(July 24, 2015 at 11:15 am)Yeauxleaux Wrote: Ask any Muslim "scholar" anthing like "Is Islam violent/misogynist/homophobic etc etc?" you'll never get a straight answer. They know Islam is all of those things, but they won't admit it because they don't want the backlash. Instead they'll twist and sugar-coat it to make it sound nicer or they'll blatantly change the subject. At least the guy in the video has a bit more honesty than most do, I actually don't think he's an idiot, I think there's a fair amount of sense in what he's saying even if he's off on some things.
I think there's something to be said about "the morality of religion" if different people are getting different morality from the same text. If one person reads the Qur'an and genuinely believes it makes them a better, more loving person, while another reads exactly the same text and ends up joining al-shabaab, that means they've already picked their morality and are looking to the religion for validation. That means morality doesn't come from religion.
Morality exists because of our evolutionary process and it is a form of preserving our species and surviving. I think morality is strictly connected with what we call "harm" and "damage" - Meaning that what damages something or someone is usually considered immoral unless it is justified (like self-defense) - Obviously the idea and concept of what constitutes harm or damage changes with culture and social norms - Homosexuality is seen by some as perfectly normal because it doesn't hurt anyone, but for those who believe god dictates moral laws it is bad because it violates god's laws. Personally I don't think only pointing guns at people (metaphorically) speaking is immoral, there are things that do not affect me directly but I'm still interested in interfering with them and solving connected problems.
More than saying it is not violent, proponents of religion usually don't consider harmful or evil what we are now provocatively labeling as such - For example, the idea that women should be covered up is seen by most of us as harmful (only as a mandatory rule and not as a voluntary behavior which should be respected as everyone is the sole owner of their bodies and clothing habits) but for Islamic scholars it is helping women and protecting them, so it's good. For Christian priests who defend the idea that women shouldn't preach, that's correct because we are protecting women from being naive and innocent. For anti-gay preachers, being against LGBT is good because they are genuinely saving those people from eternal damnation. It is a truly fascinating moral position of self-righteousness
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you
