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Betsy Devos wants to get into NC's affairs by saying the join UNC-Duke Middle East Studies program promotes the positives of Islam and nothing else? How do they even know this? Seems like academic freedom being affected since they have no evidence.
George Holding (NC-R) put in a complaint that got this started by saying UNC-Duke put together a conference with "severe anti-Semitic rhetoric." Did anyone go to this conference and what was it like? Seems like just put in a complaint regarding pro-Islam stuff and they'll listen.
Its truly the modern American way to approach dynamic topics....boil it down to Box A or Box B and get the tribes to start throwing poop at one another.
The whole "Anything short of unabridged support for Israel is the new Anti-Semite" trope is laugh out loud funny.
ETA - This also removes any leg to stand on when someone claims “der our librul colleges are indoctrinating our kids!” I went to a university where the entire Economics department was run by Marxist Communists who made no bones about their views. I didn’t challenge their positions by forcing them to be silent or complaining about their views so that the state/feds would cut their funding. . I (and most other students) challenged their views by critically analyzing what they were presenting and countering it with hard facts and data.
I'm a student of Islam and have read the Quran cover to cover
That being said I think the core argument could have merit
Why does a middle East studies program only try to teach liberal friendly Islam?
I really like Islam and muslims but seeing liberals act like the faith isn't deeply conservative really shows what they are really trying to do is set up and push a construct
I'm a student of Islam and have read the Quran cover to cover
That being said I think the core argument could have merit
Why does a middle East studies program only try to teach liberal friendly Islam?
I really like Islam and muslims but seeing liberals act like the faith isn't deeply conservative really shows what they are really trying to do is set up and push a construct
For the same reason one would never teach the tenets of Islam by focusing on the Wahhabist/Salafist interpretation of the religion.
That would be akin to teaching the tenants of Christianity by using the Westboro Baptist Church as your case study.
ETA - that isn’t to say your point about Islam being conservative isn’t accurate. It is. As are most of the great Abrahamic and Dharmic religions.
For the same reason one would never teach the tenets of Islam by focusing on the Wahhabist/Salafist interpretation of the religion.
That would be akin to teaching the tenants of Christianity by using the Westboro Baptist Church as your case study.
ETA - that isn’t to say your point about Islam being conservative isn’t accurate. It is. As are most of the great Abrahamic and Dharmic religions.
i think we have an understanding but without bothering to dig into things i don't feel it's wrong to assess you are seeing western progressives doing things like trying to ally islam with LGBT and secular liberal values and these sorts of things are fairly far away from the history and what straight forward read of the texts would give. Not to mention islamic law itself
but to not argue about islam so so much why shouldn't a middle east studies be expected to teach judaism and christianity?
i think we have an understanding but without bothering to dig into things i don't feel it's wrong to assess you are seeing western progressives doing things like trying to ally islam with LGBT and secular liberal values and these sorts of things are fairly far away from the history and what straight forward read of the texts would give. Not to mention islamic law itself
I don't disagree at all. This is what I call the "pendulum over swing". 9/11 was a watershed moment for the average American vis a vis Islam, maybe even in some cases, their first "first hand" exposure to Islam. That event caused a visceral reaction. Western Progressives have spent that last ~20 years trying to right that which they viewed as wrong by attempting to, as you put it, ally Islam, with things it simply, fundamentally, doesn't ally with. No more than Christianity does. I mean the average guy I ran into in Jakarta has the same views of Homosexuality as my non-denominational Christian neighbor here in WF.
Yes, there are more and less conservative sects; Sunnis being generally more Conservative than Shias and within Sunni Islam you have less conservative Sufis and then Wahhabists/Salafists on the other end. But in general, it is a socially conservative religion.
Like you I have been exposed to Islam and the Quran; I lived for eight years in the largest Muslim country on the planet; required by law to take classes on Islam, the Quran and its place in Indonesian culture.
But I don't think one should confuse "I am a Conservative Muslim" for "I want to conduct myself like the 19 hijackers did". There is nuance there, nuance that is lost in the "Box A/Box B" approach to things.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hey_guy
but to not argue about islam so so much why shouldn't a middle east studies be expected to teach judaism and christianity?
I would agree in theory as all three religions originated from there. However, the question I have is what they mean by "Middle Eastern" Studies. Are they focused on the history of the region? if so that would include all the Abrahamic religions. Or are they focused on the more modern, colloquial use of the term "Middle Eastern" which is certainly more Muslim focused.
I don't know many people who use "Middle Eastern" to imply Christianity, even though Christianity (and Judaism) started there. Most people use "Western Culture" to imply Christianity colloquially.
Thats a terrible combination...and sounds like the current resident of a large, white house in DC. Except he doesn't actually have billions!
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