> This story has nothing to do with any religion whatsoever, messianic or not, yet your first instinct is to go on about Islam
A few sentences out of many is not "going on about Islam." Why is mentioning Islam offensive?
A few sentences out of many is not "going on about Islam." Why is mentioning Islam offensive?
I don't pretend to understand why.
The subject of Mohammed's child bride is frequently used to justify hate against muslims, and has a social context of islamophobia. If there weren't that social context it would be fine to bring it up randomly, but since there is, bringing it up is offensive. It's part of the discriminatory pattern muslims experience.
Is there any criticism of Islam that can be made that wouldn't be offensive? Or is it offensive to even hypothesize that someone might criticize Islam?
Let alone the fact that he wasn't even criticizing Islam, but using it to talk about a friend that was inconsistent in his beliefs. He never once said that Mohammed having sex with a minor was wrong. In fact he said exactly the opposite a few different times:
> never understood why all the paranoia with pedo...
> my grandmother married when she was 14...I have a hard time believing that a 14 year old girl is so dumb to the point of needing heavy-handed state protection in deciding her relationships.
So, how exactly is he criticizing Islam when he agrees with the example of Islam he used?
But he didn't say that. He went on about muslims specifically. Makes me, and hey I'm just an observer, but it makes me think his point was more about muslims than it was about child pornography.
Did you even read the OP? He was relating a conversation he had with a Muslim friend that had conflicted views. Why would he try to convince his Muslim friend using "all religions" instead of islam?
However, it is also true that many Muslim people are unjustly persecuted, and randomly bringing up that "their prophet had a 9 year old wife" fits into the pattern of discrimination. People who bring that up are either bigots who enjoy namecalling at Muslims, or people who are unaware of that social context of their words, which is a form of racism/privilege itself.
So, feel free criticise Islam (including for the 9 year old bride), but don't randomly bring it up if it's only vaguely related to the topic of discussion.