Islam and first cousin marriages

[Crunchy]

Brian37 Wrote:
So, I was talking about even our modern era even outside Islam. The idea of teens getting bartered between families still exists elsewhere. Even if the sex is illegal, some sects of LDS still promise the girl to a man even if the man legally has to wait. 

Child brides or giving away a child to someone still exists even in poor parts of Asia. The concept of your parents deciding whom you marry also exist in India depending on the individual family with Hindu's and Sikhs.

Again, if you think that is unique to Islam do a google search on America's state laws on the age of consent, and also Mexico, Central America and South America. 

Yes in breading does cause birth defects, but again, while most of the west frowns upon it, age of consent ranges widely and causes far more unwanted pregnancies and social diseases in poor countries in the Americas and Africa. 

Yes go after Islam, but don't pretend it is the only religion that has followers who have not caught up with the times.

Nowhere did I suggest that Islam is the only religion or culture to have such problems and I understand where you are coming from. But this looks like a false equivalency to me. It's like saying that Canada and the US both have the same issue with gun violence because there are also some shootings in Canada. 
The rates of consanguineous marriages in the entire Middle east and in Islamic immigrant communities are incredibly high by any standard and millions are affected. The rates of birth defect and infant mortality are nothing to be ignored just so as not to offend.

Since the thread is about first cousin marriages and their current prevalence in the Islamic world, it seems like an unnecessary distraction from this issue to bring up other problems that are affecting other cultures. Not that I'm disagreeing with anyones take on these other problems, I just don't see how pointing out these other problems provides any insight into the issue raised here. 

No doubt people are uncomfortable with highlighting the issue of inbreeding. No doubt it's a touchy subject, but that is no reason to avoid the subject.
So far I've heard that it used to be a problem in antiquity. First cousin marriages aren't that bad (not from you) and that other cultures also have other problems and it is implied that worrying about this problem is just being unfair to Muslims.

This sure looks like a very serious problem affecting millions and millions of people and that it is a difficult problem to raise. If we have trouble discussing it in an atheist forum, what chance is there that any public figure will touch it with a ten foot pole?