Monday, January 21, 2008
was just reading a book on political terrorism - and how they try to locate societal factors that might promote religious fundamentalism and terrorism. so one of them was a lack of public space - that there is little room for discussion or pluralism, especially when religious texts are often interpreted literally. then i thought back about the discussion a few of us were having in naz's kitchen yesterday - about how religious fundamentalism is scary because you it is hard as a moderate to argue with someone who supposedly does have "moral high ground", or claim to be privy to knowledge that is beyond you. so my mind raced and a made another link back to its implications on home. about how our policy of how there is freedom of speech, except in areas of religion and race. if the author's account is anything to believe in, then maybe this policy may actually be detrimental to society in my opinion. honestly the growing christian lobby scares me, not just because they have large numbers, but because they happen to be more organised. recent events do suggest that religion may play into politics as much as we claim to be secular. a ban on religious discussion may prevent some really unreasonable knobs from causing serious damage, but we also need to remember that a lack of discussion might also work against moderation.
I would walk
500 miles;9:49 pm
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