The links are broken, and the correct links can be found on youtube.

Thanks for the heads-up jwray, I've fixed the links now.

*promote

Self promoting this video and sending it back into the queue for one more try; last queued Sunday, February 10th, 2008 10:38am PST - promote requested by original submitter BicycleRepairMan.

I welcome criticism of Islamic Sharia law and other issues but definitely not from Pat Condell who doesn't know the first thing about the Islamic faith, half of his stuff sounds like racist rant against different people invading the British Isles.

Racist? I'm sorry but what the hell has racism got to do with ANYTHING in this video. Racism rests on the existence of "different races" among humans, and the idea that some of these "races" are better or worse than other "races".

Islam is an idea. I believe its a pretty damned bad idea. If this is due to me not knowing nearly enough about it, then so be it, I will change my mind as soon as I see how an islamic perspective on things somehow can make the world a better place. To me, it represents everything that can be wrong about an ideology, it enslaves women, it makes it a crime to think or change your mind, it thrives on ignorance and promotes intolerance, just like Christianity has done for hundreds and hundreds of years. We are shaking of those rusty old shackles here in Europe, and we are not prepared to cuff on some new ones.

Like most tomes of information, most religious texts do contain some pretty solid truth. The biggest beef lies from this vantage point, with people's apparatus being an amalgam of imprint and poor habits, which render them incapable of deriving meaning from datum. (Duuuhhhh, some folks kin read a book and derive no real meaning from it, save the reality of subjective/selective conclusions via filtration through their corrupted hard-drives.....)

Like I have always maintained with the atheist's baby-out-with-the-bathwater tunnel realities.
The Bible, The Koran,Zoroastrian-Gnostic-Hindu-Jainist-Sufi-texts, Urantia, Crowleyan, Sikh, Shinto,Tibetan and Zen.....take yer pick, it's up to the discerning reader, to find the gold-Oh, what?? You think that universal truths are simply handed out like a fucking wine and wafer???!! Think again, monkey boy!!!

Breath, read my comment again. Relax.

I'll be the first to admit that Islam has issues especially in places like Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and fundamentalist elements within Pakistan. But we are talking about a fringe here that has come to represent the wider religion of Islam.

The problem is largely stemming from Saudi Arabia and lawless regional areas of Pakistan, which both construct and fund maddrassas preaching a ultra conservative, anti western Islamic subsect called Wahhabist Islam. This is all ties back to funding from Saudi Arabia, though for some odd reason no Western power ever criticizes its funding and application (OIL) this subset of Islam which created 11 of the 19 hijackers on 9/11 and continues to send soldiers into areas where 'Jihad' thrives be it Chechnya, Afghanistan or Iraq. The Saudi Royal family controls the masses through its oppressive religion that allows them to stay in power indefinitely, western powers are too afraid to question the de facto standard fearing economic effects with regards to oil. See how Washington took no stance on the recent abusive verdict of a Saudi woman who was gang raped and then punished herself for being with unrelated man at the time of the attack.

Islam is a religion with at war with itself, but it doesn't preach segregation or enslavement of women, thought control or violence but it is a religious movement that has been corrupted through political aspirations of those seeking power. The Islamic Caliphate at its height ruled from Spain to Iran, it mingled with other faiths and peoples, and did not impose its religion on those areas it claimed. Unfortunately moderate voices in Islam are hardly heard or ignored by the sensationalist media and figures like Pat Condell.

There is no separation between those that follow the faith according to the teachings and do so with respect to other gender and minorities such as Sunni Hanafism, Sufi Islam and Ismaeli movement. Indonesia, Turkey, Uzbekistan are just some of the Islamic states I can think of, they are not operating on that level you mention. Not to mention the large and growing Islamic communities in Canada and the USA.

Take for example those extremist elements in the UK preaching Sharia law acceptance and other restrictive practices, they are trying to create a social divide between those who are faithful and those they deem outside of Islam. By actually paying attention to them and reporting on it you are creating a self feeding cycle, because they can claim oppression, and build further divides between elements of society. But at the end of the day they are all immigrants living in a foreign land bound by the laws and regulations of that land, all coming there to lead a better life then the one they lead in their own nations. I believe they are hypocritical cunts personally that use the religion for their own ends.

The UK government is at fault here as well, they are being overly politically correct to a religious movement that should be treated as religion not some atomic bomb. Muslims follow the faith at their choice they shouldn't be treated any more special then Christians or Jews, bar preventing religious conflicts if targeted (this applies to all).

A recent Economist article looked at how Islam and immigration is being used by European politicians hoping to gain votes by inciting differences, especially when it comes to certain issues (eg Mosques being built). The benefits are easy to deduce, they benefit those extremists who can claim their religion is being attacked, and they benefit those hoping to garner votes and political power based on xenophobia and misunderstanding (see previous Swiss elections). In Germany, Netherlands and France the influx of immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East only aggravates the problem, cohesion into European society is hard for immigrants, and there aren't many institutions that deal with it. But I don't see Islam putting shackles on European society thats a bit silly and sensationalized.

I think the problem is a little more complex then just saying lets get rid of Islam tomorrow, forcing people down a certain path of action is just as bad as imposition of thought control. I think a dialog should be made, I think there needs to be understanding on both sides, between those who don't know the faith and those who follow it. I personally think Islam needs to comeback to tolerance and major reforms should take place. In the short term understanding will allow intermingling and eventual passive shifts in thought through being exposed to a free society, and higher education. Religion becomes a choice and or leads to atheism. However attacking the faith and citing it as being foolish or stupid or a bad idea is only going to create further divides.

Unfortunately moderate voices in Islam are hardly heard or ignored by the sensationalist media and figures like Pat Condell.

If you've actually seen any of his videos, Pat Condell each and every time directs his rants against the extremists, and not the moderates.

"Peace, especially to those muslims who are as embarrassed as I am..."

Moderate religion is nothing but washed out religion, but that makes it a thousand times better than actual religious followers. I simply do not understand how you can make statements like :

[Islam] doesn't preach segregation or enslavement of women, thought control or violence but it is a religious movement that has been corrupted through political aspirations of those seeking power.

YES IT DOES, it preaches ALL OF THE ABOVE, and more.

Most muslims living in the year 2008, however, are grown enough to know that all these things are wrong. Those who cannot live with making a woman's word worth half that of a man, or who cant condone the killing of an apostate, these people are the true "corrupters of Islam", because they do NOT follow the insane babblings of a 7th century warlord. They think they do, of course, and they all think they've figured out just right what this guy dreamed up 1400 years ago.. That it sounds conspicuously like the UN human rights declaration after passing their own moral filtering, is not the prophet Mohammads fault, I guarantee you, its their own making, because they are not as ignorant as he was, and they have brains to decide what real morality is.

Well I can say those things because I was born and raised a Muslim, I have lost my faith personally but can vouch that Islam doesn't preach what you believe it does.

"Islam changed the structure of Arab society and to a large degree unified the people, reforming and standardizing gender roles throughout the region. According to Islamic scholar William Montgomery Watt, Islam improved the status of women by "instituting rights of property ownership, inheritance, education and divorce."

The Archbishop of Canterbury disgracefully said; "the introduction of the Islamic justice system in the UK is 'unavoidable." Islam (submission) is an all encompassing ideology and MUST be avoided. 84 sharia courts exist in the UK and the popularist, frightened, excuses we have for leaders, think that is ok? Gaddafi said; "All my muslim brothers have to do is wait. Well, soon our politicians will have plenty of time to reflect on how their waiting and appeasing took us back to the dark ages.