Shari'a Law and the Republican Agenda

         Recent events in the world have got me to thinking. They often do. I’m wondering at the stance the “UnitedStates Republican/Conservative/Right-Wing/Tea-Party/Call ‘em what you will” has taken, regarding social freedoms and laws.

            Actually what prompted this was the uprising in Egypt to overthrow Mubarak, and the uprising in Tunisia to overthrow President Ben Ali, and several other Middle-Eastern countries that seem to be at the same point – compared with the rise in foolish (in my liberal, left-wing mind) laws proposed or enacted by several US Republican politicians.

            You’ve heard, doubtless, about Shari'a Law. It’s the set of laws central to Islamic domestic policy. Shari’a (which means ‘the way’, or originally, ‘the road to the source of water’) is inspired by, or derived from, the Qur’an and the teachings of the prophet Muhammed. It’s the foundation of law in every Muslim nation, and many Muslims living in other countries follow it within their homes. Well and good so far.

            Shari’a Law is a decisive and strict code of laws, governing everything from religious observation to who and how to marry, how to handle family matters, business negotiations, sexual relations, marital relations, etc etc.     

            Now, following the various terrorist-threat uprisings since 9-11, whether real or imagined, we in the US have been inundated with reports of Islamic terrorist threats on an almost-daily basis. Islamic extremists will steal your rights, we’re told. Islamic extremists will steal your children. Islamic extremists will do this and that and any other horrible thing we can think of. Muslims, Islamists, followers of Allah, however you choose to phrase it, have become an easy target of ridicule, and focus of fear, for anyone wanting a scapegoat. And because of the severity inherent in some articles of Shari’a Law (The punishments include amputation of one/both hand(s) for theft, stoning for adultery, and execution for apostasy ), it was an easy fear-tactic to say that all of Shari’a Law is bad. It’s not. Some articles of Shari’a Law are very tolerant and considerate, even more than some western laws. Still, the fears linger (and are promoted) because fear are easier to influence than common sense.

            A while ago, Oklahoma passed a law banning Shari’a Law , Tennessee has bills to do that same thing, and reports came out that two municipalities, Dearborn, MI and Frankford, TX, had actually adopted it! (In Dearborn, Christian evenagelicals were arrested for disrupting an Arabic cultural Festival, and Frankford, TX… doesn’t even exist!)

            So, fear mongers are happily spreading the word that “those evil Islamites” (I made that up) are out there doing everything they can to corrupt your way of life, deprive you of your god-given rights, and make life generally miserable for everyone.

           

            While all that’s been going on, the same people who want you to be afraid of the encroaching evil, have been passing, or at least proposing, law after law, to restrict people’s rights and civil liberties. Let’s have a look at some of the fun ones. Utah and Georgia both have proposed laws that would make miscarriages a criminal act. In Utah (again Utah!) bills were filed that would restrict gay and lesbian’s civil rights. And we still have that silly McDonnell’s observation that America has always been and is currently a Christian nation . And Gov. Walker, in Wisconsin, trying to deny worker’s bargaining rights.

            Wading through all this, I noticed an interesting correlation of activity, or perhaps a reverse-polarity-shift, between what’s happening in the Middle East – the various political uprisings and overthrows – versus the rise of Republican’s ‘antiprogressive’ bills and proposed laws in this country.

            Want a comparison? Let’s have a look…….

           

            Many US municipalities have laws banning homosexual acts.

            Under Shari’a Law, homosexuality is against the law and carries severe punishments.

            Many US municipalities have unspoken laws promoting Christianity over other religious beliefs, and will work to deny ‘non-believers’ the same rights they afford to Chrstians.

            Under Shari’a Law, apostasy (converting away from Islam) is illegal, and contact with infidels (non-believers) is to be discouraged.

            Many US municipalities are hard at work to make abortions illegal. Screw Roe v Wade.

            Under Shari’a Law, abortions are legal if they occur by natural causes; if the fetus is not yet infused with life (has a soul); or if the health of the mother is at risk. Abortions are illegal if they are performed intentionally, to kill the fetus which would otherwise be as healthy as the mother.

            (Interesting note here: In South Dakota, Rep. Phil Jensen wants to not only make abortions illegal, he also wants to make it legal to kill doctors who perform abortions. Yes, justifiable homicide! He’s also the same guy who proposed a law against the enactment of Shari’a Law in South Dakota…. because, in his words, Shari’a Law is “barbaric ... completely at odds with core American values of freedom, equality, tolerance and justice.”)

            There’s more, but my head is beginning to bleed. But you get the idea. The more that the conservative/anti-progressive/Republican/tea-party crowd want to pass laws restricting human rights, the more they resemble the harsher rulings found in Shari’a Law …. The very same legal code they are trying to suppress! Oy the hypocrisy.

