Thread: go to prison for insulting someone?

Originally Posted by KristofferBodvin

If you are refering to anything I wrote, it was not my intention to put every muslims in a box and label them extreme islamists.The problem however, in my opinion, is that Islam has not yet been through a reformation.Like christianity has.
As a result of this, we have segregated religion from the court of law in western countries.This is however not the case in many islamic countries, as I'm sure you know.In Iran people are still being stoned to death for adultery..I'm not saying that this goes for all, or even most people from similar regimes.But we have had a considerable migration from contries such as these in europe for the last 30 years.And it has led to a lot of culture/religous related problems.From my point of view, the polecy in europe for how to handle these problems has been to a large extend futile.We have been much to willing to adapt to the rules of foreign cultures.And the main pressure group has come from different muslim interest organizations.In my country you never hear any demands from tamils,hindus or buddhists.In my oppinion this is a democratic problem, and it threathens the freedom of speach.

PS: I also agree that the drawings is tastles and lacking of respect.But I don't think that is a reason to forbid them.

Kristoffer

No I understand this wasn't your intention my friend, but I do know this subject tends to be misunderstood. And when it comes to these questions we have to be very careful not to label anyone, well at least not labeling the wrong people. That's why there is a need for clarification verging on to over-clarification.

I agree that Islam has the problem of separation between state and religion, but we must remember that never in history has any state been run completely according to Islam. The ottoman empire, the official head of the sunni islamic world as the sultan was also the caliph, had two separate laws the sharia and the qanun, religious and secular law. This was also the case in medieval europe on many countries, however in fact it was after the reformation that the laws, at least in sweden, became more influenced by religion and the strictness of the mosaic law that was part of the Lutheran church.

We must also remember that most muslim countries are secular states often arab-nationalist combined with socialism, often surpressing religion. The strictest Islamic country is Saudi Arabia, but they are rarely questioned instead it is Iran that is under attack due to politics (i'm not implying that iran should not be questioned au contraire, but "the west" chooses its enemies so to speak).

Immigration has always lead to problems, even in america there were quite great tentions against for example the Irish during the 19th century when they were new in america. It is not a problem specifically related to the Europe of today and to muslim imigrants.

Demands from tamils, hindus and buddhists are meybe never heard because 1 they are a relatively small immigrant group (this is just a guess, dont know how it is in norway) but more importantly 2 "the west" has a possitive view of for example buddhists an almost romantic view to be frank and they are not described in negative terms and not "attacked" from media for example.

I want to say again that Islamists are a greater threat to other muslims than to "the west" and they constitute a greater threat to muslim democratic processes rather than the democracy of for example norway.

Lastly I want to say that my theory is that all this turmoil we see in the "islamic world" and within islam may well be the initial sparks of a "muslim reformation", we'll just have to see what it comes to. A process that may take decades if not centuries, just like the christian reformation. Incidently this reformation (if it indeed is one) comes aprox. the same time after the foundation of islam as the christian reformation did.

ha ha, let me guess: History student? Thank you for a interessting post.You are right about the part of most islamic countries being secular states, but in those countries a large oppositon often speak strongly of extreme islamic views.Also, Iran is far from the only country that practice sharia, or at least laws inspired by sharia.
I think it is very strange that the integration of some religous/etnic groups seems to go much smoother in the US than in europe.It tells me that the main problem lies within the european politics.