Reading the great comments between Myk and James on anti-Muslim rhetoric versus criticism of a person's faith and belief reminded me of a Sunny in Philadelphia episode (stay with me), "Mac fights Gay Marriage".
Mac (with the motives not of a traditional fundamentalist) tries to argue with a Black man and his wife (wife is a man who underwent a sex change) by quoting the Bible, "Leviticus 18:22, 24 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind, it is abomination. Defile not ye yourselves in any of these things"
The black husband response, "Exodus 21:20-21 When a man strikes his male or female slave with a rod so hard that the slave dies under his hand, he shall be punished. If, however, the slave survives for a day or two, he is not to be punished, since the slave is his own property."
Instead of trying to find support for gay marriage in the Bible, the husband showed the ridiculousness of using the Bible to dictate the laws of today's society.
As touch on earlier in the comments, you can respect an individual but also be critical of their opinions and beliefs. Religious beliefs, unlike other facets of a person's life tends to skirt those criticism. Which brings me to my point, the International Journal of Cardiology published a new paper, "The heart and cardiovascular system in the Qur’an and Hadeeth" illustrates the importance of being critical of religion. It took ~5 days for the article to be published in a peer review respected Journal versus the normal 7-9 months of review (idiot editor and board I guess). The article is religious propaganda that has no place in a scientific Journal and is destructive to the scientific process. People are free to believe whatever they want but by not allowing others the ability to be critical of religious beliefs opens the door to things like this pseudoscience article.
I am allowed to be critical of the Twilight Series turning Vampires (coolest creatures of the night) into lame angsty 100 years olds, but when I call the Koran dumb for writing that menstrual blood is impure or using a 2,000 Bible to shut down stem cell research idiotic or the Jewish practice of mutilating children's genitals archaic/barbaric people say I am intolerant of culture and anti-(insert religion). The problem with the lack of critical view on religious texts and beliefs is that religion is prevalent throughout society, shaping policies on medical treatments, used to justify wars, dictating rights of people. That is what Bill Maher touched on, religion is scary because every religion has bat shit crazy tenets that are being used to create legislation, shape government etc. but we can't be critical of those tenets without being labeled culturally insensitive.
I think I rehashed the comments, just in a less eloquent manner.
3 comments:
Your points are well taken, but I'm not sure the article is appropriate for your argument. This is a history of early Islamic medicine. As has been mentioned on the blog, the Arab/Islamic culture made great advances in medicine while Europe was mired in the Dark Ages. The author simply seeks to educate westerners who most likely have never been exposed to the history of Islamic medicine.
The author concludes:
"An in-depth analysis of the contribution of Islamic medicine in anatomy, physiology, and health is severely lacking in the West and, if conducted, would uncover that discoveries made by European scientists were actually made centuries prior, within the vast Islamic empire. Perhaps European scientists during the Middle Ages and beyond failed to benefit from the discoveries of the neighboring Islamic empire for multiple reasons, including poor translations [46] and the unreadiness of the medical establishment to give prominence to observation and study over the word of ancient authority [47]. As new advances in technology and medicine continue to grow at an exponential rate today, there is time to reflect and appreciate the Islamic contribution to medicine. It is for this reason that the discoveries and medical revelations in Qur'an should not be ignored or forgotten."
As you have illustrated, when one closes one's mind to what others are saying, whether it is religion or science, we just reinforce our own beliefs and don't learn anything. God knows, there is plenty to criticize in regards to religion.
On the other hand, if you think that scientists have more important things to do than to "reflect and appreciate the Islamic contribution to medicine" then I think that would be a fair criticism of the article.
But I certainly agree with your statements that we definitely need more criticism of religion.
Pete -- We've been around this bend many times, and I doubt that I will ever soften your heart toward religion or get your to see the wondrous possibilities there.
But two points. One, I strongly disagree with your view that American society is hostile to religious criticism. For one, our advanced capitalism is inherently materialistic and atheistic. No matter what you say, the values of a society organized arround the accumulation of capital -- credit-default swaps, derivatives, debt-fueled buyouts, corporate takeovers -- are not religious values.
And from my lonely perch, it seems that the hostility runs quite the other way, and that mainstream America is virulently anti-religious, particularly to Islam. One way I've discovered to get people really angry these days is to praise Islam. Let's face it, everyone in the entire political spectrum from Sarah Palin to Bill Maher hates Muslims.
The second point is that most criticism of religion comes from people who are shockingly ignorant of it. Terry Eagleton, for example, compares Hitchens' willingness to hold forth on religion to someone willing to "pronounce on arcane questions of biology on the strenght of a passing aquaintance with the British Book of Birds."
You've taken selective quotes from religious writings. Let me give you just a quick sample of my own.
There are as many paths to God as there are souls on Earth. - Hadith
A seeker went to ask a sage for guidance on the Sufi way. The sage counseled, "if you have never trodden the path of love, go away and fall in love; then come back and see us." Jami (N.B. How similar to Richard Feynman: "Dear Mrs. Chown, Ignore your son's attempts to teach you physics. Physics isn't the most important thing. Love is.")
What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being, to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful,
and to remove the wrongs of the injured. Mohammad
The fact is that the great religions have been around for centuries and have engaged millions of people. They can't be reduced do a single characterization or a set of beliefs. They are traditions which have gathered countless ideas, many of them contradictory. While there is plenty in every religion that should be rejected, there is also much value there that cannot be found elsewhere. I believe that if we turn our back on religion, we will be the poorer for it.
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