Why assume that there is a monolithic thing called “Islam” in the first place?
Evil.
War and peace?
Oh, yeah I’m sure. The Evil Empire of North Korea and Kim Jon Ill versus rejecting Jesus’ messiah-ship.
You must understand that the Copts are a Christian group that have long been oppressed by Muslims in Egypt, so their perception of Islam is going to be far more negatively colored than the mainstream Westerner.
Good point.
As I often used to traveled along the tube and bus routes of the 7 July bombings, I cannot dismiss the dangers of Islamic radicalism, however, I think most fears about Islam “encroaching” on Europe are mostly hysteria-tricks.
This is a common mistake. There is an old joke about whether a particular actress has talent, and the critic’s response is “She loves her mother.” There are some nice atheists, too, but that doesn’t mean atheism is good. “I know some nice Muslims so Islam must be good” is likewise a non sequitur.
I think the growing Muslim population in Europe is a major threat, analogous to rampant secularlism and atheism.
You can blame the likes of the Daily Mail for this. Every day the DM seems to cook up some half-baked story about sharia courts, Islamist extremists (it can’t seem to get the idea that not all Muslims are like this) or some other similar story which is based on wobbly, distorted misinformation.
Add to this religious apathy.
And the “belligerent” ones are actually Allah giving Muslims the right and duty to protect themselves against pagan aggression.
Goodness is seen in how people treat their neighbors.Islam is good
Now, are there “bad parts” to Islam? The people, culture, and practice - sure. Looking over the last 2,000 years of Christianity, there are some awful parts as well. In fact, ALL religions have violent, warlike pasts - Jews have their Kahanists, Christians have their Ku Klux Klan and Inquisition, Hindus have their terror-bombing nationalists…there was even a book on Buddhist violence published a couple years ago that showed a monk with a pistol on its cover and documented centuries of violence. So yes, out of any group of 1.6 billion people (Islam) you will find some bad.
However, you will also find tremendous good. Muslims are intensely community-oriented, intensely religious, and try to lead very moral lives. We pray five times a day, attend masjid (mosque) once a week, and fast from dawn to dusk for 30 days each year. We give to the poor, are commanded to love our fellow man, and abstain from intoxicants, fornication, abortion, pornography, and profanity.
It’s worth pointing out that Jesus is viewed as the second-greatest prophet in Islam and we revere him. Mary is viewed as the greatest woman in Islam. Moses is mentioned more than any other man in the Quran. Abraham, Noah, David - they are all very familiar to us. We pray to the same God you do - as the Catholic Church acknowledged in Vatican II. Obviously, we do have differences in theology, but we have much in common. Indeed, theologically, Islam is closest to Judaism.
I would say that all of the five great religions of the world (Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism) and most (if not all) of the minor ones are forces for good.
This is not true. There was a Catholic church built in Kismayo during its period as part of Italian Somaliland. It was destroyed recently by Islamists after the arrival of the Al-Shabab militant Islamist group in the area, and had not been used in about 30 years by that point, but still, it did exist.
