Reply to Iman preached anti-gay message in Orlando a few weeks ago

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=jsteele][quote=Anonymous]You seem determined to ignore my point, however. That's that the Quran has homophobic passages, and is also seen as God's literal word and is therefore pretty hard to ignore. You've done a lot of waving your hands and saying that some Muslims (who, a handful in the West, like Manji?) interpret this differently (how, no more Quranic inerrancy?). But you've offered no examples.

I think these are important points to acknowledge even if you're liberal, like me.[/quote]

We both agree that there are differing interpretations of Christianity's position regarding homosexuality. You insist that "the Quran has homophobic passages, and is also seen as God's literal word and is therefore pretty hard to ignore." For something like the 10th time, I'm going to say this. While the Quran is seen as the literal word of God, there is not agreement on the meaning of those words. The same biblical story that is disputed in Christianity is disputed in Islam.

The Human Rights Campaign knows a lot more about how gays are treated than I do. Here is what they have to say about Islam:

http://www.hrc.org/resources/stances-of-faiths-on-lgbt-issues-islam

"Because Islam has no central governing body, it is not possible to state clear policies regarding issues of interest to LGBT people. Depending on nationality, generation, family upbringing, and cultural influences, Islamic individuals and institutions fall along a wide spectrum, from welcoming and inclusive to a level of rejection that can be marked by a range of actions ranging from social sequestration to physical violence. In the United States, there is a growing movement to create inclusive communities for LGBT Muslims and their allies. [b]This encompasses scholarly work that interprets sacred texts through a lens shaped by Muhammad’s own celebration of the diversity of Creation.[/b]" (bolding added).

There are also gay Imams, one right here in Washington, DC:

http://www.parhlo.com/first-muslim-gay-imam-says-quran-doesnt-call-for-punishment-of-homosexuals/

who would be glad to discuss this with you.

[/quote]

No, we don't agree. We're talking *relative* differences in latitude for scriptural interpretation. You want to make it black and white: you want to say that both Christians and Muslims differ on how to interpret their holy books, end of story. I'm saying that, when your holy book tells you that being gay is bad, and it also claims to be the literal word of God, then we've got a whole different scale of problems in interpreting away from it.

Also, the issue is not all the wonderful people who are finding ways to be more inclusive. The issue is the nutjobs, the hateful or the mentally ill, who are looking for scriptural justification. It's a lot harder to do this (not impossible, as we have seen, but much harder) when your scripture tells you not to kill and to turn the other cheek.

Others, like this ex-Ahmadinejad, can acknowledge these issues: http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_575c1dabe4b0b6c49600c87b . Why can't you?

At the end of the day, it doesn't even matter what Christians are or aren't doing. That's just a distraction. The issue is within Islam.[/quote]

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