The Razor's Edge

The Razor’s Edge

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUVCqRA3D3Q&context=C37c6733ADOEgsToPDskJ8hrI62ZNeA0MBVpV38kpB

We’re standing on “The Razor’s Edge” right now and that edge is getting thinner and sharper all the time. Especially for women. Why especially for women? Because there is a political equivalent of global warming afoot that comprises, in my opinion, a retreat into intellectual and judicial barbarism. And this edge is poised on something we have long taken for granted and cherished…the separation of church and state.

This separation represents a high point of civilization in the Western world. And it’s becoming blurred. How is it that we can celebrate the coming into power of the Muslim Brotherhood along with Al Qaida in the blood soaked countries of Afghanistan, Iraq, Egypt, Turkey and Tunisia and call these triumphs of radical religionists a good thing, a triumph of democratic principles? How can we say that when The Muslim Brotherhood has as its credo:”God is our objective; the Quran is our constitution, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake of God is the highest of our aspirations” ( Principals of Muslim Brotherhood).

Never mind that the Quran advises Muslim men to beat their wives if they don’t obey (A.A. Maududi’s translation of the Arabic text), and a main text seems to be for Muslims to wage war. On a Muslim Brotherhood web site this is explained by a series of articles by Dr. Ahmad 'Abd Al-Khaleq about Al-Walaa Wa'l-Baraa, an Islamic doctrine which, in its fundamentalist interpretation, stipulates absolute allegiance to the community of Muslims and total rejection of non-Muslims and of Muslims who have strayed from the path of Islam. In his articles, the writer argues that according to this principle, a Muslim can come closer to Allah by hating all non-Muslims -Christians, Jews, atheists, or polytheists - and by waging jihad against them in every possible manner. Is this is what the people of the Arab Spring were fighting and dying for? And what the US, Israel, and most of Europe along with the UN are clamoring for in the rest of the Muslim countries?

Hard to believe. So is Joe Biden, US Vice President, when he says, and the President agrees, that the Talban is not our enemy. Wait a minute. The Talban is worse than the Muslim Brotherhood. They’re right up there with Osama bin Laden. If the Talban is not the enemy then why were the American people whipped up to such a white hot hate before invading Iraq and Afghanistan? Why so much death and destruction for so many years? But the odd thing is, now that Obama has done this about face and wants to talk to the Talban, the Talban have turned coy. No talks for them, they seem to be saying, you can kiss off, you American infidels. Now Obama is embarrassed. He should be. He should be embarrassed out of his skull.
But it isn’t just some Muslim groups that are circling the wagons; we have our own home grown fundamentalist leaders. In fact we have one for a prime minister. He most certainly will not open the debate on abortion, as he promised, and I don’t expect him to. At least not personally. His back benchers will do it for him and at a crucial point the matter will become a legal question again and go to the Supreme Court. And guess who will be on the Supreme Court waiting? Four of his own personally appointed conservative judges, who will now comprise a majority on the bench, and who will make abortion illegal. Oh, our Prime Minister is shrewd. He evidentially worships the right kind of God. And the US?

Well, Republican candidate Rick Santorum is now claiming that the US should not only should have a fundamentalist Christian president, but be a fundamentalist Christian nation. And he may well turn out to be the Republican winner, although he and Mitt Romney are only a hair’s breath apart. Yes, the razor’s edge is getting thinner and sharper all the time. We should not mistake extreme religiosity for democracy, or let the media confuse us on these issues, especially in Arab countries. We can think for ourselves and recognize falsification when we see it. And stand up and say so.