أشهد أن لا إله إلاَّ الله و أشهد أن محمدا رسو

[Alex Libman 15]

There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

I've hereby decided to convert to Islam.

Everything else in this world is broken: emotionally, culturally, demographically, and on many other levels.  Only faith in Allah stands triumphant.

In absence of religion people tend to turn to things even less rational - socialism, environmentalism, feminism, addictive substances, recreational sex, and so on.  Even if I was the most rational person in the world, I would still need to compromise with the irrationalities of others, and Islam is the greatest of the alternatives.

Only through faith do people consistently overcome the demographic-economic paradox and manage to pull their own demographic weight.  Only through faith in Allah does someone like me have hope of overcoming this paradox in my own life.

Only through faith in Allah do people overcome imperialism and socialism, with the Islamic ideal being expressed through its flagships like Dubai and Qatar: many small competing authorities with the universal recognition of certain human rights, most importantly the right to free exit, but at the same time capable of uniting and fighting fearlessly for common defense.

I need no analytical proof for the divine nature of religion, because I recognize that my analytic powers are imperfect, and because a religion must be shared across many centuries and many billions of people, some more capable of rational thought than others.  Most other religions and secular social contracts / constitutions have failed to stand the test of time, but Islam clearly has the competitive advantage in the world today.

[Lindsey]

Allah Akbar. 

[Alex Libman 15]

Allāhu Akbar.

If a culture must recognize something as "greatest", it better be the foundation of a functional social contract.  Take that away, and you end up with a Caligula or a Hitler.  Or a Michael Jackson.

[Zat]

Insha'Allah

[Alex Libman 15]

Moved to Hijack-Free Zone.  This thread is to be cleansed of idolotrious imagery (including smileys).  Photographs are allowed, by my interpretation, but only if they're decent and respectable of Allah.

What good is 100% freedom of speech if it leads to the social contract being insulted, until it is replaced with arbitrary whim of the mob that eventually leads to there being no freedoms at all, like after the collapse of the Orthodox Christianity in Russia that has lead to Communism?  It is better to have 90% freedom of speech that is stable and sustainable for all time.

[Terror Australis]

I'm sorry but I don't respect a religion that doesn't respect women.

[Alex Libman 15]

Well, that's your subjective opinion - you might as well say that you don't respect a religion / life philosophy that doesn't give you free cookies and ice cream or whatever you fancy, or make 2 + 2 add up to 5 for your amusement.

The objective reality, however, is that feminism inevitably leads to economic decline.  I have written about this extensively in my "Childless Tax" thread, where I tried to find a secular solution to this all-important problem.  (It's a long thread that takes a while to make all of its point, but it's definitely worth reading.)  Until men are able to birth as many babies as women, and become as biochemically predisposed to taking good care of them every minute of every day, division of labor between genders is an absolute necessity.  Every woman in the world must give birth to 2 babies at least, and since some women aren't able or aren't willing then other women must pull their demographic weight for them, that is have 3 or more.  Raising a large family is a full-time job, which requires the woman to have specialized skills and habits that are very different from those of a man.


(Oh, speaking of irrational - guess who converted to Islam smack down before breakfast during Ramadan...  Oh well, the sun will go down... eventually...)

[Terror Australis]

 fundamentalist dogma.......

[Terror Australis]

Any religion that requires total obedience without thought is not likely to produce people capable of critical thought, people capable of free and independent thought.Human beings have natural rights,whatever their sex may be.

I dont see other religions stoning people to death, cutting off their clitoris or making them wear burqas.Their is no defending this behaviour.

[Alex Libman 15]

fundamentalist dogma.......

That's the idea.

Any religion that requires total obedience without thought is not likely to produce people capable of critical thought, people capable of free and independent thought.

All successful societies require obedience to certain rulesets, whether it's respecting property rights or praying five times each day.  As for independent thought - it is not a value in of itself.  A person who independently believes that 2 + 2 adds up to 5 has no advantage over a religious zombie brainwashed that it's 4.  You have to look at a culture as a whole, and there's just no evidence that Islam makes you dumber or less productive, while there is overwhelming evidence that it reduces crime, demographic theft, socialism, and other societal ills.

Human beings have natural rights, whatever their sex may be.

Yes, but those rights don't come from wishful thinking, they come from evolutionary pragmatism - rulesets that offer the greatest competitive advantage are valid.  Not pulling one's demographic weight is not a natural right.

I dont see other religions stoning people to death, cutting off their clitoris or making them wear burqas.

