Monday, June 09, 2008
Islam and nomenclature: "Moderate" is not mainstream
News from Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country (emphasis added):
Members of a moderate Muslim sect were ordered by the government Monday to return to mainstream Islam or face possible imprisonment for insulting the country's predominant religion.
A surprising lapse from the Associated Press, which usually takes great care to protect us from any suggestion that "mainstream" Islam is anything other than "moderate". In any case, read the whole thing to see how tolerant Islam is in a putatively democratic country. It is really quite revolting.
CWCID: Andy McCarthy, who has more to say.
7 Comments:
By 
D.E. Cloutier, at
Mon Jun 09, 05:26:00 PM:
I wouldn't worry about Indonesia. Those people have their own way of doing things. Many forms of Islam in Indonesia include animist, Hindu, and Buddhist elements from the country’s rich religious past. Indonesian "Muslims" have this kind of sqabble from time to time.
More important is this point in the New York Times today:
"The deadliest terrorist networks in Southeast Asia have suffered significant setbacks in the past three years, weakened by aggressive policing, improved intelligence, enhanced military operations and an erosion of public support, government officials and counterterrorism specialists say."
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/09/world/asia/09terror.html?ex=1370750400&en=d702d9d14b72288e&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Mon Jun 09, 05:44:00 PM:
P.S.
Re: "a putatively democratic country"
NY Times: "Indonesia’s Constitution guarantees freedom of worship, but a contradictory law allows only five official religions — Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism and Buddhism."
Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/world/asia/10indo.html?ex=1370750400&en=21b85a2e00dd35ed&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
By Dawnfire82, at
Mon Jun 09, 07:59:00 PM:
Weird questions, but how picky are they in the those interpretations and is it really, actually enforced? For instance, do Shi'i or Sufis have issues? Mormons? Bahai?
And does that mean that Scientology and Asatru are banned?
By Escort81, at
Mon Jun 09, 09:34:00 PM:
DEC - come on, my fingers are way too lazy to do all of that copying and pasting of links. Go with the a href="xx" html tag thingy. Link me up!
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Mon Jun 09, 09:46:00 PM:
I don't know how to do links in comments, Escort 81. Go to the World/Asia Pacific section of the NY Times (online) right now. Both articles are there.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Mon Jun 09, 10:26:00 PM:
To DF82, you gotta declare one of those five, and that's what you are. Under the law, your religion dictates a number of things in your life. For example, a Christian can have only one wife in Indonesia. But a Muslim can have more than wife (under certain circumstances). You have to follow the "established practices" of your religion. (Many expats convert to Islam to marry Indonesian girls.)
Of course, if you are a wealthy Indonesian, you can simply pay some bribes and do whatever you want.
The country has 345 different ethnic and tribal groups. Outside of business, most of the groups tend to stay to themselves.
Significant Shi'a communities exist in the coastal regions of West Sumatra and Aceh on the island of Sumatra. You know about the problems in Aceh. The Shi'a presence is negligible elsewhere Indonesia and in the rest of Southeast Asia, where most Muslims are Shafi'i Sunnis.
For the most part, Indonesians are pretty laid-back. The girls are too pretty and the weather is too hot and humid to spend a lot of time on serious issues.
By randian, at
Tue Jun 10, 12:12:00 AM:
Are there any non-Muslim countries where your religion is part of your official identity documents? Other than giving Muslims government subsidies, it seems like the only purpose for it is so the terrorists know who to execute when they hijack buses.
