(December 10, 2023 at 11:08 am)The Grand Nudger Wrote: I would suggest that you feel compelled to make counterfactual statements about religion in general and islam in particular because, even though you have a revised (and I suspect improved) belief system..some part of it's credibility in your own mind hinges on the islamists magic book being true...and it is certainly their book. This is a longstanding problem for every derivation of abrahamism.
The trouble is that there's not really any way for a person or a group to have an idea about how life should be and people should act and how governments should be arranged that isn't political. A religion without politics is mere superstition. Just a collection of things that go bump that some people believe in, but that do not compel them to any particular set of actions or any specific ideology. That does not create a unified moral community.
Islam is inescapably political, and insomuch as you think that's wrong, that's you saying that islam is wrong. Insomuch as you think islam should be less political, that's you saying islam should be less islamic. Mind you, I don't disagree, but I do suspect that it's an impossible ask.
You are looking to things in a historical / practical perspective. I am not saying this is wrong.
This being said. I am (and many like me are) active participants in the creation of a world that includes more justice and wellbeing. I have fierce political position and I don’t have a snoby attitude toward politics either.
But politics and religion: there is simply no way I can see it work. Not in spiritual terms, not in political terms. On the contrary: In 2023, everyone would agree that this is an abomination

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