Ben Affleck should be applauded for standing up for liberal values - values which are, at their core, consistent with the principles found within the Islamic tradition. Sam Harris - for once - is right. There are people who are bigoted towards the Islamic faith, and he is one of them. The fact that he claims he is well educated about Islam is laughable and there are any number of articles which shows that his understanding of logic, let alone religion, is highly suspect. He is a number of pseudo intellectuals (Dawkins, Hitchens et al) who like to clothe their fanaticism and fascism in apparently eloquent words to sell a buck or two and to push their dirty agenda at the same time. As students, its important that we: (1) understand what the truth of the matter it is (2) not let ourselves be brainwashed by, what the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, referred to as the magic/hyponosis that can be found in eloquent words. (3) actually be able to back up the truth we know with evidence. Its ironic that individuals such as Harris, who claim to be evidence lovers, can present no evidence for the bigotry they push (or just make up evidence on the spot - where did he get 20% from ?!). But thats no excuse for those who know better, or should know better, to not present the truth of the matter, using the traditional Islamic sources. Its not good enough anymore to simply respond to islamophobia with but Muslims arent ALL terrorists or that Islam is a peaceful religion not least because thats a defeatist, child like way to respond to arguments, but also because they can inaccurate as well. Islam isnt a peaceful religion nor is it a violent religion. It calls for moderation, for balance, for justice, it has tools to bring about peace but it also guidelines about war (incidentally, the just war theory has been shown to be derived from the Islamic tradition) because both are part and parcel of our lives, and Islam isnt a faith based in fantasy - but one grounded in reality and the human condition. https://youtube/watch?v=XduMMteTEbc
Posted on: Sat, 04 Oct 2014 18:43:36 +0000