            (Oh sure, they’ll rally and cry that the laws don’t matter, it’s the fact that if – IF – Shari’a Law were enacted as legal in this country, they’d have to give up Christianity and be forced to follow Islam. But, guys….you’re trying to do the same thing, just the other way round!)

            Hello, Kettle? This is Pot. You’re black!

Tolerance has many faces

"You have to help me," my friend implored me, "I don't know what do to! My daughter - your god-daughter - doesn't want to join us in circle. She says she wants to go to... Sunday school!"
I considered briefly what was going on. The girl in question was raised by pagan parents in a pagan household. Mom is Wiccan, Dad follows his Native American heritage. The parents observe the Wiccan sabbats, heavily flavored with Native American spirituality.
Mom was adamant that her daughter's interest in Christianity was unacceptable, and that I should talk to the girl and open her eyes. She IS my god-daughter; not only did I accept responsibility for her spiritual guidance if needed, but I had been present, by invitation, in the delivery room when she came into the world.
According to Wikipedia, a godparent is defined thus: "Traditionally, godparents were informally responsible for ensuring the child's religious education was carried out, and for caring for the child should it be orphaned. Today, the word godparent might not have explicitly religious overtones. The modern view of a godparent tends to be an individual chosen by the parents to take an interest in the child's upbringing and personal development"
So as the girl's godfather, my role is to see that her religious education is provided for, and to take care of her should both parents be unable to do so. Well, I know what matters to me spiritually, but I also know that we are all individual people with thoughts and ideas of our own. So I asked her - the daughter - what she thought about it all.
"Well, I do listen to my parents views," she told me, "but I want to go my own path. Only because none of the things they teach me strikes me spirtitually. And I do let them teach me. I participate in what they do, but I don't believe it. I just don't think it makes sense. But the church I am currently going to is amazing. It's not Baptist so they don't yell that you are going to hell for every breathe you breathe wrong, or every time you trip (haha) But they only explain the values of what God did, how much He loves the world, and the things to do to respect Him. And see that makes sense to me, because you can relate a little." 
Mom's insistence that the girl's interest in Christianity is a bad thing, got me to thinking.
The girl is in her early teens. She grew up around pagans, raised by pagans, and the pagan household is all she's known. So she's being a little rebellious, and exploring other possibilities out there.

Many pagans I've met come from Christian households or childhoods, and turned away from the church at some point, after hitting a roadblock, finding unanswerable questions, or simply feeling that it didn't 'fit' them anymore. We all know people who have reached this same conclusion and left the church behind them, some peacefully, others not so much. (At some future point I'll write a blog about my own views on the matter, and why I am not Christian.)
For many pagans, the Christian church symbolizes overbearing, unyielding dogma, doctrine or philosophy; a demand for obedience we are unwilling or unable to provide; and (or perhaps or) a spiritual foundation that is in opposition to our core principles. The degree of disappointment, distate, loathing, rejection, or outright hatred that some pagans feel toward the Christian church is almost palpable aspect of their spiritual path. Not all, but some; others simply feel that they 'didn't belong there.' But a common objection I encounter regarding the church is that they don't have a right to preach to others, to 'shove it down our throats'. I must agree that aggressive, in-your-face fundamentalism ultimately helps nobody, not even - if they stop to think about it - the ones doing the preaching.  
And many pagans, in wanting to assert their independence from such hierarchy, will demand tolerance and acceptance of their pagan leanings. "There must be tolerance!" they cry, "You must be tolerant of my right to be pagan!"
"But," I humbly suggest, "are you being tolerant of their right to be Christian?"

So back to the mother and her daughter. Mom has her own ideas about paganism and religion, and wants what is - in her eyes - the best for her daughter. (And I've known her since she was in her teens, she was a rebellious youth herself.) I am her godfather, and I want what's best for her as well. And I did accept the responsibility of, if needed, seeing to her religious education. But is it my responsibility to force her to accept a religion that she finds unfulfilling? I'd be no better than the in-your-face preachers. She's just trying to branch out on her own, find her own path. Will she embrace the church she's going to? Is she merely enjoying the attention of her friends and peers in the Youth Groups offered by the church she is attending? Will she find, somewhere down the line, that it's not where she wants to be, and explore something else? Only the girl, herself, has the right to say.Our job, as her parents and godparents, is to help her grow into the person she wants to be, even if that's not the person we imagined when she was born. We just have to make sure she doesn't get hurt along the way. 

To her mother, and others who demand understanding of their belief and right to practice, I ask if the tolerance they request is reflected in the tolerance they afford others.