alright guys, example:
Afghanistan under the Soviet puppet regime vs. Aghanistan under the Taliban
which was worse?
Counterexample:
What is worse - living in North Korea or living in, say, Egypt?
The problem with this kind of logic is that you can always find these things in different degrees. Cuba is obviously better to live in than North Korea - both are communist, but one is not as bad. There are different degrees in the Muslim countries as well.
Now, of course, what you pointed out with Afghanistan under the Taliban doesn't necessarily reflect Islam - it was the fact that it was an extremist theocracy that made it bad, not Islam. Had the theocracy been some extremist Christian sect, it may have been just as bad.
Dibble is right to point out that in every religion there is some fanaticism.
But Muslims seem to be too radical and often too loud in their demonstrations; and that may be what the world sees as odd, if not hard to understand. Perhaps if thousands of Christians went around each year and crucified themselves it would seem ridiculous, but a few isolated cases fail to get the same attention as the millions who mourn Ashura in a most dramatic fashion.
While other religions seem to have evolved over time, Islam has maintained its ancient traditions. Take Christianity for example. Except for the Vatican and a few other places, Christian women are no longer obliged to cover their heads to enter a church as the effects of Christianity are nuetralized by the secular traditions of North America and Europe.
Also, Christians no longer punish adultery by stoning -- as they used to. Many nuns do not wear the habit and there are now many women priests. These are only examples of the many changes in one religion but the list goes on and on and the same is true for most others. What is hard for people to see is the absence of such changes in Islam.
Christianity lacks its conservative-radical element, Islam still has it.
We are now at a day and age when religion is more or less a personal choice. True as it may be that there is much politics involved and that there will always be those who in their struggle for power, will take advantage of religion, but on a personal level, it is all about peace.
Poll
