Great read this
Tom Elliott: An open letter to Islam from this infidel
DEAR Islam,
You are facing a crisis of your own making. Your Sunni and Shia factions hate each other and are engaged in fruitless wars across the Islamic world.
You seem to appreciate the secular freedoms offered by 21st century Western nations (such as the right to build mosques near established churches), but cling to outdated beliefs like covering women from head to toe.
You put too much faith in a holy book — the Koran — written 1400 long years ago.
And a small but very violent minority of your supporters takes great delight in committing unspeakable atrocities against innocent people.
I am what you what call an infidel. An unbeliever. A kuffar. A crusader. An allegedly lesser being than those who follow Allah. You have many disparaging terms for people like me.
Yet because I’m not religious, I’m capable of seeing its flaws.
Take the Koran. You regard it as quite literally the holy word of God. Very little in this book can be abandoned because to deny any one part of Allah’s thoughts is to deny them all.
Gigantic, deadly truck bombs are a regular feature of life in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan.
Problematically, the Koran contains exhortations to violence against outsiders and nonbelievers. Consider chapter 9, verse 5: “…fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them … but if they repent, and establish regular prayers … then open the way for them …”
In short, convert to Islam or suffer the consequences. This probably made sense in primitive Middle Eastern societies 1400 years ago; but now it seems unnecessarily hostile in a diverse and connected world where many different groups of people must try to get along.
So do what most Christians have done with the Old Testament: discard the violent passages of the Koran and focus on those parts which are good.
Second, stop believing in the afterlife. Chances are we all have but one period of existence in this universe and we should make the most of it.
Most religions contemplate life after death, but right now martyrdom is being used by Islamic extremists to justify suicide attacks on innocent people. Some readings of the Koran suggest men who die in defence of Islam will be rewarded with a special place in heaven and 72 willing virgins.
This notion is ludicrous in the extreme. If indeed there is a heaven, there’s probably also a hell; and surely it’s to there suicide bombers are sent once they’ve obliterated themselves — and others — while screaming “Allahu Akbar” (God is greater).
Third, please stop the Orwellian-style claim that “Islam means peace” when the opposite is so clearly true. I assess religions not by what they say, but rather what some people do in their name. And Islam’s scorecard on that front is pretty bad right now.
In countries such as Iraq and Syria, Muslim factions are fighting each other in a bloody civil war. Islamic State is but one of these groups; Syrian President Bashar al-Assad represents another. Peace is thin on the ground in both places.
Peace is thin on the ground in President Bashar al-Assad’s Syria. Picture: AFP
Meanwhile, in Afghanistan a resurgent Taliban is claiming vast swathes of territory once controlled by the government. In these areas, Western collaborators are executed, girls removed from school and a strict version of sharia imposed. Gigantic, deadly truck bombs are a regular feature of life in the capital, Kabul.
By contrast, countries such as Australia, Britain and France provide their citizens with a decent education, welfare, public housing, medical care and the right to vote. Yet hundreds of young Western Muslims choose the evil of IS over loyalty to the nations in which they were either born or accepted as refugees.
Why? Because extremist Islam has them in its thrall.
Infidels like me are sick of having our lives threatened by Islamic fanatics. For decades, Australia has welcomed millions of people from just about every faith, ethnicity and culture on earth. We try to give all comers a fair go.
There are, for example, roughly the same number of Buddhists as Muslims in this country. I’m yet to encounter any local examples of Buddhist-inspired terrorism, but Islamic violence of the type perpetrated this week in Brighton by Somali-born refugee Yacqub Khayre threatens to become a regular occurrence.
Now for some good news: Despite causing major problems, Islam can also be a solution.
When a young man becomes radicalised, the first to notice will be his family, friends and others with whom he interacts at the local mosque. Their duty is to report such radicals to the police. Doing this may violate some parts of the Koran; but respect for Australia and its laws is the first step toward ending Islamic terrorism here.
And to those Muslims who can’t accept an infidel society’s rules over religious ones: live elsewhere. There are plenty of Islamic countries happy to have you.
Sincerely,
Tom, the concerned unbeliever.
MORE TOM ELLIOTT
Tom Elliott is 3AW drivetime host, weekdays 3pm-6pm
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/opinion/tom-elliott/tom-elliott-an-open-letter-to-islam-from-this-infidel/news-story/dc59aefc2f49cb5462c0fc0f54039c73
