10 dead in Paris after attack on Magazine

[Jenny A]

This is usually my sentiment. I try to have a cool head and understand the many perspectives involved in whatever situation, but it's hard to give a fuck about a single moderate when the source of their ideology is also the cause of women being buried up to their necks while they have bricks chucked at their head, or a school filled with children being gunned down, or a man tied up in a public square so his head can be lopped off to become a play thing for the neighborhood kids.

Realistically, I know there's not one goddamned thing that can be done to get rid of all religion, and I hate that. I feel helpless. I know, with the same certainty that the sun will rise tomorrow, that Islam will be the cause of a massive amount of children being slaughtered.

I understand that feeling perfectly. And Muslim extremists commit the sorts of crime that make me want to bring back torture and stone a few people (rather specific people) myself. And then I remember what I don't want to become.

[Chas]

So the act of murdering 10 people just because they drew a cartoon of Muhammad is clearly not within the bounds of Islam.

That is your interpretation. They obviously interpret it differently.

No True Muslim?

[Esquilax]

Something. Finding a voice, in this day and age, is trivial; here I am, on this forum, saying things in a voice. If I criticize mainstream christians for staying silent when one of theirs does something bad, if I do the same of atheists, I'd be inconsistent to stop at muslims.

Once again, read the article.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/ja...isers-isis

Many Arabic Twitter users, however, attacked the terrorists, one pointing out that Charlie Hebdo had made fun of Jews, Christians and Buddhists without its journalists being targeted and murdered.

What else is required since only radicals side with the attackers?

Which, I mean, again, thumbs up. Like I said, those are the ones who get respect from me. I never once said that no condemnation was taking place from the moderate islamic community.

[Jenny A]

Now would be a good time for every newspaper, news magazine and tabloid in the world to reprint these cartoons on the front page.

^This^ is the proper response.

[Brian37]

I'm not defending that immorality is limited to religious people, it's part of the human condition. That would be hypocritical to say.
What i'm saying is that they are following literally the sacred Book, which if you ever read promotes a Holy War against anyone who does not share their beliefs. Same thing for the Crusades hundreds of years before.

Abrahamic religions not peaceful one bit.

No they are not I agree. Religion in the west became civil because of empathetic people cherry picking their books. The west became civil in spite of religion, not because of it.

But that does not mean evolution itself in what leads to flawed perceptions that lead to religions will stop. You kill one religion another one will pop up. So again, at best you can work to more manageable level to the point it cannot go off the rails.

The God of Abraham is no different than Kim Jong Un, as depicted in those books. Can be at best, tolerant but still is immovable and cannot be voted out of office. Most of the time the God character seeks blind loyalty and will treat his minions well, but step out of line or question this God you are deemed the enemy.

Theists well say this is bigoted, but it is not. It is no different a criticism than that of a movie. It is a criticism of HOW the character is written in literature considering the context of the time those books were written, and even polytheists lived in feudal system where the kings ruled and the entire society depended on the loyalty to that king. Kings are dictators and is why you see the word "lord" used in those books.

Even in polytheism you had dictators back then and the mortality rate was much higher back then so even in polytheism your life depended on loyalty to that tribe. And even in polytheism there was a false attachment to the divine for your good fortune.

That is why the OT, Bible and Koran are written like that. The leader was who you followed and in a very literal sense your life depended on doing that. Just like you protected a king or pharaoh or Caesar.

It really simply amounts to humans projecting their own desires into a comic book immortality because doing that is much easier, and certainly so back then, than facing our finite existence in reality. It made more sense back then because humans didn't know better, but we know better now.

[100 Years of Solitude]

Extremists are different, instead of a conscience they have a Holy Book.

What matters now is that we can preserve our dignity, our humanity and not act like those who want the gunmen tortured, burnt, chop their limbs because then we would be no different from them (the extremists).

[Exian]

I understand that feeling perfectly. And Muslim extremists commit the sorts of crime that make me want to bring back torture and stone a few people (rather specific people) myself. And then I remember what I don't want to become.

