Tag: Reza Aslan

Jeffrey Tayler’s Salon Sunday Secular Sermon

June 8, 2015 • 1:20 pm

by Grania Spingies

Don’t miss the weekly S4  homily by Brother Tayler over at Salon. This week he examined the pained and faintly hostile treatment of Ayaan Hirsi Ali by Jon Stewart and contrasts it with Stewart’s rather fawning enthusiasm for Reza Aslan revisionist version of reality.

You should read it just for the pleasure of sentences like this:

Stewart, so inquisitorial toward Hirsi Ali, let Aslan ejaculate this postmodern flapdoodle with impunity, and convivially wiped up after him with blather about non-religious causes for violence in the Middle East.

Taylor ponders the same thing that has been debated in this website from time to time: why self-professing liberal leftists are so quick to condemn and distance themselves from the ideas of a brave woman who left Islam and opposes its treatment by extremist, politicized adherents of Muslim women and the majority of peaceful followers of Muslim.

It is a puzzle. Why do people prefer the words of a smiling man who tells them that extremists don’t have anything to do with Islam over the words of an intelligent woman who says that the problem is complicated and the solution may require multiple avenues of discussion and reform? In short: are liberals afraid of the It’s Complicated button?  Or do liberals just tend towards the See No Evil position by default and champion anyone who tells then there is nothing to see here, move along?

Sam Harris talks with Cenk Uygur

October 26, 2014 • 7:13 am

Due to lack of time, I’ve seen only the first two hours of this three-hour (!) video of Sam Harris talking to Cenk Uygur of the Young Turks show, but it was pretty absorbing. Give it a try and see if you can last the whole three hours.

Cenk, who previously had both Reza Aslan and C. J. Werleman on the show, and was apparently sympathetic to them, gives Sam a remarkably hard time about his views, particularly (in the first hour) about the idea the Islam is inherently worse than other faiths. But Harris gives as good as he gets ,and the often rapid back-and-forth is instructive.  If you have the time to watch it all, do report on the last hour in the comments.

Here you go: three hours of semi-antagonistic palaver:

Sam gives his take on the debate on his website:

I recently sat down with Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks to discuss my most controversial views about Islam, the war on terror, and related topics. It was, of necessity, a defensive performance on my part—more like a deposition than an ordinary conversation. Although it was a friendly exchange, there were times when Cenk appeared to be trying very hard to miss my point. Rather than rebut my actual views (or accept them), he often focused on how a misunderstanding of what I was saying could lead to bad outcomes—as though this were an argument against my views themselves. However, he did provide a forum in which we could have an unusually full discussion about difficult issues. I hope viewers find it useful.

Having now watched the full exchange, I feel the need to expand on a couple of points. . .

Sam then goes into the recent decline of journalistic ethics, as judged by deliberate misreprentation of Harris’s views, but, at the end, extends a note of charity by apologizing for misrepresenting Glenn Greenwald’s views on “collateral damage.” I’ve love to see Reza Aslan or C. J. Werleman tender such an apology.

The problem I have with Uygur in this piece (besides his constant interruption of Harris) is threefold. First, he seems bound to defend Islam as being no worse than any other religion (this may come from his familial roots in Islam, though he’s an atheist).

Second, Ugyar just won’t accept that religion itself can be the main reason for malevolent acts. Though he admits that religion can play a role in acts like suicide bombing, he just can’t bring himself to admit that it could be a major role. In the case of things like the death penalty for apostasy or the acts of ISIS, you’d have to be pretty Robert Pape-ish to deny religion as the overarching cause. After all, the death penalty for apostasy is in the Qur’an, and how can you even have a death penalty for apostasy without a religious dictate?

Finally, as Sam notes above, Uygur seems to hold Harris himself responsible for misrepresentation of his views, as if somehow Harris could predict how his words would be truncated or twisted in the service of Islamophilia or simple Harris-hatred.  That’s just not fair.

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Heather Hastie continues her critique of Reza Aslan

October 17, 2014 • 8:01 am

Over at her website Heather’s Homilies, Kiwi reader Heather Hastie continues her critique of Reza Aslan’s Muslim apologetics with a second part: “It’s not the facts, it’s how you present them: The Reza Aslan tactic.”

As before, go read it (and comment) on her site, where Muslim apologist Neal “It’s Not Religion” Godfrey has given some ineffectual pushback in the comments.  Heather takes up a recent op-ed by Aslan in the New York Times (that kerfuffle on Bill Maher’s show has given him a lot of attention, which he’s milking for all he’s worth), and an appearance by Aslan on Chris Hayes’s show on MSNBC.

Aslan rightly points out that “extremist” Islamic views, though significant among Muslims everywhere in the world, aren’t dominant everywhere in the world.  True, as the statistics below show. Howevever, he tends to emphasize the less extremist countries, and has to be continually reminded of the overall picture, which, as a 2013 Pew Report on Muslim beliefs show, is dire.  In addition, Aslan blames bad actions such as female genital mutilation (FGM) not on Islam, but on “culture”: African culture, ignoring the fact that many branches of Islam codify FGM as a duty, and have spread it throughout Asia (more on that later).

