Agreed, none of the muslim stood up and said "yes, we realize there is a minority who is pushing extreme views of our religion into societies who adopt them, but we are not all part of it" Instead of recognizing that, they went all out on the defensive, which clearly pictures them as being bias.
The debate format was changed in order to fit with the BBC World News broadcast. The unedited transcript is available on our website and a full audio version will be available soon on our iTunes.
The segregation does not come from europeans forcing their worldview upon anyone; but muslim individuals giving out death threats to anyone who criticises them be it writing a book or making a cartoon. Were were the apostates of islam or one of the major religious critics?
A good result. The muslim speaker at the end uses the same old trick; by accusing the others of being against social cohesion, he justifies a religion which is totalitarian. Such nonsense, i'm glad the audience saw sense.
I am really disappointed that no one mentioned the stupidity in teaching children any scripture which is in its literal form hostile towards other beliefs(or non-belief).Sure, one could argue that not all Muslims are hostile; There is a CHANCE that people can come across a different,more peaceful interpretation (and they do).That is indisputable. But why the hell would you expose people to it in the first place?!
the problem with this debate is that islam was treated as a race, and critiscisms against it were hence rasict. The best and most important comment came from the gentleman who said that if you replaced muslims with white evangelicals we would oppose them just the same. Islam is a religion. It claims to know things about the creation of the universe and morality which it can not possibly know, and says that those who dont believe this, can expect to suffer, and deserve an eternity in hell.
I think you contradicted yourself there, if it really was only a small minority of muslims who dont value freedom and democracy then one would not expect that ammount of booing to come from the muslims in the audience. I think the woman is right that alot of people don't want to believe that islam is a huge problem for the west, I however base my beliefs not on what makes me feel comfortable, but instead base them on what is true.
It is my humble opinion (subject to debate) that at a time when real, productive, honest and, most importantly, public dialogue about this very serious issue is so desperately wanting, it is a crying shame that this precious 1hr of on-air dialectic opportunity was so badly wasted, sabotaged from the onset by some very unfortunate editorial decisions. Perhaps these decisions were unavoidable, I don't know, but in that case, my opinion is that it would have been just as good to broadcast static.
the learned people who argue against the influx of Islam do so because WE DON'T BASE OUR LIVES ON A BOOK. We don't want your book. We don't need your book. If you NEED your book to live, fine, but I don't need it, and I have the right to burn it or eat it or throw in in the river if I want to. That's the whole point
@XMPblues I'm sensing some sarcasm here. Were you sincere or not in your agreement with me? sorry if I come across as stupid, but text can make sarcasm difficult to differentiate from sincerity. If you do disagree with my asseessment of the situation to it is your right to do so and I would never suggest otherwise, I would just appreciate some clarification.
Such demagogy from Ramadan. I'm glad to see the audience didn't fall for it during the vote. And as always, bravo to Douglas for telling it like it is.
Who are u telling to go home? i was born here, i grew up here.. i work here and pay my taxes here... this is my home. who are u to tell me to go home? europe belongs to me as much as it does to u... i have every right to live here and practice my faith as do others.. i dnt c ne1 complaining about the catholic Nunz?.. i dnt see ne1 complaining about the Sikhs with their turbans... u see, we will never be like u.. N we will never give up our religion for ppl like u.
@XMPblues Well then, you are most welcome. Pardon my suspicions, as you know its extremely unusual to change anyones mind about anything on the internets.
@nitramrot @nitramrot I was thinking EXACTLY the same thing. Hitchens should have been there. I was recalling this little episode on the issue of rights for women and Islam: You have to type in "Christopher Hitchens confronts audience member on the status of Iranian women" in the RU-vid search field. Apparently I can't post the url here.
If you can equate tongue-in-cheek, wry, deadpan British [from a "progressive," leftist, Trotskyist, atheist, secular humanist] humor regarding whether or not women, as a whole, are funny with the sort of institutionalized misogyny given credence in most schools of Islamic jurisprudence I fear your judgment is well beyond repair.
Huge amount of sample bias in that population. The muslim-non-muslim ratio was huge. The muslims weren't there to even consider the other side but rather to just enforce their political beliefs on others. I personally think both sides did shitty jobs supporting their sides.
Terrible show. Let people ask 6 or 7 "questions" in a row...then don't address a tenth of them. Terrible host. And the show is called IQSQUARED, and they can't even spell 'failing'.
Nobody is asking u to respect us... we dnt need ur respect... we need u to act like human beings... and remember when the Nazis did the same to the jews... persecuted them, took their freedoms away from them. Eurpean Government now wants to tell us HOW our women should dress?!!! u want to tell me how to live my life.. according to ur morals and standards?.. WHO R U?
eventho muslims wont be allowed to enter europe,still this religion will expand and reach europe as it has been the fact, because people paritcularly the western people itself tend to find it a true and the best religion,if you look at the numbers of western (including european) people are acceptin islam these days,its humongous
If that is true his insides must reflect intelligence, brevity, wit and moral courage then as he won over a hostile audience. I think he is arrogant but that doesn't mean he's wrong- he's used to getting the better of people in both his rhetoric and his debating results. His sexuality is a complete non-sequitir but I think you may be wrong- he's just an exceedingly toffish, Oxbridge-educated Englishman which is often mistaken for something else.
Don't mix with others ? Yeah that's why when Muslim ruled India, Hindus had highest positions in armies and society. Muslims married Christians and Jews long before you.