The content of the ideas should be used to judge them: a comment

I was looking through some of the old comments I’ve written at RichardDawkins.net, and I came across this one.  It was a response to Jerome Taylor and Sarah Morrison’s article The Islamification of Britain:  record numbers embrace Muslim faith, in which there are personal stories of several people who have converted to Islam in the UK.[1]

Comment #84 (5 January 2011 at 3:07 pm)

The fact that people are converting to Islam is something I find interesting, because I personally left the faith. It seems some of the Muslims discussed in the article converted not because they became convinced that the Qur’an was dictated to Mohammad by Allah via the Angel Gabriel, but because they liked some aspect of the lifestyle (e.g. modesty) or wanted some meaning in their lives. This leads me to ask the following: Why not take on the ideas you like without converting? For example, I still don’t drink alcohol and I still dress modestly (though I don’t cover my hair), even though I left Islam. Personally, I wanted to make my own meaning in life, instead of following one prescribed by a religion.

This is just a guess, but I have to wonder how much of this is an example of the grass seeming greener on the other side. The person who left Catholicism Khadijah Roebuck compares Islam with the Church, saying she found peace in Islam, but not in the Church. When I left Islam, I briefly thought that maybe Christianity would be a better option, but then decided against it. I think I was able to see the bad parts of Islam, since I was looking at it from the inside, but got a false good impression from Christianity, since I was looking at it from the outside, with practitioners trying to make the religion look good to outsiders.

I obviously can’t judge from just a few paragraphs on each person, but it seems they’ve done what many people do: follow some aspects of the faith and not others. I think their beliefs are totally wrong; whether or not this is dangerous depends on their actions.

I agree with previous comments who pointed out that it would be a good idea to compare this with how many people are leaving Islam.

@AA (comment #1):

“I still think that immigrants should adopt the culture of the country they choose to move to.”

There isn’t just one culture in any country.

It’s always bothered me when people refer to immigrants (and children of immigrants, like myself) as having become “Westernized” or “Americanized” as if ideas like freedom, equal rights, etc. are somehow the property of one country, instead of a good idea for everyone. I adopted those ideas because they’re good ideas, not just to go along with what country I’m living in.

I think all cultures should be subject to criticism to remove the bad parts and keep the good, and that people should be able to choose for themselves which ideas they want to follow (provided they’re not harming others). The content of the ideas should be used to judge them, and we shouldn’t just go along with whatever the majority is doing if the majority is wrong.[2]

I want to expand upon the part where I wrote, “I think I was able to see the bad parts of Islam, since I was looking at it from the inside, but got a false good impression from Christianity, since I was looking at it from the outside, with practitioners trying to make the religion look good to outsiders.”

Clearly, there are times when being on the inside actually makes one less likely to see the problems within an ideology or institution.  I think I was able to see the bad parts of Islam because I had the opportunity compare the religious ideas with the ideas of equal rights and secularism; I could see the differences and knew that Islam was not the only or best option.  While being on the inside, I could see the ways in which my life would be negatively affected and limited if I stayed in the religion.

Meanwhile, Christianity seemed like a viable religion because I had gotten a vague but generally decent picture of it due to its portrayal in our society and culture, with moderate religious people saying that the extremists were not practicing the religion accurately.  Ironically, though I was (and am) looking at Christianity from the outside, I was (and am) living in a country where Christianity is in the majority, so I was getting a generally positive message about the religion from my surroundings.

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References

[1] Taylor, Jerome and Morrison, Sarah.  The Islamification of Britain:  record numbers embrace Muslim faith.  Posted on 4 January 2011 at The Independent.  Retrieved on 23 December 2011 from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/the-islamification-of-britain-record-numbers-embrace-muslim-faith-2175178.html.

[2] Sharmin, Ani.  Comment #84, posted at 3:07 pm on 5 January 2011.  Retrieved on 22 December 2011 from http://richarddawkins.net/comments/573796.

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