haxxiy said:
You're right Pema. But... there's no cosmic force that will eventually make a just, equitable point of view prevail over the others. Neither there is any guarantee that the billions of people living in culturally oppressive societies (either due to religion, state, or both) and approve of it will necessarily come to see the light, so to speak. Just look at data from Pew Research etc. to see how the world's growing majority actually thinks. Even the younger ones. You mentioned a long string of cultures from Australia, dating back to England and before. And guess what, each of these steamrolled over more peaceful peoples inhabiting these lands just because they could. The mesolithic Europeans most certainly thought Anatolian farmers were aggressive to their standards, and in turn, celts must have looked like the devil with their shrunken head totems, only to be outdone in violence by the Anglo-Saxons and their mastery of the art of torture. The two largest countries in the world are nationalistic dictatorships actively engaging in genocide. Huge swathes of the globe follow a misogynistic religion that punishes apostasy with death. Having a Discovery Channel relativistic mentality and thinking that everyone coming in is just an exotic flavor of the same ideals you share is borderline naïve. Many - even among the young, like I said - believe in things that would make Idaho Republicans look like San Francisco hippies. This is why ideas like democracy, human rights, and environmentalism should be pushed and even mandated, should the need arise, as long as the countries that follow these still have the economic and diplomatic might to do so. There is a million practices, customs, laws etc. out there that aren't and shouldn't be considered humankind's cultural heritage, just a pile of garbage nurtured throughout the millennia by sick and twisted minds. |
When it comes to the law and legal matters, the law of the land trumps culture, beliefs and all else until challenged in a court of law.
For example, same-sex marriage went against Australian/American culture at one point due to their strong right-wing conservative religious power bases, but equality got pushed front and center, conservative culture be damned... And as nations we are better for it.
Change shouldn't always be discouraged.
Change for the sake of change that reduces the benefit to society and it's people should be discouraged.
It's interesting you bring up religion though, because I believe all abrahamic religion to be deplorable in some form, there is a reason why Islam, Judaism and Christianity are derived from the same middle-eastern religious context.
What I have issues with is hypocritical Christians constantly moaning about Islam, but will turn a blind eye to the fact the bible believes in stoning children to death, that we should not eat pork, that it's okay to own slaves... And that we should punish apostasy.
All the same bullshit with a different package essentially... And yes there are Christian denominations that believe and support the old testament in it's literal form.
But we do need to respect peoples rights to 'freedom of religion' as well as peoples rights to 'freedom FROM religion'. - And we do need to crack down hard when religious institutions break the law, no exceptions.
Religion is a part of our cultures, I am happy to learn about it, I'm not going to follow it though until they can prove their Gods exists with empirical evidence.
And I will most certainly fight religion if it encroaches on anyone's freedom.
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