hmmm…let me summarize for you guyz.
here’s the salient points.
1. The Qu’ran states quite clearly, as im sure spencer is aware, that muslims cannot kill other muslims. that is the “prime directive”. Reavers pretending to be muslim justify that by ambiguous and sketchy interpretations which spencer regurgitates for you guyz. One that does that is no longer muslim. the Qu’ran also has lists of mandated benevolent behaviors…both Spencer and the jihaadis ignore those. Spencer is giving u the jihaadi version of the Qu’ran. He validates them. He is a cheerleader for the Forever War if you will. He is also making $ from selling you books that tell you what you want to hear, ie that your religion is superior. He is taking gross liberties with history, and giving you a single non-original school of quranic exegesis.
2. Altho i am a mutazhili and a sufi [read muslim] i don’t share jihaadi belief. i do not wish to convert you. i believe that yours is better is for you, and mine is better for me. However, neither do i wish to see you proselyting. Proselytization is obscene to me. it is the act of saying mine is better than better than yours. i am aware that it says go and spread the word in your sacred book. so how about you strike that and well strike the slay the unbeliever part?
Mutazhili actually believe in analogous interpretation of the Qu’ran…a non-literal interpretation. the bible should also be interpreted that way, and not just for the song of solomen. frankly, no ancient texts should be interpreted literally–they are extremely dated.
3. All religions are the same. They have a basis in evolutionary biology from the Environment of Evolutionary Advantage (EEA). Religions extended consanguinous kinship and fitness benefits to a much larger memetic tribe. Religions evolved and are still evolving.
4. All religions promoted science in the old days as a side effect—originally religion was science! but as science became a competitor of religion, religions became less supportive. Today science is not supported by any religion that i know of, with the possible exception of sufi metaphysics investigations and mutazhili reason and science in the First Obligation.
Again, a good example of anti-scientific behavior in religion is the xian Discovery Institute, which eschews funding university research in favor of litigating highschool schoolboards and propaganda type publications.
4. As science advances, we become more sure of the biological basis of behavior, thru the scientific method. We will be able to visit the stars, to extend our lifespan, to cure disease, to time travel. We may be able to prove the existance of god. I think that after all this time science and religion may converge, become one again.
At least for those that open to it.
=D
but we will never secure world peace as long as religious ppl insist that one religion is better or more true than another. Dawkins is right in a way…religious belief has caused most of the worlds problems. But he is wrong about what to do about it. Religious belief will never be eradicated…it is hardwired. What we can do is to seek to channel it for the greater good.
I do not think validating jihaadi quranic exegesis is a good way to approach a solution.
