Islamic Shariah law to be enforced by Taliban

The Taliban say they're going to rule Afghanistan under Shariah law, which is based on Islamic tradition and authority, such as the Koran. 

This doesn't bode well for Afghan women. 

So I'm curious. Many commenters on this blog are religious. They believe in God. They accept the authority of religious leaders.

The Taliban are religious. They believe in God. They accept the authority of religious leaders.

Explain then, religious commenters, why you likely reject the Taliban's religious beliefs, while you consider your own to be so worthy. 

The Taliban think they are acting in accord with the will of God. Other religious believers feel the same about their own faith. Yet how is it possible to say that this religion is a danger to humanity, and that religion is a benefit to humanity? 

Adherents of every religion think their religion brings benefits to humanity. The Taliban certainly believe this. 

Is anyone who comments here willing to defend the Taliban? If not, how is it that the Taliban's religious beliefs are considered to be bad, while other religious beliefs are considered to be good? 

Muslims believe the Koran reflects the message of God. Christians believe the Bible reflects the message of God. Sikhs believe the Adi Granth reflects the message of God. Mystical religions believe the utterances of a guru reflect the message of God.

Again, since every religion considers its teachings to be correct, how is it possible to criticize the Taliban's religious beliefs without criticizing all religious beliefs? 

Me, I choose the latter approach. I criticize all religious beliefs. 

Comments

[Appreciative Reader]

You've nailed it, the central flaw in religious thinking. (Except of course there are so many central flaws in the utter, indefensible, nonsensical imbecility that is religion.)

Religion is based on unthinking, unreasoning special pleading. That's all there is to it.

[neon]

And have you not noticed the superiority complex that all satsangis have. They believe they're the chosen ones. They look down upon every human being who drinks, eats meat or has relationships before marriage. RSSB is no different from any other religion or cult, it's not a philosophy or a "way of life", and sure as hell isn't a "science of the soul".

[Dungeness]

@ Brian Ji : "Again, since every religion considers its teachings to be correct, how is it possible to criticize the Taliban's religious beliefs without criticizing all religious beliefs?"

Aren't the Taliban's beliefs deemed far out of the
Islamist mainstream though? I get the impression
they're regarded as a dangerous extreme cult by
more traditional branches of Islam.

You have to differentiate a splintered sect's practices
from those of the majority of a religion's followers.
Whether a small group or even masses of people
embrace them is irrelevant. They are a departure
from the ethos of peace and tolerance that religion
at its normative best expresses. You can't -not fairly-
promote an anti-religious bias by citing examples of
of religious fanatics and their extremist views.

[manjit]

Obviously this is another absolutely ridiculous and absurd post with self-serving but entirely delusional inferences throughout, and beneath any genuine or intelligent response, especially given the deeply hypocritical context of Brian condoning by his silence and instant criticism of opposition to the totalitarian, fascist, Taliban-like idea of not allowing parents to share their beliefs with their own children and that this should be made illegal (presumably Appreciative Reader and Brian will decide what reality can be taught and in which terms, we are all blessed to be in such caring totalitarian hands of such great minds and reality-based tyrants!).

I think a more interesting question is, after 4 years of hysterical opposition and criticism of Donald Trump, "the end of the world is nigh" mentality whilst he was in office, the constant deconstruction of absolutely every decision or statement he made etc etc, is there an actual single thing that Donald Trump did that is any worse in ethics, morals, lack of leadership, dangerous to global politics, damage to the West's reputation, betrayal of allies, betrayal of Western soldiers who lost their lives, etc etc, than his completely inept and horrendous pull out of Afghanistan without any sort of plan, or loyalty to the west's allies?

Sure - it goes without saying - Trump was completely unfit for the role of president, and he was an absolutely delusional mess of a self-serving liar.

But, was he - even remotely - one of the more actually dangerous US presidents?

I think the answer to this question is more surprising than any of the foaming-at-the-mouth anti-Trumpers who so quickly rushed to vote for the opposition, would ever care to really admit.....

Now, as you were with your absurd and delusional comparisons between metaphysics and the Taliban.

I wish you well on your way to a totalitarian state where everyone can share in your and AR's inner happiness.......just like those happy Taliban folks!!

:)

[277 days]

The USA could just take in all the refugees who want to leave and show how enlightened we are.

Oh no. Ha ha, no. Just kidding. I just meant dropping bombs on them like we have always done.

[277 days]

Brian,
Religions have nothing to do with God. They are mainly stories.

Just because someone can logically reason out that eternal being is a thing doesn't mean they like religions.

[um]

@ 277 days

Religions are like political systems, cultural tools invented and used by people living in a given climate and place.

They can and should not be exported to other places. The risk of bringing misery is far to great ... read the history books.

