Top Ten Obvious Reasons Why Islam is Not a Religion of Peace

The evil that is in the world almost always comes of ignorance, and good intentions may do as much harm as malevolence if they lack understanding.
Albert Camus

The pure and simple truth is rarely pure and never simple.
Oscar Wilde

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/1 ... r-it-isnt/
My Take: Islam is a religion of peace, or it isn't
By Khalid Latif, Special to CNN
October 11th, 2010

Last week, New York University hosted the Intelligence Squared Debates at its Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. Four panelists, two for and two against, presented arguments on the motion of "Islam Is a Religion of Peace." Problem is, there is no one answer. The Muslim community is by no means monolithic and viewing us as one is problematic. We are diverse.

Maajid Nawaz...has since dedicated his life to counter-radicalism initiatives and seeks to uphold the responsibility that he spoke of through his work. He even uniquely acknowledges the presence of a radical element in Islam and how its misinterpretation is still in fact an interpretation that needs to be dealt with. Despite this, those opposed to the motion told him that it is his peaceful understanding of Islam that is rooted in misinterpretation, since it does not match up with the interpretation put forth by the radical minority, and thus somehow ignores the fundamentals of Islam since those groups somehow are the end-all be-all of what Islam actually means.

That a peaceful interpretation of the religion, or even one that is non-radical, can only exist by ignoring fundamental texts is flawed in its logic. Characteristic of any text - whether religious or not - is its ability to be interpreted through the lens of its reader. Interpretations of the Quran that espouse ideas of tolerance, compassion and mercy have existed and continue to exist in the majority of Muslim communities since the advent of Islam 1400 years ago.

As much as Muslims need to acknowledge the existence of a minority voice that is radicalized, so too does a broader society need to acknowledge the existence of a majority voice that is not radicalized and more importantly condemns radical thought.

Editor's Note: Imam Khalid Latif is a chaplain for New York University and Executive Director of NYU's Islamic Center.
The debates: http://intelligencesquaredus.org/index. ... tes/islam/

http://www.religioustolerance.org/isl_war.htm

There is no consensus on the nature of Islam. Some state that Islam is a religion of peace and moderation, "which is tolerant and encourages inter-religious dialogue for the benefit of humanity:" For example: The President of the United States from 2000 to 2008, George W. Bush, has emphasized that "Islam is Peace" on a number of occasions. Others, particularly Fundamentalist Christians, believe that Islam is a religion of hatred and warfare. Which point of view is right?

They both are.

Islam, like Christianity, is not a homogenous religion. It is divided into many subgroups, including Sunni, Shi'ite, and Sufi. A very small, radical, hate-filled, extremist, fundamentalist, terrorist wing does exist. Many follow a fundamentalist version of Islam called Wahhabi. So too does a much larger peaceful, moderate wing. Unfortunately, the former seem to capture all the media's attention, while the latter is rarely heard from.

It obvious that no one individual speaks for all Muslims. Islam has no single central human authority, comparable to the pope and Vatican for the Roman Catholic Church, or to various General Assemblies and the Lambeth Conferences for the Anglican Communion. Rather, it is divided into many traditions and schools.

The spread of terrorism within Islam appears to be due to the presence and interaction of a number of factors:
*A general renaissance of the religion of Islam throughout North Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia.

*The after-effects of previous colonial oppression of Muslim countries.

*Authoritarian dictatorships in the Middle East -- many of which are artificially propped up with American foreign policy -- with their depressing record of corruption, civil rights violations, and low standard of living. This results in a loss of hope among their public.

*The lack of separation between religion and the state in Muslim countries.

One must search all sides of a problem for the true meaning. The reports in the news will be lopsided toward the violence - not the attempts to foster peace. For every link you find citing an example of "Muslim violence", I can find a link citing "Muslim peace" - the answers are not so straight-forward, but to vilify an entire religion, based on the actions of a minority, and to take individual excerpts from their holy book that merely support one opinion, is bias at its finest. That will not lead to the truth, it will only reinforce a narrow mindset, and continue a cycle of misunderstanding, intolerance, and hatred.

http://www.uga.edu/islam/jihad.html
Jihad, War, Terrorism, and Peace in Islam

http://www.wnyc.org/articles/wnyc-news/ ... years-eve/
Muslim Group Tries to Spread Peace on New Year's Eve
Thursday, December 30, 2010
By Annmarie Fertoli

http://www.american-peace.org/index.htm
American Muslim Peace Initiative

http://mpf21.wordpress.com/about-2/
Muslim Peace Fellowship

http://centers.lstc.edu/ccme/
A Center of Christian-Muslim Engagement for Peace and Justice (CCME) of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

http://www.peacewalk.blogspot.com/
The Muslim-Jewish
Jewish-Muslim PeaceWalk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuSMeUVwO40
Muslim Peace March: Glenn Beck
http://www.muslimpeacemarch.org/index.html



What is objectionable, what is dangerous about extremists, is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.
Robert Kennedy