Ask Lemmygrad

We've had previous struggle sessions on religion and I do want to remind everyone that even though you may not agree with eachother please remain civil and if you see any bad takes posted just report it k thanks

Erm the people I work with and grew up with are perfectly normal people. In fact often my most reliable. I learned that most pay a "religious tax" from their take home pay (after usual taxes etc) to give to charities.

They're pretty normal. Remember there are 2 billion of them, 26% of the world. It would be unusual to expect them not to be mostly basically normal people.

The nice thing about their religion is that they are really clear on what is sacred. It's a dirty world and they know that, but the mosque, the Quran, the name of the prophet, are very clearly marked out as being above that, a refuge of purity.

I think that it's a religion followed by 2 billion people worldwide and deeply embedded into the fabric of their societies and cultures.

it doesnt have ridiculous greek stuff in it, like gods having sons who are themselves gods but who then die.

It’s a religion like any other religion. It’s susceptible to exceptionalism like any other religion.

It's a perfectly fine religion that has sects and interpretations that become problematic, just like any other religion. Every Muslim I've ever met has been incredibly friendly, and without the weird vibe you get from Mormons. From visiting mosques as a kid, it's exactly the same kind of religious calisthenics and sonic identity you'd find in churches and temples. Islam served (and to an extent, still does) a purpose for community cohesion, and it's just slightly disappointing that that same community cohesion hasn't happened on a wider scale like the USSR had.

I remember being in a class for immigrants where the majority were Muslims and when we were graduating from that class they all brought a bunch of snacks/cake and soda and anyone who even looked inside to see what was going on were forced to join the celebration. (forced in a joking way, it was a lot of fun)

I've also had a lot of co-workers who were Muslims and they were always the nicest and most engaged with being friends. Even years after I quit the job they still remember me and are happy to talk with me, mind you I am a socially awkward and autistic person.

Basically Islam is just a religion like any other and the hate they endure is incredibly distressing and sad.

I don't really have a particular opinion on Islam specifically. There isn't really anything I can say about it - positive or negative - that couldn't also be applied to Christianity or Judaism, honestly.

I’d have an uneasy time fasting given my need to eat before taking my medication, and I don’t have enough faith to pray five times daily. The need to pray that many times a day sounds like it would be good for self-discipline, as does the need to fast for Ramadhan in addition to the other dietary restrictions, but I feel like I’d have a hard time handling those tasks. Besides, I don’t feel like there is a divine presence somewhere, and adhering to monotheistic practices when I’m atheist sounds dishonest.

Islam also shares some of the same problems as Orthodox Judaism, for instance, it mandates circumcision, which is a painful violation of children’s autonomy; I still get depressed when I think about my circumcision. Likewise, I am uncomfortable with compulsory dress codes, and segregating the sexes is a practice that makes me feel uneasy. I consider these (apart from mandatory circumcision) to be annoying inconveniences rather than serious problems, though.

I am not one of those Christopher Hitchens types who think that Islam is just barbarism and its ordinary adherents are violent savages. The work The Study of Islamic Origins notes striking similarities, if not outright borrowings, from Judaism (which is usually good). I have respect for many Muslims such as Omar Mukhtar, Malcolm X, and a certain Sephardic Muslim whom I know. I find various tenets in Islam, such as its rejection of ‘original sin’, to be more reasonable than some in mainstream Christianity. Lastly, I would say that ordinary Muslims are not vastly different from other Abrahamists, therefore I have little reason to be hostile to Islam.

It can be used to motivate people to good things or bad things like all religions. Shia Islam does have a strong emphasis on social justice and fighting oppression.

Maybe this is just a weird pattern I noticed, but I have noticed more muslim communists than other types of religious communists.

Nonsense fairytale idealism just like every other religion. Just because it helps people feel good doesn't make it real nor true.

It's a religion. I don't like religion. But Islam constantly has enemies far worse than itself.

