Anne-Marie Waters: Islam Is Not A Peaceful Religion

Good evening everyone Thank you for having me. I hope everyone can hear me

How to respond to a lot of this, first of all on the bar, you admitted yourself the bar had been set quite high. I would suggest though, that the burden of proof is on the proposer rather than on us. It says quite clearly that Islam is a religion of peace. I suggest you prove it. I've also been told, we've also been told here tonight when we opened that we need, this debate must take place in the real world. Well, yes, absolutely it must. It must take place in the real world. And I will describe what Islam is doing in the real world.

We can sift thru and we can debate theocracy day in, day out, we will never agree, we can debate is there a god, isn't there a god, is the Quran real, isn't it. None of it actually matters. What matters is what happens in the real world. Our opponent quite rightly said. My side of the argument is regularly told that we are, we heard it again tonight, we are described somewhat as hate we are told we ar demonizing Islam, whipping up fear of Islam. It's not the first time I've been accused of this, probably won't be the last.

But let me just say and let's take this into the real world as we've been advised to do. Let me tell you what actually whips up fear of Islam. Let me take it from the top. 9/11, the London underground bombing, Madrid, Mumbai, Mali, Bali, Northern Nigeria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, Pakistan, death for apostasy, death for blasphemy, death for adultery, death for homosexuality, gender segregation, gender discrimination, unequal testimony between man and woman in legal proceedings, (2:14) child marriages, amputation, beheadings, imprisonment for being raped. [whippings, stoning], antisemitism, executions for this, that and the other the slaughter of Theo van Gogh in the streets of Amsterdam, death threats on the streets of London, butcher those who insult Islam, muslim patrols in east London telling people they are entering Sharia controlled zones, polygamist marriages, marriage not rquiring the consent of the bride,

This is what causes fear of Islam, it is not made, it is not my colleagues on this side.

The point is that it is not I or my fellow debaters on this side who are causing fear of Islam. It is the action of muslims that are causing fear of Islam. That is the real world, that is where we actually live. Then we will be told that is just the extreme fringe of Islam.

Well, let me have a look at Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is the birthplace of Islam, the custodian of its holy sites. In Saudi Arabia, a woman is not allowed to drive, she is not allowed to leave the house with a maharam, she is not allowed to vote, although they've been incredibly generous by allowing some votes in the next election, this is apparently the extreme fringe, People are executed for blasphemy, executed for apostasy. In Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, we'll be told this is the extreme fringe of Islam. No, it is not. Calling Saudi Arabia the extreme fringe of Islam is like calling the Vatican the extreme fringe of Catholicism. Sorry, it just doesn't work.

Then we will be told we misunderstood. Violent muslims are misunderstood. Saudi Arabia has misunderstood, Iran which stones people to death for adultery has misunderstood, Yemen which marries children at the age of nine has misunderstood, Has there ever been a more spectacularly misunderstood religion than Islam?

It seems that everyone, these nations that apply their laws, nations who have the Quran as their constitution, inumerable, inumerable nations where there is no free speech, where there is no freedom of religion, they've all got it wrong...they've all got it wrong. It's quite a spectacular misunderstood religion.

I'm constantly told I need to respect Islam, I'm never quite given a good reason why. I am not under any greater obligation to respect Islam anymore than I am to respect any other belief.

I am under no more obligation to respect a woman oppressed under the name of Islam than if she's oppressed by BNP or anyone else. I am under no obligations to make compromises with an ideology I simply don't see as peaceful. Why don't I see it as peaceful? Because of the evidence. If I look around the world in the countries where Islam calls the shots, all I see is brutality and violence imposed by the state. We are told that peace is not just the absence of violence but the presence of justice. [6:00] Absolutely, I do not how in a nation, as the only woman here, I have some particular issues with the way women are treated in an Islamic state. Now, you can argue that they have it wrong, tell them that because they seem to think that's what it is.

Is there a peaceful Islam? Yes there is. It's in the hearts of peaceful muslims. Unfortunately, there is also a more objective Islam, and peaceful muslims have to do some rather creative interpretations, like the command to beat her.

There are hundreds of millions of peaceful muslims. That is a fact, but that does not mean Islam itself is peaceful. Peaceful muslims interpret verses of the Quran almost beyond recognition when it's re-interpreted... like the command to beat her....it's there in the Quran and I've seen muslim women fight it, dance around it, they put words in that simply aren't there. That's what it says, beat her...and in the countries where the Quran calls the shots, that's exactly what they do. This is not peace. It's not justice.

Islam is not a religion of peace.

Send comments to: hjw2001@gmail.com