State Our Values, other places are...and sometimes it Ugly!

Yesterday talked about the theme that now that the rallies are over, the work begins on how we respond.  One of the things, and maybe the central theme of my writings are that we need to define what are "Values" are in "Western Culture".  Other places are, and it makes many of us cringe.  Yet there can be a disillusionment of what our values are, that often happens in a pluralistic world.  It is messy but the alternative of certainty has been scary in our history  and an area we don't want to give ground to.  Let's look at a few examples.

Just today we have address what other cultures are doing in response to "Freedom of Speech".

Blogger and Journalist: Raif Badawi of Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to public flogging, yesterday he received his first 50 of 1,000 lashes, he is to receive in public, he also is to spend 10 years in prison.  While this occurred the crowd chanted "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Great", a common call from those who are Muslim, not just in times of violence but for their call to prayer as well.

I bring this up not to cause a stir, yet this is a law carried out by a Government who uses Islamic Law as it's basis for the rule of law and it was done because he had criticized the powerful clerics that is in line with the Saudi Government on a blog that he had founded.

There are countless other examples of "violence" carried out in the name of religion.  I want to be clear that the Islamic World does not hold the cornerstone on this and are the only perpetrator's of this but here is a clear recent example of what will happen if you have a differing opinion of a state that does  not separate itself from its prevailing religion.  The old saying goes; "Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely".  Secularism is not just a value held by those who are non-believers, but a value held in many parts of the world by devout believers that don't want to be dominated by their government for that belief.

Look also at Nigeria, in the Northern part of that country people would like the "law of the land" to be their interpretation of their religious law, other believers of other faiths, as well as dissenting voices from within their own faith are also suffering.

One of my biggest worries that the aftermath of these senseless attacks will be that of Xenophobia and other racist attacks, so sometimes those will attack the rights of, let's say the Muslim Community, but ignoring the fact that some of these things are happening and that some people within the West would like to see this type of law carried out it missing the big picture.

One can take the situation in Turkey, some parts of their society would like to enter the EU, yet they would not allow the images that Charlie Hebdo produced today to be printed.  On another front for over a century the Turkish Government has asked places like Germany to build mosques to accommodate Turkish people who are living in Germany, the government has helped facilitate that. Yet, the same request has happened within the Republic of Turkey, and until just recently there has been no action.  German Chancellor Angela Merkel took a stand on that, over a year ago, and stated that there would be no more requests until the Turkish government afforded the minority Christian communities the same respect.  Thankfully  the first church is to be built in Turkey (first in over 100 years, they have allowed old churches to be restored).

My point here is pluralism is a two way street.  That and like any country in the East the values of the culture that people are coming to must be respected, otherwise there will not be a peaceful coexistence of people.

One of the most hotly debated issues is in France as well as Belgium they have banned the public wearing of the "Burqa" or "Niqab" that covers all of the woman's body except for the eyes or in some cases even that.

To those countries it is both a sign of their secularism, but also this is a symbol of the oppression of women.  I personally find it interesting that this is a relatively new phenomenon in parts of the Muslim world.  Hotly contested issue?  Of course, I can even buy into some of these arguments from those within the Muslim community why they feel it is discriminatory to them.  My point is about the respect of the culture you have asked, chosen or happen to live in.  My wife, not that she would not even want to do this, could not go to Saudi Arabia and say, "In my culture it is ok for me to wear a bikini out in public whenever and wherever I please".  This would not be tolerated there, because it is against their current value set, yet neither should we allow it in our culture on the opposite end.

Recently we even have a case of Mia Khalifa, an American that is of Lebanese decent, and of Muslim parents who are not religious.  She has received death threats from people because she is in the Adult Film industry.  Regardless of your personal beliefs, no matter the many challenges of that type of belief system of an industry with big problems, it is not acceptable in Western Society that this should be punishable by death.

It hits my final point that we should argue this even for the example of many Muslims that have come to the West that have brought great talents and vitality to many communities, yet many came to be away from some problems in their homeland, many times because of religious persecution.  So we need to uphold a Secular attitude so that those people are free to be who they want in their religion or even, maybe especially, if they want to be "free" FROM their religion, if they so choose.  The biggest challenge is to integrate people so that they can freely choose their religion and the fervency of their practice, and believe in the Western Ideal that you can disagree with that and even not like the alternative, but live...and let live.  That is a challenge!

Douglas F. Langner

January 14, 2015

P.S.  What a day for Free Speech!  Three Million Copies Sold, Two more on the way  #JeSuisCharlie