Well, while I see many peaceful Muslims, I doubt anyone needs me to comment on the percentage I find violent.
That aside, I have a few thoughts on the debate so far...actually, mostly in relation to Max's views :
Maxdancona wrote:I view Islam the same as I view any other religion.
I view each religion based on the merits of each individual religion. Any other way seems illogical.
Maxdancona wrote:You have a responsibility to these children. It would be a shame if prejudice got in the way of meeting the needs of students.
I didn’t see in Fresco post anything prejudicial – he was simply talking about what he sees. The day you can’t talk about common problems and/or behaviours you see in a group is the day political correctness wins out over common sense and problem solving (you can't solve a problem without admitting it's existence)
Prejudice by the way is thinking all people are the one way (a claim Fresco never made), or treating an individual a particular way based on how you think all ‘his/her’ people are. Interestingly, it only applies to the negative, rather than including positive generalisations & treatment.
Maxdancona wrote:How is the anti-Jewish and anti-Catholic prejudice you describe different than the prejudice experienced by Muslims? People in the majority culture have disparaged all of these minority religion/ethnic groups.
So Fresco is now responsible for other people disparaging a minority? Though it appears that are you trying to say he is the same as them?...and that you are treating him the same as you would prejudiced people?... (which, as you justifiably hold quite a negative view of prejudice, and as there is no evidence for such in Fresco’s words, would be rather prejudiced behaviour on your part)
Each and every person should be viewed on their own merit, just as each and every society should be, and each and every faith system.
Comparisons are somewhat useful…but when they become a rule, they can be very misleading. eg 'buddhism is peaceful so all religions must be peaceful’, or ‘New Zealand has no desire to Conquer another country so no other country must desire to conquer’, or ‘YYY invaded ZZZ, so it’s okay for my country to invade XXX’, or 'AAA was violent 6 centuries ago, so it's okay for BBB to be violent now'…the logic of such comparisons is non-existant.