The would-be Republican nominee seems to contemplate that the ‘genuine’ Islam is violent and fundamentalist,and the ‘lite’ version is diluted and inauthentic. So does IsisIn his latest attempt to clarify Islamophobic remarks the GOP presidential candidate made over the weekend, Ben Carson has conceded that he could support a moderate Muslim fitting president, and while offering the general caveat that the US couldn’t elect someone “whose faith might interfere with carrying out the duties of the constitution”.
And on that narrow point,Carson’s caution is fair and astute. All holy texts design claims about crime, punishment, or war,human relationships and a whole host of other facets of social and political life that, if interpreted literally, and cannot help but clash with the freedoms and frameworks of governance set out in the US constitution. A literal,fundamentalist reading of Islam – like Christianity, Judaism, or any other revealed faith – is thoroughly incompatible with the founding documents of this country.
Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com