The Ultimate Betrayal

#152, #156
Rahul, Amrita

Nicely articulated. There are many persons of faith (myself included) who do not wish to partake of the dogma but are content having a personal relationship with God. We don’t feel we have to brandish our beliefs at all junctures of life.

When any ideology (not just religion) is put forth as a zero-sum game the result is usually exclusivity. And I think, just like diversity, inclusivity is a worthier goal.

Ana
#148

You are absolutely right. Discussion is vital on this issue. I said this in an earlier post and I’ll say it again, ideological differences aside most of us should be able to agree such abuse is heinous. This shouldn’t turn into a values framework/paradigm contest or an interminable “us” vs “them” argument.

Re: # 160

kisan,

... excellent post .....

..........the notion that without guidance from some supernatural being dwelling in the clouds, and peridocally talking to schizophrenic men in the middle east, mankind would have dengenerated into a pack of incestous animals is downright silly and demeaning .........

...........contrary to the self righteous claims of the rabid religious fanatics, the voice in the clouds has, more often than not, contributed to murder and myhem and incest and child molestation ............ as you have correctly pointed out, the damned scriptures have often provided support for horrible practices like slavery, incest and child molestation............ as adults we ``know`` that it is our duty to protect the children and we don`t need divine revelation to tell us that ...........

sometimes if some of us are silent, it does not mean that we have not caught on to a particular post. i think any of us who disagree that a secular value system is completely divorced from tradition or religion is not entirely aware of the value system they embrace. but for 149`s own purposes of reasoning he left out the rest of rahul`s post regarding equity, and ironing out differences. . .

post #149 goes on to describe islam as the most perfect religion, and i have no doubt that it is for those who truly believe. but then he gives a list of things that would not have changed had islam not entered the picture, and forgive me but slavery did not end immediately in islamic societies. racism or bigotry did not, and has not ended in islamic societies. women are still controlled by men in islamic societies. just as all these things were pervasive in christian societies and still are, as well as other societies.

the reason i object to the lot of us being put in a box of being secular and liberal, is because i do not know that i am either of those things. i have said before that my worldview and my outlook on life has been shaped by my christian upbringing, and what i have gotten from studying and at one time practising the tenets of my faith. how i choose to follow what i believe in does not necessarily jive with the more orthodox view perhaps (like elder zosima`s doesn`t in dostoevsky`s ``the brothers karamazov``), but i am not like those street preachers who only come out in fair weather and proceed to tell everyone who does not believe that they are going to be subjected to fire and brimstone. i am not talking about this out of defensiveness, but out of the fact that both christianity and islam from what i understand have this admonition, for lack of a better word, that judgment is not for us to proclaim, that those who pronounce judgments bring judgment upon themselves, and therefore we need to be careful in our triumphalism. now either islam has this, or it doesn`t, but that is what i understood when i sat through islamiyat classes eons ago at school in lahore. and the triumphalism on the part of the ``secularists`` makes me feel no less uncomfortable.

yes, our revulsion at incest, or rape camps, or sexual abuse, or any kind of abuse for that matter is influenced by what we have acquired or learned and no that is not divorced completely from religion. but we all did not acquire this from one religion or tradition or philosophy. as rahul said secular laws are about equity and ironing out the differences between various religions and traditions. . . not about adhering to the one true faith. what those who would seek to impose utter religiosity on their governments and their lands fail to see is precisely the same point the secularists are accused of: that secular laws are not completely divorced from tradition, be it roman, christian, islamic, enlightenment, post-french revolution, what have you, and that the religiosity of the state does not always iron out the differences, it has more often than not rejected and excised difference altogether.

i know that issues of cultural relativism have been raised here, and even that is problematic, because to always give the example of africa or other ``tribal`` societies puts our own ethnocentrism into question, and critiquing or invoking africa for its cultural traditions has applied to both ``secularists`` and ``religionists`` alike.

i think amrita has spoken much more eloquently on this than i have, but suffice it to say that what has come out of this story, which again is not childlove, but CSA, is something that has not been exclusive to secularists, atheists or those some of us confer the title of kafir on. it has also been part of the world of roman catholic priests and muslim maulvis. and calling for the imposition of the one true faith or the imposition of the one true faith is not going to put an end to abuse.

Re: # 151 by ShoreSahib

I never initiate violation of peace, and never reject it when it is offered in good faith.

Your gesture is appreciated just as much as Ana`s non-partisan comments.

Thank you Ana.
Thank you SS.

May Allah bless you all.

M`as-salaam

#149 by ntsyed

Wow! nt,
I had a little party last night (drinks were good and people were happy) I woke up late and almost dropped my Bacardi O Coffee on my lap after reading your gyrations.
nt, When I agreed with Urstruly about religions being the source of customs that determined incest etc to be unacceptable behaviors in the society. I was merely stating that “as I know it” religion(s) did provide that framework to our society and I just did not feel that it would be right to take that away from religions. (Though, it was I think, Christianity which came out against incest and Islam just amended it to take away the cousin restriction for whatever reason) I don’t read about religions a whole lot now as to me it is a total waste of time. But it does not mean that I have not read about them at all.
I have read JI literature during my college days and then I read some Christian literature too. The political Islam that you and Echoboom preach here is inspired by JI and it was interesting for me to find out that most of the Maulana Maudoodi literature and books were Islamized, urduized copies of Christian Science monitor publications and afterwards, if I needed to know something about the JI stand on some issue, I would just look up the Christian Science literature.

