Text 7452, 51 rader
Skriven 2007-11-02 13:12:22 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
   Kommentar till text 7448 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: Al Qaeda set fires
==========================
Michiel van der Vlist wrote to Robert Bashe on Friday November 02 2007 at
09:16:

RN>>>> A muslim that drinks?  Horrors!
DD>>> Is as bad as as a christian that lies, cheats and kills?
RB>> Apparently many muslims think so.

MV> But surely there are also many who take a more relaxed view on rules
MV> written over a thousand years ago when the world was totally different
MV> from what it is now?

Obviously that's true, but whether you take a "relaxed" view or not depends on
your position. If you think religion should move with the times, there are
changes. But if you believe that only the "old original" is the "real" religion
- and there appear to be a lot of muslims in the middle east and elsewhere who
take this attitude - you insist on literal interpretations. It's presumably a
little like the "bible belt" christians in the States, except that they don't
go around throwing bombs.

RB>> One thing I've often wondered about, though, is how the muslims in
RB>> Turkey justify drinking raki, the local anise liquor. The alcohol
RB>> prohibition doesn't seem to be as strong there as elsewhere in the
RB>> muslim world.

MV> "The muslim world" does not exist. No more than the "Christian world"
MV> or the "Jewish world"

I disagree on all three, but particularly with respect to the muslims and jews.
Both are quite coherent groups and have remained so over the centuries. As for
the muslims, they are still in the throes of their schism (sunni and shiite
muslims), whereas the christian world has largely come to terms with it's own
(catholics and Matrin Luther' protestants) and nowadays no longer fights
internal "holy wars".

MV> Not everyone living in Turkey is a muslim.

According to Wikepedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Turkey

the figure is 99.0%. Mostly sunni muslims.

MV> Turkey is a secular country. In theory at last...

Not only in theory, at least up to now. That's the way Mustafa Kemal (Atatuerk)
wanted it, and the constitution is framed accordingly.

Cheers, Bob

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