Religious wildfires

All these problems. They spent $100 billion on aid programs and somehow water never made the list of important things. We'll smoke cigarettes and dream of new things, dream of new cures for cancer.

The Reality of Islam 101:(and the cause of many "wildfires")

From- Ayaan Hirsi Ali's autobiography, "Infidel".

"Thus begins the extraordinary story of a woman born into a family of desert nomads, circumcised as a child, educated by radical imams in Kenya and Saudi Arabia, taught to believe that if she uncovered her hair, terrible tragedies would ensue. It's a story that, with a few different twists, really could have led to a wretched life and a lonely death, as her grandmother warned. But instead, Hirsi Ali escaped -- and transformed herself into an internationally renowned spokeswoman for the rights of Muslim women."

ref: Washington Post book review.

four excerpts:

p. 47 paperback issue:

"Some of the Saudi women in our neighborhood were regularly beaten by their husbands. You could hear them at night. Their screams resounded across the courtyards. "No! Please! By Allah!"

p.68:

"The Pakistanis were Muslims but they too had castes. The Untouchable girls, both Indian and Pakistani were darker skin. The others would not play with them because they were untouchable. We thought that was funny because of course they were touchable: we touched them see? but also horrifying to think of yourself as untouchable, despicable to the human race."

p.309

"Between October 2004 and May 2005, eleven Muslim girls were killed by their families in just two regions (there are 20 regions in Holland). After that, people stopped telling me I was exaggerating."

p. 347

"The kind on thinking I saw in Saudi Arabia and among the Brotherhood of Kenya and Somalia, is incompatible with human rights and liberal values. It preserves the feudal mind-set based on tribal concepts of honor and shame. It rests on self-deception, hyprocricy, and double standards. It relies on the technologial advances of the West while pretending to ignore their origin in Western thinking. This mind-set makes the transition to modernity very painful for all who practice Islam".

abrahamhab1,

Are you referring to Christianity?

Ms Marshall postulates:
“Some narratives assert that certain religions are intrinsically inclined to violence, while others see religion purely as a proxy; falsely accused of violence that has other causes. It's an important conversation because the passions tend to run high.”

Well! What do you think of the reason(s) or cause(s) of the violence in Nigeria? As you very well know many in central and north of that country subscribe to an ideology that not only denigrates the “other” but teaches that he does not deserve to live. The “other” being whoever does not subscribe to all aspects of their primitive, supremacist and intolerant ideology?

'And finally, the extraordinary array of religious communities and institutions can work, together or separately, to address Nigeria's enormous social justice challenges.'

The problem is only secondarily related to religious differences....Nigeria and most of the continent of Africa are steeped in ancient tribal/ethnic mentalities where open hostility with 'outsiders' is a way of life.

That this larger cultural dynamic would permeate and color the local understanding of imported religions like Christianity and Islam is certainly no surprise.

Nigerian governments have had a recent history of supporting Ugandan despot Idi Amin, as well as calling for death to homosexuals. How religion may improve these entrenched third-world attitudes and primitive values is a question without a ready answer.

Unfortunately, looking at how Muslim North Africans are collaborating with the Sudanese government in a massive resource and land grab through a policy of mass genocide makes one very doubtful that Islam is the right religion for any 3rd world country.

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

'Communities aren't intended to be mixtures of people practicing different cultures and neither are nations.'

This is a peculiarly regressive point of view, in my estimation. It seems to ignore the entire history of the USA as an immigrant nation.

These days, segregration is illegal in many forms, but one can always join exclusive clubs, organizations, membership groups, and even micro-communities that cater to a homogeneous population - although usually at considerable expense.

It's gotten pricey for folks that disdain diversity, wanting to 'keep to their own kind'. Look to the Amish as an example of a closed community and an affordable lifestyle....but even the old horse and buggy ain't what it used to be.

Correct the errors and flaws in the history and theology of Islam and Christianity and the violence over religion will disappear!!!!

The problem isn't religion, it's diversity.

Communities aren't intended to be mixtures of people practicing different cultures and neither are nations. Is diversity a strength if members of a religiously ultra-conservative group move into a liberal neighborhood and won't let their girls play ball games with boys, which the residents see as sex discrimination (a severe sin in liberalism)?

Communities of all sizes are supposed to be made up of people with common expectations of public behavior.