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Q-Tip, the problem that I'm having with your position here is that it's all over the map, as in literally the world map, bouncing around different groups of people, in different cultures, and different views of Islam, the role of the State, the role of the citizen, and the nature of participation in government.
Of course there are different views of Islam -- I've never denied that. As I've said before, the only legitimate way to define a religion is by looking at how it is currently practiced, taking into account the prevalence of those practices and beliefs. I've never said that all Muslims -- which I have defined and will continue to define as those who believe in the religious tenets of Islam (whatever those may be) -- all hold the same beliefs. I've focused on three specific doctrines - apostasy, blasphemy, and proselytization, and called them part of mainstream Islam. For all the volume of words you've used, you've never actually addressed that.
And though this isn't directly relevant to the more focused point I'm making, what you're really doing here is taking any criticism of Islam and saying "well, that's not really Islam because it varies from nation to nation and is affected by all these socio-political factors other than pure religion." But that argument ends up eating itself, because it doesn't just apply to the negative features of Islam, but the positive ones as well. "Islam" ends up losing any meaning at all, because it is practiced differently in different places, and by different Muslims.
It seems you are jumbling nations like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Pakistan together and drawing conclusions blindly, without any consideration for why there may be some levels of correlation but not necessarily identical causation....In other words, it's not necessarily Islam that is driving the more radical interpretation of Sharia.
This is just throwing a whole bunch of crap against the wall to avoid discussion of the very specific issues I've raised. Again, I was not discussing Sharia in general. I've focused very consistently on three very specific issues -- the prohibition on apostasy, blasphemy, and proselytization. It's like you're trying to make the discussion about something else so you don't have to address those three issues.
This points to non-religious sources of the variations in attitudes, such as tribal, cultural, and sectarian intolerance; rather than anything that is inherent to Islam itself.
Are you arguing that the common prohibitions on apostasy, blasphemy, and proselytization come from a non-religious source, and don't have anything to do with Islam? Do you believe that the prohibitions on apostasy, blasphemy, and on non-Muslmims proselytizing Muslims are sufficiently prevalent to be considered part of mainstream Islam, or not?