English is the language of the people in England
Spanish is the language of the people in Spain
Portuguese is the language of the people in Portugal
And yet ......
HUGE parts else where do speak those languages as if they were born there.
How come!
How came such mall countries with even smaller amounts of population came to rule the world?

Well .... by force and terror on scales that even the taliban is not capable of.

Now we are waiting for the chinese to come and have their dance on the table

[277 days]

@um,
A little trick of the atheist brigade is to say "there is no God," and then say look at this or that religion.

That is like saying "all hamburgers are bad" and then analyzing something from McDonald's to back your claims.

[Spence Tepper]

Hi Brian Ji

You asked
"Explain then, religious commenters, why you likely reject the Taliban's religious beliefs, while you consider your own to be so worthy. "

Everyone believes in different things. The definition of God varies, even from person to person. This same God (who really isn't the same, but individually interpreted) also encourages Ahimsa, harmlessness.

Appreciative said it best:

"Religion is based on unthinking, unreasoning special pleading. That's all there is to it."

Yes, exactly. Not reason, but faith.

But that faith has moved in every conceivable direction, including the direction of peace, and submission to a more rational authority.

When the world realizes that all reality IS God, then submitting to God will simply be submitting our flawed thinking to the superior reality that exists.

So, perhaps another layer on this subject would say that so long as human beings define God, they are really worshiping themselves. And that becomes politicized.

But when they truly submit to Reality, worship Reality, seek wisdom from Reality, grow intimate with reality, investigate, explore, and learn, then perhaps we will find a universal basis for true Brotherhood/Sisterhood/Otherhood

Nothing wrong with belief and faith. The issue is what are you believing in. What are you placing your faith in?

When violence happens, when equality, liberty and brotherhood are lost, that faith has been misplaced.

But it can be set aright. Human beings can learn. If there is a purpose to life, built into our very nature, it is the talent, however rusty or unused it may become, to learn, and give up a favored opinion when facts prove otherwise.

I suggest also, with Sharia law, that this is politicized. Like Trump. If he can appeal to a small subgroup and flatter them as superior, that becomes the basis to oppress all others, or to justify continuing oppression.

A leader of ALL people would encourage ethics that result in harmlessness, brotherhood, equality and liberty...All equal, underneath the things that make us different. And the differences, worthy of respect for our traditions and history.

But those traditions that have harmed, however loved, however sacredly held, let us exercise that God given (God as in Reality) talent to grow, and make course corrections.

[Spence Tepper]

And I would actually go one step further, and say that so long as human beings define rationality, define reality, they are really painting a picture of themselves. Every individual, every town, every nation will have their own rationality and reason.

There is a reason for all the good things and the bad things. Is it superior to point the finger of blame at the things you believe are bad? I think if you can do anything about it, yes, certainly, if you can help reduce harm to innocent people, yes. If seeing harm is a step to helping, that's great. But then, please take the next step.

I think folks are more willing to judge others than to help them. And that judgment, however supported by reason, may be a distraction from actual help.

And in this issue we have the example of the Good Samaritan.

Jesus was asked "who is a good neighbor?"
And his answer, as usual, was outstanding. He gave the example of a stranger from a different land, with a different religion who stopped to help an injured man. He put that man up at an inn, paid for the innkeeper to serve the man until he was healed.

In this story, Jesus also said that priests and rabbis (and you might add Atheists, if you like) passed by but did nothing. It wasn't until the Samaritan, with their wrong religious beliefs, showed up and helped, that the injured man received any assistance at all.

Jesus claimed this Samaritan was a better neighbor than the others.

Can we also be a better neighbor?

[um]

@ 277

Sometimes it is difficult for me to grasp what is written in English.

>>A little trick of the atheist brigade is to say "there is no God," and then say look at this or that religion.<<

I don't see how that relates to what I wrote.

I never made a statement about the existence of "god", or the status of spiritual teachers. That said I understand religions as an cultural tool, like there are so many to organize and give meaning to a society. As long as they are useful, they remain and if the become outdated, they are left behind.

Whatever is going on in Afghanistan and the Taliban makes only sense as something done by human beings trying to solve things their way. There is no need to say something about god at all ... it is a mere geo-political and a geo-cultural issue.

What the Taliban stands for has nothing to do with any God but with the cultural history of Afghanisan.

The Dalai Lama once stated that tibetan Buddhism cannot flourish outside Tibet as it was born from its mountains.

Religions until now were all REGIONAL and for that reason it will be difficult for all of them to make themselves seen as UNIVERSAL ...globalized

[277 days]

@um
I was agreeing with you.
Religions have nothing to do with God.

[277 days]

The simple question is how did we get here if there is no God and nothing eternal?
(A quantum flutter. What caused that? A previous quantum flutter.)

