Reply #38: This article bothered me when I first read it, and [View All]

I couldn't figure out why. Flu, exhaustion ...

It just wapped me upside the head.

When we were all obsessing over burqas and Afghanistan a few years back, the burqa was a prominent part of the ranting. But, Islamic apologists responded, it's not part of Islam: Many tribes/clans/cultures have intermixed their own cultural norms with Islam, to the detriment of the virtual perfection that is Islam. The burqa, backwards tho' it be, is one such custom: Islam is moderate and tolerant in all things, and requires simply modesty and light covering, not the oppressive and completely un-Islamic burqa. The burqa does not represent Islam.

Fast forward to the present: To ban the burqa is to insult Islam.

Either the former apologists lied to us, or they're clueless about Islam. Or the current crop are lying to us, or are clueless about Islam.

"Whack-a-mole" comes to mind. Islam is whatever a Muslim says it is; if there's a problem, just find a Muslim who can state, dogmatically, that the horrible thing done by a "Muslim" under discussion isn't Islam--if that's what's needed; if, instead, it's necessary to say how horrible some "Muslim" is being treated, find a Muslim who'll say the opposite. 1 billion Muslims; no shortage of apodictic statements about Islam. The former apologists were either deluded as to their own importance, simply forgot that their opinions are less useful than they let on, or lied. (So, are current apologists in the same boat?)