Not true. Muslim women are expected to dress modestly (just as Christian women are instructed to do in the bible). This doesn’t necessarily mean wearing a hijab (headscarf), let alone a niqab (full veil).

The billion Muslims on earth that you refer to have a far greater diversity of culture than you assume. For example, try comparing Saudi Arabia with Turkey. The former is a theocratic monarchy; the latter is a secular democracy. Both are overwhelmingly populated by Muslims, yet the culture of each country could hardly be more different.

Don’t be fooled by the lies that come from culture-warriors like James (above). The terrorism of Al Qaeda or the state oppression of the Taliban absolutely, positively ARE perversions of Islam. Go meet some Muslims for yourself and find out the truth.

“You know, you don’t have to wear that thing. You’re in Canada now. If your husband beats you, you’re allowed to call the cops.”

The customer looked at the cashier with flashing eyes and proceeded to tell her off in non-accented English for the inappropriateness of her comment. Her husband stood next to me with the garden ornament on the trolley and interrupted with an “um, dear…” and she cut him off in her native language, told him off, then went right back to screaming at the cashier.

Point of the story? Culture is one of those funny things where it’s influenced by religion, media, government, and you can look at the roots of something and say “This is wrong”, but you also have to recognize that cultural practices which meant something terrible in the past are now just something adopted and changed with time. I’m assuming you’re American, and I’m assuming you or someone you know has used the word ‘lynched’ in conversation casually. “Oh, yeah, I fell asleep in class and the teacher looked like she was gonna lynch me…” But of course, not so long ago, lynching was the mob killing of blacks who dared to step out of line.

I agree that Islam is based off of fire and the sword and revenging wrongs, but if you think that mindset is restricted to Islam, I’m sorry — it’s not. Greece and Turkey are constantly blocking each other at NATO meetings because when the Turks made the Greeks ride donkeys instead of horses. It’s ridiculous to hold cultural grudges, but it is not Islam specific.

Nah, that’s just crap. Muslim women are mandated to veil themselves, but this doesn’t necessarily mean the entirety of their face. Often, under the direction of controlling men or even the country’s legal code (Taliban), women will adopt the more concealing Burqa which covers up the whole of the face.

“But I respect it — because there are somewhere around a billion Muslims on the planet, and most of their beliefs aren’t any nuttier than mine.”

Why do you respect it? Why does the systemic oppression of women get a free pass simply because it’s part of a religion? The vast majority of the population, even 6 years after 9/11 don’t know a goddamn thing about Islam, but hey, it’s a religion, so for some reason you gotta respect that, right? Wrong. You are aware that every single Islamic sect that is considered orthodox mandates warfare against unbelievers? The “prophet” Mohammed was little more than a desert bandit who slaughtered thousands of people in order to establish the hegemony of Islam? That terrorists like Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaeda etc. haven’t “hijacked” or “perverted” the “great” religion of Islam, they are merely following the example of Mohammed? I don’t respect Islam, and I suspect if you actually researched what it taught, you wouldn’t either.