to an alienated minority they seem inseparable from Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay and the unfolding tragedy of Iraq

Again, all self-inflicted. If Muslims could just keep their snotty noses out of our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness they might not die so often.

For Muslims to protest against the Danish cartoonists' depiction of the prophet as a terrorist, while carrying placards that threatened another 7/7 atrocity on London, represented a nihilistic failure of integrity.

Noticed that did you? What do you propose to do about it?

only 8% of respondents condoned the 9/11 atrocities. But this could change if the extremists persuade the young that the west is bent on the destruction of their religion

There we go with the usual veiled threat. Indicating an inclination to increased violence is a direct and open threat to society. It is precisely this inclination to especially senseless violence that drives public opinion to favor the destruction of Islam. Youd better execute those extremists damn quick before they get all of you killed, because they will.

And now for the whopper:

Muslims replied unhesitatingly that western countries must show greater respect for Islam, placing this ahead of economic aid and non-interference in their domestic affairs.

There is no greater respect shown for terrorism, theocracy, unequal civil rights, Abject Gender Apartheid, Female Genital Mutilation or public beheadings and amputations. Strike this from your list now because youll not get it from any free people.

Our inability to tolerate Islam not only contradicts our western values; it could also become a major security risk.

Toleration of Islam in any form is what represents a major security risk. There is absolutely no contradiction of western values in making war upon terrorism, genocide, crimes against humanity and the massive violation of human rights in general known as Islam.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2007-09-04 02:17|| 2007-09-04 02:17|| Front Page Top

#7 > since the principle of free speech implies respect for the opinions of others.

Where does it do that? It doesn't. What a load of poo.

Posted by Bright Pebbles 2007-09-04 03:22|| 2007-09-04 03:22|| Front Page Top

#8 It must tick her off to have her books banned in Malaysia.

Not only does it reduce book sales (to zero) but Malaysia is supposed to be a shining example of muslim tolerance.

Posted by mhw">mhw 2007-09-04 08:44|| http://hypocrisy-incorporated.blogspot.com/]">[http://hypocrisy-incorporated.blogspot.com/] 2007-09-04 08:44|| Front Page Top

#9 You guy's shot down most of her hollow assertions. This lady's basically an idiot....prolly a tenured professor at some lib leaning U.

Posted by Broadhead6 2007-09-04 11:20|| 2007-09-04 11:20|| Front Page Top

#10 Islam basically contradicts -

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness

You can have one or the other. Pick.

Posted by Procopius2k 2007-09-04 11:42|| 2007-09-04 11:42|| Front Page Top

#11 ...author of three television documentaries and took part in Bill Moyerss television series Genesis...
Basicly, an epeleptic atheist ex-Catholic who compares Mo as the Ghandi of his time.

Posted by Phinater Thraviger 2007-09-04 11:59|| 2007-09-04 11:59|| Front Page Top

#12 Where do we begin. Karen is a former nun. Her previous writings are concerned with religious fundamentalism, which this article shows clearly that she doesn't grasp. The is more multiculti horse$hit. Hers will be one of the first throats to be slit when Muslims take over.

Karen Armstrong

Islam contains within itself the seeds of violence and extremism. Even the Turks state there is no moderste Islam. But the West is slowly being convinced that Islam is the violent, intolerant, supremacist cult that we see, not the Religion of Peace that they want us to believe it is. Taqqiya: "Go back to sleep. Everything will be fine."

Posted by SR-71 2007-09-04 12:09|| 2007-09-04 12:09|| Front Page Top

#13 I'll take the glass half-full approach:

For Karen Armstrong, this is a pretty harsh criticism against Islam.

Posted by mrp 2007-09-04 12:28|| 2007-09-04 12:28|| Front Page Top

#14 Armstrong is ~~sexually~~ religiously confused.

Posted by ed 2007-09-04 12:55|| 2007-09-04 12:55|| Front Page Top

#15 Can we agree there are some things that cannot be tolerated in a just society?

If not, then you are an idiot. If so, then you've just found one of those intolerable things.

Liberals have deemed being discriminatory and intolerant as the greatest of sins, to the point of discarding good and evil in favor of their ideals of pacifistic inactivity in the face of horrors that Islamists would impose.

I am a conservative: right and wrong do exist. Good and evil do exist. Evil must not be tolerated, it must be opposed, for failing to do so allows it to succeed.

Indeed demanding right and opposing evil is a virtue, even if it offends, even if you discriminate against the evil doers (which you inevitably must if you mean to fight them). It is evil's nature to take offense at anything and everything without cause.

Deeds, not words.

To paraphrase Barry Goldwater:

Intolerance of the intolerable is no vice.

Posted by OldSpook 2007-09-04 13:16|| 2007-09-04 13:16|| Front Page Top

#16 Two quotes:
"The Constitution is not a suicide pact."
"A foolish consistency is the hob-goblin of small minds."

I'm neither required nor likely to stretch my neck out for the sword.

Posted by mojo">mojo 2007-09-04 13:36|| 2007-09-04 13:36|| Front Page Top

#17 The Koran negates equality. Muhammed concocted it so that he could take power, colored with fake religiosity. Only the supposedly pious may rule a Muslim, but the criterion of piety is always set by the current ruler. Some Muslims are more equal than others.

Posted by Albert Snurt4028 2007-09-04 15:47|| 2007-09-04 15:47|| Front Page Top

#18 The West's inability to tolerate racists contradicts Western Values.
The West's inability to tolerate facists contradicts Western Values. Nope, doesn't work. The West has no requirement to tolerate the intolerant. Strawman. Strawman.

Posted by rjschwarz 2007-09-04 17:26|| 2007-09-04 17:26|| Front Page Top

#19 "But equally the cartoonists and their publishers, who seemed impervious to Muslim sensibilities, failed to live up to their own liberal values, since the principle of free speech implies respect for the opinions of others."

Karen Armstrong is either profoundly confused by the concept of "freedom", or she is profoundly dishonest. She seems to think that having "respect" for the opinions of others means I should let them have their say, then refrain from commenting if I disagree or disapprove.

Two words, Karen: up yours.

"Gallup found there was as yet no blind hatred of the west in Muslim countries; only 8% of respondents condoned the 9/11 atrocities."

Jeez, what a relief: "only" 8%? That means that there are only about 100,000,000 million Muslims in the world who are our sworn enemies unto death. Terrific.

"But this could change if the extremists persuade the young that the west is bent on the destruction of their religion."

Bite me.

"When Gallup asked what the west could do to improve relations, most Muslims replied unhesitatingly that western countries must show greater respect for Islam..."

Bite me on the other side.

One of the sobering revelations I've had as a result of all that has come to pass since 9/11 is that Islam deserves FAR less respect than I had been giving it before; and that didn't amount to much, at least not since November 4th, 1979.

Posted by Dave D.">Dave D. 2007-09-04 18:12|| 2007-09-04 18:12|| Front Page Top

#20 The unwillingness of Saudi Arabia to allow for churches, synagogues and temples to be built in their country is a far greater contradiction of Western values.

In any case, Islam is the only religion whose adherents are exhorted to murder. We have no responsibility to cooperate in the slitting of our collective throats by tolerating it.

Case closed.

Posted by Grumenk Philalzabod0723 2007-09-04 18:57|| 2007-09-04 18:57|| Front Page Top

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