People are free to dislike Islam (though many who dislike it seem pretty uneducated and uninformed on it). However, from what I know of it, it is a legitimate, major world religion. And there are sects of Muslims, such as the Sufis who do not, to my knowledge, believe in violence or oppression.
Something like Satanism I wouldn't consider a legitimate religion. But Islam is.
Islam is, indeed, a religion.
The last of the large-scale Warrior Religions... the successor to the Mithraism of the Roman Legionnaires of Antiquity.
It is a plagiarized, bastardized, stolen-and-adapted hybrid of Judaism and Christianity and Arab superstition and prejudice.
It makes excuses for the bloodthirsty and pedophilic history of it Founder, Peanut Butter and jelly be Upon Him...
It allows polygamy, subordinates and oppresses women, it allows lying and slavery, and the taxation and persecution of Unbelievers.
It allows killing in defense of fellow Believers and falsely promises Paradise to those who die for The Faith or in Religious Wars.
It falsely proclaims its Founder to be a Prophet and falsely proclaims that its Scriptures were written or dictated by God Himself.
It falsely posits that its Scriptures are the unalterable Word of God and may not be reinterpreted or adapted in any manner.
Thus rendering this so-called Religion as stuck in the 7th Century and constitutionally incapable of Reform in any meaningful way.
It is largely a belief-system heavily laden with External Observances and Ritual and sorely lacking in Spirituality and Love.
Even in its earliest times it was spread almost exclusively by the sword rather than by appealing to the hearts and spirit of Men.
Given as a truism that latter-day Christian expansion was also facilitated by The Sword...
Given as a truism that Christendom at-large may even have slaughtered more people than Islam over the centuries...
There is a distinction or two between Christianity and Islam that are worth noting...
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When Christians go to war, they do so in direct
DISOBEDIANCE to the teachings of their Founder, whose New Commandments were "Love Thy Neighbor" and "Turn the Other Cheek"...those warriors have to rationalize their disobedience outside Scripture, and their excesses usually cause the pendulum to swing back towards the teachings of their Founder to slow and finally end the excess.
When Muslims go to war, they do so in direct
OBEDIANCE to the teachings of their Founder, who, himself, personally, had oceans of blood on his hands to get his new Belief System off-the-ground... those warriors don't have to rationalize their warfare at all and there is no Central Core-Message of Love and Forgiveness to all men that would temper and still their bloody behaviors.
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When Christianity at-large became too worldly the teachings of their Founder was used quite readily and successfully to trigger a massive Reformation which set aside or minimalized many of the trappings and ceremonial and sidecar beliefs and practices so that Christianity became a more useful spiritual guide to modern Western society.
When Islam at-large becomes too worldly (it can be argued that it actually began that way) we see that Islam's central tenet (that their Scripture is the unchangeable and non-interpretable Word of God) actually stifles and suppresses any serious attempt at widespread Reform. Reform within Islam is always largely stillborn. At its core, Islam is virtually
INCAPABLE of meaningful Reform.
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Islam is, indeed, a religion... one that is largely incompatible with Western Culture and Philosophy and Religion and Governance and Democracy... it would be best if its practitioners largely kept within their own domains and left Christianity and The West alone.
The inability of much of the Liberal-Progressive-Socialist-Democratic Left to either recognize or understand or admit this dangerous Incompatibility is one of the more profound
INTERNAL dangers facing The West in our times...it is a viper in our midst...
"
Rot from within, introduced by outsiders with oftentimes questionable motives, and left to fester by dullards, enablers and cowards." ...
Name one long-standing Muslim Democracy which promises Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Speech and meaningful Womens Rights and egalitarianism and self-governance...
Fail to do so and you are at the Dawn of Understanding in this matter.