Here are the Pew statistics AGAIN:

Beliefs on the immorality of six behaviors. Note the high percentages for drinking alcohol, abortion, and euthanasia, behaviors that, I think, are not immoral at all (though of course excessive drinking can be injurious to one’s self and family):

Immorality

Here is the level of support among Muslims for imposition of sharia law in Islamic countries. Further data from the poll shows that in at many places, many Muslims want sharia law also applied to non-Muslims (see below):

Sharia

Below are the data among Muslim supporters of sharia law who say that it should apply only to Muslims. Although it’s higher than 50% (by a hair) in some places, what this means is that between 30 and 49% of supporters (excepting those who have no opinion) think that sharia should also apply to non-Muslims:

Screen shot 2014-10-17 at 9.27.09 AMAmong Muslims who favor sharia as official law—and that is between 56% and 99% of Muslims in places where Islam is the “official religion”—here are the data on those who think that apostasy should be punished by death. Remember, even a “low” figure of 15% is between one is six and one in seven people:

Death Penalty

Finally, the same results, but in this case it’s stoning as the penalty for adultery. Even among southeastern European Muslims who favor sharia (around 15% to 20%), from a fifth to more than a quarter favor this barbaric punishment.

In Malaysia, a country that Aslan touts as benign, it’s 60% of sharia-believing Muslims, and the latter includes 86% of all Muslims surveyed. In other words, more than half of Malaysian Muslims, at a minimum, favor stoning as punishment adultery (to get the minimum, we multiply those favoring sharia by those favoring such punishments among sharia believers. Roughly same percentage—more than 50% of Malaysian Muslims—favor the death penalty for apostasy. Not exactly a benign country, at least regarding Muslim beliefs!Stoning

BUT, and here’s where Aslan really turns weaselly, he thinks we should not worry about beliefs, but only actions. Here’s the exchange between Aslan and Hayes as reported by Heather:

Aslan: Frankly, look, I’m gonna be honest with you, if you are some kind of ultra-orthodox Muslim who believes every word of the Qur’an is literal and that gays are going to hell, and that anyone who converts should be killed, I don’t have a problem with you, as long as it’s just your beliefs. I don’t care what you believe. It’s actions we should be focusing on.
Hayes: Mmm.

“Mmmm” is right!  What Aslan is neglecting is that when Islam does get the upper hand, beliefs become actions. Further, how can what you believe not condition (or reflect) other feelings that have consequences, like how you regard women or non-Muslims or sex in general? And, of course, when these actions are carried out, Aslan tends to impute them to culture or politics, not the tenets of Islam.  Finally, Aslan “doesn’t have a problem” with anyone who thinks that leaving Islam is a capital crime? Not a wee bit of a problem? Doesn’t that condition how Muslims feel about non-Muslims?

A moment later, Aslan walks this back a bit:

Aslan: We need to condemn actions, not beliefs. You can criticize beliefs if you want.

“If you want”!!!! As if it’s largely a matter of indifference what those beliefs are. It’s as if Aslan were saying to Southerners, “I don’t care if you think blacks are inferior so long as you don’t lynch them.”

Beliefs always have consequences, even if only to further divide humanity. Yes, we should be concerned that in many places Muslims favor stoning people for adultery, or killing them for apostasy, even if they don’t do it. That is a repudiation of Enlightenment values that will only serve to keep such believers mired in a medieval mentality, and at odds with much of the world.

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Heather Hastie on female genital mutilation: Is it Islamic?

October 13, 2014 • 6:57 am

While I’ve been in New York City, I’ve been running around having fun (a post-book treat for me), and yet readers have been sending me pieces about Reza Aslan, who apparently is on a media blitz to whitewash Islam after the sharp criticisms leveled by Bill Maher and Sam Harris. (One unctuous example can be found here.)

I am SO tired of Aslan’s apologetics about the faith, which never stand up to the merest scrutiny, and I’m equally tired of his self-promotion.  I’ve said enough about him for the time being, but reader Heather Hastie, who has her own website, decided to write a piece dissecting Aslan’s claim that female genital mutilation (FGM) is “not an Islamic practice.” (I believe Aslan originally touted it as an “African practice”.) And indeed, there are non-Muslim Africans who practice this barbaric mutilation, but it’s been largely coopted by Islam as a religiously-mandated mutilation. (See Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s book Infidel for how it was practiced on her.)

But I’ll let you read Heather’s analysis over at her website Heather’s Homilies. Her post, which well repays a read, is called “Reza Aslan: Lying for Islam on FGM.” Please leave comments on Heather’s website rather than here, as it’s her post. One brief excerpt:

In Sunni Islam, there are four schools of jurisprudence that express and opinion on the matter. Two of them, the Hanbali and Shafi’i schools, consider FGM obligatory, while the other two, the Hanafi and Maliki schools, recommend it. In addition, there have been several fatwas issued regarding FGM over the years, the majority of which favour it. (Fatwas are not compulsory, but devout Muslims consider them morally imperative.) For example, Fatwa 60314 includes statements that express the importance of FGM within Islam and dismiss the opinions of doctors.