Then you simply don't know of any culture except the contemporary one you were born into.  Female circumcision has as much to do with Islam as smoking has to do with Objectivism - it has been practiced in Africa for tens of thousands of years.  Islam didn't spread it, it merely tolerated it, just as my rational Anarcho-Capitalism would tolerate it on the grounds of parents' rights.

The burqa is also not Islamic - for example, the ancient Greeks required their women to wear them.  In some Arab tribes men wear burqas as well, which is a darn good idea given the sun, hot wind, and sand in the air.  Men's preference for their wives and daughters to dress modestly can also be enforced through the AnCap concept of a "family contract".

[There] is no defending this behaviour.

Watch me.

[hellbilly]

I stand by my previously deleted statement:

Ah Salami Llama.

[sinceredagreat]

Well, any religion that promotes lying to people in order to hide amongst them until your numbers grow to the point where their is enough of you to kick in every door and threaten conversion or cut off their head is not a religion, but a system of violence to which I will never respect.

[Alex Libman 15]

I PISS ON YOUR BLACK STONE!

Oh, c'mon, is this the best you can do?  When I was an infidel like you, I've actually engineered a functional catapult for launching a hailstorm of live pigs into the Kaaba during the peak of Hajj from a yacht a safe distance away in the Red Sea.  Now that's how you insult Allah!  Of course I've repented, and you're getting your head chopped off.  You don't mess with the Kabba!

If the American constitution had encouraged chopping people's heads off for insulting it, or even just suggesting violation of the principles of self-ownership (i.e. socialism), this civilization would still be free, and I wouldn't have to look to a 1400-year-old religion for liberty.  But enough jibba jabba, it's time to water the palm of liberty with the blood of infidels yet again!

i will wrap allah in the intestines of a thousand pigs

You and what polycentric army of several million highly motivated AK47-touting soldiers?  (And that's not counting actual government militaries throughout the Muslim world, some of which have nukes and all.)  When a weak society (i.e. a liberal democracy) goes up against a strong society, the strong one always triumphs.

Ah Salami Llama.

You can make salami without pork, and llama meat is halal, but that has absolutely nothing to do with this thread.

Well, any religion that promotes lying to people in order to hide amongst them until your numbers grow to the point where their is enough of you to kick in every door and threaten conversion or cut off their head is not a religion, but a system of violence to which I will never respect.

Great, more infidel whining - "boo hoo hoo, I'm losing, boo hoo hoo"...   You're like a horse and buggy manufacturer who's angry at automobiles!  Infiltration and outbreeding tactics are very effective, whether you "respect" them or not.  Fertility rates matter - deal with it.  And all social systems that have been proven effective are based on violence - that's the reality of life.

[Evil Muppet]

You and what polycentric army of several million highly motivated AK47-touting soldiers?  (And that's not counting actual government militaries throughout the Muslim world, some of which have nukes and all.)  When a weak society (i.e. a liberal democracy) goes up against a strong society, the strong one always triumphs.

Why is why Western liberal democracies are waging war in Islamic countries instead of the other way around.  Which is why Western liberal democracies have been dividing Islamic countries up between each other for hundreds of years.  Why Islam never conquered the West but the West conquered Islamic nations repeatedly throughout history. 

[Alex Libman 15]

I was talking specifically about Lord Humungus and his pig intestine threat, but I will address the broader issue that you bring up.

The Islamic civilization had conquered the heck out of the Byzantine and other empires - from Spain to Persia to India to Indonesia.  It was the first civilization to unite all of the Afro-Eurasian landmass (including Sub-Saharan Africa and China) in commerce and free exchange of ideas.  In 16th through the 20th centuries, however, it has clearly fallen behind Western Europe, which did a lot of the things right during that time - starting with the discovery of the Americas, which produced a humongous economic boost and encouraged further investment in trade and technology.  Another thing that Europe did right during those successful centuries is taking a lot of good ideas from Islam, whether directly or coincidentally, including less religious centralization (i.e. protestantism), greater interest in hygiene and medicine, rediscovering its own classical literature that has been preserved by Islam during Europe's dark ages, and so on.  Other factors, like soil erosion and climate change, may have contributed to Islam's economic decline.  All this has led to military losses to the West, and that has been a handicap ever since.  In the 20th century, the so-called Dutch disease of oil export has further limited the Islamic world's prospects for economic growth.  None of those misfortunes are a result of Islam itself.

It was capitalism, science, and industrialization that has made the West great during this time - and colonialism has helped as well.  Liberal democracy, on the other hand, is what's bringing the Western Civilization down.  It discourages family values, leads to a demographic collapse, and raises the power of the state.  If you want to see the future of the Western Civilization, look to Italy.  If you want to see the future of the Muslim Civilization, look to Dubai.