In this age we're in, where it is easy to record and post videos, it's getting easier to let that feeling go unchecked, and it's getting harder to simply think that these things are happening to someone else somewhere else. I feel horrible that either my imagination was to weak, or my mental defenses were too strong to allow me to see the humanity in it all. The total disregard for life is captured on video for all to see now. Those moments are what go through my head when I hear moderates talk about their religion of peace.

You're absolutely right though. There's no good in sinking to their level. Cooler heads prevail.

[Mudhammam]

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Blasphemy against Islam and the Prophet Muhammad is taken very seriously by many Muslims, apparently. Depending on the country, it is also possible that a person who blasphemes about Islam or the Prophet is going to be subject to some kind of punishment according to the laws of that country. The common reasoning for this is that anyone who mocks or insults the Prophet has become an apostate, and thus they should be killed. That in itself is a misunderstanding of the religion. There are also some hadiths (or sayings of the Prophet) that a Muslim may refer to in order to defend punishment for blasphemy, although those are still not conclusive evidence for punishment.

On the other side of the argument, there is no Quranic instruction that supports the aforementioned opinion. Rather, the Quran points to the opposite direction. In some verses God tells us that when we hear some evil or offensive speech, we should simply ignore them and walk away. We should avoid getting into arguments and instead just turn away from them peacefully as He says (referring to believers):

"And when they hear vain speech, they turn away from it and say, 'For us are our deeds, and for you are your deeds. Peace be upon you; we seek not the ignorant.'" (Surah 28:55)

"When you hear those who engage in vain discourse about Our signs, then turn away from them until they enter into another theme. And if Satan causes you to forget, then do not sit, after the remembrance, in the company of the wrong-doers." (Surah 6:42)

So the act of murdering 10 people just because they drew a cartoon of Muhammad is clearly not within the bounds of Islam.

There are also verses which mention how the disbelievers of that time used to mock and insult the Prophet Muhammad - and other Prophets as well - but once again, the Quran doesn't command us to carry out any physical punishments on them. It just tells us to leave them alone because their punishments will be brought to them soon enough ... "So leave them to plunge in vain talk and amusement until they encounter that Day of theirs which they have been promised" (Surah 70:42).

People used to say unspeakably cruel things to the Prophet Muhammad, but he never enjoined any punishment on those people. For years he was mocked, insulted, challenged, pushed out of Mecca, his companions were beaten, abused, and even killed, he was spit on, he was beaten so severely that there was blood dripping from his face, the Quraish rejoiced at the fact that all of his sons died so early, they boycotted his followers, and so on and so forth, and yet he was praying for guidance and forgiveness for the same people who were hurting him.

Here are some further logical answers that explain why the "blasphemy laws" that exist today are clearly contrary to Islam:

What is the Punishment for Blasphemy in Islam?

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[Thumpalumpacus]

Count me out. Thoughtcrime is a crummy way to deal with things. Can you not mount a convincing argument for secular society without advocating censorship or abridging freedom of conscience?

I'm talking about something that i know would never happen or solve anything, on the contrary it would contribute to martyrdom, like Jesus.
It's just a desperate thought of someone who's had enough, seing the things it does in my city, how it leads to massive hysteria.

Now rationally, for me it's always about the next generation, you can't hope to change someone who has absolute faith in God because that is no likely, we can show that religion isn´t needed, it's a thing of a distant past when we couldn't explain certain things or we can promote it's critical analysis in schools to show it's flaws that goes agaisnt what science rightfully claims.

I hear you, I'm frustrated by the assholes too.

I don't think outlawing ideas is the way to combat them. That's all I was saying.

[Lemonvariable72]

I oft wonder, how many attacks do they think it will take before people just turn on islam altogther? Do they think they are some how wining here? All I see is terrified children that dont wonna grow up. To bad for them that they wont have to pay the price, instead it will be the moderate muslim who wont be be able to find a job because of his religion, it will be his duaghter being beat up by other kids in school.