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Religion isn’t a personal matter

Religion isn’t a personal matter

  • Posted by Maryam Namazie
  • On December 18, 2011
  • 6 Comments
  • Islam

I just found an in-depth interview I did with Virginia Haussegger on Australia ABC News 24’s One Plus One programme which aired in September 2011 on Youtube. In the interview, I talk about everything from apostasy, sharia law to death threats and moral relativism and how religion isn’t a personal matter…

 

6 Comments

Al B. Quirky
Ok, kay... so an Iranian ex-Muslim carefully explains how Sharia discriminates against women; Western interviewer suggests she's being racist. WTH? Sure I've witnessed this mindless inference before, but usually directed at Westerners.
michaelbrew
Did the interviewer seriously suggest that not allowing Muslims to impose Sharia law might be racist? I mean, even discounting the whole "Islam isn't a race, it's a religion," telling someone that they can't make laws based on their own religion that apply to people who may not share that religion or that interpretation of their religion can in no way be misconstrued as discriminating against a religious group by any intellectually honest person. Well, I didn't think so, anyway.
Robert Vickerstaff
I agree with Jet - Islam is a religion not a race. How lazy of anyone to use the term racism in this context. What makes that claim doubly bizarre is that Maryam's "race" is nominally an "Islamic" one, but in any case race has no bearing on the issue of the status of sharia in the UK or Australia. We are taking about the universal human rights granted by the (actual) law being negated by the imposition of religious dogma, on the basis that the victim happened to be born into that religion. That -- the denial of rights based on notional religious affiliation -- is *analogous* to racism. It's a pernicious form of discrimination. People already have the right to practise their religion, and should also have to right to leave it or deviate from its teachings as they see fit, without any legalistic retribution from their (former) co-religionists.
Jet
I love how the word 'racism' is constantly misused. Speaking about Islam has NOTHING to do with race, period. It cannot by definition be 'racism'. The idea of 'voluntary' Sharia is just silly. Do they ask people to sign on a petition 'I hereby agree to follow edicts of any sharia court, including those calling for my stoning for offenses of other people, like being the victim of rape'. How many women are in the front lines of these protests for Sharia law in non-Muslim countries? And why oh why do Muslims think that Sharia law should be a part of secular laws in non-Islamic countries that aren't theocracies? If you are that desparate to follow Sharia, do it. Just don't be surprised if it goes against local laws, and if there are conflicts. And the only logical reaction to death threats against people doing a certain non-harming actions, is more people doing that action. I think that every time someone advocates death to someone for drawing a cartoon of Muhammad, every non-muslim who hears of it should immediately draw one. Fanatical Islamists can't kill us all, and if they riot in their own country, they really harm themselves the most.
samsalerno
Thank you miss Namazie for all of your efforts to curtail Islam extremism. I belong to a freethinker group in Cleveland, Ohio. And I know the people in my group are concerned about the spread of sharia law. Most of us do our research and know what it's about. But by no means are we able to match your on going efforts. You are a highly respected woman in our community. I am eternally grateful for all you do. Thank you.
    Rafiq Mahmood
    Oh I agree with you there, Sam! For sheer energy Maryam is simply amazing. I rather suspect she is actually a number of clones. No single person can surely do as much as she does. But there again, I am just a mere man. Now why don't you persuade Maryam to come and give a talk in Cleveland to the Cleveland Freethinkers and the CFI? That way I'd only have to buy one airline ticket to see all of you :-) In a sense, Maryam, you are wrong. Religion is a very personal thing, although not a private one. There is nothing more terribly personal than feeling a steel cable around your neck, facing a circle of people about to throw stones at you or picking up the phone to hear someone saying how he and his friends are going to personally send you to hell. We have to fight it with all effective means.

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Maryam Namazie