I am typing very slowly... spending a couple of hours at the very most teaching someone the very basics about any religion or people from which the class will move on and never approach the subject again it not putting religion in the classroom. They aren't instructing kids to pray to Allah as their savior or asking Allah for forgiveness. Asking Allah for touchdowns.
Yeah, when I played in high school 40+ years ago our coach required everyone to say the Lord's Prayer before every game. A few years later he caught flack for it too because a couple of kids got punished because they didn't want to pray.
See the difference? Praying vs learning a little about a religion? One is an exercise of religion, the other is learning about a religion. Learning <> promoting. If you are praying before every game, that is practicing religion.
BTW...Christianity...I should say people who called themselves Christian treated gays and women and let's not forget blacks pretty much the same way as do Muslims for many, many centuries. There are some that still attempt to do so.
Perhaps you haven't noticed but not all Muslims are the same. Yes, there is a small radical minority that gets all the headlines but they aren't representative of all Muslims. Pakistan, a Muslim country had a woman Prime Minister in 1988...she was re-elected in 1993. Turkey, Indonesia and Bangladesh have also had female heads of state. Nearly a third of Egypt's parliament is female.
But no...because of some F'd up towelheads who are claiming to represent Islam have tried to hijack a religion and the people of a region, because they get all the headlines and because you can't read and research things for yourself, you let others convince you that is that minority that represents the whole. Your pea sized brain can't reconcile that within the 1.6 billion who practice Islam that all are not alike.
Open your f'ing brain, someday some knowledge might find its way there.
I'll use the attack on France as my example.
The most commonly quoted verse by muslims when addressing jihad and its place in Islam and the quran is "Whoever kills an innocent person, it is as though he has killed all of mankind." (quran 5:32) If this is the most commonly quoted verse by muslims to non-muslims then it logically follows that they perceive this as their best proof against killing from the quran.
Notice 2 remarkable things: 1) None of the muslims quote the entire verse. 2) None of the muslims quote the verse after it. Why do they leave most of it out? Why don't they ever quote the verse that comes after it? It's because if you read the passage without leaving something out, you will immediately see that it actually commands the sorts of attacks we witnessed in Paris.
Let's read chapter 5 verse 32 and see what our "peaceful" muslims omitted. "
"On that account: We ordained
for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person -
unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our apostles with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land."
We know exactly where this verse comes from because it was popular in Arabia with Jews during Muhammad's time. It comes from the Jewish Talmud. It's ironic that the most peaceful verse in the quran happens to be from the Jewish Talmud.
So we read what allah declares for Jews. Now what did allah declare for muslims? The answer is found in the very next verse.
"The punishment of those who wage war against God and His Apostle, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is:
execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter." (5:33)
A muslim is commanded to kill you if you do
mischief in muslim lands. So what counts as mischief? Lots of things. Apostasy, preaching anything other than islam, adultery, becoming too westernized, violate sharia,. By opposing sharia you declare war on allah and must pay. The most extreme form of mischief of course is launching a military attack on muslim communities. That's definitely a death penalty.
Now according to islamic teachings, not according to your opinions but according to islamic teachings, has France made any mischief in the lands of muslim countries? Yes. According to 5:33 of the quran what is the penalty for the French military for what was done in muslim lands? Death. What about French civilians? Muhammad said "people who equip soldiers receive the same". So who pays the French military? The government. Who funds the government? Its civilians.
Now think about this. 5:33 of the quran justifies not only killing the French military but also any that support it in any way. This justifies the terrorists attacks in Paris. Instead of quoting verse 33, western apologists go to the verse before it and cut out this being a teaching from the Talmud about the Children of Israel. They then edit it by stripping it of its context and proceed to tell us islam is a religion of peace and tolerance and that anyone who does exactly as commanded in the next verse isn't a true muslim.
So what does this deception accomplish? It's great for Westernized muslims that don't bother reading the texts that their religion condemns terrorist attacks and it's great for non-muslims that dont bother reading the texts that islam condemns terrorist attacks. Twisting a verse until it actually means the opposite of what it actually says will never change the minds of those that read the text and are willing to do what it says.
The only thing this accomplishes is to pacify us until the next terrorist attack which is inevitable because we never confront the actual ideology that have been driving these attacks for almost 1400 years. What can we do to stop the deception and misdirection and finally have an open and honest discussion about Muhammad's teachings? Carefully study the muslim sources and when presented an opportunity online or in person correct those that are misquoting verses such as 5:32 and 5:33 until they stop misquoting it.
The sooner we get past the misquoting the sooner our muslim friends can have an accurate picture of islam so they can finally decide if the quran is a book worth following.