By JC

I attempted to add the following comment at Intelligent Discontent on Don Pogreba’s post “Does Islam Promote Violence? Stupid Question Gets a Smart Answer.” As usual, my comments get moderated and never post.

Pogreba’s post consists of nothing more than a much regurgitated Reza Aslan interview at CNN as an answer to his question. Unfortunately, Don refrains from adding any original thought to the video, so one must assume that he is down with it.

Fortunately, there are people far more informed than I (and obviously Pogreba) who have much invested in the matter, and avoid trite knee-jerk responses to the tragedy unfolding in the Middle East, and spilling over into Africa and Europe. I much prefer the well thought out discussion by the two ex-Muslims quoted below to Aslan’s theatrics. So here is my comment (reformatted into a post here) to Don:

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So I don’t why Don would post Reza Aslan’s interview without doing a bit of due diligence. Aslan’s interview sparked a huge outcry in the Muslim sphere after it was aired on CNN….

For those who would like to hear a cogent rebuttal, “Reza Aslan is Wrong About Islam and This is Why”, Muhammad Syed and Sarah Haider (co-founders of Ex-Muslims of North America, a community-building organization for ex-Muslims) weigh in at Patheos.com:

…We believe that Islam badly needs to be reformed, and it is only Muslims who can truly make it into a modern religion. But it is the likes of Reza Aslan who act as a deterrent to change by refusing to acknowledge real complications within the scripture and by actively promoting half-truths. Bigotry against Muslims is a real and pressing problem, but one can criticize the Islamic ideology without treating Muslims as themselves problematic or incapable of reform.

There are true Muslim reformists who are willing to call a spade a spade while working for the true betterment of their peoples — but their voices are drowned out by the noise of apologists who are all-too-often aided by the Western left. Those who accept distortions in order to hold on to a comforting dream-world where Islamic fundamentalism is merely an aberration are harming reform by encouraging apologists.

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Please go read the whole post by Sayed and Haider. It is a refreshing alternative to the liberal apologies offered by “the left” in the West.