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Originally Posted by Wastedyouth
I thought Harris (for what amount he was allowed to speak) came off quite well. He never really got to extrapolate, which is a shame.
Islam does need to take steps into this century. No doubt about that. But it was not too long ago, repression of Homosexuals and Women was something quite prominent in the christian religion. Less than 50 years ago, woman and homosexuals and even african americans were treated with little to no respect by the catholic church. Were they killing people? No, of course not. But if you want to talk about the motherload of bad ideas, you need to look at christianity, which is really only now moving values and viewpoints into the modern age. Islam is an older religion than Christianity, and sometimes with that history, change starts slow and then ends in firestorm.
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Harris is keen to go after all religions, but when he goes after Islam that is the only time he gets this kind of backlash, and its from the left.
Islam is older than Christianity? Correct me if I'm wrong but you have that backwards.
As for modernity and Islam, lets not forget that Islam was at one point a center of science, art, literature, it led the western world in many respects. But it went backwards and has sadly been co-opted by a movement that is at odds with the enlightenment values of the west.
Bernard Lewis' book is an excellent read, here's an article he wrote about this in 2002:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...-wrong/302387/
Also here is Sam Harris responding again on the Last Word:
Also here is the PewPolls that a lot of people have been referring to when they suggest a lot of people support some very bad ideas in the Muslim world.
http://www.pewforum.org/2013/04/30/t...iety-overview/