.... British fears about Islamists and Saudi fears about atheists are two sides of the same coin. Ideas that were once alien or unknown can now leap across national borders and take root in unexpected places. Globalisation is making national cultures less monolithic and more diverse – and, thanks mainly to the internet and the ease of international travel, it is likely to happen on an ever-increasing scale.
Trying to prevent that is as futile as trying to stop wind or rain. Far better to recognise that it’s happening and adjust to it. Nor is it necessarily bad.
[TOP RATED COMMENT 694 votes] Remember that story the other week where an atheist group had members blow themselves up in a crowded market, just before another of their members beheaded somebody on live television?
No, nor me. Stop talking nonsense.
[SECOND 556v] Or how about that atheist practice of hacking off the clitoris of their beautiful daughter?
Or the one which riots with signs adorned with "Behead all those who insult atheism!" when somebody drew a cartoon of Richard Dawkins in a newspaper in a secular country thousands of miles away.
The fear of extreme Islamism is not one based on the 'unknown'. It is one based on the repeated acts of Islamic extremists over the past several decades.
[THIRD 445v] "The aim of education, according to Saudi Arabia’s basic law, is “instilling the Islamic faith in the younger generation”, which in principle is not very different from Michael Gove’s idea of instilling “British values” in English schools."
Haha, nice try. Where to start? One difference (among many) being that we don't execute people if they later reject these British values. [Guardian Cif] Read more
