Anyway, this was originally meant to be my commentary on the state of Somalia. Those who do their homework will find that the oppressive theocracy is the result of almost two decades of more secular sociopolitical oppression, not the other way around. Look at it fifteen years ago, with our botched job in the region. Ten years, and a few international terrorists later, we have our current situation. None of the despots in question were particularly pious Muslims, but radical Islam is a good enough scapegoat to subjugate the poor for the cause of "righteous" political action, and so it stuck.
This is what I could not articulate as well.
The analogy I would use is weed. I consider theism to be a drug, if god makes you happy then fine. I don't have a big problem with people worshipping god. My beef is with organized religion. Religion is one method of obtaining this drug. I like to smoke the occasional J but I won't buy it from a gang because then I'd be partially supporting all the atrocities that they commit, I'd be funding their crimes. Instead I get it from friends who grow their own stuff. They have normal jobs, they would never hurt a fly, plus I trust them not to put all kinds of garbage in my weed. I know they're not using pesticides and all kinds of crap. It would be even better if I grew my own stuff.
I agree theres a big difference between theism and organised religion, the practices of which rarely match what they preach.
I would differ in saying that I dont take theism to make me happy. Its just a fundamental belief which feeds into the way I think about my life and which drives my actions. In fact happiness in this life is far from my top priorities, because I believe this life is only temporary.
I've been thinking, about what you guys have been saying and what my friends have told me in the past about their concerns about what they've read in the quran. And why even though I've read through the same translations and not come to the same conclusions.
There are indeed many verses in the quran which seem very harsh, violent, unfair to women etc. I can obviously see how much of this would instantly put non-muslims off and confuse them as to why muslims still believe in it. Mostly coming to the conclusion that they either just ignore those parts or haven't thought about it completely.
I not only have read those part, I do believe in them. Yep all the verses that say women should get a half share of inheritance, the verses that say kill anyone that opposes you, and the ones that say if you dont do certain things in this life or think a certain way you'll most likely get torn to pieces and burnt alive 70 times over.
But these verses obviously mean something completely different to me than to other people. One of the big things is a belief in a life after death. For me the quran is merely telling me that there is something much more abstract that exists outside our tiny box of a universe. And without trying to sugar coat it, its trying to tell me what might exist outside of time, space and physics and the rules by which we define our world, but only in a language that we might understand. Fire isn't really fire but something like fire, rivers of milk and honey aren't really milk and honey etc.
A lot of the assertions then seem a lot less extreme and absurd, as long as we dont think about them in terms of our rules.
The killing and violence is another aspect that isn't sugar coated. It merely tells me that our human societies are violent in nature, and many verses comfirm to me that it only means this as defence from oppression. Are there any situations where you would kill someone? Not many in our life, we're lucky enough to be in a tolerant society, but its not always going to be like that. And there are signs of breaking today.
As for womens rights in Islam. When it comes to wealth - wealth is seen as a great thing in our modern capitalist society. The more you have the better. But it is not seen as purely a blessing in Islam, and actually a burden and a responsibility. Wealth in this world is actually pretty worthless, what will it gain me in the longrun? So the responsibility of wealth is not something Muslim women actually want.
There are also big biological differences between men and women, the most obvious being about physical strength and childbirth for example. Because of some of these differences, the onus of wealth responsibilty is put on men. Its mandatory for men to work for society, where as its merely an option for women.
The reason for the hijab, is because Islam believes men are weak-minded. Women have to bear this responsibility in Islam because they are considered as the stronger mind. Muslim women tell me they actually feel liberated by this, since there is no longer social pressure to look a size 0 for everyone else to see.
And lastly women are said in Islam to have an easier time after this life, whereas men will bear most of the brunt.
All the above is absurd, religions plan to control the masses, if you believe life ends in nothingness. And thats fine, each to their own right? But at least I hope you understand why I can read all those bits and not feel the need to become a sociopathic, sexist, suicidal maniac.
<message edited by choupolo on Nov 04, 2008 20:40>