Islam Is Not Only a Peaceful Religion, but a Reasonable Religion

Now, before I begin in offering responses, I have noticed an interesting dynamic emerging in my opponent's writing. In the last round, I leveled some very grave charges against Islam and its founder Mohammed. I saw several good, albeit limited, options for how my opponent could respond. For example, he could question the historical backing for many of my claims. Instead, what he chose is the subject of what I wish the readers to observe. My adversary, rather than face up or deny the accusations, prefers to accept them as fact, but in some bizarre way try to justify the acts. Looking back at his previous gambit, one is hard-pressed to discover an argument which does not involve the rationalization of severe crimes. This is both the basis of my response, but also something important about Islam. In the place of facing up to adversity within their own movement, Muslims and their defenders will attack their critics, thus feeding the extremists and allowing them to proceed unpunished. For example, all reading this have undoubtedly heard that radical Islam is the west's fault; or at the very least, the US or Europe is responsible for facilitating its rapid expansion. Whether this is true is irrelevant. Its missing the point. And I will be motioning to this stark refusal in much of this round. Yes, Other People are Evil. What's Your Point? Here I will begin with what is possibly the most egregious exhibit of what I just mentioned. The argument appears to be this: non-Muslims commit evil acts and crimes, and therefore when Muslims kill in the name of their God, it is acceptable. Not so, and I expected my opponent would at least make somewhat more subtle attempts to change the subject. Indeed, I did not even begin to suggest that radical Muslims are the sole arbiters of evil, nor that their crimes outweigh those of non-Muslims. But the point remains unblemished, that Islam as a whole encourages and perpetuates the violence practiced by the fringe. The murder number in the United States is far greater annually than those of IS or Al-Qaeda. But that is only because they are relatively poor and under-staffed. Were any of these organizations to be granted a stockpile of nuclear weapons, simply imagine the consequences. Evil is a measure of potential more than action. Indonesia, as my opponent submits, has not suffered the blight of terrorism nearly as much as many of the other theocracies and "Muslim Countries" in the Middle East and Africa, but think not that the nation is free of it. In fact, the council on foreign relations not only cites the rise of extremism in Indonesia, but describes it as "a fertile breeding ground for radical Islamic movements" due to its rampant poverty and lack-luster government. (1) Mohammed and His Offenses B. I must confess one thing. I did not read through the information on the caravan raids carefully enough to detect that most did not involve killing. However, here it is again, readers: my opponent does not admit nor deny that Mohammed ordered these raids, but instead downplays the evil of them and argues attacking unarmed merchants is an acceptable way of retaliation against a nation. I can accept everything my adversary says, but that has no impact on the ultimate question: did Mohammed order raids on merchants, for which he attained wealth, or did he not? C. It matters little what Jihad actually means, but what it is taken to mean, and how it is practiced. Perhaps a massive misunderstanding between antiquity and the modern day is to blame, but Jihad is too closely connected with the violence of the early Muslims to be interpreted as anything else except, at least in part, killing. D. I'm sorry my opponent does not find this source reliable-- therefore, he seems to conclude, my claim about Mohammed ordering the killing of poets and satirists must be false. Well, here are a few more. (2)(3)(4) But once again, in the stead of further research to discover whether the damning accusation is true, my opponent simply finds an angle he can use by which to try and falsify the claim. E. The execution of a writer for the controversial and possibly hateful thinks he writes sounds like a totalitarian, perverted act. Not only does Pro justify the cold-blooded murder by what the deceased had said in critique of Islam, but then goes on to suggest that it was not the Muslims who were violent on this occasion, but the dead author! Could my point be any more clear than this? Could any straw-man illustrate the point better than my opponent does, completely without irony? F. On this point, I must defer to the viewers to make a moral judgement. Mohammed and his soldiers slaughtered a tribe, in cold blood, killing 900 men and brutalizing the women and children. Here is my opponent's, in full: "The Jews Con claims Muhammad slaughtered actually violated a peace treaty with Muhammad and sided with the Quraish tribe that attacked Muhammad and his followers, also from Con's sources. " Again, this was no pitched battle, but a matter of revenge from religious fanatics on a tribe whose people had done nothing. It is up to the readers. Was the massacre justified? I need no argument here. G. If a parent takes violent punitive measures against a child, then the sibling in this hypothetical situation will indeed display greater inclination for violence themselves. Pro, if you wish to draw an analogy, at least ensure that it actually disputes my point. The readers of this debate are perfectly welcome to carefully peruse the paragraphs of Pro, and may reasonably disagree with me, but I see not one defense of Mohammed either explicitly or implicitly written in anything he says, replaced by the pathetic and morally tumultuous condoning of evil. Conclusion I find many of my earlier contentions to have gone without response, but from what my opponent does offer in way of rebuttal, he seems to only confirm my points. Islam does perpetuate evil through its writings, through many of its members, through its founder, and through the evasive maneuvers taken by its moderate, peaceful subscribers. There ar many sources of cruel deeds, but Islam is neither excused nor an exception. (1) . http://www.cfr.org... (2) . http://littlegreenfootballs.com... (3) . http://books.google.com... (4) . http://wikiislam.net...