The Club

Imagine a club. 

There are lots of rules in the guidelines of the club.  The rules tell you a lot about what you can do, and a lot about what you can't do. They tell you how you need to treat people who never joined that club, and how to treat people who were in the club but decided to leave. By "how to treat them", it means killing them. It says so, right there in the pages of the club's guidelines. 

Some people who are in the club follow all the rules of the club, including the parts about killing people. They're called "extreme". Some people follow some of the rules of the club. They're called "moderate". They don't kill people because of the club. But some of them sympathise with those who do. 

No one knows if the boss of the club is real or the leaders of the club just pretend he is so they can rule over people. But if the boss of the club *is* real, it's clear that he wants people to follow all of the rules of the club, not just some of them. 

Sometimes when members of the club, following the rules of the club, kill people, people from outside the club claim the killings have nothing to do with the club. Even when the members of the club say that what they're doing is on behalf of the boss of the club. 

People from inside and outside the club have taken to using derogatory terms to describe other people who highlight that the club plays a part in the killings, even though the people doing the killing say the rules of the club play a role in the killings. 

Some people have even said that criticising the rules of the club is racist. Even though members of the club are not a race. 

Many people, both inside the club and outside the club, think that the club isn't a problem because not many members of the club follow all of the rules of the club. They say that if only a small percentage of club members take the rules literally then the problem is with them, not with the rules of the club. 

I would suggest that even if NO ONE followed the rules of the club literally, if the rules of the club call for people to be killed, then surely the rules of the club are problematic and should be questioned and criticised.

I wonder how you feel about the club. I wonder if you think it shouldn't be criticised and that people who do so are racist. I wonder if you think it's okay for children to join the club, and to be told that the rules of the club are how everyone should live. I wonder if you're okay with children being forced to join the club -  a club which is homophobic, sexist, and discriminatory. 


Imagine Islam. 

There are lots of rules in the guidelines of Islam.  The rules tell you a lot about what you can do, and a lot about what you can't do. They tell you how you need to treat people who never joined Islam, and how to treat people who were in Islam but decided to leave. By "how to treat them", it means killing them. It says so, right there in the pages of Islam's guidelines. 

Some people who are in Islam follow all the rules of Islam, including the parts about killing people. They're called "extreme". Some people follow some of the rules of Islam. They're called "moderate". They don't kill people because of Islam. But some of them sympathise with those who do. 

No one knows if the boss of Islam is real or the leaders of Islam just pretend he is so they can rule over people. But if the boss of Islam *is* real, it's clear that he wants people to follow all of the rules of Islam, not just some of them. 

Sometimes when members of Islam, following the rules of Islam, kill people, people from outside Islam claim the killings have nothing to do with Islam. Even when the members of Islam say that what they're doing is on behalf of the boss of Islam. 

People from inside and outside Islam have taken to using derogatory terms to describe other people who highlight that Islam plays a part in the killings, even though the people doing the killing say the rules of Islam play a role in the killings. 

Some people have even said that criticising the rules of Islam is racist. Even though members of Islam are not a race. 

Many people, both inside Islam and outside Islam, think that Islam isn't a problem because not many members of Islam follow all of the rules of Islam. They say that if only a small percentage of Islam members take the rules literally then the problem is with them, not with the rules of Islam. 

I would suggest that even if NO ONE followed the rules of Islam literally, if the rules of Islam call for people to be killed, then surely the rules of Islam are problematic and should be questioned and criticised.


I wonder how you feel about Islam. I wonder if you think it shouldn't be criticised and that people who do so are racist. I wonder if you think it's okay for children to join Islam, and to be told that the rules of Islam are how everyone should live. I wonder if you're okay with children being forced to join Islam -  a religion which is homophobic, sexist, and discriminatory.