@@MaisieDaisyUpsadaisyDisagreed. Probably because this great human being and scholar will not stoop so low as to join an organization that spends billions of dollars to hype itself, while doing virtually nothing for those in dire need. Power corrupts people indeed, and good souls avoid excessively powerful positions intuitively. Extremely religious fanatics from all religious circles can easily get deluded about their own zealotry just as extreme celebrities in any field can get deluded from their supposed personas, thus losing the joy of their lives, and becoming empty of soul-life, soul-energy, (which come from Divine Source, not men/women).
“We are now living in a multicultural world ….and if we trample on other people’s sacred values,” (we have lost). Beautifully said by a brilliant mind. MashaAllah. Islam always called for toleration between different Faiths and personalities for centuries since Prophet Muhammad’s time, peace be on him and all Prophets sent by God Almighty. To pretend toleration in any free society yet practice bigotry on the sidelines is to make people lose faith in what one’s said values are. This dichotomy happens in some schools and government positions all too often.
Ms Armstrong certainly puts her points well but seems to simply sweep over the fact that the world is developing beyond the belief in the supernatural - for good reasons. She simply accepts that in certain cultures, religion cannot be separated from, say, politics and seems to say that this is OK. It is not. Just because some people have certain beliefs does not make these right. She then says that the modern world has to negotiate - which really means that modern (developed) society must bow to antiquated world views because we do not want to rile people who have outdated ideas. Surely this is pandering to nonsense. There simply are ideas that are either outdated, incorrect or simply bad. I find it frightening that she simply states that "in ...developing societies public order is of greater importance than free speech...because the economy simply cannot support everybody having their own opinions" - that is like "Fahrenheit 451"! She also claims that the world wars, holocaust and Gulag were (wholly) secular. They were not: there was plenty of religious fervor in and sanction for these horrific catastrophes. She tends to pick certain points in history to suit her argument but that doesn't work: we live in the "here and now" and what the secularists or christians or muslims or jews do - NOW - is all that counts. There certainly is a clash of faith and modernity because the world has progressed beyond blind faith. She says that (fundamental) secularism wants to "get rid of religion", which is only true to the extent that it wants to get rid of incorrect or bad ideas. We know the world is not flat. We know that there is not sun-god. We know that the earth is not the centre of the universe, which we know was not created in 7 days. Thor, Zeus, etc. etc. do not exist and those who choose to believe it are simply wrong and have to be told so.
Dont you see what you're doing? All she is pointing out is that people who have a faith--Any Faith, secular or not--will get upset when people that sound JUST LIKE YOU start talking to them. If we want to work together, and build new societies, we have to consider the views of these people, who are by no means a minority. The speech you are spouting would turn half of the population away from you immediately, just because they think that you think that they are stupid. Its called common decency and respect, and atheists really need to start practicing this.
