Father Muslim => you are Muslim?

Submitted by Olivia (Austria), Sep 24, 2008 at 17:21

Yes, the Islamic teachings say the child automatically follows the father.
That is why Muslim women are not allowed to marry a non-Muslim.
So does the Catholic church, to my knowledge (they have recently revoked quite a few gender issues and child related laws - I might not be up to date with this anymore).

But I was also raised a Christian, and in the Christian faith, you are free to "turn to God" and accept Christianity even in your moment of death.
This man apparently turned to Christianity long ago - so Christianity sees him as a devout Christian. If he wants to be, then he has every right to be treated as such - in the name of Christianity, we are speaking, not even what we would find right on a more humanist secular level (nobody being forced into a conviction, freedom of faith and conscience as basic secular human rights).

I believe we agree on how it is wrong to press people into a faith by birth and not allow them to freely choose what and if they want to practice, be it in Europe or the US. So we do very likely not agree with this Islamic teaching; why use and apply it to an American citizen as if it were valid upon him?!
It s another culture s (rather) undoubted "dogma" - it s not American law or Constitution.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".