Why believing "Islam is a religion of peace" is good.

By well-wisher

Tue, 01 May 2018
  • 1245 reads
4 comments
 
Isis don't think "Islam is a religion of peace".
Al-Qaeda don't think "Islam is a religion of peace".
The Taliban don't think "Islam is a religion of peace".
Sam Harris doesn't think "Islam is a religion of peace".
 
Peaceful, moderate Muslims do.
 
When the people who agree with you are the bad people, its time to stop and think.
 
Think perhaps "Islam is a religion of peace" is a good belief to have.
That perhaps it helps to promote peace and moderation in the muslim world.
That perhaps if all muslims believed "Islam is a religion of peace", there wouldn't be Isis; there wouldn't be Al-Qaeda; there wouldn't be the Taliban; there would only be peaceful, moderate muslims.
 
And if thats true and you sincerely want peace, why try to undermine the belief that "Islam is a religion of peace"?
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Submitted by celticman on

there's no monopoloy on truth or religion. 

 

Submitted by well-wisher on

Umm? I wasn't really making a point about anyone having a monopoly on the truth (or the truth regarding a religion). The point I was making was that theres good reason to think "Islam is a religion of peace" is a self-fulfilling belief; that if more muslims believe "Islam is a religion of peace" then more muslims will be peaceful and anything thats conducive to peace surely can't be bad.

Terrorist groups don't want young muslims to believe "Islam is a religion of peace" because that would make it harder to create new terrorists and so if we really want to stop young muslims from becoming terrorists then helping to promote the belief that "Islam is a religion of peace" is a good thing.

 

Oh look, a link. I wonder where it leads.

JoHn

Submitted by Di_Hard on

Christianity was not a religion of peace for the crusaders. For some right wing people it's still not about peace. I thought Bhuddism was about peace, but then there was Myanmar.

Jesus had emphasised the peaceful passages from the old testament and a big part of  Christianity was about turning the other cheek, not casting the first stone etc. But people calling themselves Christians went back to the old testament and found other messages, scary stuff about burning people to death, an eye for an eye etc. For centuries Muslim countries were the most tolerant and civilised in the world

 

Submitted by well-wisher on

Hi, Di.

Those are all examples of people who did not believe their religion was a religion of peace. My point was not that "Islam is a religion of peace" or that "Christianity is a religion of peace" or that "Buddhism is a religion of peace". My point is that if you believe your religion is a religion of peace then you are more likely to be peaceful.

Even a Jain is only non-violent because they think their religion is non-violent; if they start to believe otherwise then they are also capable of religiously motivated violence.

Ultimately, what I'm saying is, if Quakers and Crusaders are both inspired by the same book then its not whats written down that matters, its how you read it that matters. 

Oh look, a link. I wonder where it leads.

JoHn