Racism veiled as liberation

But FGM is not part of the Muslim belief system. That needs to be made v clear.

(BTW I am not arguing that Scientology is not a cult and therefore the difficulty of accepting it as a religion are the same as the trials and tribulations of the early Christians/Muslims had to endure to spread what they believe was 'The Truth'.)

I also am aware that FGM is not a Muslim issue, but it is part of a belief system.

If Scientology were to survive 1000 years and had many more followers it would be a religion, albeit distant from religion today, any religion, and built upon a completely different set of values. I'm sure there were difficulties at the beginnings of all religions where they tried to impose themselves on other cultures and moral codes. I'm just seeking the answer to the question, which belief system is worthy of respect?

It was used to combat lesbianism too.good article

Scientology is a cult, Islam is not. Nice try Posie. For further info, look up the Cult Informantion Network.

FGM is actually forbidden in Islam. Many, many Muslims have spoken out against it and actively work to eradicate it.

You could actually find this out yourself, but you seem more interested in baiting Muslims on Mumsnet, which is pretty horrid considering how polite and patient Riven has been to you.

Apparently 95% of Somali girls have this done. We've ahd a law against it for some time, but no such law in the US, Australia or Canada (from what I can gather)....

I don't think it's just an 'Islamic' problem, either. It pre dates Christ.

What about the 2000 girls who are sent for FGM from the UK? What would you say to their parents who believe it's God's wish?

Cote....that was, indeed, a very silly post. I would love to compare your understanding at 13 with an adult studying at a Russell Group University. I won't qualify my knowledge because it's none of your business where I've lived or the people I know.

I disagree with the burqa on gender grounds, not specifically religious grounds. If the men wore the burqa too then I'd say let them get on with it. But I can't respect it when only the women are supposed to cover their face. That is really quite an offensive notion to me,

Goth, this is Europe.

Would you extend the same respect to a Scientologist?

Yes, it's very tedious, as despite being an Evil Muslim (Like Evil Plankton but in a hijab), I don't swish about going "Me Muslimaaaaahhh, you Infidelllll". Live and let live. I can understand why people are atheists, I've just chosen not to be one.

Learning about differing views can be interesting, but such conversations have to be respectful. Cue someone saying "Why should I respect your fairy stories".

Math - I guess I'm disputing the Eurocentricty of such conversations, as the vast majority or world religions evolved outside of Europe, so I see such a viewpoint as limiting.

Posie - "Can the future be known and if it can does man have free will?"

I remember talking about this in middle school. That will be about age 13.

That must have been a very facile "philosophy of religion" study that you did. And now I understand a bit better how you know so little about Islam despite claiming to have a diploma on religious studies.

("to fill in what appears to be a gap in your knowledge math the internal rationale is that christians distorted the message by claiming that jesus was god, essentially idolatry and the central message of the initial prophets was monotheism in a polytheistic world that worshipped idols." I am a bit puzzled as this was apparently directed to me -- where did I mention any of the above?)

Also "the difference would be that things have been done in the name of religion by supposed religious people. non religious people have obviously also committed crimes, caused wars etc however they haven't done in in the name of atheism."
'Our programme necessarily includes the propaganda of atheism'. V.I. Lenin was quite understated on this subject in this quote, but his policies were nevertheless effective. The promotion of atheism wasn't some added afterthought or a contingency forced upon the Bolsheviks in the course of e Russian Civil War. It was an essential part of the creation of the new communist order Lenin contemplated. Persecution of the church, and public destruction of churches, humiliation of priests, etc., played a part in the state terror that was used to establish the communist regime in Russia, but the replacement of religion with atheism was also a fundamental aspect of Lenin's vision.

There are rude and over-zealous people everywhere, religious and otherwise.

I don't think I have posited Christianity as the 'default position' in any post here. As a Catholic I mention Catholicism to illustrate my perspective or compare historical development. I don't know from experience what any other Christian view might be. However, I don't think it's unreasonable, in the European context, to see Christianity as the 'default position', since you mention it. It's part of the European wallpaper, just as religion and culture are intimately bound together in other regions of the world.

I studied philosophy of religion and my most wonderful essay(the only one i put any work into) was Can God know the future? Can the future be known and if it can does man have free will?

pretty dumb...don't understand your post SF?