An Islamic Perspective on Religious Pluralism

[cbayer]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/engy-abdelkader/islamic-perspective-on-religious-pluralism_b_1375452.html

Engy Abdelkader
Human Rights Attorney


Posted: 03/29/2012 1:07 pm

Islam is often viewed as an inherently violent and intolerant world religion. This misconception is fueled in part by the miscreant deeds of some Muslims, particularly toward those of other faith beliefs.

That conduct is then unfairly imputed to Islamic doctrine and coreligionists globally.

The imputation is unfair because the individual Muslim's action may not in fact be supported by informed readings of Islamic legal strictures, nor necessarily be representative of the 2.2 billion Muslims in the world.

This is especially true of violence against religious minorities in Muslim-majority countries, like Egypt or in any country, period.

more at link

[CJCRANE]

1. It's the usual story...

fundamentalists invariably don't know the details of their own holy book.

Seems like it's up to liberals, moderates and atheists to tell fundamentalists (of any society) what their holy book says if they actually read all of it and apply the spirit of the whole message.

[demosincebirth]

2. When it come to religion, liberals and moderates can objective, But Atheists?

[msongs]

3. proving the opposition's point lol nt

[CJCRANE]

4. I'm basically an atheist but I keep an open mind

and I've read up on various religions including Christianity, Buddhism and Islam.

I've read the Hadith and the Koran and find that there's a lot of interesting stuff in there that the muslim fundies never talk about, in the same way that conservative christian fundies never talk about the stuff Jesus says in the New Testament.

If more of the believers actually followed their religion in its totality (and not just a handful of phrases) then I might be more inclined to be a believer too.

[demosincebirth]

7. As a Catholic, I totally agree with you. One more thing, "basiclly an athiest?" Thats like sayin'

I'm a little pregnant. You sound more of an agnostic.

[FarCenter]

5. Muslim's are generally not very tolerant of others than Christians and Jews

Toleration is mainly extended to "People of the Book".

Atheists, Hindus, Buddhists, and other "non-believers" are not tolerated, at least in some countries.

[CJCRANE]

6. The article quotes the line "there is no compulsion in religion"

which suggests there might be some wiggle room.

IMO every religion is as liberal or as conservative as the person interpreting it. It just seems that the fundamentalists often shout the loudest

ETA: Plus from my own (hazy) readings of the Abrahamic faiths there is a lot of emphasis on God being the ultimate judge, not men, and that mercy and compassion are generally prized above all.

[FarCenter]

8. There actually is compulsion

In Iran, atheists do not have any recognized legal status, and must declare that they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish or Zoroastrian, in order to claim some legal rights, including applying for entrance to university,[72] or becoming a lawyer.[73] Similarly, Jordan requires atheists to associate themselves with a recognized religion for official identification purposes,[74] and atheists in Indonesia experience official discrimination in the context of registration of births and marriages, and the issuance of identity cards.[75] In Egypt, intellectuals suspected of holding atheistic beliefs have been prosecuted by judicial and religious authorities. Novelist Alaa Hamad was convicted of publishing a book that contained atheistic ideas and apostasy that were considered to threaten national unity and social peace.[76][77] Compulsory religious instruction in Turkish schools is also considered discriminatory towards atheists.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discrimination_against_atheists

Of course, Muslims are not the only ones to discriminate against atheists. It appears that Israeli atheists would have to marry abroad and then have their marriage registered as a civil marriage.

In July 2007 Israel's Justice Minister Daniel Friedmann and the chief rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar reached an agreement on a limited bill for civil marriages in Israel, which would apply only to the marriage of Israelis who do not belong to any recognized religious community.[25] Such a bill was introduced by Yisrael Beiteinu in 2009, eventually passing the Knesset on March 16, 2010; this bill, however, would only grant "couplehood union" status to couples who both declared non-religious status.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_in_Israel

[CJCRANE]

9. The article is about the more liberal passages

in the Koran e.g. "there is no compulsion in religion" which are ignored by fundamentalist muslims and, as you rightly point out, islamic theocracies.

The point is that the liberal interpretations are just as valid.

This points up something I always wonder about re. both christians and muslims who want "God's Law" implemented...well, God isn't actually here to tell us what to do, so we need people to do it....but how can we trust one person or a small group of people to interpret God's Law?

Putting yourself on the same level as God is blasphemy, so even in a theocracy there would have to be some kind of democracy and freedom of speech to argue and agree on the various interpretations (which would eventually evolve into a secular system because when it boils down to it there is only really liberal, moderate and conservative regardless of religion or denomination).