Up to 500,000 protesters and rioters take to streets to demand death to atheists

Half a million protesters, and I bet there's not more than three pounds of deodorant spread amongst 'em...

 

I tried googling to see if I could find out how many people 3 lbs. of deodorant would cover for a single use in a single day.

Alas, this is one of the few answers I could not find (I only looked at the top 5 items).

 

Extremism is relative, and a politically loaded term. Let's think about what it really means. According to Wikipedia, extremism can be defined as "any ideology or political act far outside the perceived political center of a society; or otherwise claimed to violate common moral standards." According to that definition, fundamental Islam is extremism. So is fundamental Christianity. So is a lot of things.

And indeed, following every hadith, or even every surah in the Qur'an, is extreme. It's rare, relatively speaking.

But why are there so many more violent religious extremists in Islam than in Christianity? you may ask.

First I would say that the media reports on what it wants, and we are all stuck in our own echo chamber to reinforce our world views. I would also say that there are many more poor Muslims who happen to be living on the wrong side of the free-trade spectrum and are angry about the changes to their way of life they are experiencing. I remind you that poor, religious people are the most likely to be highly conservative and resistant, violently so, to change. Religion isn't exempt from the blame for this, but as I see it, there is nothing inherent to Islam that makes its followers any more violent or conservative than any other religion.

I see you're using the maxiep method of "I haven't read about it in The Economist, therefore it hasn't happened." Plenty of Muslim organizations have, and continue to, condemn extreme Islam. Maybe you haven't heard about it. Maybe it's not even in English! The mind reels.

I wouldn't trust any one source of knowledge to inform my opinion of what the Muslim world is really like, and I will readily admit that I am still woefully uninformed. Still, in my experience, extremism is resoundingly rejected and the vast, vast majority of Muslims I have met are "peaceful Muslums."

I've covered in a previous thread why I distrust public polls, especially in ME/NA. Bridge notes version: people's opinions are far too complex, especially A Muslim's opinion on Islam, to even attempt to accurately represent in a public opinion poll.

Wow. Hey, as long as you're looking for a way to demonize as many people as possible, why not do the calculations for the entire Muslim population on Earth? Then you could add up how many we've killed in recent wars and compare the two, make a progress report, draw up some colorful charts and give a presentation to all the warhawks on this board. I'm sure they'd appreciate the effort.

 

Look, I do like that we're having this conversation. I think the farther along it gets, the more some of you will read about Islam, and more importantly, Indonesia. Because if you think that this protest is an Islamic issue, I would argue that it's an Indonesian one. You can never have enough context, people.

 

I take it you haven't studied the Islamic Sunna and commentaries very closely. I own three English translations of the Qur'an with parallel Arabic and have studied their sources and commentaries. You will find that the Muslim terrorists follow their religion more closely to its teachings than whitewashed, western versions of Muslims. And you can make a case that they are using taqiyaa anyway (lying for the sake of Islam).

On the other hand I can think of about 20 Bible verses off the top of my head where it commands Christians to love and be at peace with everyone, regardless of their beliefs.

 

Well, if 5 oz. of deodorant lasts a couple of months, then it would mean .0833 oz/person/day * 500,000 = 8333.33 oz. = 694.44 lbs.

EDIT: I just re-read your question, I did the wrong equation, lol. 3 lbs. = 48 oz. / .0833 oz. per person = 576 people.

 

Haha right. In my righteous fervor, I mixed up countries.

 

No, I haven't sat down with it. And I'm afraid my Classical Arabic is a bit rusty...

However, the fact that Muslim terrorists are fundamentalists doesn't surprise me a bit. It also doesn't make Islam any more violent than Christianity, or Muslims any more violent than Christians.

 

Who said I'm endorsing Islam?

What do you expect the moderate majority to do? "Oh, wait. Christopher Hitchins is right. All religion is bogus and we are now all embracing atheism. That'll stop al-Qaida."

I've known a handful of ex-Muslims that say the religion is to blame for extremism, and I didn't agree with them either. I wish I could ask them their opinion now, but alas, they were all hunted and killed by the ravenous Moslem hordes who picked up their atheist scent on the wind and grabbed the nearest scimitar.

The power of a text lies in how one interprets it.

(In my experience), there is a public image many Muslims give off about their religion, one that routinely expresses solidarity with other Muslims around the world, the infallibility of Mohammed, and the importance of following the Islamic lifestyle. However, when talked about over a couple of coffees, this image is softened significantly, reality sets in, and a more honest interpretation of Islam will come through. Just because someone says they support the death penalty for apostates doesn't mean they do in reality.

But then the complexity of humans kind of ruins your pretty graphs, so go ahead and ignore it.

The bottom line for Islam is that it is one of many, many religions that claims it, and only it, is the "one true faith." Muslims are humans who make decisions and actions based on many different aspects of humanity (some of which they may ever share with you!) One of those aspects is religion. There are many others.

You seem to think Muslims are robots with Islamic programming, ready to be set off to kill the non-believers at the drop of a hat (or turban?). Seriously man, gain some perspective. You're taking this issue awfully black and white.

 

Assholes are assholes no matter if they're rich or poor, atheist or baptist, mensa or moron.