tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398786616468784014.post4624850880887841774..comments2024-03-26T22:46:36.621-07:00Comments on Religious Deviant: Should Americans Fear Islam?Lausten Northhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06784935133094816365noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398786616468784014.post-40220305747521004372010-10-14T05:51:49.727-07:002010-10-14T05:51:49.727-07:00Actually I can blame people for their ignorance. I...Actually I can blame people for their ignorance. I’m sure that Graham and Gadiel have been offered and read many things that they choose to ignore. Your Joe Schmoe statement is an argument for prejudice, you’re saying “if I don’t know, my fear and distrust are justified”. I have had some evangelicals point out that Jesus represents the harmful and scary just fine, “depart from me into the eternal fire” and what not.<br /><br />We do need to find better ways to educate people. I think we could start by teaching about the confirmation bias and the sources of prejudice. Also teaching an overview of all religions would be good, understanding all the intricacies of theology seems unnecessary. <br /><br />ABC is not helping. Sometimes I wonder if they put these morons on in the hope that people will see how completely wacko they are for themselves. But the way the discussion was moderated, it appears more like they are actually considering them experts in their field.Lausten Northhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06784935133094816365noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4398786616468784014.post-8831385639511834062010-10-12T11:22:38.159-07:002010-10-12T11:22:38.159-07:00Hey, my friend just referred me to your blog. I&#...Hey, my friend just referred me to your blog. I'm a Christian missionary, and I'm really interested in religion, philosophy, ethics, etc.<br /><br />Anyway, I think I follow and agree what you're saying here, but isn't it easy to just rip on "ignorant" "fear-mongerers"? I mean, you really can't blame people for their ignorance unless they're ignoring readily available education. And fear is pretty natural and uncontrollable.<br /><br />Muslims have killed a lot of Americans. So I, Joe Schmoe who knows nothing about Islam, am naturally going to be afraid and distrustful of Islam and its adherents -- until I learn about Islam. <br /><br />People can point to Holy Wars, the Inquisition, or hypocrisy in general and say that Christianity is harmful and scary, but there's always an evangelical on hand to pull out the Bible and show that those are examples of people misrepresenting Jesus, not following Him. Most of us (at least where I'm from) don't have practicing Muslim friends on hand to step in and defend the Koran.<br /><br />So it seems like the solution is that people who are fearing Islam need to know what the Koran and imams are really teaching. But they don't have any interest in visiting a mosque or reading the Koran (and the wikipedia pages on the Koran and jihad are about as intellectually accessible as a math dissertation). And thus we have programs like the one you've just reviewed. In theory, such programs make a great deal of sense to me.<br /><br />Anyway, I'm not really saying anything. I agree that we need to find better ways to educate people who are uneducated, especially if their ignorance is leading to fear and/or hatred. It doesn't sound like this ABC special is helping much.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06581712062565733745noreply@blogger.com