Reza Aslan Slams 'Bigoted' Media For Generalisation about Muslims

[CDNBear]

You're wasting your time Colpy, Flossy and his girlfriend are more upset at Levant than the brutality of Islam.

All the evidence in the world won't sway their collective angst.

 

[BaalsTears]

I think there is much to be learned from Islam about the proper role of women in society and the proper treatment of LGBTQ folks. Anyone who disagrees is a racist.

 

[Goober]

I think there is much to be learned from Islam about the proper role of women in society and the proper treatment of LGBTQ folks. Anyone who disagrees is a racist.

I think font color is critical at times.

I think there is much to be learned from Islam about the proper role of women in society and the proper treatment of LGBTQ folks. Anyone who disagrees is a racist.

 

[Twila]

I think there is much to be learned from Islam about the proper role of women in society and the proper treatment of LGBTQ folks. Anyone who disagrees is a racist.

Is muslim a race? are they trying to be like the jewish people...be both a people and a religion? Cause that was quite the shtick. they got lots of chutzpah

 

[Colpy]

How CNN — and Others — Could Make the National Conversation About Islam Less Dumb

Since 9/11, Americans love to talk Islam. Unfortunately, this has not tended to be an intelligent debate, and Bill Maher is often one of the worst offenders when it comes to sweeping over-generalizations and misunderstandings of the complicated ways religious membership, belief, and behavior interact.

On Monday, CNN Tonight chimed in on this conversation in what was seemingly the correct way: The producers invited on Reza Aslan, a bona fide religion scholar, to respond to some of Maher’s recent comments and discuss the broader issues. Unfortunately, what followed wasn’t the intelligent conversation it should have been, but rather a stale regurgitation of the same silly loaded questions hosts have been asking for more than a decade:

Perhaps the most telling moment comes at 4:50, when, following Aslan’s eloquent points about how silly it is to broadly generalize about 1.5 billion people given that Bangladesh is not Turkey is not Saudi Arabia, Don Lemon — perhaps sensing the conversation is getting slightly too nuanced — asks Aslan point-blank to respond to the question on the screen: Does Islam promote violence? (Aslan responds, smartly, that Islam doesn’t inherently “promote” anything — “Like every religion in the world, it depends on what you bring to it.”)

It’s not worth rehashing the rest of the segment. Instead, it should be seen as an opportunity to point out the sorts of interesting, productive questions hosts should be asking the Reza Aslans (Rezas Aslan?) of the world.

Here are some questions the hosts could have asked to make the segment a bit more intelligent and watchable:

1. If female genital mutilation is about local cultural practices rather than Islam, why do some fringe Muslim figures defend it?

2. What do we know about why people join ISIS and how they differ from other Muslims with similar levels of religiosity?

3. In the age of ISIS, how do efforts to sway vulnerable young Muslims away from violence vary from country to country, given the huge cultural differences at work?

4. What are some specific examples of local efforts — successful and unsuccessful alike — to do so?

5. Maher is harsh on religious fundamentalism, but there are other forms of ideological extremism too. Do we have firm evidence on whether religious extremism is more likely to lead to violence than other forms of it?

The silver lining here is that Americans are curious about Islam, both for obvious reasons pertaining to the news and because Muslims are an increasingly visible part of American civic life. CNN and other outlets should use this curiosity to illuminate useful questions, which certainly isn't what happened Monday night.

How to Make the Islam Conversation Less Dumb -- Science of Us

A bona fide religious scholar, huh??

LOL

A liar and an incompetent you mean.

The most "telling moment" comes at 1:40 to 2:10, where he claims Christian countries perform more FGM.

Reza Aslan Slams Bill Maher for Facile Arguments’ About Muslim Violence - YouTube

Well, not according to UNICEF.

New UNICEF report on female genital mutilation/cutting: Turning opposition into action | Child protection from violence, exploitation and abuse | UNICEF

Mr Aslan claims the highest rates of FGM are in Christian countries, like Eritrea (89%), and Ethiopia (74%). Look at 1:40 on the vid, he makes the claim just after the 2:00 mark, where he claims "...no where else in Muslim majority countries is FGM an issue....".

I guess he never heard of Somalia (98%), Guinea (96%), Djibouti (93%), or EGYPT (91%)...........to say nothing of the fact the vast majority of FGM are performed on Muslim girls.......

Of course, anyone that claims the cult Of the Prophet Mohammed, (pervert, thief, mass murderer and rapist), is non-violent is either an idiot or a liar.

Then he goes on to say Islam does not mistreat women.

The man is delusional.

 

[CDNBear]

You don't actually think facts actually matter to people like Flossy or Cannuck, do you?

 

[B00Mer]

Opinions are like @ss holes. Everybodies got one.

...and yours stinks.

 

[CDNBear]

...and yours stinks.

I highly doubt it. I bet it smells like roses, or turkish delight. Maybe even crabapple jelly. Yummm, crabapple jelly.

