Rights of religious freedom

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Apr 23, 2013 at 20:31

Dear Dr Pipes,

Your reader Steve said, "they lost their religious freedom when some of them used their religious freedom to try to kill us." Steve's frustration is immensely understandable but it highlights the dilemma that every free society faces: how can we take away the freedom of all of them when only some of them do the bad actions?

I think an Israeli Prime Minister said it the best when he said that fighting Palestinian is like fighting with one of your hands tied behind your back. And Islamists use this situation to their fullest advantage. I will give two examples. First, is the true/untrue muslims argument. Every Muslim is a good brotherly true Muslims until s/he decides to pull the trigger. At that exact instant s/he becomes an untrue-Muslim. We just do not know who will decide to press the trigger. So it is head-I-win-tail-you-lose deal for Islamists, and they use it to their fullest advantage.

Second, is the non-reciprocity argument. When its comes to supporting muslim societies materially, spiritually, and morally, Muslims in the west extend their full support to the other Islamic nations. But they own no responsibility when these same Islamic nations, routinely and intentionally violate the human rights of their non-Muslim populations. So no US Muslim will for the sake of argument refuse to visit Saudi Arabia because Saudi Arabia is a repressive and regressive society. It in its full effect means that I can exploit you in your country but I want full rights when I am in yours. But such is the hypocrisy of the Islamic life. Till 9/11 not many in the west talked about it. Now, thank God, it is a problem recognized worldwide.

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