The most perplexing part of it is that it isn’t just limited

03 Aug The most perplexing part of it is that it isn’t just limited

Religious Fundamentalism Spreads

In the same week that Hindu fundamentalists obliterated plans to build a Charlie Chaplin statue, on https://www.pick-canadagoose.com the grounds that Chaplin was a Christian who made no contribution to India, video clips of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Varun Gandhi surfaced canada goose factory outlet online, showing him glorifyingly speaking of “cutting the throats” of Muslims, and mocking their “scary” names.

Meanwhile, the Hindu nationalist canada goose outlet germany group Sri Ram Sena vowed to continue its attacks on women drinking in bars and couples courting in public expanding their target population to include female British tourists in the city of Goa.

In the Varun Gandhi videos, Hindu extremist groups like the Taliban inspired anti statue, anti woman Sri Ram canada goose outlet kokemuksia Sena may feel as if they’ve found a high profile voice: Varun is the grandson of late Prime canada goose outlet reviews Minister Indira Gandhi, and the great grandson of canada goose outlet location Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, a declared secularist and atheist who couldn’t have been more removed from his descendant’s crazed religion fueled nationalist canada goose outlet seattle diatribes.

buy canada goose jacket cheap It isn’t just the Hindus. Mere days after ending the controversy over his canada goose outlet shop lifting of the excommunication of Holocaust denier and 9/11 conspiracy theorist Bishop Richard Williamson, Pope Benedict canada goose outlet legit XVI canada goose outlet uk sale decided to elaborate further on his view that abstinence works 100% of canada goose outlet near me the time as a birth control method (right, ask The Virgin Mary how well that worked for her) by declaring that the use of condoms aggravates the spread of HIV/AIDS. buy canada goose jacket cheap

canada goose black friday sale Now, the Pope has publicly pulled several other Ahmedinejads in the past. He has written that homosexuality is an “intrinsic moral evil” and an “objective disorder.” He has also claimed that non Catholics are in a “gravely deficient situation,” without the “fullness of the means of salvation.” Most recently, the Vatican declared its support for the Brazilian Church’s decision to excommunicate canada goose outlet in uk of a group of doctors who performed an abortion on a 9 year old girl pregnant with twins as a result of being raped by her stepfather. canada goose black friday sale

Canada Goose sale The Pope’s homophobia and bigoted statements about non Catholics who don’t necessarily think Jesus is their savior aren’t all that different from Varun Gandhi’s Muslim bashing which, in turn, isn’t all that different from the sentiments that fuel the ideology of the Taliban. There are millions of people in the world who think that way. Canada Goose sale

canada goose clearance sale However, these two examples are unique: one of these men is the most significant spiritual and religious leader in the world, and the other belongs to a family that gave the world’s largest democracy three of its most legendary prime ministers, including its first. That, actually, is something that Jerusalem’s Jewish did to a 14 year old girl last year. Her crime? Wearing pants. In the same week as the Pope’s condom controversy and Varun’s inflammatory videos made news, a member of the Modesty Patrol was canada goose clearance sale

Canada Goose Outlet Although it’s tempting to dismiss these incidents as aberrations, religious extremism and bigotry do seem to be going mainstream in Israel. On the same day that the Modesty Patrol mercenary was sentenced, news broke that Avigdor Lieberman, the right wing hardliner whose Israel Beiteinu party had a strong showing in Israel’s recent elections, is in consideration as canada goose parka outlet uk Israel’s next foreign minister. Canada Goose Outlet

Lieberman is a man who has, among other things, openly advocated the expulsion of Israeli Arabs from the Promised Land, and offered to provide buses to transport Palestinian prisoners to the Dead Sea, where he has recommended drowning them.

canada goose store More disturbingly, Lieberman suggested in 2006 that Israel should conduct itself in Gaza like Russia did in Chechnya, that is, without any concern for civilian deaths. This moves the issue beyond the realm of aberrant extremist ideology, not only because Lieberman is now a prominent leader in the Knesset possibly destined to become Israel’s foreign minister, but because his suggestion canada goose outlet online was put into practice in a significant way during Israel’s recent offensive in Gaza. canada goose store

canada goose deals In last week’s investigation into the Israel Gaza conflict, IDF soldiers talked about how they canada goose outlet online uk were encouraged to kill Palestinian civilians. canada goose deals

buy canada goose jacket Meantime, the Adiv fabric printing shop in south Tel Aviv sold hundreds of T shirts, caps, and other items of clothing custom made for Israel soldiers, featuring pictures of dead children and bombed mosques. canada goose outlet store montreal Included was one of a dead baby clutching his teddy bear, his mother weeping at his side, bearing the inscription, “Better Use Durex.” buy canada goose jacket

