Western civilization and it's values isn't founded on Christian concepts, you nitwits. It's founded on the pluralism and rejection of spiritualism that started with the Reformation and the Renaissance and culminated with Darwin and cosmology...Now I remember why I don't come to this board. I always come away feeling like I have stepped in incorporeal dog shit and spend the next hour trying to wipe it off my psyche.
Dave, I think we've had this discussion before. In any event...
Western Civilization is based on the "do no harm" ethos (also described as "don't hurt people and don't steal their stuff"). That ethos may be based on secular humanism. It might be based on a belief in God. Or it might be based on belief in the Flying Spagetti Monster. Either way, its all good. However you want to get to it...rationalization or spiritualism...no one cares.
Christianity is currently more or less simpatico with the above. Not always, but the majority of adherents follow it. Same with Judiaism. Same with Buddhism. Etc.
Until very recently, Islam was as well. For example, in the 50s and 60s,
Afghanistan's Muslim society was at least, if not more, tolerant of women's rights as America's.
Currently, however, Islam isn't like that. It is extremely backwards.
Religion, at its core, is nothing more than a philosophy or a code of conduct. It might be based on a belief in a supernatural being but its still a code of conduct/philosophy.
We must also consider the fact that a philosophy is intangible and, as such, can only be defined by how a majority of its adherants allow it to be practiced.
Free thought and expression is contingent on the ability to examine and attack various philosophies. Liberators should be cheered. Shacklers should be jeered. Whether or not feelings are hurt is irrelevant as we delve into the marketplace of ideas.
Right now, there is a cognizable case to be made that Islam, as a philosophy, is flawed, based on how it is interpreted by a majority (or a vocal minority) of its adherents. Accordingly, people can, and should, question that philosophy...just as they should question other belief systems.
Reasonable people might reach differing conclusions. However, that does not mean that any such conclusion should be automatically dismissed as bigotry.
