Islam

[Louise Curtis]

Having a Muslim character instantly creates tension, so this may be helpful. Islam is an obsession of mine, so I wish I could make everyone in the Western world read this article.

https://twittertales.wordpress.com/2010 ... headshawl/

[Margo]

Well, I read it and I'm in the Western world. One down. :)

[Robin]

I have to strongly disagree with the statement

Having a Muslim character instantly creates tension

. If that is why you are writing with a Muslim character, then you missed the mark, and you're most likely teetering on the stereotypical portrayal of Muslims to create thus said tension.

[Louise Curtis]

Margo - thanks.

Robin - sorry. That was mostly a way to make the link relevent writing-wise. But I do think it's true.

The obsession with forbidding a mosque "near" Ground Zero shows that a lot of Westerners don't understand that Islam is a peaceful religion. When you have two characters who believe in different religions, you have conflict - both will probably question what they think. Did you think I was talking about physical conflict? I should have been clearer.

The mosque near Ground Zero is only one well-known example. In Australia a prominent politician refused to sell her house to Muslims. Just after 9/11, someone sent a white powder to the Indonesian embassy here in my home city. There are plenty of other examples, and unfortunately a lot of the hate comes from people calling themselves Christians.

As a Christian myself, with a passing grasp on the principles of Islam, the only possible response is for me to share what I know in hopes that sanity has a fighting chance.

Hence, my writing a blog about it, and linking to it here. And of course I often have Muslims - real, three-dimension people with attributes and faults - in my stories.

[Steppe]

(Cool Pirate tales..)
You have an interesting blog with a lot of fun stuff to read.
I think if Buddha, Jesus or Mohamed were walking the earth right now
they would either be laying low or putting themselves at great risk in such a contentious world.
When I play devils advocate I can find vast areas of all the great teachers that can be questioned.
When I play life's advocate I can find vast areas of agreement with the approach they took to understanding the phenomenon of existence.

IPhaseVols1-3.pdf The Enchantment
(pages 623, 693-700, 937, 1167, 1179, 1461.)
A first draft with the three leaders as major players.

https://sites.google.com/site/intraphas ... ents?pli=1


Shakespeare had a cynical but revealing way of saying things.

As you Like It - Act II - Scene VII

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Notes

As you Like It - Act II - Scene VII

[Louise Curtis]

[quote="Steppe"](Cool Pirate tales..)
You have an interesting blog with a lot of fun stuff to read.
I think if Buddha, Jesus or Mohamed were walking the earth right now
they would either be laying low or putting themselves at great risk in such a contentious world.


Well, Jesus had a pretty tough year when he was 33. . . what with getting crucified and all.

Religion can be right or wrong, but treating people badly for their religion is always wrong.

[Nathan Bransford]

I'm just going to step in now and say that please please please please please please please let this thread stay as nonpolitical and positive as humanly possible. Any time religion is introduced into a discussion Forum it's very rare that it goes well. Let's try and make this an exception.