Quote:
Originally Posted by PepsiFree
Living your life under Sharia is living the good life, being virtuous and loving each other.
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This statement is such a complete obfuscation of reality and such a shameful abandonment of women other oppressed groups in so many countries who don't have the freedoms we should want for everyone.
No, you can't ban sharia courts. You can't ban the burka or the niqab; or at least, you shouldn't. Yes, most western Muslims don't take the more medieval elements of their religion seriously, or at least interpret them in a benign fashion. But this does not exonerate the religious tradition itself, as it is practiced in non-Western countries. Saying "living under Sharia is living the good life" is not just tacit endorsement of theocracy, but a total failure of compassion for the people who are harmed by it every single day.
I doubt Snuffleupagus has any Muslim friends, honestly. I'm positive he's never read the Quran or any Hadiths. I have, though, and I can understand exactly how conservative zealots, be they in Pakistan or Paris, come to the conclusion that horrifying behaviour from the dark ages is required of them by God. Adopting a 1400 year old set of prescriptions for how to live into a moderate interpretation that withstands import into a modern secular society takes serious intellectual effort, even more so in the context of religious communities, which by their nature attempt to suppress any changes or challenges to tradition.
We should recognize that and applaud those progressive Muslims who endorse that effort for other members of their communities. We can start by not obfuscating or ignoring their project, acting as if all you have to do is read the religious texts to discover that Sharia is some tolerant doctrine of love and virtue.