Indeed, chaos awaits...

Submitted by J.S. (Canada), Nov 30, 2006 at 20:59

Ianus,

You know, if somone wishes to "become a slave" (that is a "devotee" or a follower) of Religion X or even a "slave" for some man-made (man-written) document such as a Declaration of the Rights of Man -- I say, "Wonderful!" If someone decides to devote the rest of his or her life to a convent -- spend the rest of his or her life praying -- whether it's Buddhist, Hindu, Catholic, Protestant, etc., etc. -- I don't care. EXCEPT if that group becomes a violent cult...then, I care (as what happened in Japan with that suicide cult or Jamestown Cult). But generally speaking, I think society should be sufficiently tolerant to accept Mennonites, Amish, etc. (who choose to live separate and apart, but harm no one).

The HUGE monkey-wrench in this system of tolerance is (unfortunately) Islam. I do not trust many of the followers (I think many of them lack an understanding of certain fundamental moral principles -- they don't seem to understand concepts such as equality or universal human dignity or the rights of women...In fact, I'd say that many of their "principles" (as currently practiced) run directly and RADICALLY contrary to Western values. They beat women and believe it is mandated by the Koran. Islam crosses a line.

All the other major religions (even the more asture fundamentalist varieties), generally speaking, mandate restrictions (that is, the religion imposes even more rigourous requirements -- so you have to watch what you speak and what you do; you have to exhibit kindness to the sick, the weak, the vulnerable; but much of it is more about what CANNOT be done -- can't assault someone, can't abuse someone; can't steal from someone; can't cheat on your spouse; etc, etc. Ironically with Islam -- it seems to be the opposite, hey, you can lie, you can steal, you can cheat on your spouse, you can even murder people with Allah's blessings! So it's not that Islam is just a wee bit "out there" -- it's WAY, WAY out there. And when I read some of the musings of Imams or Islamic preachers, I have a real difficulty believing that what they advocate has *any* basis in morality (or say a universal moral prinicple -- 9 times out of 10 it's about what Muslims are allowed to get away with and why the Infidels are not allowed the same laxity.)

Anyway, I hear that that first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress is now insisting on using a Koran (swearing an allegiance) to this text (not a Bible) during his swearing-in ceremony. Excuse me, but this is NOT American! And I strongly object to a U.S. congressman pledging his symbolic "slavery" to an alien culture.

In Canada, the first Pakistani to get a law degree from a Canadian University also insisted on swearing on a Koran (which Canadians, of course, did not have a problem with) -- but this swearing on a Koran business was long before 9/11. Now this same Pakistani lawyer is a devotee of Sharia Law (he has a website, and, yes, he supports the stoning to death of women accused of adultery -- stoning to death -- that, he thinks, is a fine tradition -- and any Western Canadian who doesn't agree with him, he labels "intolerant"! This is to turn the notion of "tolerance" on its head!). But the reality is this -- with many of these Muslims -- they do not integrate (doesn't matter how many law degrees they acquire), they do not adopt to Western notions, and some are definite security threats.

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