The Blessed Balance Between Reason and Religion – part 4: Where are the 'Monsters of Loch Ness' and why are they apparently invisible?

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11 Responses

  1. Rezwan says:

    These questions are being raised because some people are not getting the true picture. There are simply too much stereotyping and deductions without sufficient information.

    For an example CNN posted a photo of a Bangladeshi protester, a boy carrying a placard. I doubt there would be 300 person in that procession. But does this portray 140 million people’s (about 118 million Muslim’s) wish or thought. In a country where about 40-50% are illiterate, many rarely know anything about the pope. But CNN could find this sole protest and to their dismay it was not violent. there are no media coverage of scholarly, moderate voices from islamic world.

    We saw fanatics protesting in some concentration camps in occupied palestinian city. They have struck gold in Sudan where some dick or harry declared a death fatwa against the pope. I mean is these noteworthy, to stir a reaction among millions of people who see the world through newspaper only?

    I mean in Bangladesh there are people like Taslima Nasrin, or many more who can criticize Islam but are never weighed in with the CNN’s picture. Its always the world vs. the Muslims.

    There term moderate Muslim is a myth. Stop searching for them and defend political Islam, which is the source of all evil. Crush authoraritan regimes who try to keep their power by using Islam and try to bring societies back to the seventh century. Many Muslim countries have proven that democracy is possible in Muslim majority countries. Keep religion out of politics. Stop oil money from feeding the terrorists. Wake up people!

  2. “Many Muslim countries have proven that democracy is possible in Muslim majority countries.”

    Really? Could you please name ONE?

  3. thabet says:

    Turkey? Indonesia? Malaysia? Bangladesh? Mali? Niger? Senegal? Albania?

    The problem of “Islam and democracy” is largely limited to the Middle East.

  4. morgahi says:

    In the Middle esat even problem is not of ‘islam and democracy’, as that is a non-issue there. The actual problem is of ‘islam and ‘our interest”; or the Western gvernment willing to work with a democratic government in Saudie Arabia or Egypt, which in other words would be a Muslim Brother-kind of government; would that be in the interest of the ‘western (oil) interest’? considering also the possible uncompromising attitude of the would be Islamist.

  5. Rezwan says:

    Peter,

    What do you know about Bangladesh? Refresh your knowledge by paying a visit there not only by reading the catchy media headlines. Read Bangladesh’s (East Pakistan) history of independence when its brith was to say no to Pakistan’s oppression and Islamization. Most people here give a damn what pope said or Bin Laden says. They are too busy trying to earn their living and get out of poverty.

    Jihadi ideology is the by-product of affluent oil money and idle minds. Try to find it elsewhere, without labelling all Muslims as your enemy. Go out of your baloon of limited information. Know people better. You may truly identify the common enemy instead of being blind.

  6. martijn says:

    I’m hesitating to include Albania; I would rather see that as an emerging democracy. Islam and democracy is, in my opinion, a non-issue. When you look at Syria or Egypt that have a strong secular state outlook, you might also doubt that secularism is compatible with democracy. Which is also a non-issue. When you have however one dominant religion, you need checks and balances in order to safeguard to rights of minorities.

  7. George Carty says:

    I think oil is a major reason for the lack of democracy in the Middle East, as an economy based on high-value primary products naturally lends itself to despotism. Like the Spanish empire (silver, gold), Apartheid South Africa (gold, diamonds), Afghanistan (opium) or Colombia (cocaine).

  8. I guess, my friends, that you and I just have a different, a VASTLY different idea of what a democracy exactly is. Turkey may come closest to what we could call a democracy, but really, the military are needed to keep the more stringent islamic forces in check, so there you go already. Is that really a democracy, where representatives of the PEOPLE govern?

    And I am not even touching on the fact that writers are called before the judge and face sentences for WRITING. In Turkey! Ouch!

    Is Indonesia a Muslim country? In any case, a real democracy it is definately NOT. Niger, Senegal? Are you kidding me?

  9. martijn says:

    I agree with you for a large part. Both Senegal and Niger are in name democracies with a judicial system based upon the French system (old colonies of France…). Both countries however are in a very worse condition with regard to economy and ecology. Certainly Senegal can be considered as a ‘weak state’. Both countries have an elected parlement and president (also as in the French system, with a strong president). Senegal with President Wade, does not seem to respect the basic freedoms, necessary for a good working democracy. The situation is probably not as worse as in Albania, which is considered to be a ‘failed state’. The elections next year will tell us more. The situation in Niger seems to be almost the same as in Senegal. There are elections (after the transition to democracy in I think 1999) but also here are many of the basic freedoms under threat.

    I guess you can call Indonesia a Muslim country, in fact it is the largest one, with a reasonable working checks and balances. But in fact as said in my comments, the compatibility between muslims/islam and democracy is is really a non-issue.

  10. morgahi says:

    Yes Peter, we have to learn from the West, and you have to define for us, if Turkey, Bangladesh or Indonesia or democratic countries or not!
    Oh, why am I not amused that the resistance to Turkey’s inclusion into EU cuts right across the religious/secular division in Europe!

  11. Madjnun says:

    The problem of course is not the absence of moderate Muslims. The problem is those people who state that there is no moderate Islam or that a moderate Muslim does not understand his religion. Those, like Wilders and Hirsi Ali, are the problem.

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