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Generaly, without going into great detail, in the same way being allowed to criticize the relationship between Christianity and the oppression of women, justifi

Generaly, without going into great detail, in the same way being allowed to criticize the relationship between Christianity and the oppression of women, justification for slavery, anti-gay actions, etc. Has led to much more moderate and tolerable interpretations of Christianity over the past several hundred years.

CurtHagenlocher 10y ago
But there are certainly lots of more moderate interpretations of Islam than ISIS, so I still don't see the connection. I know of at least one church where members were advised to pray for a Trump victory in hopes that he would appoint Supreme Court justices that would overturn decisions like Roe v Wade, Lawrence v Texas, United States v Windsor and Obergefell v Hodges. Apparently, years of criticism have done nothing to eliminate the less moderate and tolerant interpretations of Christianity. EDIT: to clarify slightly, the existence of more moderate interpretations of a given religion does not also mean that the more extreme interpretations will go away.
- jfaucett 10y ago
  True. And now I suppose I will go into slightly more detail :) First though, I never suggested that discussing the issue would solve the problem of ISIS just to be clear. Discussion is the first step down a very long road. However, I do think debate and criticism will contribute to a diminishing of such ideology in the world. So, would you agree it would be better for one or a few churches to pray for removal of Roe v Wade than hundreds or thousands of Churches? If so then you must surely agree that one or a few dozen extreme interpretations is still better than several hundreds or thousands as is the case with the various terrorists groups of which ISIS is one. So the question of importance is not how to eliminate extreme interpretations in a world we know is imperfect, but how to minimize that number knowing we can never fully eliminate it. Now, there are several ways to achieve our goal. One way, that is also backed up by some of the experts and leading activists in this field such as Maajid Nawaz, John Azumah, Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi to name a few - which I would highly recommend those interested in reading - is that which I suggest i.e. open debate and discussion and a fostering of secularization within Islam by interacting with its leaders and its community and criticizing the ideas, not the people, where they are bad. And doing all of this in an open and honest, non-vehement manner, but still discussing and criticizing nonetheless. Now, there are likely other factors that play a role in Islamic terrorism besides extreme interpretation of religious texts such as socio-economic status, educational level, community values, etc. which may or may not play a role in extremism and we should openly discuss these as well.
pessimizer 10y ago
Non-Christians criticizing the relationship between Christianity and the oppression of women, justification for slavery, anti-gay actions, etc, had absolutely no effect on whether Christians did or didn't continue those things.

CurtHagenlocher 10y ago

But there are certainly lots of more moderate interpretations of Islam than ISIS, so I still don't see the connection. I know of at least one church where members were advised to pray for a Trump victory in hopes that he would appoint Supreme Court justices that would overturn decisions like Roe v Wade, Lawrence v Texas, United States v Windsor and Obergefell v Hodges. Apparently, years of criticism have done nothing to eliminate the less moderate and tolerant interpretations of Christianity. EDIT: to clarify slightly, the existence of more moderate interpretations of a given religion does not also mean that the more extreme interpretations will go away.

jfaucett 10y ago
True. And now I suppose I will go into slightly more detail :) First though, I never suggested that discussing the issue would solve the problem of ISIS just to be clear. Discussion is the first step down a very long road. However, I do think debate and criticism will contribute to a diminishing of such ideology in the world. So, would you agree it would be better for one or a few churches to pray for removal of Roe v Wade than hundreds or thousands of Churches? If so then you must surely agree that one or a few dozen extreme interpretations is still better than several hundreds or thousands as is the case with the various terrorists groups of which ISIS is one. So the question of importance is not how to eliminate extreme interpretations in a world we know is imperfect, but how to minimize that number knowing we can never fully eliminate it. Now, there are several ways to achieve our goal. One way, that is also backed up by some of the experts and leading activists in this field such as Maajid Nawaz, John Azumah, Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi to name a few - which I would highly recommend those interested in reading - is that which I suggest i.e. open debate and discussion and a fostering of secularization within Islam by interacting with its leaders and its community and criticizing the ideas, not the people, where they are bad. And doing all of this in an open and honest, non-vehement manner, but still discussing and criticizing nonetheless. Now, there are likely other factors that play a role in Islamic terrorism besides extreme interpretation of religious texts such as socio-economic status, educational level, community values, etc. which may or may not play a role in extremism and we should openly discuss these as well.

pessimizer 10y ago

Non-Christians criticizing the relationship between Christianity and the oppression of women, justification for slavery, anti-gay actions, etc, had absolutely no effect on whether Christians did or didn't continue those things.