a rare concurrence

Submitted by james (United States), Oct 16, 2006 at 12:32

hi, daniel,

i subscribe to your mailing list not so much because i concur with your beliefs, but because i try to hear out many beliefs not my own. on this one issue, i agree with you entirely.

muslim taxi drivers are no more put upon to transport people who are carrying alcohol than, say, jewish taxi drivers who transport people carrying non-kosher foods.

i should mention in context that i lived for 18 months in morocco, where muslims do drink alcohol (my city apartment was on the third floor, above a bar that catered entirely to moroccan muslims). bars are not rare in casablanca.

finally, muslims -- in this incident, the taxi drivers -- are not the only ones who seek "to impose their religious values on others"; others do, as well. it is a tendency of many who are convinced of the righteousness of their religious values that they seek to make others observe and abide by them.

we must remain vigilant that the American polity remain one of tolerance, which allows much diversity by keeping a check on all such zealotry.

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