@Ibby:
I took that exact class, and have read the Koran.
If you want to say, in your mosques, that the followers of the Prophet are the favored people - OK. But when you ACT that way, with that value system, with non-muslims, it's dangerous. Nobody likes to be treated unfairly, to be de-valued as a person, because of their religion or race/ethnicity. Unfortunately, this is part of Islam.
This kind of belief is called fascism, and leads to subjugation or the slaughter of those who are deemed inferior. WWII was caused by fascists.
Slavery is a kind of fascism. Segregation is an attempt to avoid fascism, that simply can't work, and winds up being fascism.
This is a topic that all nations with multiple races, religions, or ethnicities have had to struggle with - and usually have a war over, before finding a way to move away from it.
If there isn't *EQUALITY* between groups, then it will lead to fighting, sooner or later. Islamic laws and traditions, do not allow for equality. jews, infidels and christians are all given a different status than muslims.
Naturally, the muslims think of this as "separate but fair or equal". But I'm from the USA, and we know ALL about the lie that is inherent in "separate but fair or equal"! Been there, have the T shirt, and 100 years of segregation experience behind us. Not something I would ever want to see repeated.
Whether it's military service, taxation, choice of leaders, choice of a spouse, or any other important matter, non-muslims are not treated the same as muslims are, in Islamic law and traditions. Neither are women, btw.
Until Islam is reformed, it's going to always have friction with ANY other religion. A little "varnish" to cover up these basic parts of their religion and tradition, is not going to do the trick.
Neither will some cute people holding up funny signs. It's very cute, but lack of cuteness is not the problem with Islam.
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