Reza Aslan (a scholar of religions, a professor at University of California, Riverside, and the author of Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth.) is so spot-on with his arguments. If you want an educated and very frank response to the question, Does Islam promote violence? -I highly recommend you watch this short debate. --- Highlights: LEMON: So, Reza, the question at the bottom of the screen that everyone is looking at, does Islam promote violence? ASLAN: Islam doesnt promote violence or peace. Islam is just a religion, and like every religion in the world, it depends on what you bring to it. If youre a violent person, your Islam, your Judaism, your Christianity, your Hinduism is going to be violent. There are Buddhist -- marauding Buddhist monks in Myanmar slaughtering women and children. Does Buddhism promote violence? Of course not. People are violent or peaceful. And that depends on their politics, their social world, the way that they see their communities, the way they see themselves. CAMEROTA: So, Reza, you dont think that theres anything more -- theres -- the justice system in Muslim countries you dont think is somehow more primitive or subjugates women more than in other countries? ASLAN: Did you hear what you just said? You said in Muslim countries. I just told you that, Indonesia, women are absolutely 100 percent equal to men. In Turkey, they have had more female representatives, more female heads of state in Turkey than we have in the United States. LEMON: Yes, but in Pakistan... (CROSSTALK) ASLAN: Stop saying things like Muslim countries. LEMON: In Pakistan, women are still being stoned to death. ASLAN: And thats a problem for Pakistan. Youre right. So, lets criticize Pakistan. (CROSSTALK) LEMON: I just want to be clear on what your point is, because I thought you and Bill Maher were saying the same thing. Your point is that Muslim countries are not to blame. There is nothing particular, theres no common thread in Muslim countries, you cant paint with a broad brush that somehow their justice system or Sharia law or what theyre doing in terms of stoning and female mutilation is different than in other countries like Western countries? ASLAN: Stoning and mutilation and those barbaric practices should be condemned and criticized by everyone. The actions of individuals and societies and countries like Iran, like Pakistan, like Saudi Arabia must be condemned, because they dont belong in the 21st century. But to say Muslim countries, as though Pakistan and Turkey are the same, as though Indonesia and Saudi Arabia are the same, as though somehow what is happening in the most extreme forms of these repressive countries, these autocratic countries, is representative of whats happening in every other Muslim country, is, frankly -- and I use this word seriously -- stupid. So lets stop doing that.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 15:53:37 +0000
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