My mother (who is Shia) is unfortunately very transphobic (I am trans myself, which I just found out recently), but this is true of other religions and is definitely not particular to Islam. This, by the way, disappointed me as she, as an anti-imperialist is otherwise pretty based politically speaking.

I don’t really have any thoughts on Islam specifically as opposed to any other religion.

I reject all Islamic religions, but I'm an anti-theist who sees all religions as authoritarian tools of oppressors. Islam is no more foul than all the others.

My problem with any religion is hypocrisy, othering, suggesting that gender identity, skin color, enslavement, physical, sexual, psychological abuse etc. is divinely ordained. I don't particularly even care that it's belief in fairy tales. Placebo meds work wonders, and so does the ability to gaslight ourselves, to an extent.

As for my own religious identification, it doesn't even matter if the deity is real, the overall message is good, and I can relate it back to actual Jewish teachings to better understand it and it changes my current understanding and interpretation and it's very different to what I daresay most of us have been taught (although I have serious disagreement with parts of Judaism and understand it is rewritten ancient Sumerian religion). I'm really into Jewish and Christian mysticism, and it's changed my life and mental health for the better. I'm also ok with most religions within the parameters I've set forth. And finally, to borrow a quote from a liberal journalist, whose father was a protestant minister, "religion makes a good man good and a bad man bad."

I've known Muslim people who are really great people and some that were hateful and evil. The same as Christians, Hindus, Jews, Buddhists, Taoists (exception of those adhering to I Guan Tao), Gnostics, Satanists (excepting Laveyan), and atheists.

I believe it is a major cause of violence and suffering in the world, like the majority of religions. Reading the scripture considered canon is enough of a source to turn me away.

Muhammad married Aisha 6, consummated at 9. Book 67, Hadith 69

I REALLY HEAVILY considered becoming Muslim (born and raised Catholic in USA) after I learned about a bunch of atrocities in the Middle East and being at a horrible point in my life AND admittedly wanting to LARP as a different kind of Cis-het White Guy in the USA. I wanted something different but I’ve ultimately become an atheist with heavy sympathies towards Catholics and Muslims. Call it basic, but I’ve come to terms with it. A lot better than when I was a little kid and had a vague view of Muslims as weird or bad because everyone on TV said Muslims were Osama Bin Laden. I can’t express enough how much I regret these feelings but I’d be outright lying if I said I wasn’t born out of Islamophobic beliefs as someone born in the early 2000s

As a political institution, it's what you'd expect from religion - ranging from mild to extreme reaction depending on the region. As a cultural one, it's very good, both for the sake of empowering anti-imperial resistance and preserving a multitude of cultures. Now, culture is just a fancy way to say "how people live", so just like any religion, it will lose relevance and eventually become a permanent resident of museum expositions, as our ways of life will change under socialism, and will force us to adopt a new culture, but at the moment it's both an obstacle and an empowering tool for our comrades around the globe.

Personally I don't know any Muslims. Not because I don't want to, just that I haven't had the opportunity to.

Personally I think its..."underappreciated" in the west. Which is a light word considering the treatment, but just that there's a lot of Islamic history that just isn't taught here despite its importance. Additionally I really couldn't tell you much about it even though it's one of the biggest religions in the world.

However I do have my concerns about how central Islam is to a lot of middle eastern politics today. It feels bad that a lot of secular Baathism (it's flaws not withstanding) has kind of fizzled away in favor of things like the Muslim brotherhood, the Turkish AKP, Shia-revolutionism

It has a pretty comprehensive legal system, up to and including lawmaking built in, which I think makes Islamic countries uniquely resistant to any change towards secularity, unfortunately.

Otherwise it's not so different from the other Abrahamic religions. There is a "Love thy neighbour as yourself" strain in all of them that can make for some allies to socialists(I'm pretty sure there is a quote by a Christian socialist in Lemmygrad's pool? You know, the ones at the top of home page) and then there are others: zealots, corrupt priesthood in collision with the finance capital and so on. The latter outnumber the former in all of these religions, the way I see it.