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> If you tell me you're a muslim, I can have a very good statistical chance to pinpoint you in one of several ethnicities... So what? A person's race doesn't d
by maxharris 12y ago
> If you tell me you're a muslim, I can have a very good statistical chance to pinpoint you in one of several ethnicities...
So what? A person's race doesn't determine the ideas, religious or otherwise, that they hold. Two famous examples: Ayaan Hirsi Ali left Islam, and Cat Stevens joined it.
A person's ideas, on the other hand, make all the difference in the world. Who can deny that these terrorists were not motivated and guided by a distinct ideology: fundamentalist Islam?
- coldtea 12y ago>So what? A person's race doesn't determine the ideas, religious or otherwise, that they hold. You'be be surprised. The race (or, to be precise, the ethnicity) very much determines the ideas, religious or otherwise that a person holds. Statistically very much. There's a reason a person born in Italy is far far far more likely to be Catholic and not Budhist, etc. >Two famous examples: Ayaan Hirsi Ali left Islam, and Cat Stevens joined it. That you can point to a few specific invdividuals as examples for that, doesn't it tell you all you need to know? That these people are famous exactly as outliers? Most people stick with the prevailing religion in their country etc.
- maxharris 12y agoI'm not sure that we're talking about the same thing. Let me try restating my point: there is no heritable trait that makes you a muslim, a buddhist or a freethinker. What people choose to believe is ultimately on them. Uncritically accepting what your parents, friends and countrymen have to say is still a choice.