Quote:
Originally Posted by elphenor
forget whether it's bigoted (it is)
it's stupid
it implies Muslims can't ever move past traditionalism without removing Islam, something that's plainly false
the dumbassery of it all even emboldens the extremists, if anyone were serious about addressing the issues, they'd seek to bolster secular Islam
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Er... No. Saying there are obvious problems that stem from the religion in general or that the religion itself is a net negative force in the world is not saying what Muslims can or can't do. It's not up to me to try to craft a more liberal interpretation of Islam that I find more palatable. That's what religions naturally do when confronted with modernity and secular criticism. They split into factions of reformers and fundamentalists.
It's exactly the same approach we have with Christianity. You don't have to pretend the Bible isn't blatantly homophobic. You can offer the criticism that it is, and Christians will tend to either 1) double down on homophobia 2) develop increasingly convoluted and creative arguments for why it's not homophobic 3) leave the religion. Option 3 is rare. Whether you choose option 1 or 2 will largely tend to depend on whether you have inherently liberal disposition. For the people who choose option 2, they make the religion more tolerant by essentially watering it down. They're slowly leaving the religion without actually realizing it. Which is fine.
As for bigoted... You still haven't answered a very simple question. Why is it less bigoted to blame the culture than it is to blame the religion? The culture is even more geographically and ethnically specific, where as the religion is at least in theory universal and race neutral.