Religion and faith are personal, but it’s also more than that. It also happens to be one of the most powerful tools for unifying masses, which the elites never fail to utilize. It’s quite like patriotism; loving Singapore is a personal decision for each and every one of us, but serving National Service isn’t. Embracing Islam would be a personal choice, but being subject to Sharia law isn’t. However there is no perfect balance for this. It varies from community to community.
Islam is a way of life to most Muslims. It governs their daily actions and it provides a foundation and guidance to life. This is something that is taught from the time when a Muslim child becomes old enough to think and understand. It is weaved into the consciousness constantly throughout one’s life via religious classes and through sermons by religious leaders during Friday prayers.
I feel it’s necessary to point out that we impose religion onto children BEFORE they are old enough to think and understand. Isn’t it strange how we find it perfectly acceptable to point at 3 year old kids and say “this is a Buddhist child, that’s a Muslim child, that’s a Catholic child”, but we would be uncomfortable to say “This kid is a liberal democrat, that kid’s a communist”, etc? Most kids are too young to know or decide for themselves and they are indoctrinated by their families and communities. If I had been born into a Muslim family, I would no doubt be a Muslim myself today, because I would not have had any choice in the matter.
So, to most Muslims religion is not really something you change on a whim or fancy.
The main reason for this is that there is extremely strong social (and in some cases, legal) pressure against apostasy. It’s not just ‘an Islam thing’- many Catholics and Christians see no reason to commit to their faiths apart from the fact that their social lives would be destroyed if they renounced it. So they go through the motions to avoid the shame. Sometimes it’s a case of realpolitik; there have been US Presidents in the past who have been known to be non-religious but still swore upon the bible to placate the masses.
A similar trend can be observed in divorce rates. Many people have different ideas about why there are more divorces these days than before, and many of the older generation like to say “Kids these days just don’t value marriage anymore.” Interestingly, divorce rates are highest where women are most empowered economically and socially. Women in unhappy marriages in the past had no choice but to remain in those unhappy marriages, because leaving the institution would be suicide.
So a Muslim today is bound to his religion the same way that women in older times were bound to their husbands, and a Muslim who does not want to practice Islam is forced to grit his teeth and put on a show just as the unhappy wife was. I’m not trying to suggest that there are many Muslims who would gladly jump ship if they could, but we would be foolish to ourselves if we believed that there are none.
It’s like it’s perfectly logical to know that driving a car too fast may result in and have proven to cause injury or death to yourself and/or others if you lose control of the car but people do it anyway because they like the rush. They like the experience. You don’t blame the car or the maker of the car. You blame the guy who was behind the wheel, if an accident occurs because of the car being driven too fast.
While your analogy is well crafted and completely logical, it implies that everybody of every faith is on even playing fields. However, this isn’t the case. A Muslim in Malaysia has fewer liberties than an atheist in a Western community. Let me expand the analogy- imagine that being in Malaysia is like driving on a wet stormy night, and being in America is like driving on a bright clear day. If you drive 60kmh on a slippery wet road and you kill yourself, it is your own fault. You might protest, “but I went 100kmh on a bright clear day and was totally fine!” It sounds silly, but that’s the argument that most people use!
The issue of contention here is not about the driver’s state of mind. Drivers who go 100kmh on slippery roads and Muslims who consume in alcohol in Malaysia are afflicted by the same range of problems- they’re either deluded, ignorant, hopeful or plain stupid.
Sometimes I really wonder why people are so ‘concerned’.
Personally I’m concerned because freedom of choice in religion is limited. If you were born to a Negro family in America before the 1860s, you were denied citizenship, freedom, equality under law. If you were born a woman in the 18th century, you were denied the right to education and vote. To this day, if you are born gay, you are still denied the right to marry in most places in the world.
For all of the above, causes have been stepped up to earn freedom for the oppressed. The Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment freed the Black people, and women today (though not all) possess equal freedoms as men. The LGBT community is fighting their war and making progress.
But little is done for those who are denied freedoms resulting from their birth into a religion which they did not choose for themselves. That bothers me.
Religion: It’s not just personal.
Religion and faith are personal, but it’s also more than that. It also happens to be one of the most powerful tools for unifying masses, which the elites never fail to utilize. It’s quite like patriotism; loving Singapore is a personal decision for each and every one of us, but serving National Service isn’t. Embracing Islam would be a personal choice, but being subject to Sharia law isn’t. However there is no perfect balance for this. It varies from community to community.
I feel it’s necessary to point out that we impose religion onto children BEFORE they are old enough to think and understand. Isn’t it strange how we find it perfectly acceptable to point at 3 year old kids and say “this is a Buddhist child, that’s a Muslim child, that’s a Catholic child”, but we would be uncomfortable to say “This kid is a liberal democrat, that kid’s a communist”, etc? Most kids are too young to know or decide for themselves and they are indoctrinated by their families and communities. If I had been born into a Muslim family, I would no doubt be a Muslim myself today, because I would not have had any choice in the matter.
The main reason for this is that there is extremely strong social (and in some cases, legal) pressure against apostasy. It’s not just ‘an Islam thing’- many Catholics and Christians see no reason to commit to their faiths apart from the fact that their social lives would be destroyed if they renounced it. So they go through the motions to avoid the shame. Sometimes it’s a case of realpolitik; there have been US Presidents in the past who have been known to be non-religious but still swore upon the bible to placate the masses.
A similar trend can be observed in divorce rates. Many people have different ideas about why there are more divorces these days than before, and many of the older generation like to say “Kids these days just don’t value marriage anymore.” Interestingly, divorce rates are highest where women are most empowered economically and socially. Women in unhappy marriages in the past had no choice but to remain in those unhappy marriages, because leaving the institution would be suicide.
So a Muslim today is bound to his religion the same way that women in older times were bound to their husbands, and a Muslim who does not want to practice Islam is forced to grit his teeth and put on a show just as the unhappy wife was. I’m not trying to suggest that there are many Muslims who would gladly jump ship if they could, but we would be foolish to ourselves if we believed that there are none.
While your analogy is well crafted and completely logical, it implies that everybody of every faith is on even playing fields. However, this isn’t the case. A Muslim in Malaysia has fewer liberties than an atheist in a Western community. Let me expand the analogy- imagine that being in Malaysia is like driving on a wet stormy night, and being in America is like driving on a bright clear day. If you drive 60kmh on a slippery wet road and you kill yourself, it is your own fault. You might protest, “but I went 100kmh on a bright clear day and was totally fine!” It sounds silly, but that’s the argument that most people use!
The issue of contention here is not about the driver’s state of mind. Drivers who go 100kmh on slippery roads and Muslims who consume in alcohol in Malaysia are afflicted by the same range of problems- they’re either deluded, ignorant, hopeful or plain stupid.
Personally I’m concerned because freedom of choice in religion is limited. If you were born to a Negro family in America before the 1860s, you were denied citizenship, freedom, equality under law. If you were born a woman in the 18th century, you were denied the right to education and vote. To this day, if you are born gay, you are still denied the right to marry in most places in the world.
For all of the above, causes have been stepped up to earn freedom for the oppressed. The Emancipation Proclamation and Thirteenth Amendment freed the Black people, and women today (though not all) possess equal freedoms as men. The LGBT community is fighting their war and making progress.
But little is done for those who are denied freedoms resulting from their birth into a religion which they did not choose for themselves. That bothers me.