Nouslife: He may have a point.

16 September 2006

He may have a point.

I have recently come across a prolific semi-anonymous clerical blogger who lives in my region I quite enjoy his knock-about style which occasionally ends up insightful, or possibly incite-ful. He's more outspoken than I am about the rather 'rich' fuss that a number of Muslims are making about some recent comment of the Pope's. I have been interested to note that the protesters have been engaging in violence, including against each other which rather damages their case; will they be apologising? Anyway;

Their scriptures allow, and in the case of Islam, encourage, violence towards non-believers. Islam, though, goes even further. The founder of the religion took part in violence against non-believers himself. He ordered the genocide of entire cities. He enslaved those he didn't kill, putting many women into sexual slavery and he enslaved a daughter of one of his enemies in his own harem, an institution that was competely unacceptable in the young woman's religion. It can be argued that the prophet of Islam had good, political reasons to do this. But the fact that cannot be ignored is that he will always be an example to his followers of how to use violence in spreading his cult as instructed in his writings.

Furthermore, the crusades were evil and horrible but initially they were a reaction against Islamic expansionism into Christian territories. Not just the Middle East but North Africa and parts of Europe as well. ... Of course, there are peaceable Muslims. But until Islam accepts the truth about its own genesis and the nature of its holy book and works out how it can condemn its own violent legacy, there is as much chance of there being a peacable Islam as there is of there being a peaceable Christendom with George and Tony in charge.