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Are you being tolerant if watch someone being treated badly just because you want to be tolerant towards religion?One of the best indicators that something should be criticized is when you risk being beaten or killed by doing so. This usually means that there is something fundamentally wrong. We have seen countless incidences of this nature throughout history and in recent times. It is easier to look back and at other countries and criticize them than to see what is happening right before our noses. Most people chose the easy way out and keep quiet while few brave people stick their head up and take the fight we all should be taking part of.
Kadra Yusuf is one of those brave people that we all should be supporting. Last week she went out into the media and asked for a re-interpretation on the Qur'an's view on women. The reaction from various Muslim organizations here in Norway were rather bland and pretty much summed up to being that it was none of her business and that there wasn't a problem. One went as low as saying "that she was probably good looking with a nice body but that they couldn't change the Qur'an based on what a woman meant".
The general reaction discussing this with people was that they believed she was in danger. That proved to be true and Thursday night she was beaten up by a gang of Somalians shouting that it was in the name of Allah.
Friday's reaction by the Muslim leaders and community wasn't too comforting; at least one of them doubting this attack was true. There were even sexists statements made about what a young woman was doing out this late.
We consider ourselves to live in an advanced society with freedom of speech but for some reason religious groups are exempt from any kind of criticism. This now going as far as being passed as UN resolution. There are laws in place guaranteeing equality but for some odd reason religious groups are exempt from that law. Thanks to the naive left-wing which shouts racism every time somebody dares to point out that maybe something isn't right, people don't dare to say anything. People generally want to be good people and treat everyone well and hearing that you are a racist doesn't feel good. The result of this is that we turn a blind eye to the fact that there are women that aren't treated as equal to men, that small girls are being mutilated by circumcision, and that people risk their life speaking freely about certain things. Please keep in mind that I do not want to remove religion but rather that some parts are reformed to fit today’s society.
There is this big misconception that you are being tolerant by never criticizing religion. What about the people that are being mistreated in the name of religion? Are you being tolerant against them? I think Kadra is doing a very important job and I really wish that there was something I could do to help her. Since I am just a nobody I can only hope this little entry of mine opens a least one person's eyes.
You aren't being tolerant by tolerating discrimination in the name of religion!
Tolerating intolerance
There are some things that don't work. Endless patience works with endless agression, but almost nobody has it. And I don't think it's such a great thing anyway. Boundaries and limits. If tolerance floats your boat (and it does mine) then you can only afford to allow a little room for being being "differently tolerant", or "bigoted". Itis the one thing that tolerance simply cannot tolerate - just as a generous person has to stop giving money to someone who just keeps taking it.
On the other hand, if you believe that something is the word of god, (or for that matter was dictated to the pixies by the flying spaghetti monster), then somebody who comes and says "hey, it's mostly good, but this bit needs a bit of work" is equally toxic to your notions. This does not infer a moral right to physically attack them - although if you stoop to calling people nasty names that's probably in the bounds of reasonable.
So while I have no patience for people who think their religion justifies mistreating someone, I also have vry little time for people who think that they can just tinker a bit with someone else's religion so it suits them better, and everyone should be happy with that.
What Kadra is doing might be important for people - she is tryng to tell them to change their religion - trying to create a new religion, as many people involved in a religion will do (like political parties, they stand for being in power as much as for any firm ideology, in most cases). And attacking someone for that is of course appalling.
But she is messing with things that are important to people, challenging in fundamental ways people's lives and raison d'être. Not a good way to make them happy, however important it is. One of the things that suck about religions is how they aren't, in general, especially flexible. It makes sense, in the same way that I am not really interested in being flexible about things I think are unacceptable.
And there it is really. My modern secular humanism is better than their ancient texts and belief as far as I am concerned. And I am prepared to fight to live in a place that makes my side win.
So, what are we underneath?