Islam needs a reformation

http://news.yahoo.com/saudi-arabia-considers-law-against-insulting-islam-153013387.html

The Saudi Arabians are supposedly considering a law against insulting Islam. I have no doubt it will pass.

Is it a good thing? Ask an American if they should pass a law against insulting any religion and most of them will hop up on their soapbox and rattle off something about the 1^st Amendment to the US Constitution. So, understand, that we Americans come from a tradition that the state doesn’t formally recognize any particular religion or sect and forbids its lawmakers respecting, or favoring, any singular denomination, sect or faith. It has worked pretty good for us so far.

Now, there are those in the US who would like to outlaw various and sundry “fundamentalist” groups, or evangelical groups, or obnoxious groups that go door-to-door seeking to convert you to their particular religion. Others find various sects views to be obnoxious and seek to denigrate them … and probably would issue a “shoot on sight” order if it was left up to them. Such is the case with the religion of Islam.

This, unfortunately, is because many Americans do not understand Islam but sometimes I don’t think a lot of Muslims understand their own religion … but that is ok because a whole lot of Christians don’t understand their own sect/denomination church doctrine.

Still, I have long contended that Islam, like Christianity, definitely needs to undergo a “reformation.” You see, about 500 years ago, the Western version of the Christian Church represented by the Roman Catholic Church, which already had undergone its Shi’a/Sunni split with the Greek Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church even earlier, had a crisis.

It seems this Catholic Priest in Germany by the name of Martin Luther didn’t understand why the Roman Church was doing a lot of the things that it was doing. He listed his questions in the form of 95 statements and nailed them to a church door. Being the clever guy that he was, he also sent them to a local printer and had the document mailed throughout Europe. (That is the quick and easy version of a much more involved story). Anyway, Luther’s challenge to the Holy See in Rome didn’t go over very well and thus started what became known as “The Reformation.”

The Reformation basically was the reexamining of church doctrines but various and sundry literate people who thought deeply about faith, and religion, and theology came up with their own ideas and agendas. As a result, a whole host of protesters of the Roman Catholic way of doing things arose. These people became known generically as “Protestants” although few followed the same dogma.

As a result of the Reformation, the church changed, its relation to the state changed and, surprising enough (after several centuries of warfare) the relation between the various denominations changed to the current relative tolerance of differing views. Heck, modern Christians at least won’t kill you or burn you at the stake if you don’t profess to believe in their particular sect.

The religion of Islam needs to undergo a similar transformation. As it stands now, basically, if you are Sunni, if is off with the heads of Shi’a. If you are Shi’a, its off with the heads of Sunni. If you anybody else, it is off with your head unless you convert … or at least admit you are second class and submit to Islamic rules … your rules be damned. Now, I admit that is a bit extreme in the portrayal of Islam. It does have its softer side, but mostly that only extends to friends of the family and other believers.

Throughout the last 1300 years, Muslims basically have normally given non-Moslems a simple choice: Convert or die. Not always the best way to influence people and win friends, but it does the job rather effectively.

Unfortunately, we are still seeing that dynamic at work with the Jihadis who really don’t like Jews, Christians or anything to do with the semi-secular West that, to them, is the epitome of what immorality looks like.

Now, if we could somehow engineer a “reformation” among the Muslims, without of course the three or four centuries of warfare, and have them arrive at some new vision of Islam that would allow for the other religions of the world to exist without threatening to chop off everybody else’s head, the world would be a much more peaceful place.

But then I remember the Protestants and the Catholics in North Ireland haven’t really reconciled totally yet and my progressive friend out West says he just wants to shoot all the fundamentalist, evangelical, conservative, Bible-inerrancy believing Christians on sight (He gets rabid on the topic in his facebook posts).

Please tell there still is hope somewhere in the world. I so do want to believe.