November 28, 2007
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SHAME ON ISLAM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22007049/?GT1=10547
so this is the modern-day purpose of religion. stifle free thought, and sentence elementary school teachers to flogging and jailing for the name of a teddy bear. . . for presumably "inciting hatred, insulting religion and showing contempt of religious beliefs," as though prosecuting a teacher over a teddy bear would benefit society, as though the best thing stupid muslim fanatics can do with their resources is incriminating teachers for stuffed animals. inciting hatred by naming a teddy bear. and our "religious tolerance" obscures the obvious conclusion: every westerner knows this is stupid, backwards, and barbaric, but how many people would associate the religion with the incident?
the following is a quote from The End of Faith, by Sam Harris:
"Wherever there are right and wrong answers to important questions, there will be better and worse ways to get those answers, and better or worse ways to put the to use. . . and not all belief systems and cultural practices will be equally suited to bringing the good ones to light. This is not to say that there will always be one right answer to every question, or a single best way to reach every specific goal. But. . . the range of optimal solutions to any problem will generally be quite limited. While there might not be one best food to eat, we cannot eat stones --- and any culture that would make stone eating a virtue, or a religious precept, will suffer mightily for want of nourishment (and teeth)."the obvious conclusion is that not all cultures are equally advanced, functional, or just. how many among us do not shudder when we hear of rape victims burned in "honor killings," a result of outdated culture? yet how many among us would dare to criticize the culture itself?
Comments (3)
Harris is overrated. Having read and analyzed his "Letter to a Christian Nation" at duelingwithatheists.blogspot.com, I found him a bit disappointing. He lacks that je ne sais quoi that the British atheists bring to their polemic. Ah well.
Criticizing such a powerful culture (Islam is second to Christianity, after all) will most likely produce more rifts than reconcile differences, whether those are due to backward societies or not isn't key to the problem. The problem inheres in religion: irrationalism. If people choose to be irrational, applying rational logic to deconstruct the "logic" behind their actions is rather unproductive... we can just say that they are illogical and be done with it. Not that I approve of how the world runs, but as Vonnegut would say, so it goes.
to belovedspear: sam harris is the only atheist writer i've read, since my parents think similar books are a waste of time. this particular harris book was given to me by a guest speaker. thank you for the comment though, i will be searching out other authors to read.
to demonslayer88: logic and rationality will be addressed in the next post.
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