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Originally Posted by Caligulette
Jewish Orthodoxy is a very closed society for women, to be sure, and it is not pleasant in many cases. So is Mormon Polygamy. Generally speaking, fundamentalist religions of any stripe are not so hot for the femme.
There is, however, even in secular society, a lot of pressure put upon people to stay in really bad situations.
I realise that in more closed societies the pressure is enormous, and do have huge concerns about domestic (ie, household) issues as far as the law goes (any law), and do not deny that there will be problems, some serious. There would indeed need to be ways to guarantee the rights of everyone involved. It is not a simple issue by any means.
However, the benefits of recognizing the mediation have to be considered as well. As with any recent immigrant population, Muslims have been demonised. In light of 9/11, they have been perhapse more so than many groups. They are constantly looked at in many major media outlets, and by xenophobes in general as the Other- and a dangerous Other at that. There has been a wholesale rejection of them by a large segment of the Western populations where they have gone. FOR THE MOST PART, however, they are just plain people trying to make a better life as has been the case with immigrants since immigrants began immigrating.
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I am very much aware of all that, as I'm sure you know. I do think it is a good idea to keep lines of communication open. I don't even have a problem with religious leaders mediating as such. I do have a problem with binding agreements, even if the parties agree to being bound by them beforehand. But what I have a problem with most of all is giving a religious 'court' authority over people, even if it is by their consent. And as I have said: the fact that there are different laws for different people. I think it is bad enough that doctors have their own 'courts' that deal with malpractice, or that priests have a special status that for instance journalists do not have.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Caligulette
To have a part of their normal culture given an official nod could go yards in defusing the building tensions. It could actually take away some of the power of the more fanatical elements who like to insist that they are all oppressed and must wage war against anyone who goes against them. Not all Imams are crazed bombers, and people wanting a saner, calmer life would appeal to the saner, calmer elements given that chance.
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I am not opposed to Muslims having part of their normal culture given an official nod, I just don't think this should be it. We have Muslim schools, there are Arab and Turkish stores, there is a Muslim broadcasting company that has its own programs on public tv (although most of them watch Turkish and Arab tv via satellite), there are all kinds of ways they keep the culture alive and I do think that's perfectly alright. This is not IMO.