> - No school of Islam has emerged that takes back on these opinions. The best of enlightenment you get is people claiming that people should get a second chance, but thought crime still leads to death.
There are five schools of Islam (technically speaking, there are four, until the Jafriyyah School of Shi'a Islam, as recognized by the prominent scholars and figures in the Sunni schools in modern history quite late at a date I do not recall, which is an interesting political gesture by itself). I am not sure what you are referring to, but if it is bida'a, I somehow doubt that they have a consistent view on this. They are all hundreds of years old, and specializing in one of them is an academic lifetime all to itself. I assume some, probably the Hanbalist as you guessed from earlier, would demand death. The others, probably not. But I cannot be sure and that ironically is not easy to research in a short period (I just tried, haha). But rest assured you have a point: there orthodox bigots in Islam, just like fudamnetalist Christians and hardcore Orthodox Jews.
> Because of these issues, mainstream Islamic thinking is less open to deviating opinion, critical thinking, sensitivities, or at least the open discussion of topics. These issues make it easier to justify totalitarianism or elements thereof in an Islamic context. There is no "Reformed Judaism" version of Islam that is openly and widely practiced. And that appears to be a burden for every Muslim who wants to be a critical thinker and wants to build a society on freedom and progress.
Maybe in the sense they do not have a name. But there are many progressive Islamic scholars (I use that term as someone specializing in religion, not any academic of Muslim background). Tariq Ramadan comes to mind (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariq_Ramadan), and he is very well-known in MENA and out. There are others as well. The difference is Islam, because of perceived attack, encourages believers to emphasize unity and not discuss differences. The schools of Islamic law you mention are academic mainly, and any believer would not be concerned as it barely impacts their belief or praxis. In terms of practice, the only real dividie is between Sunni and Shi'a, and almost people when question about which one they are get cagey and will tell you they are Muslim, for the reasons they described. You are not supposed to make the difference between you and others a big issue. Only zealots, for political reasons, encourage this crap and you see the civil war it causes in Iraq and Lebanon. Many open people talk about it, but largely in Arabic, and I suppose you do not know it.
This has been a cool discussion though. I am sorry if you think I am ignoring your comments are being insulting in my dealing with you, but I am glad someone questions and asks. Without it we all accept the status quo and learn nothing.
> - No school of Islam has emerged that takes back on these opinions. The best of enlightenment you get is people claiming that people should get a second chance, but thought crime still leads to death.
There are five schools of Islam (technically speaking, there are four, until the Jafriyyah School of Shi'a Islam, as recognized by the prominent scholars and figures in the Sunni schools in modern history quite late at a date I do not recall, which is an interesting political gesture by itself). I am not sure what you are referring to, but if it is bida'a, I somehow doubt that they have a consistent view on this. They are all hundreds of years old, and specializing in one of them is an academic lifetime all to itself. I assume some, probably the Hanbalist as you guessed from earlier, would demand death. The others, probably not. But I cannot be sure and that ironically is not easy to research in a short period (I just tried, haha). But rest assured you have a point: there orthodox bigots in Islam, just like fudamnetalist Christians and hardcore Orthodox Jews.
> Because of these issues, mainstream Islamic thinking is less open to deviating opinion, critical thinking, sensitivities, or at least the open discussion of topics. These issues make it easier to justify totalitarianism or elements thereof in an Islamic context. There is no "Reformed Judaism" version of Islam that is openly and widely practiced. And that appears to be a burden for every Muslim who wants to be a critical thinker and wants to build a society on freedom and progress.
Maybe in the sense they do not have a name. But there are many progressive Islamic scholars (I use that term as someone specializing in religion, not any academic of Muslim background). Tariq Ramadan comes to mind (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariq_Ramadan), and he is very well-known in MENA and out. There are others as well. The difference is Islam, because of perceived attack, encourages believers to emphasize unity and not discuss differences. The schools of Islamic law you mention are academic mainly, and any believer would not be concerned as it barely impacts their belief or praxis. In terms of practice, the only real dividie is between Sunni and Shi'a, and almost people when question about which one they are get cagey and will tell you they are Muslim, for the reasons they described. You are not supposed to make the difference between you and others a big issue. Only zealots, for political reasons, encourage this crap and you see the civil war it causes in Iraq and Lebanon. Many open people talk about it, but largely in Arabic, and I suppose you do not know it.
This has been a cool discussion though. I am sorry if you think I am ignoring your comments are being insulting in my dealing with you, but I am glad someone questions and asks. Without it we all accept the status quo and learn nothing.