In a recent thread here about the question of whether the media manipulates people into hating Muslims and Islam, I couldn't help but notice a problematic trend: the conflation of hatred of Muslims with the hatred of Islam. This seems to me to be a potentially dangerous conflation, because it effectively extends the respect to which people are entitled to Islam and ideas in general.
When we talk of Muslims, we talk of nearly a billion and a half people. When we talk of Islam, we talk of a religion whose mainstream version, at least in the Middle East, consists of things like homophobia, sexism, and outdated laws—such as lashing and cutting off hands. It is my opinion that Muslims and people in general, no matter how fundamentalist or "radical" they are, are entitled to at least a certain degree of respect as long as they don't engage in violence or persecution of anyone or actively support it. Ideas, on the other hand, are not entitled to respect by default. Respect for ideas is an earned quality, not a given.
I find it unfortunate at best that so many people engage in this conflation of hatred of people as opposed to hatred or strong rejection of certain ideas. Something I find especially ironic about this is that almost every single Muslim I know "hates" atheism too, but some of them keep reiterating that they don't hate all atheists, the people. It's a "hate the sin, love the sinner" thing. Despite strongly disagreeing with them on what constitutes "sin" and the concept of "sin" itself, I fully give credit to the people who can separate hatred of the "sin" from hatred of the "sinner."
This is one of the main reasons I have great respect for my Muslim friends who believe that atheism is a major sin that qualifies a person to be in Hell for eternity and are still friends with me. Why? Because they actually realize the difference between hating an idea or belief and hating a person.
Faisal Saeed al-Mutar, an ex-Muslim who actually lived in a Muslim country as opposed to being someone who speaks from an ivory tower without much first-hand experience living in Muslim-majority societies (like many far-left liberals who attack critics of religion) that embrace mainstream Islam, had the following to say about the rights of people versus the rights of ideas (his main point regarding that is near the end of the video):
It seems to me that entitling ideas to the same level of respect as people results in one of two things:
1) Giving ideas too much respect, thereby hindering legitimate discussion about them and criticism thereof
2) Giving people too little respect by saying that ideas should be entitled to the same level of respect as people or that criticizing ideas amounts to criticizing people.
Out of many common religious concepts, I think that "hate the sin, love the sinner" is one of the most spot-on ones in principle. Similarly, I see a need for a secular counterpart along the lines of "criticize/'hate' the idea, love/respect people."
What are your thoughts on this subject? Agree or disagree, and why?
When we talk of Muslims, we talk of nearly a billion and a half people. When we talk of Islam, we talk of a religion whose mainstream version, at least in the Middle East, consists of things like homophobia, sexism, and outdated laws—such as lashing and cutting off hands. It is my opinion that Muslims and people in general, no matter how fundamentalist or "radical" they are, are entitled to at least a certain degree of respect as long as they don't engage in violence or persecution of anyone or actively support it. Ideas, on the other hand, are not entitled to respect by default. Respect for ideas is an earned quality, not a given.
I find it unfortunate at best that so many people engage in this conflation of hatred of people as opposed to hatred or strong rejection of certain ideas. Something I find especially ironic about this is that almost every single Muslim I know "hates" atheism too, but some of them keep reiterating that they don't hate all atheists, the people. It's a "hate the sin, love the sinner" thing. Despite strongly disagreeing with them on what constitutes "sin" and the concept of "sin" itself, I fully give credit to the people who can separate hatred of the "sin" from hatred of the "sinner."
This is one of the main reasons I have great respect for my Muslim friends who believe that atheism is a major sin that qualifies a person to be in Hell for eternity and are still friends with me. Why? Because they actually realize the difference between hating an idea or belief and hating a person.
Faisal Saeed al-Mutar, an ex-Muslim who actually lived in a Muslim country as opposed to being someone who speaks from an ivory tower without much first-hand experience living in Muslim-majority societies (like many far-left liberals who attack critics of religion) that embrace mainstream Islam, had the following to say about the rights of people versus the rights of ideas (his main point regarding that is near the end of the video):
It seems to me that entitling ideas to the same level of respect as people results in one of two things:
1) Giving ideas too much respect, thereby hindering legitimate discussion about them and criticism thereof
2) Giving people too little respect by saying that ideas should be entitled to the same level of respect as people or that criticizing ideas amounts to criticizing people.
Out of many common religious concepts, I think that "hate the sin, love the sinner" is one of the most spot-on ones in principle. Similarly, I see a need for a secular counterpart along the lines of "criticize/'hate' the idea, love/respect people."
What are your thoughts on this subject? Agree or disagree, and why?