re yet more rushdie re islamic law in article apr monu cc monash edu au darice yoyo cc monash edu au fred rice writes the intent of my post as i remember it was to show that you cannot argue against any religion or ideology for that matter by the actions of those who claim to be its followers you have to look at the teachings of the religion or the principles of the ideology itself there is no getting around this so to argue against islam you have to go to the qur an bringing up khomeini or anyone else is relevant to discussing khomeini but not necessarily relevant to discussing islam as a religion sorry fred but for the purposes under discussion here i must disagree your point is true only in the sense that one cannot argue against communism by reference to the chinese or soviet empires since those did not represent true communism in judging the practical consequences of islam as a force to contend with in the world today it is precisely the khomeini s of the world the rushdie fatwa supporters and perhaps more importantly the reaction of the world muslim community to those extremists that we must look to perhaps unfortunately from your perspective most people are not concerned with whether islam is the right religion for them or whether the qur an could be used as a guidebook for a hypothetical utopia but how islam affects the world around them or what their lives might be like if islam gains in influence when i consider such possibilities it is with not inconsiderable fear jim perry perry dsinc com decision support inc matthews nc these are my opinions for a nominal fee they can be yours
