For me moderate is someone who sees their faith as being flexible, adapting to the times...and when I think of Islam and Muslims and I use the word "moderate", I think of people who are educated, who have friends of other faiths, who can look at their own culture/religion/society and find areas where it needs improving. People who aren't against mixed education; women who don't cover their faces/hands/feet; men who don't have a problem with their wives working.
Extremists would be those guys with the long beards and the short thobes, who refuse to shake my hand because I am a woman; they make their kids go to segregated schools and marry them off before they turn 18; they view women as baby factories (who should remain barefoot and pregnant at home) and generally have about a dozen kids; they think everything that comes out of the west is tainted and toxic; music/movies/TV/internet is all bad for you; who think the Koran is the only book you ever need read; who think Jews are all prophet killers.
That is how I think of it, at least.
I take Roadtester's point of the semantic differences between "extremist" and "devout". For me, extremist and fundamentalist are the more closely associated words. Devout people are, to me, those who quietly live good lives, folowing the rules they believe in. And I would agree -- extremists of any belief system are scary people.
You keep bringing up the ROOT causes of terrorism, but what we're talking about here is criticism of religion, not who threw the first rock in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And while I may (in another thread please!) entertain a discussion on the root causes of that situation, I hope you aren't trying to argue that those root causes JUSTIFY whatever responses came as a result, because I would vehemently disagree with that.
I would definitely agree that Islam has a huge PR problem in the west. And while we could have an infinite numer of discussions on the bias of the media, etc., what I would like to see is this part of the world putting our more positive images of Islam, Muslims and the Middle East, to help combat the negative sterotypes and bad press they've gotten.
As important as "image" and public perception are in this culture, I am amazed that they haven't jumped on this bandwagon sooner.
moderate and extreme, advocatefk.
For me moderate is someone who sees their faith as being flexible, adapting to the times...and when I think of Islam and Muslims and I use the word "moderate", I think of people who are educated, who have friends of other faiths, who can look at their own culture/religion/society and find areas where it needs improving. People who aren't against mixed education; women who don't cover their faces/hands/feet; men who don't have a problem with their wives working.
Extremists would be those guys with the long beards and the short thobes, who refuse to shake my hand because I am a woman; they make their kids go to segregated schools and marry them off before they turn 18; they view women as baby factories (who should remain barefoot and pregnant at home) and generally have about a dozen kids; they think everything that comes out of the west is tainted and toxic; music/movies/TV/internet is all bad for you; who think the Koran is the only book you ever need read; who think Jews are all prophet killers.
That is how I think of it, at least.
I take Roadtester's point of the semantic differences between "extremist" and "devout". For me, extremist and fundamentalist are the more closely associated words. Devout people are, to me, those who quietly live good lives, folowing the rules they believe in. And I would agree -- extremists of any belief system are scary people.
You keep bringing up the ROOT causes of terrorism, but what we're talking about here is criticism of religion, not who threw the first rock in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. And while I may (in another thread please!) entertain a discussion on the root causes of that situation, I hope you aren't trying to argue that those root causes JUSTIFY whatever responses came as a result, because I would vehemently disagree with that.
I would definitely agree that Islam has a huge PR problem in the west. And while we could have an infinite numer of discussions on the bias of the media, etc., what I would like to see is this part of the world putting our more positive images of Islam, Muslims and the Middle East, to help combat the negative sterotypes and bad press they've gotten.
As important as "image" and public perception are in this culture, I am amazed that they haven't jumped on this bandwagon sooner.