Michelle Doyle61 said:It would be like claiming a psychopath only acted out because the state of the country gave him some sort of "justification" for his intentions. That’s just not how it works. There are very clear, undeniable reasons why he did what he did. It's the same logic as why a group of people would decide to scatter in different directions the moment a bomb goes off in a crowded area. The motives are right there if you actually look at them.
People claim Islam isn't violent? Look, the Quran isn't exactly a massive tome. You can fly through it pretty quickly. I’d actually suggest you sit down and read it for yourself. Once you get into it, you'll see that message of peace and love firsthand.
If you’re claiming it isn't violent, then how exactly do you account for the legal systems in various Middle Eastern nations? I'm talking about things like public lashings or stoning. Is it really possible that every single one of them is just fundamentally misinterpreting the text? It seems hard to believe such a massive, widespread misunderstanding would happen everywhere at once.
I read the Quran a long time ago, but quite thoroughly—not sure if you have? And since you mentioned it isn't a huge book (it's about 600 pages total), I have my doubts. You're talking about Sharia law, but much of that is actually based on the Hadiths—collections of traditions believed to be the sayings of Muhammad. The thing is, there's a lot of disagreement over whether he even said certain things. Plus, Sharia varies significantly between Sunnis and Shiites and changes from one country to the next...
The Quran itself doesn't mention stoning as a punishment for anything, though it does mention flogging for adultery, provided there were four witnesses who saw it happen. Obviously, that doesn't make the punishment okay. Stoning for adultery was actually something found in the Old Testament and Jewish tradition too. The reason we don't look at Christianity as a "crazy" religion is because of the spirit in which the Bible was written, especially the New Testament. It's the same deal with the Quran; for instance, the Sufis are supposed to embody its true spirit...
Just as Western civilization rejected all those extreme practices, Middle Eastern cultures should ideally do the same. Luckily, the West had the benefit of developing a philosophical foundation that gave us enough distance from pure religious dogma...
Ultimately, the key today lies in education and economic stability. But it's not always a given, because even a place like Saudi Arabia publicly executes dozens of people every year. To be honest, many parts of that region didn't have centuries of cultural, scientific, or philosophical development; until recently, they were mostly dealing with primitive tribal structures. Just look at the groups American oil companies had to negotiate with when they first started drilling. That's why trying to force democracy onto those nations felt so unrealistic—many weren't ready for it, much like how it wouldn't necessarily work in China either...
