Islam is Not a Religion of Peace

Let me begin with history. The middle east has been a region of the world with wars and violence like east Asia and Europe. For a brief time in human history muslim nations were seen as the light of the world. To say the least, the middle east was pretty much dominated by the Ottomans (Turks). Even though it was a monarchy that really didn't allow other religions to obtain power, it did provide a secular nation and rarely went to war with the west. ["After the prophet's death, the Muslim empire continued to expand until the 17th century, when Muslims were unquestionably the world's greatest military force, having conquered extensive territory and converted millions throughout the Middle East and Southern Europe. Islam had also achieved unmatched advances in architecture, art, law, mathematics, and science."] Unfortunately as time went on, the Ottoman Empire declined and the west began having a covert influence on it as the empire reached its end and after the Balkan wars and WW1, the Islamic empire fell apart become British mandate. This where Islamic radicalism took its origins. As european jews went to Palestine and angered the regions resulting in the 6 days war. On top of that with American intervention in the middle east causing mujahideen to form becoming the known terrorist groups of today. There is a number of reason why radical Islam exist and why it is so strong. But I'm going to state that every single religion has "radicalism" from the christian crusaders and westboro church to christian persecution in japan. Radicalism takes many forms and it is not only concentrated to Islam. The reason why it's so big today is because how media has become powerful and also how Western influence destabilized dictatorships that prevent radicalism. You state how " the majority of Muslim nations worldwide support the implementation of Sharia Law (the Islamic religious law), which includes punishments like stoning and flogging for women who remove their veil, women who leave the house without a man, or a husband and wife kissing in public. But even these punishments are not comparable to the one awaiting homosexuality; death." Every single other religion has extreme notions where in the bible it says adultery should stoned and in the Torah only a select few can be jews. Now, I'm not vowing out for killing homosexuals. I am saying every region and country has their own laws, culture, and traditions. For example, in India marriage arrangements are seen as taboo in the usa; while interracial marriage is seen as taboo all over the world. Just because you disagree with a countries laws or religious notions, it doesn't mean we should change them. Look at Iraq, we had an urge for freedom and democracy, to stop Hussein from having WMDs but all it caused is the the Islamic terrorism in the Europe and a further divided western world. Turkey has contain its radical Islamism because of its secularism and not being democrat; noting how europe basically hates turkey. So, what other Islamic majority wants sharia law. we shouldn't do anything about it because it'll make problems worse. Sometimes doing nothing has the best outcome. Overall, my opponents states that the majority of Muslims are extreme and we should do something about it. I have stated many examples on how peace the middle east was before western influence and how western intervention destroyed its stability and how doing something will make the problem a lot worse then it is now. Schanzer, Jonathan. "At War With Whom?: A Short History of Radical Islam." Middle East Forum. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan. 2017.