What you say here first, is not original and can be commonly found on different CS books and magazines. Second, you are just assuming that atheist, agnostic, liberals, and secularist deny religion`s existing influence in our society. They don’t.

A long time ago religions were or in your case, Islam was the new kid on the block-Islam borrowed some from other religions and some it developed based on the society it was being preached too. Islam had its share of opposition and Islamic ideas were considered too heretic for the society.
Islam was not alone, Christian ideas and before that Jewish ideas were treated the same way. This world unfortunately, is too steeped in its own ways that new ideas are opposed and rejected right away and often off handedly because new ideas sometimes attack the old belief systems or ask people to think about something they have been set into for a long time. Take for example, the stem cell research issue; all religious scholars vehemently oppose it as stem cell research attacks their basic belief system. Cloning is yet another area that draws immediate howls from the religious community and that includes all religions.

Societies go thru changes and they are inevitable. Things that religions preached are and will continue to be challenged. Changes and new ideas emerge from the old ideas very few have come up with original ideas and people build on existing ideas.

If I accept that religions were first to provide framework for unacceptable behaviors, it does not mean that I endorse a religion or in your case Islam. It was not Islam that determined the unacceptable behavior and , Islam also borrowed it from some other source of knowledge and in this case most likely from the Christianity or Jewish thoughts. (Why not follow the original religion then).

One right idea from religions does not mean that ALL ideas that religions present are accurate and should be accepted w/o question. Not all people follow horde mentality. There are people in this world that would question everything, think of new ideas, reject old ideas and would attempt to create a world which is at least safe for our children.
Religions have no way of preventing incest or child molestation. Religions may say that CSA is an unacceptable behavior but people who may believe in religion or not, are the ones who come up with ideas, punishments, and a system to prevent that behavior. You may call them liberals, secularists, atheist or agnostics or whatever but these are the same people who look to change the society by accepting ideas that lead to human progress. Religions, if they continue to remain a personal matter and don’t interfere in society’s progress are acceptable but the minute religions attempt to impose their often hideous ideas on a society, religions become a political ideology and they will be attacked like any other political thought and idea.

People respect religions but when you bring religion in the political arena to challenge other competing thoughts, attacks on religions are fair game though IMO, still in bad taste.

Re: # 140
[NOT ONE, NADA, ZILCH, ZERO! ]

HALLELUJAH!!!
nutty IS boomboom...;)

Re: # 140
[NOT ONE, NADA, ZILCH, ZERO! ]

HALLELUJAH!!!
nutty IS boomboom...;)

ntsyed,

..... you still haven`t answered temporal`s question ........

............ if it helps, as a non-religious person, i will answer the question first ........... the answer is a categorical no .......no, i would not sleep with my daughters because it is wrong and i don`t need some goddamn book to tell me that ! .............. now, what is your answer ?.... or are you waiting for another revelation - like the one about sex with your adopted son`s wife - that might make it kosher ?....

khamkhwa:

and who are you?!

(i predict he will answer this in verse!)

Re: # 165


hp,

``People respect religions but when you bring religion in the political arena to challenge other competing thoughts, attacks on religions are fair game though IMO, still in bad taste. ``

........... speak for yourself ........ respect for religion is like having respect for pedophilia and fascism - organized religion is an ill wind that does not blow good for anyone or anything ......... in this battle for ``freedom from religion`` we have to learn to drop such niceties l- just like the other side ..............

#170

“Speak for yourself!”
I always do.
Religion is a petty matter there are other important things going on in this world. Why spend time on religion? Opposing or supporting it!

Do you know why Wolfowitz is being made President of the World Bank?

Re: # 139
Come on you know it.

It meant the piece is not complete....but that is besides the point now.

... I was just trying to understand the pitch on which a game is being played out. However, a little birdie warned me

Re: # 158
hamidm...apart from your humour, what I like about you is your directness. A no nonsense approach, straight to the bone is your attitude. Hats off to you for saying things which a certain section of people have been itching to say but were skirting, and the other camp were defending the issue in a preemptive manner just incase the issues you raised came up. A weird stale mate was established and an even weirder form of shadow boxing was being choreographed.

Re: # 167

a lady can`t ever be wrong ...

main vohi hun momin-e-mubtala
tumhen yaad ho no ke yaad ho

Re: # 169

a lady can`t ever be wrong ...

main vohi hun momin-e-mubtala
tumhen yaad ho no ke yaad ho ;)

Re: # 175

duniya ne teri yaad se begaanah kar diya
tujh se bhi dilfaraib haiN gham rozgaar ke

:)