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This topic is about religion vs. politics. Personally, I don't see how a(ny) religion is compatible with democracy.
As one speaker pointed out, Christianity has undergone substantial changes to become harmonious with today's lifestyle. A religion in its original form, which was conceived thousands of years ago, can in no way fit in our view of a modern world. Islam is no exception. It has remained the same for thousands of years - something to which a friend of mine showed her deep regards.
The problem here is that those who practise Islam are faithful to the religion and resistant to change. It is understandable because changing a religion means changing the sacred doctrine that a religious follower is meant to uphold. However, the challenge is that Islam now exists in another society which in many ways does not see many of its features as "compatible with democracy". Instances that were singled out were the treatment towards women, the closure of the Muslim community and such. I have a lot of Muslim friends and for a while, I have been exploring Islam. I recall at one stage, I asked to visit a Muslim friend's house. He hesitated and did not indicate any possible time for my visit whereas the other Muslims were readily invited and could come over any time. This is an anecdotal evidence of closure.
Of course many of us will often think of the extremist cases when the term Islam is mentioned. The video is a discussion and an attempt to bring a more moderate representation of Islam.
This topic signifies the importance of secularity. The concept surfaced as a result of historic revolutions - science, technology and political philosophy. It has endured centuries of hardship. Many examples of the oppression imposed the ruling church can be drawn, of which my favourite one is Galileo and his heliocentrism which he was forced to deny because it opposed the teaching of the church. A theocratic authority is by no means an optimal model for governance. The speakers demonstrated that apart from Turkey which is a struggling democracy but a democracy nonetheless, the other Middle Eastern states are essentially Muslim states. This harks back to the Europe that consisted of largely Christian states. The facts are there for one to appraise and measure. A pertinent point here is that a dilemma has presented itself: Islam is targeted because some of its principles do not satisfy the way of a democratic life.
The defensive team brought up lots of arguments, which to me were weakly persuasive. However, their last speaker made two important and compelling points:
- What is democracy?
- What is "incompatible"?
So I leave my discussion here with those two questions for you to consider and another, which is obvious but elusive:
- Have we, those who live in the "West", been unfairly marking Islam as a target for repudiation?
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Primum non nocere
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