"Religion is a hypothesis about the world: the hypothesis that things are the way they are, at least in part, because of supernatural entities or forces acting on the natural world. And there's no good reason to treat it any differently from any other hypothesis. Which includes pointing out its flaws and inconsistencies, asking its adherents to back it up with solid evidence, making jokes about it when it's just being silly, offering arguments and evidence for our own competing hypotheses...and trying to persuade people out of it if we think it's mistaken. It's persuasion. It's the marketplace of ideas. Why should religion get a free ride"

Greta Christina

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Islamic bus ad campaign

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Association has launched an ad campaign on U.K buses in an attempt to improve the image of Islam in the country and counter Islamophobia.
I think this a worthy aim and if it stops a few people from treating Muslims as a stereotype as opposed to individuals within a particular faith community all the better.
But, an even better way to show the world that Islam can stand for Loyalty, Freedom and Peace would be to actively promote and live those virtues. When Muslim groups stand up for the rights of others to examine and critique their beliefs, when they call for the abolition of blasphemy laws in Pakistan and other Muslim states and when they unequivocally denounce the violence perpetrated by extremists in the name of Islam and when they explicitly acknowledge the rule of secular democratic laws above Sharia, then they will win support from more British people of all faiths and none.

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