That's a very fair point. 
I got no problems there. 
1. Religion must be kept private. Otherwise, I agree it tends to create problems. But you would agree that Islam has a political ideology ingrained in it? I have read the Qu'ran, so you can point me towards it.
2. Agreed there as well. But education always does not tend to remove fanaticism. Indeed, in many cases it seems the more educated people get, more capable they become of inflicting harm. You know engineers, doctors, etc 
3. True, agreed there as well. What do you think can resolve that issue?
@TankMan - Did I kill this thread? @gambit is nowhere to be found.
Sorry mate, I got busy with some stuff, there are some good points here so I'm going to keep the discussion going. Not sure about
@gambit.
1. Religion must be kept private. Otherwise, I agree it tends to create problems. But you would agree that Islam has a political ideology ingrained in it? I have read the Qu'ran, so you can point me towards it.
The truth is that Islam does, to some extent, have a political ideology in it. Muslims are encouraged to shape their laws and state based on Islamic principles.
Based on the Quran, Sunnah, Hadith and historical events, my perspective is that Islam does have a political ideology but it only sets a basic framework. You can use that framework as a basis for any other system, just don't violate any of the ground rules. There is no reason for Islam to conflict with principles such as Democracy or Gender Equality.
If you are interested in further explanation or examples, you can read the text below, which is a post I intended to write earlier and is pretty relevant but since it's a bit off topic, i'll put it in quotes.
When It comes to Islam and the State, Islam clearly gives us some ground rules, such as no tyranny, condemnation of certain societal ills (like drugs, alcohol etc), regulated trade without interest and compulsory charity and welfare for the poor. However, this doesn't mean that we must stick with only these basics. Islam does not forbid changes and innovations as long as they do not conflict with the pre-set rules. For example, there is nothing wrong with introducing new technologies as long as they are not directly in violation of a rule (e.g: a new form of anaesthesia would be allowed but a new recreational drug is not because it directly violates a rule)
Some of the changes which I would agree with:
- Add a form of voting or democracy to the Khilafat system. We already know that after the Holy Prophet's death, people pledged allegiance to Abu Bakr, i.e they agreed to make him their leader. How is a vote any different than that? They also had a Parliament (Shura), where people chose one person to represent them. We can easily have a Democracy while adhering to Islamic principles. Just make it so that after every 4 years or so, Muslims can vote to change their leader, as opposed to waiting for his death. (would give the people more power, also deters leaders from turning into tyrants). There is no basis in Islam to forbid this kind of stuff, If anything you'll find encouragement.
-Incorporate modern technologies and systems into the Sharia-based Legal System. For example, DNA testing, fingerprints etc as proof. The fact that these things did not exist in the 7th Century doesn't mean they are 'un-Islamic'.
-Additional laws to protect women and their free will - Islam does not oppress Muslims but the truth is that unfortunately, many Muslims (inadvertently, perhaps) do.
Now these wouldn't become Bidah, because we are not contravening Islamic Laws and we are NOT making these things part of ISLAM. We would be making these things part of our state's law and not ISLAMIC LAW.
Bida would be adding things to Islam itself (astaghfirullah), which I am highly against.
It is up to our scholars to actually consider the fact that Islam is not a close-minded religion and Islam is not an unreasonable religion either, before they condemn every good idea as bida or being 'un islamic'
The biggest problem with 'Islamic Scholars' nowadays is that they see Islam as some close-minded rulebook. It is not. As long as you do not contradict any of Islam's teachings, you can safely incorporate some changes in the non-spiritual parts of Islam.
For example, Islam made laws to protect women, however it did not give them exactly equal rights for two main reasons:
1) Society couldn't be suddenly changed - during those times, even the west was really behind on Women's rights. Suddenly changing peoples' perceptions was not practically possible.
2)Men and Women are biologically different, so they have some differences. (e.g dress code)
Now that the first reason isn't a problem anymore, since much of the world has moved towards equality, it would be perfectly fine to add some additional laws to prevent the issues modern Muslim women face.
Unfortunately, many 'scholars' are very hypocritical. There is no law in Islam that forbids women from driving, yet they're glad to have that law. But when it's about something really useful, like DNA tests or the printing press, the 'scholars' just disregard the fact that there is no part of Islam that forbids these things and go ahead and ban stuff for being 'un-Islamic'.
A little less hypocrisy and some more open-mindedness is required for the Muslim world to progress.
2. Agreed there as well. But education always does not tend to remove fanaticism. Indeed, in many cases it seems the more educated people get, more capable they become of inflicting harm. You know engineers, doctors, etc
Interesting point and you are correct about it. Only one minor thing - my point on education was intended to include religious education too. A doctor or engineer with a very vague concept of Islam can be radicalized, sometimes even by himself. Nothing is more dangerous than self-brainwash.
On the other hand, If said doctor/engineer was to have proper knowledge of Islam, he would react to it a lot differently. For example, he would know that the correct response to verbal abuse or insult of Islam would be through patience and tolerance and not through setting fire to the nearest building. (Quran 20:130, for example, commands Muslims to tolerate insult and leave such matters to God)
Again, this circles back to the religious scholars. Educating people about Islam is their responsibility. If they were to just have some shame, the Muslim world can be put on the right track in a matter of months. There are a few Muslim scholars who try to do the right things, they're just not enough.
3. True, agreed there as well. What do you think can resolve that issue?
Well, first of all would be stop using Islam as a political tool. Muslims need to shun and reject leaders who lie and claim to be in favour of Islam when in reality they are just BSing for public support. Again, that would come when some level of education has been achieved.
Secondly, international matters need to start being regarded as what they really are - political games, not some sort of religious war.
It is too often I hear that 'Muslims are being targeted' and that 'the whole world is after Islam'. There is one truth in this, that Muslim countries are being targeted. Why are they being targeted? Because they're weak and easily exploitable, not because some evil Jewish Illuminati full of Christian Atheists wants Islam gone. Again, uneducated people are a lot more likely to believe such theories, however, It is true that many, many educate Muslims share these conspiratorial views too. When people stop buying all this kind of garbage, politicians will stop producing it.
Then we have people in the west thinking of political acts to be Religious acts, 9/11 being a prime example. The image of terrorists shouting 'Allah hu Akbar' before blowing themselves up is way too dominant.
The west treating Muslims as a problem and antagonizing them adds fuel to the fire. That creates more radicalization and makes terrorist groups' (which use religion as a recruitment tool) narratives stronger. It's like fighting fire with Gasoline.
I can understand what those people may think but the problem is that the issue is much, much more complex than what it may seem to a non-Muslim watching the news.
It's just so messed up, every day I am increasingly disturbed by what I hear. May God give us the strength to make the world a better place - all I can do now is try to get my voice heard (internet mainly), that's not enough.
I hope that some day in the future I can dedicate myself to this kind of stuff and actually influence the world but for now daily life takes up most of my time and energy, just like any other human being.
Sorry if the post was way too long in response to your concise points, it's just that there's too much to be said on this.
(this thread is a minefield)