In Canada, a different aspect of religious fundamentalism surfaced last week, when Federal Science and Technology Minister Gary Goodyear, a central figure in the controversy over the science funding crunch in the canada goose outlet uk country, was

canada goose coats These events, most of which occurred in the span of one week, are reflective of a dangerous resurgence of religious fundamentalism in non Islamic countries. The most perplexing part of it is that it isn’t just limited to a few seemingly random incidents fueled by fringe extremist groups. The characters in these stories the Pope, a member of India’s Nehru Gandhi dynasty, a powerful Knesset leader, and a Canadian federal minister are influential, mainstream figures whose ideas and decisions impact the lives of billions of people every day. canada goose coats

canada goose coats on sale In the early days after 9/11, a lot of false dichotomies were created in an attempt to place the attacks in some sort of context. It was said that terrorism canada goose outlet parka has no place in Islam. That it is not religion, but the “cultural distortion” and “misinterpretation” of it that’s the problem. That Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism. That Sharia law has nothing to do with Islam. That canada goose outlet florida all religions preach love and peace. canada goose coats on sale

Canada Goose online Unfortunately for the apologists, people who couldn’t reconcile these assertions with the events they were witnessing around the world found it easier to see through them than ever before. Canada Goose online

The Torah, Bible, Quran, and other ancient religious scriptures are easily available online in their entirety, complete with translations in multiple languages, by multiple translators, supplemented with commentary. Easy and searchable access to these these texts has opened them up to intense scrutiny, and the anonymity driven confrontation friendly forum provided by the internet has resulted in unprecedented, taboo shattering, critical discussions on their contents.

Canada Goose Jackets One consequence of this is that religious people who believe that the scripture of their respective faith is truly the word of God the majority of whom only selectively familiar with it have found reinforcement for their beliefs. Canada Goose Jackets

For example, it isn’t difficult to sell the idea of a holy war to Israeli soldiers when passages from the Torah such as Shmot 23:31 33 canada goose outlet in new york instruct them to drive non Jewish inhabitants out of the land promised to them by God himself (described in detail as “from the Red Sea even unto the sea of the Philistines”), and to “make no covenant with them.” This gives some hefty, divine weight to Avigdor Lieberman’s arguments, and shatters the misconception that Zionism is merely the “politicization” of Judaism.

canadian goose jacket While the religious Jewish community has remained adherent to these scriptural accounts of the Promised Land, it has, for the most part, been quick to brush aside other passages from the Torah that advocate, for instance, death by stoning for everything from not being a virgin on your wedding night (Devarim 22:20 21) to blasphemy (Vayikra 24:16). Interestingly, stoning people to death is a practice associated more widely with Islamic law, probably because it is still practiced widely in many parts of the Muslim world. This is not without reason: while not explicitly mentioned in the Quran, stoning is widely accepted as punishment for sins such as adultery in the hadith (traditions of the prophet Muhammad). canadian goose jacket

Also, even though the majority of Muslims are horrified by the idea of child marriage or domestic violence, both of these practices have strong footing in Islamic history and scripture, and it would be naive to dismiss them simply as “cultural distortions.” By almost all accounts, Muhammad did take a nine year old bride as his eleventh wife; and beating your wife if you “fear disobedience” is permitted in Islamic scripture (Quran, verse 4:34). Other concepts like armed jihad against infidels (9:5) and resistance against Christians and Jews (5:51) are also present in the Quran.

The Christian Bible, which recognizes the five books of the Torah as the Old Testament, forms the basis for the beliefs of Pope Benedict XVI and evangelists like Pat Robertson about issues like homosexuality (Leviticus 20:13).

While this renewed interest in scripture has affirmed the beliefs of many, giving legitimacy to their extremist leanings and possibly even radicalizing them, canada goose outlet it has also allowed skeptics, rationalists, and even some moderately religious people to question that which was previously unquestionable. Many who believed that it wasn’t religion at fault but the people who “misinterpret” it, are beginning to ask whether it might actually be the other way around. And they’re speaking out. How do you condemn the occupation of Palestinian lands and still defend the Bible or Torah which command it explicitly as an instruction from God as sacred books? Can you denounce a canada goose jacket outlet 47 year old Yemeni man’s marriage to an 8 year old girl while you defend the prophet Muhammad’s child marriage with an even wider age difference? If you speak out against the canada goose outlet store quebec Torah/Old Testament endorsed execution of gay men and stoning of non virginal single women, does that make you anti Semitic? Or a “Christophobe”?

canada goose clearance Questions canada goose outlet store near me like this, which would easily have made one an outcast in the recent past or worse, invited a death fatwa are now being asked more frequently and more loudly. Most of the response to these completely legitimate and important questions has come in the form of ad hominem accusations of religious bigotry directed at the questioners, taking offense, and hurt feelings. Flawed terms like “Islamophobia” and “Christophobia” have emerged, and accusations of anti Semitism are being flung around so loosely that the phrase is in danger of losing its deserved significance. canada goose clearance

And this is where a fundamental distinction needs to be made.

Hating Jews, Muslims, or Christians for what they believe is clearly wrong. Criticizing the belief systems themselves, however, is not. Human beings have rights. Cultures, religions, and ideological belief systems do not.

cheap Canada Goose This basic concept was sadly lost on the United Nations when it passed a non binding anti blasphemy resolution last year, curtailing any criticism of religious belief. The resolution, brought forth by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), is a massive impediment in the fight against human rights abuses carried out under systems such as Islamic Sharia law. Rational, reasonable people worldwide are rightly outraged by this move to put ideology before human beings cheap Canada Goose.