Im really not a fan of sharing incendiary videos or articles on facebook as I dont think they help anything at all. What stood out to me about this was firstly what a great orator this woman is. I certainly dont presume all Muslims are trying to take over the world with their religion and their views, but the fact that this woman was branded a heretic, and therefore somehow her arguments become fatuous because she can be disregarded by such a slight reminds me of the type of accusation one could have made when Lutheran texts were disseminated back in the Middle Ages (Im currently reading Wolf Hall). When so much of all religious texts contain abject barbarism (perhaps excluding Buddhism or the Bahai and no doubt some other smaller peaceable religions), and yet most nations still affiliate with one religion or another, what remains shocking to me in our post-modern world where women and gays and black people and a wealth of mixed minorities can be allowed to co-exist, that a charge of religious heresy can be attached to someone to silence their views makes me worry what kind of society STILL propagates such views in kind. I dont watch a lot of Arab television so I cant say whether guests with strong views against the unity of religion and state are the norm, but what I have seen in the British press is a lot of Muslims standing for Gazan unity against the Israeli oppressor, instead of Muslim protests against Hamas dictatorship or their use of human shields, or even against Egypt for closing their borders to Gaza shoring up this open air prison. Simply comparing the quality of life of a Muslim in Britain versus a Muslim in Gaza - where the state offers benefits and protects its citizens (I was at Great Ormond Street Hospital yesterday where directions for how to wash your hands is written in both English and Arabic), I fail to understand how aligning yourself - whether atheist, Muslim, average Briton or other - with Hamas (and not separating Gaza and Hamas with any clear distinction), over a democratic neighbouring state who want an end to the bloodshed, can seem like the sensible choice. The only clear conclusion I can make is that religious extremism in all its forms is, and always has been, the most dangerous weapon in the world, with the Islamic extremists being the most bloodthirsty currently in existence (for proof of this you only need to look at ISIS in Syria and their 170,000 murders of Muslims and Christians). And yet we are blind to their barbarism because we somehow disbelieve they are as barbaric as they claim to be. As a gay Jewish woman I can live peaceably and thrive in Britain. Would I be stoned to death in an Arab caliphate? Almost certainly. Thus endeth the diatribe.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Jul 2014 10:29:51 +0000
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