Bader and I agree on This
Reader comment on item: Sudden Jihad Syndrome (in North Carolina)

Submitted by Mark Baratto (United States), Mar 26, 2006 at 14:03

""Will the Muslims also have to accept homosexual marriages and abortion and pornography? Maybe Muslims don't want all this and instead want to live according to their religious values. If the West allows freedom of worship then that is their prerogative. The difference is that the West places the individual above society. In Muslim countries this is not the same, the society comes before the individual. Right or wrong (from a Western perspective) but that is how it has been and how it may remain.""

Bader,

There are many in the West who agree with this statement as it pertains to our own values which are different than those of the 'society' at large. The difference is that we are free to speak out against homosexual marriage, abortion & pornography, without fear of jail, execution, excommunication or violence against our families. We will tolerate such things, make our voices heard, and try to change them through education, government, and where possible, the church. We are effective in some cases (cigarette smoking, concealed carry of firearms, parental notification) in some parts of the country, ineffective in others. Our society is based on rule of law derived from Judeo-Christian values. These include forgiveness, rehabilitation, basic good in man, tolerance and forbearance. We are not perfect - we fail continually to reach the standard, but we keep trying.

Islam is free to hold onto its religious values as well as practice them. No one in the West will attempt to prevent or alter that. But the West expects Islam to be a considerate guest, not an unruly child. Rather than murdering each other, it would be a good thing to try and reach the standard together. But where do we begin to trust? It may be that only Armageddon will get us there.

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