Gay Muslim: Islam Is No Religion of Peace

[trotsky]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/06/16/gay-muslim-islam-is-no-religion-of-peace.html

...The carnage in Orlando has shaken my very core, but after my experiences traveling throughout the Middle East as a gay man (open in some countries, fully closeted in others), I cannot say I am surprised. Any identity I have ever claimed now lies exposed as a wound that will never heal. Saying “gay Muslim” seems like a reason for damnation.

...

Calling Islam a religion of peace is dangerous and reductive. Like the other two monotheisms that precede it, it has blood on its hands. It’s time we Muslims start looking inward at our own communities so that the bloodshed can stop. I’m convinced that Mateen’s attitude is not fringe. It can be found everywhere from Mecca to my own mosque in New York City.

The vast canon of Islam that emerged after the Prophet Muhammad’s life has enough sanction for violence, if you know what you are looking for. And there is no lack of homophobic condemnation either. The Quran itself remains vague on the matter, lazily regurgitating the Old and New Testament’s story of the Nation of Lot. And for the majority of 1.6 billion Muslims, many of them plagued by poverty and illiteracy, the debates going on amongst the Western Muslim pundits, will make no sense. What they listen to is Khutba (Friday sermon) after Khutba that talks about homosexuality as a sin amongst other matters of religious import.

Yes, most Muslims are muddling through life, putting food on their families’ tables just like everyone else. There are countless sectarian divisions within the vast faith. But if even a fraction of a percentage of this population believes gays should be put to death, we have a problem that cannot be dismissed so easily.

[uppityperson]

1. Sounds like Christian fundies also, this part. Hateful fundamentalism extremism is the problem, imo

"But if even a fraction of a percentage of this population believes gays should be put to death, we have a problem that cannot be dismissed so easily."

my background
Raised liberal christian church, parents believed in actions. Sometimes I wish they'd raised us with stronger beliefs in a god or some such as it'd make things easier to simply believe vs having to think. But here we are.

[trotsky]

2. Absolutely. n/t

[MariaThinks]

4. the fundamental Christians are wrong. Good thing they are not currently

blowing up innocent people. If they did, I would support full out resistance to them.

[uppityperson]

5. Banning access to safe hygienic abortions isn't quite blowing up innocent people, but close

enough for me to speak out against them.

I do hope you aren't saying you "support full out resistance to" all Muslims. I don't think that is what you are saying, but have found asking for clarification, which is what I am doing, is a good thing since internet communication can be weird. Thank you.

[MariaThinks]

8. we are condemning them for that.

I'm not sure why people try to make things into absolutes. It's not about all muslims. But I'd like someone to address the obvious issue: does islam say that homosexuals should be killed and how many imams are preaching this hate speech?

[uppityperson]

13. I am glad that there are more preaching tolerance. Hate speech is just wrong, no matter the religion

or lack of. Using churches as a platform to preach politics is also wrong, so long as they get the no tax thingie (sorry about the lack of jargon term). People meeting will talk, and they will meet with others of some sort of similarity. But no tax breaks, and those that use hate speech should be, imo, classified into the group of other hate groups.

Using the name of any sort of god or higher power to hurt others is a really bizarre idea to me.

Thank you for clarifying, I appreciate it.

My spouse was reading from the bible to our teenager a few yrs ago, lots of awful stuff in there, esp older testament. I guess it was a step up from how things were at the time, but it's many yrs later and society has moved on. We don't need rules saying we can keep our enemies heads on a pike for only 3 days vs forever. We don't need to be able to beat uppity children with only a switch vs a stout stick. Etc etc etc.

It is unfortunate that there are those still stuck in those sorts of things, beyond unfortunate. And anyone preaching hate should be classified as hate speech. Time to move on, people. I have hopes for humanity, but also fear the fact that we are so technologically advanced yet not so societaly, as a people.

[trotsky]

6. Murders of gay (and transgendered) people happen everywhere.

And sometimes the killer is Christian.

[MariaThinks]

10. we condemn those acts regardless of who or what is doing the killing

[MariaThinks]

3. When Islam say death to homosexuals - it cannot be more clear what the belief system is.

[skepticscott]

7. Clear to sane, decent people

But apparently not to those who defend religious privilege at all costs.

DU is rife with them.

[MariaThinks]

9. and they love to hide threads

[rug]

16. Yet the author remains a Muslim.

The Islam that this film is seeking to reclaim is rich, it is pulsating, it's welcoming, condemning sometimes, it's loving, it's erotic, it's sensual, it's poetic and it's musical.

http://www.ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=1258

[MariaThinks]

17. they need to publicly denounce the 'death to....' in the religion.

[rug]

18. What do you think he's doing?

[backscatter712]

11. Homophobia is systematically taught by thousands of imams and mullahs to millions of Muslims...

Systematically.

In the same way that thousands of Christian pastors, ministers, and priests teach homophobia to millions of Christians every fucking Sunday.

The toxic rot of homophobic bigotry goes all the way to the top.

Yes, I know, Not All Muslims.

But a lot of Muslims. The vast majority in many nations. To the point where they kill you for being gay.

[uppityperson]

15. Pastor Roger Jimenez from Verity Baptist Church in Sacramento, for example.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2016/06/14/pastor-refuses-to-mourn-orlando-victims-the-tragedy-is-that-more-of-them-didnt-die/

And yes, there are places where it is the majority speaking so. It's all wrong.

[Warren Stupidity]

19. well it is also taught by thousands of preachers to millions of christians

and by thousands of rabbis to perhaps a lot of jews.

[backscatter712]

20. Is it any wonder that I am an atheist? n/t

[Warpy]

12. Yeah, that old desert god has a lot of sexual hangups

and hates gays and women with equal fervor across all his various sects.

(yeah, I know about the Anglicans and UCC, they tend to be aberrations instead of the norm)