re: #468 Hhar

zombie: I’m a longtime fan of yours.

I think the problem with post 29 is that Islam is indeed a religion, its just a religion with more aspects to it than North American secularists are used to seeing. I cited my own religion to demonstrate its similarity, but consider catholicism, with its canon law, military enterprises, systems of taxation, etc. Also not a religion? The fact is that Islam like many religions in exactly the way you said it is not a religion. Sikhism: is that a religion? Of course. Those guys sure know about military and civil law, as far as I can tell. It goes on. There is nothing exceptional about Islam as a religion in what you outlined.

Pluralism is a difficult course. I can’t speak for haakondahl, but it looks to me like you just told him his freingds didn’t really have a religion. In a way, you told me I didn’t really have a religion either. I just didn’t take it personally.

I never said that Islam wasn’t a religion. I said it wasn’t merely a religion. Which means: It is a religion, and it is other things besides.

I didn’t concoct this point of view myself. It is the point of view promoted by The Muslim Brotherhood, the Wahhabists, Al-Azhar University (the “Vatican of Islam”) and many Islamic scholars. I’m only describing Islam in the manner in which its most traditionalist adherents describe it. They would be insulted if some non-Muslim described Islam as “just” a religion.