skullaria wrote:
"With few exceptions ( Turkey , for example), Islamic countries are fascist, autocratic or theocratic, where women are subjugated and minorities persecuted. Islamic countries are rife with poverty and have been for centuries. Polls show that in many Islamic countries a majority of Muslims lionize the man responsible for the atrocities of September 11th and the terrorist gangs who routinely slaughter civilians in Israeli buses and restaurants. In Arab schools and on Arab television, children are taught the glory of becoming suicide bombers. Almost everywhere that Islam borders other cultures, there is violence.

The idea, then, that Islam is evil has far more plausibility than the idea that United States is evil. But merely, raising the question, "Is Islam evil?" provokes an instant, inevitable outcry: "Bigot!" "Racist!" "Zionist!" Indeed, the attempt to suppress debate on this question is so intense that few people in the mainstream will ask it."

(I really thought this was well written and an interesting viewpoint.)

I'm curious whose viewpoint it is, since it's unattached to a URL. If it's your own, I'm not sure why it's quoted.

I was in the process of responding, but I'm going to need more time to think through this. In short, though, I think the phrasing "Is Islam evil?" is intentionally provacative, so I have little sympathy for the whining about the result. If I ask someone, "Are you an asshole?", they're going to get immediately defensive, and I can hardly blame them for it.

Secondly, I'm not yet comfortable that the comparison between "Islam" and "the United States" is apples to apples. However, I think the wider debate is very interesting and I want to spend some time on it. I will try to craft a more complete response.