Brainstorm

[Mister Agenda]

One of the most intelligent, decent men I've ever encountered is a Muslim doctor who helped to train me.

Things like this are the reason I don't like to generalize.

That's great for you. I'm not saying Muslims can't be decent people - I know for a fact a lot of them are. I'm saying I wouldn't like to be friends with one in real life. These are adults who have chosen to follow certain ideas. Those ideas include intolerance towards me as an atheist, among other more despicable things. If you are able to look beyond that, good for you. I am not.

Substitute 'indoctrinated with certain ideas since before they could walk' and you might have a more tolerant attitude concerning the ideas these adults have 'chosen' to follow.

I have Muslim friends who know I'm an atheist who aren't intolerant towards me at all. I don't know any Ahmadiyya Muslims in RL, but they believe even atheists ultimately enter heaven.

Muslims are too diverse to generalize about. Muslims in one country are different from Muslims in another. Muslims who follow different traditions are different. Muslims in developed areas are different from Muslims in developing countries. Muslims in war torn countries are different from Muslims in countries that have been at peace. There are Muslims who follow one set of Hadiths, or a different set, or none at all. There are Muslims who are serious about their faith and Muslims who are casual about it. Muslim majority countries are different depending on their history and what kind of Muslims inhabit them (did you know that there are more countries that ban the burqa than require it?).

There's a 'typical Muslim' in Western Media, but that Muslim doesn't much resemble the Muslims in RL around the world who never make the news. We don't have to look beyond 'the terrible ideas of Muslims' to be friends with them. It's easy to find Muslims who don't have such terrible ideas, especially in America. The largest local mosque where I live is run by an Egyptian Imam I don't like. He's too conservative for my taste. So I'm not friends with him. That doesn't stop me from being friends with other Muslims.

You may have noticed a pattern of people here who have Muslim friends having a higher opinion of Muslims. It's a pattern that tends to hold across the board with any minority: the more personal experience members of majorities have with them, the harder it is for them to hold poorly-founded beliefs about them.