Sharia (Islam) and Western Civilization

So McGuinty has rejected calls for sharia law to be used in family arbitration in Ontario, and is going further to ban all religious arbitrations.

Good.

First of all, the separation of church/mosque/synagogue and state is a very important premise of free and democratic societies. We should not have religious rules restricting the freedom of individuals. Paine, Hobbes, Locke and Montesqieu would be rolling in their graves had McGuinty not made this correct decision.

(I can't believe I'm congratulating a Liberal - but in this instance he is behaving like a classical liberal).

Now I'm going to go on a little diatribe about the conflict between Islam and Western Civilization and why I believe the conflixt exists and why there is no easy answer.

Western civilization, which has evolved from a Christian underpinning, went through a period consisting of the Reformation and the Enlightenment a few hundred years ago. The Reformation first broke the control of the Catholic Church on society, and the Enlightenment continued that path by providing an alternative to Christian thought, by birthing the idea of secular society.

Freedom and true representative democracy (such as exists in western civilization), could not exist if not for these changes. Religious control of a society limits it's ability to move forwards, because religions are fixed in the past and are clearly threatened by change. In western civilization religious freedom is allowed (you can believe whatever you want), but religious beliefs and cultural practices are not forced on individuals.

The Muslim world has not had an enlightenment. Yes, during the Arab caliphates that existed from 632 until 1259 there was scientific and cultural advancedment, but there was no freedom for the general public from the rules of the faith. In most Islamic societies today, even where the sharia is not strictly applied, there are still rules in society that are imposed by imams, families and the state that limit the freedom of individuals.

Women for instance have little freedom in Muslim society, and Muslim society has little understanding of secular freedoms and the idea that someone can choose not to be a believer. And in the Islamic world, there is no strict concept of the separation of mosque and the state. They are one in the same, and have been since the time of the first caliphs in Damascus.

Until the Islamic world learns the teachings of the Enlightenment, or has one of their own, the conflict between Islam and the West will continue.