abu_rashid wrote on Jul 20
th, 2008 at 11:39am:
Covering up, for both men and women is an Islamic religious requirement, and has nothing to do with Arabs.
Mate, Islamic religious requirements have everything to do with Arabs. It has a fair bit of Arabic baggage including some pre-Muslim elements such as the Jinn.
Mozz- All I was saying is that what Abu said was consistent with my observation that Arab men are (in some cases) a bunch of sexually frustrated perverts, but that Indonesian men (in most cases) are relatively normal.
I think he's right in this case, that it's not directly related to Islam.
I think we have different paradigms when it comes to religions in general. It's not appeasement. I genuinely think that personal religions have more positives than negatives, and I don't think that they are more deluded, or any less rational than you or me.
I think that religions have the function of a personal focus mechanism and motivational tool. They feed the spiritual part of the brain. You don't need to have a religion to do all this, but for millions of people worldwide, they are incapable of focusing any other way.
I'm not your typical atheist. You'd probably be appalled, but I have taken part in religious services and have even offered my prayers. Of course I don't believe that my prayers go to some supernatural being, but they did have a motivational purpose for the individual concerned. I'm quite comfortable with most religions, including Islam, although at this point in time, the positive aspects of Islam probably need to be emphasised over others.