I would say that Christian beliefs being harmful to gay people is a fact. Whether saying so is a disservice to anyone is a separate issue.
"Motherload of bad ideas" is of course Sam Harris. I'm not interested in defending that statement but he has written a lot about what ideas he sees as so bad. He may well be completely wrong but arguing that the ideas which comprise a belief system are 'bad' is not the same thing as saying someones' "mind is malfunctioning".
1) It's not about being of a particular religious group and doing a bad thing. It's about bad behavior being a consequence of certain beliefs and attitudes (religious beliefs and attitudes in this case).
2) They don't condemn all Muslims. They're condemning certain Islamic beliefs and attitudes, assent to which varies among Muslims.
Professor Cole I'm afraid I think you're wrong here. This is about criticizing ideas, not bigotry. The analogy with anti-gay people is a good one but it doesn't work in the way you would like I'm afraid. There can be no doubt that efforts in this country to keep gay people second class citizens are driven by specific religious beliefs. Beliefs about the morality of homosexuality as dictated by the one true God, the obligations Christians have vis-a-vis creating a society God approves, etc. They're all founded on specific propositional beliefs about the origin and nature of one particular book.
By your reasoning it would be bigoted of me to criticize the beliefs of Christians because of their link to the outrageous societal consequences of those beliefs. The same is true for Creationism and I could go on. With regard to Islam, I honestly don't know what the numbers are on say, death as punishment for apostasy. But whatever they are, you can't seriously be saying that criticizing such a religiously-based belief amounts to bigotry, can you?
Harris and others do not deny that there is bigotry against Muslims as people and they seem to be right that criticism of religious beliefs held by substantial numbers of Muslims (not all by any means) is regularly shut down as being bigoted or racist.
I've long been a fan of the work of Sam Harris though he his wrong about many things and likely significantly in error with regard to the link between Islam and suicide terrorism. But he is making cogent argument which should be met with counter argument, not accusations of racism.
Unknown?
Shouldn't the US facilitation of Saddam's use of chemical weapons against the Iranians get a mention also? No small thing.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
I would say that Christian beliefs being harmful to gay people is a fact. Whether saying so is a disservice to anyone is a separate issue.
"Motherload of bad ideas" is of course Sam Harris. I'm not interested in defending that statement but he has written a lot about what ideas he sees as so bad. He may well be completely wrong but arguing that the ideas which comprise a belief system are 'bad' is not the same thing as saying someones' "mind is malfunctioning".
Two fallacies:
1) It's not about being of a particular religious group and doing a bad thing. It's about bad behavior being a consequence of certain beliefs and attitudes (religious beliefs and attitudes in this case).
2) They don't condemn all Muslims. They're condemning certain Islamic beliefs and attitudes, assent to which varies among Muslims.
Professor Cole I'm afraid I think you're wrong here. This is about criticizing ideas, not bigotry. The analogy with anti-gay people is a good one but it doesn't work in the way you would like I'm afraid. There can be no doubt that efforts in this country to keep gay people second class citizens are driven by specific religious beliefs. Beliefs about the morality of homosexuality as dictated by the one true God, the obligations Christians have vis-a-vis creating a society God approves, etc. They're all founded on specific propositional beliefs about the origin and nature of one particular book.
By your reasoning it would be bigoted of me to criticize the beliefs of Christians because of their link to the outrageous societal consequences of those beliefs. The same is true for Creationism and I could go on. With regard to Islam, I honestly don't know what the numbers are on say, death as punishment for apostasy. But whatever they are, you can't seriously be saying that criticizing such a religiously-based belief amounts to bigotry, can you?
Harris and others do not deny that there is bigotry against Muslims as people and they seem to be right that criticism of religious beliefs held by substantial numbers of Muslims (not all by any means) is regularly shut down as being bigoted or racist.
I've long been a fan of the work of Sam Harris though he his wrong about many things and likely significantly in error with regard to the link between Islam and suicide terrorism. But he is making cogent argument which should be met with counter argument, not accusations of racism.