Yes indeed. Funny title I know - but instead of being fast asleep here i am browsing the net which i haven”t had a chance to do in a while. i visited a very strange blog which i haven”t seen in ages but caught my attention a while back - eye on gay muslims - and boy are they a bunch of whiners. I mean they”re pleased some one got fired for “inappropriate” views on sexual orientation - a Dr. Ghazala Anwar. The objection appears to be that Dr. Anwar wasn”t interpreting her religion in a rigid enough fashion, and being a scholar - might encourage other people to think that her ideas were somehow valid. Apparently the fuss being about that someone who has been open about their views on homosexuality ( shock! horror! someone at ease with themselves ..oh my GAWD) could be appointed as a Professor in Islamic Jursiprudence. Which some viewed as ironic. So instead of having some debate.. right, let”s fire this crazy lady, and be done with. We wouldn”t want to question things with an open mind now would we?
“Puh-leese - they do seem rather a mean lot of people. ( call themselves compassionate as well ) their main aim in life seems to be self-denial ( good for you - if that”s what you want) and trying to enforce the same on everyone else. oops no - not quite - just anyone else who is gay ( oops excuse me - SSA -same sex orientation rather) should do the same. should anyone try to reconcile their religion and their sexual orientation - oh dear! - woe betide them - the eye of eye on gay muslims will be on them, pouring their wrath on them for daring to have a personal individual interpretation of religious beliefs. ooh dearie me..
really it”s people like this lot that make dogma what it is. they seem to forget every person has agency, and the right to individual interpretation, seeing as they”re the ones who”re accountable for their own actions.
anyhow, ignoring this lot * apart from providing me with the occasional entertainment* and they very kindly have my name up in lights on their website to - as a response to this post - thanks for that guys! I am flattered.
The wider issue is one of course of religious dogma and potential reform of said dogma. How is that going to happen when people are always sitting at the sidelines, hissing at people who”re brave enough to say i want to think for myself? Well it must be said that at least hissing at them is perfectly acceptable - free speech and all that - at least it”s not a fatwa. Right? It could be a lot worse, and it often is.
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And a serious part of the problem with any sort of open intellectual discussion - to do with to do with “religion” - is this polarization you are either with us, or against us. and if you”re not a 100% with us and you”re questioning, you either keep it very quiet, or you”re feeding the “Other”. Well it”s not very helpful, but i”m not going to keep quiet because im supposed to “toe the party line” . it”s very unfortunate people should try and separate points of view and opinion which is clearly on some kind of continuum, into separate, discrete, clearly defined camps, and imply that any questioning results one in being “placed” into the other camp. Very unfortunate and it”s contributed to the difficulty religion as a whole finds itself in nowadays.
if you”re not convinced enough of the unpalatable aspects (whatever they may and naturally they will vary from one individual to another) you are still supposed to subscribe to wholeheartedly - instead of just being able to take what positives you may find spiritually - one is exhorted to either deal with everything, or nothing. turned into some sort of apostate. Taking sides - it”s depressing, and imposed externally by various people on various sides. As far as I can see, there are some atheists who are just as dogmatic as some who have “faith” - personally I would like to be more “convinced” - what a luxury. The way I see it though, and as some wise people have pointed out to me, we”re all on a journey. most of us are on a journey, and haven”t “arrived” but are looking. how are you going to “look” meaninfully if you”re not allowed to express what you”re thinking along the way? that”s would correspond to a fixed way of interpreting religion, rather than a dynamic way - which uses the journey as a metaphor. Some of us have more to discover than others, and if we can”t express ourselves along the way, well fat lot of good it is. in my opinion, these are the negative implications of “organized religion” : versus some sort of individualistic approach to ethics and self-determination. ( and this isn”t about Islam particularly, in my opinion, it”s organized religions in general. Personally I can”t see how the dynamics end up being any different to that of any patriotic group, tribe, or nation-state. I”ve been doing some thinking recently and have come to realize that the objections i”ve had to what religious feeding I”ve received have been mostly on anarchist principles.
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