Reader Mail: Islam

Kenneth Hynek • 28th May 2008 • Religion, Islam, Reader Mail, The Sciences, The Interwebs
Iran, Islam, Muhammad, Robert Spencer

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Connie writes in with the following observation:

The question is “Is Islam a Valid Ideology?”

It may surprise the reader to hear that I disagree, but I do. I don’t think the question is one of whether Islam is a valid ideology, because I’m not convinced that a metric exists which is suitable to judge whether an ideology is valid. That Islam is, in part, an ideology with political and religious aspects, is beyond dispute at this point.

The question I ask of Islam is simply this: is it true?

That may be what Connie was getting at; I don’t know. Generally speaking, assuming a metric exists by which an ideology’s validity could be determined or denied, an ideology could easily be valid without being true. Marxism, for example.

Note: the video is Robert Spencer talking about his book, The Truth about Muhammad. While I don’t always agree with Mr. Spencer, it did make for some interesting watching. Food for thought, to be sure. I haven’t read the book myself, but I understand that honest history is not, shall we say, flattering to the (false) prophet of Islam.

Interestingly, the web portal that the video is hosted at is Iranian.

Update: Welcome, Steynians!