 

[B00Mer]

Islam Dismantled In 6 Minutes : Pat Condell - YouTube

 

[Zipperfish]

84% of Egyptians polled by Pew in in 2010 agreed with a death penalty for apostasy, 86% of Jordanians agreed, and 76% of Pakistanis agreed. In Turkey, only 5% agree. How is Turkey different? For one, it's laws are integrated with the European Union, that is to say, a Western liberal society.

If anyone disagrees with Maher's statement that our society is better, I'd like to know why.

If Pakistanis think that death is an appropriate punishment for apostasy, then I could see why they would prefer Pakistan to America. "Better" is a pretty subjective term. Some people clearly want to live under sharia law. It used to absolutely baffle the Greeks--perhspas one of the first civilizations with any concept of humanitariansm--why the Jews would mutilate their own children, would starve rather than let a statue of Zeus appear in their town and would kill their own before compromising their faith. Strangely enough, from a historical persepctive, we sympathize more with the Jews than the Romans. And yet the Jews at the time of Christ were pretty similar to the Muslims of today--nothing but trouble. The Jews would rise up because of some religious slight, and the Romans would go in and slaughter them by the tens of thousands, but they'd just rise up again somewhere else. Clearly it was "better" to be Roman--educated, well fed, sophisticated, rules of the world. Yet Pilate and Herod are the villains; Christ the hero (except to the Jews, of course).

That said, the evidence is that there's a heck of a lot more Muslims heading to Europe and America than vice versa. I hope I'm not arrogant enough to go around telling everyone I'm better than they are. But I will say I'm pretty happy with my lot and don't want People telling me that I should be livining under sharia law. The problem is once the Muslims reach a certain demographic, they want to take over. The Jews, like the Muslims, have never really integrated. Indeed, they have retained their culture through some 40 centuries of written human history. They seem to prefer to be governd by others though; at least they have been throughout most of their history.

Reading The Source by James Michener right now, which is a fictionalized history of the Jews from 10,000 BC to the present. Excellent, excellent book. Up to the time of King Herod right now. Anyways that whole post was a bit of a brainfart but there you have it.

 

[B00Mer]

If Pakistanis think that death is an appropriate punishment for apostasy, then I could see why they would prefer Pakistan to America.

Obama is an apostate, born Muslim to a Muslim father, then he claims to convert to Christianity, yet defend Islam when being used by ISIS.

 

[CDNBear]

If Pakistanis think that death is an appropriate punishment for apostasy, then I could see why they would prefer Pakistan to America. "Better" is a pretty subjective term. Some people clearly want to live under sharia law. It used to absolutely baffle the Greeks--perhspas one of the first civilizations with any concept of humanitariansm--why the Jews would mutilate their own children, would starve rather than let a statue of Zeus appear in their town and would kill their own before compromising their faith. Strangely enough, from a historical persepctive, we sympathize more with the Jews than the Romans. And yet the Jews at the time of Christ were pretty similar to the Muslims of today--nothing but trouble. Clearly it was better to be Roman--educated, well fed, sophisticated.

That said, the evidence is that there's a heck of a lot more Muslims heading to Europe and America than vice versa. I hope I'm not arrogant enough to go around telling everyone I'm better than they are. But I will say I'm pretty happy with my lot and don't want People telling me that I should be livining under sharia law. The problem is once the Muslims reach a certain demographic, they want to take over. The Jews, like the Muslims, have never really integrated. Indeed, they have retained their culture through some 40 centuries of written human history. They seem to prefer to be governd by others though; at least they have been throughout most of their history.

Reading The Source by James Michener right now, which is a fictionalized history of the Jews from 10,000 BC to the present. Excellent, excellent book. Up to the time of King Herod right now. Anyways that whole post was a bit of a brainfart but there you have it.

Some really good moral relativism there I tells ya, lolz

 

[Twila]

...and yours stinks.

well that's just your opinion...and need I remind you..opinions are like @*******s yada yada yada...

I highly doubt it. I bet it smells like roses, or turkish delight. Maybe even crabapple jelly. Yummm, crabapple jelly.

LOL.

This has taken a turn for the weird...I lurv weird.

 

[BaalsTears]

Is muslim a race? are they trying to be like the jewish people...be both a people and a religion? Cause that was quite the shtick. they got lots of chutzpah

Muslims can be of any hue, but in the hierarchy of Leftist victimhood it's convenient to use the term as the antithesis of white Christian.

I find that feminists and Muslims perceive themselves to have a common enemy, but their alliance is very uncomfortable.

Muslims are both a people and a religion because the Ummah, community of the faithful, is both congregational and political. Islam is both a faith and a political ideology.

I highly doubt it. I bet it smells like roses, or turkish delight. Maybe even crabapple jelly. Yummm, crabapple jelly.

Why does the word "lick" come to mind?

...
This has taken a turn for the weird...I lurv weird.

Oh, never mind.

 

[Zipperfish]

I think that it would be hard to argue that morals are anything but relative, if You read history. You used to be able to own black people, and bang 13 year olds, but homosexuality is an abomination. Not that long ago either, in the grand scheme of things. I wonder what they'll look back on, in a hundred years, and say "man, I can't believe they thought _that_ was acceptable.