There’s a copy of Fatwa 60314 to see at her post.

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Readers defend Islam

October 11, 2014 • 8:57 am

I’ve trashed a bunch of either off-topic or incoherent comments this week, but perhaps you’d like to see a couple that didn’t make it past moderation. (I’m not including the insane personal emails I’ve gotten, either.) These Attempted Posts are pro-Islamic, which is no surprise given my recent criticisms of the faith. They weren’t trashed for that viewpoint though, but for incivility or borderline lunacy. No words have been changed from the original:

“From reader BlogPhantom (from the UK), trying to post on “Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ Literalism ‘n’ “moderate” Muslims“:

Personnaly I think you guys are wrong. Islam is a true religion, it’s as clear as crystal water and it looks like some of you’s are just a load of brainwashed people. Honestly I would think you people knew your stuff, but now I think abou it you guys are on the wrong path. You may think JUST because I’m twelve I’m a moran, well that’s not exactly true because i KNOW MY stuff Alhamdullilah. Islam is a religion of peace, I see it all the time singled out on the media, you know why? Because it’s the TRUTH! And people don’t want you to know what the TRUTH is!!!

A moran? Any relative of Larry’s? Probably not, but certainly a Muslim.

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From reader titani2, attempting to comment on “Maher, Harris, Kristof, Steele, and Affleck squabble about Islam“:

Dear Maher, Harris, Kristof, Steele, and Affleck: Do do not squabble about Islam. Just read Quran. Quran is here: http://www.clearquran.com

Well, of the four in question, I’m sure that both Maher and Harris have already read that book; I don’t know about Affleck and Kristof.

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Now here is what you call a real rant. It’s from reader Malu, desperate to tell us how to regard Reza Aslan on the post “The handy-dandy Aslan/Affleck refuter”:

 I am disappointed!! I normally LOVE YOU, and admire the “boys atheist club” very much!! But you guys are disappointing me!! You should not join your friends when your friends are incorrect and inappropriate!!! How’s saying “Islam is the motherland of all problems” going to help us??- It was appalling the way Reza was interviewed by those 2 sensationalist super-biased CNN commentators “a la FOX news” style bringing a calf (I won’t dare say lamb) to be slaughtered, the way that news now is reality TV, they were ostentatiously racist and biased, not professional nor ethical!! and that’s the way that radical militant Zionist Marher operates – also admire his brilliancy, but his shows are despotic, not satires, noone who disagrees with him manages to talk, not to mention that he puts one conservative lamb (this time I’ll write it) in the middle of liberal guests with a liberal audience!!!! How can you NOT speak up about that??? Reza is not a particular evil person because he writes in defense of religion or Islam. I profoundly disagree with him, but he’s intelligent, well educated, and the kind of person we should treat with respect since he may be a LINK to connect to moderate Muslims!!!! People bash moderate Muslims and leaders if they don’t speak to condemn acts of violence, than they speak and try to at least convince their own people that Islam can teach good things and that it’d condemn violent acts, then YOU people bash them!! (atheists can’t move so aggressively!! All we need to do is to put the seed of doubt, of questioning in a debate or exchange, that’s all. Use science when possible. We don’t have to be so militant, it’ll back fire!!!) 1. you mention as defense “notoriously anti-woman Sharia courts”, but that is just as vague and incorrect as Reza’s statement. There’s a particular province that has seen a rise in Sharia law enforcement, but not all provinces of Indonesia. Indonesian women are not in an equal level with their male counterparts but not so far behind American women with issues of wage, work force… but by law, they can vote, drive, go to school, and protest for higher wages like us. 2. “… and often has much more to do with the political power of certain families in under-developed parts of the world.” THAT IS SO CONDESCENDING!! Turkey, which you don’t mention at all, and Reza did several times, has had many elected female leaders by democratic vote, so did India (Muslim minority), Pakistan, and many Muslim countries, and even Iraq under Hussein was an incredibly secularized society, and Iran way back when; the US can’t get a woman elected not even with “political power from certain families”!!! and look at the racism and white supremacy violent escalation because we voted on a “black” guy!! Haha! so before you look down at other countries, LOOK AT YOUR OWN SHIT! 3. And perhaps, since you won’t take Reza’s statements, perhaps you will take UNICEF’s statistics, that show that besides Yemen, which has like Oman, large blood connections with some Eastern African countries, ALL OTHER countries to apply FGM are African which predates Islam was ever conceived! and these ARE countries of varied religious demographics!!!!! So do me a favor, don’t become a politician, don’t throw me rhetoric, the only strength of an atheist movement is its back bone, its high ethical values! Or you’ll loose people and it’ll back fire even more! Part of skepticism, is honesty including details!!!!!!!!! and why to fight moderate religious leaders, why not to work with them, try to persuade them with respect not disdain????

Where to begin? I suspect nowhere; a comment like this is for display and not analysis.  All it’s missing are some “frowny face” emoticons.

 

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