Wallenburg wrote:Thermodolia wrote:The ideologies about women and GSMs that are prevalent in Islam should definitely not belong in modern western society. That goes for all other religions that have the same beliefs as well.
If those religions jettison those beliefs they can then stay
There's multiple problems with that statement though. First, the frequently espoused argument that "Islam does not belong in modern Western society" has its roots in extreme racism, xenophobia, and religious intolerance. It really has nothing to do with the backwardness of religious tenets and more with hostility toward people who look too Arab or don't sufficiently approach the same religious camp as evangelical Protestantism. As you are most likely aware, evangelicals are, by and large, not exactly the most avid feminists. Second, I agree that religion is, in general, an obstacle to social progress. However, the idea of banning free belief and worship is even more antithetical to our expectations of a modern, free society (not to mention the more material issues that arise from banning nearly every form of Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, and probably various other major religions).
Islam’s problem with sexism and homophobia isn’t something created by racists and xenophobes. Criticism of those things by groups targeted by that sexism and homophobia is thus not necessarily rooted in racism or xenophobia.