Rather than an answer, atheists quickly bring up ridiculous religions. As if poking holes in those fortifies their illogical position.

[um]

@ 277

A-theist are "protestants" and have nothing of themselves, not even the name they identify with. In nature they are labeled as parasites.

[Manu Kumar]

come on How can god be cruelest in Afghanistan and of less intensity at other places. They certainly have been misguided. Perhaps, they have their own version of the Islamic book.

[Uchit]

Did you know Gurinder singh dhillon, of RSSB, and the Taliban have allot in common. Let me explain:

Both are cults; both are headed by a mafia; both are greedy leaders that are control freaks; both are pretending to be good on the outside but with evil intentions; both are a hierarchy structure of control; and both give false afterlife promises;...etc

Avoid avoid avoid GSD and RSSB.

[Sonia]

“If you ever feel useless,
remember it took 20 years,
trillions of dollars,
and 4 US Presidents
to replace the Taliban with the Taliban.”

— Dr. Norman Finkelstein

[Tendzin]

The Taliban is a religion. The Taliban treat women badly. Therefore all religions treat women badly.

Come on Brian.

[Brian Hines]

Tendzin, you must not have read this post before you commented on it. What I actually said was:

"The Taliban say they're going to rule Afghanistan under Shariah law, which is based on Islamic tradition and authority, such as the Koran. This doesn't bode well for Afghan women."

I didn't say all religions treat women badly. You did. I accept your apology for misquoting me.

[Spence Tepper]

Knowing all we do about the situation, couldn't we have developed a better solution? It seems we are doomed to repeat the lessons of history. Still, if we hold some responsibility for the killing fields in Cambodia, or the Shah of Iran, we most certainly do for those tragedies that are arising in Afghanistan. The Taliban was built by those corrupt leaders paid for by corporate America, when they finally learned from America the profit to be made by tyranny. But when you raise up the corrupt as leaders, because they support your corruption, when they choose freedom, you get corrupt leaders, trained by America to become tyrants.

We get involved in other nations when our financial interests are at stake and call that security.

But then we withdraw aggressively, creating disruption, when we can no longer find a profitable way to continue our support, and never did so in an honest way. After the puppets we pay off to support our own corruption fold like paper dolls we blame them, rather than ourselves.

Looking at American politics it is quite clear we can't agree on an honest way to go about Democracy or to honestly and effectively support its development anywhere else.

So this is a pure failure on our President's part. His predecessor was partially successful at corruption. That's all Trump knows. But Biden has failed entirely here to do the right thing in supporting democracy, even to know what that could be for Afghanistan. Not American Democracy, which is a nightmare, but a respectable version of Democracy for Afghanistan, from the very souls of the people of Afghanistan, which we have never sought nor encouraged, because at every turn, honesty and character conflicts with our financial advantage.

Democracy is not a profit center. It's a cost center. And worthy of investment.

Where there is no vision, the people perish.

[Dungeness]

@ Spence : "We get involved in other nations when our financial interests are at stake and call that security."

Hi Spence. I agree mostly but, surely it's more nuanced. Gazillions
were outlaid in cash, lives, and nation building by the US/others in
Afghanistan. Arguably far more than a cold, self-serving transaction
would have required for financial stability. They could've withdrawn
after bin Laden was snuffed out for instance, left a small occupation
footprint, paid off corrupt politicos to do our bidding. Enormous
strategic savings were available. Of course, there are claims the
US has designs on Afghan mineral wealth or US army suppliers
and their well-connected investors are getting kickbacks. But there
is no compelling evidence for those scenarios.

For all its missteps, the US was at least in part trying to do the
right thing I believe.

[Spence Tepper]

Nicely put, Dungeness.

[Sonia]

There are plenty atheist countries who have committed their share of atrocities and human rights violations.

Athiest Communist countries are some of the worst.

When governments posses radical ideologies and support inequality, then people will suffer great injustices.

[Tendzin]

Brian, you wrote:

"The Taliban are religious. They believe in God. They accept the authority of religious leaders.

Explain then, religious commenters, why you likely reject the Taliban's religious beliefs, while you consider your own to be so worthy."

I responded that I find your tautology a bit absurd, though I didn't say why, because I thought it was obvious.

It's obvious, because other religions do not treat with with the extreme control and disrespect that the Taliban do.

Your attempt to reduce all religions to the level of the Taliban is an extreme argument, one that I feel just doesn't work.

Moreover, I don't think you've considered how religions have boosted women's rights over history. That is, human civilization didn't start out with a woke system where everyone was equal. Religion is a part of human progress that has helped to increase respect for women and the marginalized.

That is, some religions have done this. Some haven't, as the Taliban are literally lighting Christians on fire when they catch them. Including women.