Quote:I think you are missing my point. One thing that bothers me about a lot of atheists right now is this narrow, laser-like focus on Islam, while dismissing what Christians and other religions do. I don't think it is wise to ignore the most powerful group (Christians) of people on the planet and focus entirely on a group that mostly inhabits third-world types of areas. As someone who lives in the U.S. it isn't the Muslim fundamentalists that I am worried about in my own country. They don't really have any power outside of the middle-east and I suspect that the clock is ticking as far as their power in certain parts of that area is concerned.Most powerful group? I'm not particularly concerned about Christians because here in Portugal state-church separation has been religiously (notice the irony) enforced and the church is progressively losing power not to mention young people are increasingly becoming irreligious and don't buy cheap dogmas - But the most powerful group? I wouldn't say so - Both Christians, Jews and Muslims have power around the globe, it's just a matter of looking for favourable geopolitical circumstances - Jews have power in Israel, but in Saudi Arabia it's Muslims, in the US or Uganda it's Christians, etc.
As for your concerns, it may be ok because, as you said it, you don't have a significant Muslims population but in Europe (specifically in some countries like France and England) there's Muslim immigrants and it's a fast growing religion. The reason why people are upset about Islam is because (1) Suicide bombings and terrorist attacks (2) Literalist interpretations taken to the limit (3) Cultural differences which are incompatible with the west, not to mention human beings are very tribalistic (4) Attacks on women's rights and violence against women (As a man I'm already offended by violence against women in the west and women's issues, let alone in Islam) (5) Protests like the one in the UK when Muslims said free speech against their beloved prophet should be banned (6) Laws all over Europe criminalising criticism of Islam as hate speech (to be fair these laws are terrible regardless of the group they protect - People have the right to be bigots)
by the way, I refuse this ridiculous notion that just because something is far away from me I shouldn't worry about it and that I shouldn't care if Muslims are peaceful - What troubles me it's not Muslims but what's written in the Quran and the fundamentals of Islam - I don't think Christianity and Islam are any different than National-Socialism and Aryanism, they are all offensive ideologies and regardless of moderation I will be hostile towards them. Now, I can give Christianity a pass because as much as I dislike it my country was Christian upon it's foundation and my culture is heavily (like the rest of the west) influenced by Judeo-Christian values and culture - Everything else is unnecessary. If you follow a scripture like the Quran I cannot possibly rest under the excuse that you are being moderate, as far as I know contemporary neo-nazis also advocate for moderation but I don't respect them anymore because of it.
I do agree that it's hypocritical to only criticize Islam because it ignores that religion is like an octopus with tentacles and the source of evil is the same, but it's not unwise for people, specially Europeans to be concerned with demographics - I can go the politically correct way if I wish but there's no doubt that if the majority of the population becomes Muslim - Which will not happen in the near future - A war will start and it will not be different than what happened between the X-XII century
Quote:Anyway, as I said earlier, this basically comes down to a fallacy of relative privation. It isn't a good idea to ignore problems in your own back yard, just because they may be worse on your neighbor's property. That is exactly how problems grow.And I don't, I love with my backyard
Quote:I do agree with your last point but most of the countries with majorities of Christian and Muslim fundamentalist populations do not really have secular governments to begin with so I don't see how that applies. Educating people has always been the best weapon against any kind of extremism. Just telling people that they have to learn to do something a certain way isn't going to accomplish much. You actually have to help them understand WHY.No, the tool is not indoctrinating anyone. You see, you can find examples of intelligent and educated members extremist groups like the neo-nazis and Hilter in particular - If you don't indoctrinate anyone I don't see how further problems would arise even with poverty.
Quote:Actually, no, it does not. Also, I am referring to the majority of religious fundamentalism being caused by a lack of education and economic disparity. This is going to require a lengthy post so I will address it sometime tomorrow.Could you please provide evidence to refute my former reply regarding indoctrination? Wouldn't it be a lot simpler to simply not teach religion or teach less often? Also, how do you plan to take people out of poverty - Assuming you are not planning to destroy capitalism?
Quote:There is no need for hostility or name-calling here.I agree but people have the right to slightly insult each other when there's disagreement.
Quote:How so? Actually, I was comparing behavior. Trying to dismiss violent behavior just because the people are fighting for their rights is, as I said, morally questionable. However, my biggest issue is that you seem to be trying to cover up the violence as part of their fight for human rights.I don't know if you've looked at the news but some months ago I posted something about a court in Uganda repealing the law against LGBT.
Also, can you prove that human rights as posed in the UDHR exist?
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