When will the Middle East become majority Atheist?

[Marsellus Wallace]

So you agree with me nonetheless about Islam.

You're building strawman after strawman. Obviously you think Islam is that much worse than christianity, which is absurd. The only difference between radical islam and radical christianity is that right now a thin layer of society and laws are preventing radicals to act on their impulses. Pastors calling for the death of gays and abortion doctors should give your the right idea. Also the repeated attempts to sneak outright bible motivated legislation into lawmaking is on the same level as calling for Sharia law.

Hold it right there, internet-correcting-police is here, fingers where I can see them.

[abaris]

Hold it right there, internet-correcting-police is here, fingers where I can see them.

And your point is ....?

[Marsellus Wallace]

Hold it right there, internet-correcting-police is here, fingers where I can see them.

And your point is ....?

this is my point ===========> .

JK

My point is gonna include an assumption, which is that you have no clue how much convincing and well written the quran is, and how brainwashing it is, just look at the ratio between christian:muslim terrorists.. The bible is poorly written by amateurs, that's why it was possible to make a skeptic layer between society/laws and christianity. but in Islam sharia law is one of the oldest things in Islam, its almost as old as the Quran, it's one of the main corners of Islam. I think that is one of the many reasons why in Islam you can't separate mosque and state like your version of separate church and state.

[Whateverist]

120 years.

[JuliaL]

When it is faintly warm glowing green glass.
I'm guessing 12 years so I'm 90% more optimistic than whateverist.

[abaris]

just look at the ratio between christian:muslim terrorists.

Right, and you don't think if social and political environments were reversed the ratio would reverse too?

That's what I call closing one's eyes to every hateful sermon, every attempted piece of legislation to make biblical law the law of the land.

[Thumpalumpacus]

By the way, are you an academic historian? Just curious.

I'm as much as an academic historian as Carl Sagan was. The answer is no, so to speak.

But what seperates me from Sagan is that I don't claim to be an authority regarding historical facts when I lack that formal education.

Except that he didn't claim to be an authority. And if you think a formal education is the only way to gain authority in a field, that could be argued as well. Perhaps deserving of its own thread.

If you have to compare Christianity to Islam in order to make Christianity look good, well, gosh, I'm underwhelmed.

So you agree with me nonetheless about Islam.

Currently. As noted above, Christian regimes in the past have been as thoroughly despicable. Reading in context would help the conversation along.

[I Am Not A Human Being]

Yes. However, it is also been a practice shared by Christians in the past.

Meanwhile it's a common reality in many of today's Islamic countries where you will be sentenced to die for charges of sorcery. 

I challenge you to find a Christian country where sorcery is illegal and punishable.

Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live? Remember that verse? We should, considering that it was used as an excuse to kill many women, men and even children. This is what happens when you go to a country in which a large percentage of people who lack basic educations and start teaching them about witches, demons, devils, etc...

Kuwait has a population with a high literacy rate (94 %). The majority of the people there have a good education. Despite this you suffer legal discrimination if you're suspected of being a witch or a sorcerer. 

Here is an incident that happened this year. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/ja...te-village

Scroll down to toward the bottom of the article. Notice where it says there was no history of this in the province (Enga, which is nearly all Christian) where it happened? Also notice the part where the Bishop is threatening excommunication for those who engage in this behavior. Now why would he be threatening them unless they were Christians?

Here is another interesting article.

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/p...men-25108/

And as you see Christianity doesn't approve of witch-hunting behavior. The Bishop even condemns it and will excommunicate anyone continuing hunting witches. It's safe to assume that the people going around killing suspected witches are finding justification elsewhere, such as their native beliefs. It's possible for people to have blended religious beliefs, for example traditional Melanesian beliefs and Christianity.

Also you manage to find one incident in the entire world. Here's a link showing abuse and killings against suspected witches in Islamic countries. A lot more. http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Islamic_Witch_Hunts

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.

You're wrong on many parts. You depict Christians as the world's most powerful group and make it seem as if a large procentage of Christians don't live in third-world areas like Muslims do. Christianity is the world's most persecuted religion. So much for being "the most powerful group of people on the planet". Oh please.

Islamic terrorism does have power outside the ME. Are you kidding right now? Just look at all the documented terrorist attacks, both attempted and accomplished, in Europe the last few decades. Islamic terrorism is a global problem.

How about the protests in Egypt back in 2011? In Asyut a few thousand Copts attacked and destroyed the property of Muslim shop-owners.

See? There are issues on both sides! Muslims kill priests, discriminate against Christians and blow up churches and Christians scuffle with some Muslim shopowners in one city.

Really, pretty much the same sort of thing on both sides, when you think about it.../sarcasm

I condemn acts of violence by anyone, for any reason. With the exception of self-defense or defending someone else of course. I hope you aren't suggesting that I should accept violent behavior even if I support the cause in question. I find that morally questionable to say the least.

Self-defense is a form of violent behavior. And self-defense justifiable after 1400 years of oppression of Egyptian Copts by their Muslim overlords and neighbours.

There is no need for hostility or name-calling here.

I'm setting your contradictory views in question. That's not hostility or name-calling.

I agree. I definitely want to point out that I am not defending Muslim fundamentalism, which is something that some Atheists frequently accuse others of doing. I am just trying to get people to understand that Islam isn't the only religion that is a problem.

Except Islam has been the biggest problem these last 30 years.

[Mudhammam]

It's a bold question, I know. But let's talk long term; in 100 years time, or even 500 years, realistically, how Atheistic would the Middle-East be?

When will Antarctica be covered by beaches and palm trees?

[robvalue]

We might be talking about the Middle East of Mars by then.