“Also, is it possible to agree with some aspects of a religion, and disagree with others?”

Not if you want to be a follower of those religions.

So it’s possible, but maybe only to unbelievers and apostates? Perhaps that’s true. I sure know a lot of Cafeteria Catholics who still consider themselves Catholic. I know there are vast differences between Reform Jews and Hassidic Jews, yet they still self-identify as Jews. But I wouldn’t claim to be anything like an authority.

When such sizeable minorities of a group are acting in such a way while authorities approve with silence, it’s safe to assume there’s more than isolated cases at work.

Even if we assume that there are a million currently active radical Islamic terrorists (a number far, far too high), this would only constitute about six tenths of one percent of worldwide Muslims. Is that a sizeable minority?

I agree that it’d sure be nice to hear more Muslim leaders condemning suicidal violence aimed at innocents – much like it’d be nice to hear the Pope condemning pedophile priests.

Not if you want to be a follower of those religions. I believe Christians call that cafeteria faith or something to that effect – picking what you like and leaving what you don’t like. The religious mentality doesn’t pick and choose what is correct the way the intellectual does.

“Binary evaluations of groups which contain over a billion people based on the actions of one member seem profoundly, dizzyingly, incomprehensibly stupid to me.”

We’re not talking about a few here. Child sex abuse and subsequent cover ups are rampant in the Catholic Church, as is violent extremism in Islam. When such sizeable minorities of a group are acting in such a way while authorities approve with silence, it’s safe to assume there’s more than isolated cases at work.

Read an entire paragraph when you’re gonna comment on it.

She is an individual person with an individual story. We could start with that.

Binary evaluations of groups which contain over a billion people based on the actions of one member seem profoundly, dizzyingly, incomprehensibly stupid to me. Do Ali’s choices represent all of Islam, all women, all humans, or all sentient life? Or do Ali’s choices represent Ali’s choices?

Also, is it possible to agree with some aspects of a religion, and disagree with others?

I admire the woman and her choices. I like some aspects of Islam, and dislike others. The one does not necessarily define or require a given evaluation of the other.

There’s a pretty simple answer to that question. They live in political systems where their personal safety would be threatened if they spoke their mind.

Have you people ever asked the glaringly obvious question; “Why, of the possibly three-quarters of a billion Muslim women world-wide, are there so few avaricious attention-seekers in the mold of this woman you are so enamored with?” I guess, had you questioned yourselves so your answers would be stock, programmed hatred, contrived in compound ignorance. You, and those like you, are a blight on the liberal intellectual tradition.

Linked [ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7135026.ece ] is a recent article from a respectable British newspaper that indicates that for every, bitter, deluded, spiteful apostate seeking to sup at the poisoned chalice of secularism there are tens , possibly hundreds, of thoughtful, independent individuals embracing the FREEDOM, HONOUR, DIGNITY and HUMANITY that God (Allah) offers men and women, in Islam. Read and reflect! Put your socially constructed self to the side for a while, try to tune in to the desensitized, dormant root of your humanity, the reality of your being.

When man becomes the measure of all things, all things become withered and stunted.

How did I get here? What possessed me to spend my precious time thinking that I could reason with those who consider themselves the epitome of good reason and are thus blind to their unreasonableness?

May you benefit by the light of guidance.

I loved ‘Infidel’ and I agree that Ali is one courageous individual. I don’t agree with her on some of her political positions but considering her difficult upbringing, she deserves a pass IMHO. She has stands up proudly to the evils of Islam in the face of very real death threats.