Yes, you are right. She was a former muslim who converted to Sikhism and I apparently confused myself and typed it out wrong.
eochaid
joined 2 years ago
Uh huh.
Well I have met and talked to several Muslims in my life. Religion only really came up for a couple of them, because you know, they're just people going through their lives like anyone else and religion doesn't often come up in polite company unless you're a part of their religion. But there are a few I've gotten to know well enough to feel comfortable about asking.
Anyway, after some expected hesitancy, and some convincing that I'm just curious about their experiences, everyone I've talked to explained that their experience of islam is very peaceful and compassionate and gives them a sense of belonging and community. One asked about my own experiences with religion, which made them feel lucky to have found a good community. I said I had found other communities and was fine. And after that day, I felt like we understood eacj other a little better than before.
I knew a Sikh woman once, so wore the whole garb even though she lived in America. I asked her how she felt about the garb, and expected something something sacred religious whatever. But she surprised me by saying she felt the garb was a form of expression for her, an identity, and also made her felt safer - this was before 9/11. She said it was her choice to wear it and wore it proudly. And that really gave me the context I needed to break out of my biases about Islam and accept that we all do wierd shit, religious or otherwise, and that's not only okay, it makes us unique and interesting.
When I look at the replies on this post, I see a lot of confusion, a lot of anger, a lot of hatred, and a lot of circlejerking. And rightly so, because there's no context to this post. No, criticizing Islam isn't always racist but it really depends on the context and the individuals receiving it.
OP is repeating the same dangerous rhetoric that I see across all sides of disagreement - but is always connected to bigotry: "I should be allowed to criticize without being criticized." I can't deny the appeal of such a request but it's unreasonable. OP is absolutely allowed to say whatever he wants. But his audience is also free to respond and interpret.
The thing is, when you send negativity out into the world, you get it back. And if OP isn't ready for that, maybe he should find more positive messages to send.
Edit: whoops I called someone both a muslim and sikh. She converted so my mind for some reason conflated the two.
I don't know you at all, just asking probing questions that people sometimes forget to think about while spending their so much of their brief moments of human connection spouting anger and hatred. That's all.
Cool beans
extremists version of Judaism, Buddhism
Um excuse me?
Covering the big three: Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism generally gets majority of the current worst offenders.
Yes, and I'm sure your point-by-point take downs of each of these are all the rage in college campuses everywhere. I'm sure nobody rolls their eyes at all when you launch into another diatribe about how Hinduism is destroying the world.
I have actually met a Zoroastrian and had some fascinating conversations about their religion. I would never practice their religion, nor do I particularly care for organized religion, but I'm glad I got to meet and talk to them because it helped me understand a personal experience I would never untake.
Judaism is often the target of hatred, these days, because of anti-semites. Not because of debates about the merits of the religion. Those debates are primarily held internally - you know, amongst people who actually know and care about the religion.
Have you ever met a Muslim?
Those debates have mostly focused on the book burners though, and my criticism would be limited to something like "it's just a book".
That's not really a criticism of the religion though. Actually, it's a criticism of people of that religion being angry about people from another religion slighting their own, which is more an opinion on book burning (which I vehemently disagree with mostly for reasons related to historical preservation) than anything to do with religion.
The reason I ask is that this post seems to imply that you are having conversations with friends when suddenly, " you know what grinds my gears? Christianity! Oh and by the way, fuck those Muslims too!" And negative Atheism is often an excuse for bigotry.
I mean, how often are discussions about Islam "coming up" in your daily life?
Is your only contribution to those "discussions" to criticize the religion?
Do you often find yourself in "discussions about religion" where your primary contribution is to complain about Christianity and Islam?
Do you also criticize Judaism? Zoroastrianism? Buddhism?
Or is it just those two?
obviously
"Vegan Tomato Egg Stir Fry" is not the same as "Vegan Egg"
Fuck me for trying to clarify for those not familiar with the terminology.
For those scoffing at the title - the author substitutes eggs for tofu chips and has instructions for doing so.
Seems wierd they left the "egg" in the title if it's vegan and doesn't have eggs
These "discussions on religion" that everyone is having that "migrate to islam" are still very much theoretical. Nobody here is asking for permission to publish a treatise that criticizes Islam.
No, OP and everyone involved is asking for the right to criticize without being criticized back. Which absolutely is loaded rhetoric that is typically associated with hate and bigotry. Yes, everyone is allowed to say whatever they want on the internet, but everyone else is allowed to interpet and criticize back however they want.
And in this case, bigots absolutely do criticize Islam, often with sweeping and inaccurate generalizations, in order to be racist without sounding racist. Negative atheism is often a shield for racism. So yes, I'm asking probing questions because it's really hard to tell sometimes whether criticism of Islam is actually just diguised racism or just an atheist who wants to shit talk on religion and picks one he heard about in the news. And 9 times out of 10, the latter is an arguement from a position of ignorance and lacks any awareness of the complex sociopolitical factors that have shaped middle eastern/balkan nations as well as the religion of Islam.