A Freethinker's Search for Wisdom and Truth

Bill asked “Why don’t I see women in your society. It seems like they don’t even exist here?”

Hafiz’s grandfather chuckled “yes we know how to control our women, you in the west give women too much say in things. Women in our society Bill have a different role. It says in the Koran that women are subservient to men and should not be allowed to do certain things reserved for men. They must also normally stay at home and if they do go out they should cover up with a veil to avoid tempting men.”

“That sounds a bit harsh”, responded Bill, “there are some things in our Bible that we don’t necessarily believe unless we belong to a fundamentalist sect”.

The old man replied “In the world of Islam we believe the Koran is the word of God revealed to us by Mohammed and therefore indisputable.”

“Surely there must be room for interpretation,” commented Bill.

“No Bill, our religious leaders have interpreted the Koran and in Islam it is not permitted to criticise the religion, the Koran is the word of God. The way women live in our society is directed by the Koran and is therefore the will of God.” Bill was secretly appalled by this explanation, that these people couldn’t criticise their religion and felt justified in treating women as third class citizens, but he kept his opinion to himself. He remembered the history of his own religion that had once murdered and tortured so called heretics in the name of God for trying to expose the obvious falsehoods in the prevailing dogma. He wondered if Muslims were just out of date and if perhaps they would one day catch up with the rest of the world or whether the fundamentalist nature of the religion itself would always prevent reasonable and rational debate about their beliefs.......

“It’s true Jonathon that we need to be tolerant but there must be a point when tolerance goes too far. There must be a balance against other considerations. For example the USA and Europe tolerated the Nazi regime until 1939 when it was too late to stop them from taking over Europe and exterminating 6 million Jews. If we believe that good and evil are not absolute we can rationalise any atrocity. We have a real dilemma in today’s modern terrorist environment. How far do we tolerate religious extremism before we say ‘that’s far enough’? Do we allow them to go as far as Bin Laden?

I believe right and wrong are merely extensions to the Universal Laws. They are therefore absolute. The difference between right and wrong is taught by religious leaders and by parents to their children the world over. The problem is to figure out what is right and what is wrong; good or bad, sin or virtue. Most people want to do the right thing but are misguided to varying degrees.”........

Hamish listened carefully to Bill’s outpouring and thought in silence for some time before responding. “You are aware by now Bill of the law of karma, that everything you do will have consequences that will directly come back to you.”

“You mean if I have an affair with Angela, I must be prepared to accept Sarah doing the same to me”.

“Yes I suppose you could put it that way” replied Hamish “but there are other Universal Laws besides karma that are impacted by your thoughts and actions.”

“Are you talking about Moses’ Ten Commandments like the one about not committing adultery?”

“Yes” Hamish agreed “although the laws given to Moses have been misunderstood and misinterpreted over the years and they have also been altered for political purposes from time to time. There are indeed Universal Laws that man must learn to live by or break at his peril. God’s Laws are simple in principle but their interpretation and the rules for how they interact with each other in the myriad of complex real life scenarios is not easy to discern. One lifetime is not enough for the average person to learn to apply them in every situation. The good thing is that they can be learned from reason and experience.”