Tuesday 19 September 2006

Can liberalism be the new Evil?

Will liberalism unite the "faithful" and bridge the gaps between the religions? In a way where the believers unite to reject the liberal mind?

Is that possible? Is that a threat?

Can a world exist where believers in human rights, and freedom of expression, and with them the masses of agnostics and atheists, can ever make peace with the faithful that reject them?

Are religions too conservative, that they cannot keep up with the human condition?

Questions have been floating around, but never addressed. There was a time when people were isolated enough for those questions to lay dormant. Keep to yourself, play the social game, and all would be OK. It’s not like that anymore.

If you are reading this, you probably don’t know me, yet you hear a voice. A point of view. No matter who I am. You take it as a view. If you share that view, you'll reach out. So will I. The days of burned books, or restricted talk is over. We cannot be in denial. We have to face each other.

Can religions catch up with what’s going on?

They say that by coping with the enlightenment movement, the Christian church saved itself. Now some call and even demand for Islam to embrace modernity and social change through its own enlightenment. They are hoping for an eventual cessation of recent violent expressions that seem to plaque the public view of Islam.


So many questions? Where to begin? Where are we going?
Do we need a new prophet? A miracle to shock us? An alien to remind us of our humanity?


Is there a point to all these questions when there are needing populations all around us? The one in the cardboard box on the sidewalk. The hungry from an environment we are abusing. The sick from a disease that can be cured. So many, of us, with simple problems, that can be solved now.

Yet we fight for property and dare I say greed. Perhaps it’s just fear. We exaggerate words into conflict. We fall into little tiny fractures of our own definition. Your are so. She is so. He did so because he is such.

Changing the world is simple. How come we are not doing it?

I hope these days of fear which breed violence, will move us all and make us scream that we had enough. Will these days make us see how we have been hijacked by one idiot to another. Pointless and draining. This situation molds us into something we would never want to be.

Where to go from here?

16 Comments:

Blogger Witty said...

You really lost me there! What you said didn't make sense to me (or it could just be me). But one thing is for sure, you're mixing libralism with secularism.

Cheers

Wednesday, September 20, 2006 2:02:00 pm  
Blogger Witty said...

*ahem* again, still too broad for me to pinpoint one issue to comment on. So, I'll keep my thoughts to me for now :)

(I felt like saying: "c'mon, just say what you mean!" while I was reading your post. Sounded to me like you're the conservative one here.)

Cheers.

Thursday, September 21, 2006 10:48:00 am  
Blogger wonders.me said...

What happened here? How come my username is not showing up? Hmmm, I'm starting to hate blogger.

Thursday, September 21, 2006 12:05:00 pm  
Blogger wonders.me said...

(Copied from a previous comment)

I think I lost myself! :)

I just ran with a thought, that became many random things. That's why it's probably confusing.

Thanks for pointing that out. I should clean it up.

I sort of meant to mix liberalism with secularism. As in, from the point of view of a conservative, both could be viewed as a threat.

Thursday, September 21, 2006 12:06:00 pm  
Blogger wonders.me said...

witty
You're on my case, eh? LOL. Although, I appreciate that you're not letting this go.

As I said, I just went with a thought, and that's why it seems to be all over the place. It was as they say a train of thoughts.

For now, I feel like I should just leave it like it is. Probably because I haven't narrowed it down yet. It's a bunch of questions, which I'm full of!

I will revisit the topics in other posts. I'll be on guard then, but will also look forward to your comments. Thanks

Thursday, September 21, 2006 12:15:00 pm  
Blogger Witty said...

lol *ahem* sorry, thought you did revise it. AH! me and my gold-fish memory. No worries :)

Thursday, September 21, 2006 12:20:00 pm  
Blogger Fuzzy said...

hehehe Blogger is ok i guess, and many moved to BETA, and BETA means Testing a new thing that has BUGS, enjoy the BUGS lol

Thursday, September 21, 2006 1:50:00 pm  
Blogger Fuzzy said...

" Now some call and even demand for Islam to embrace modernity and social change through its own enlightenment".

some call who ?

Islam as a religion is timeless, maybe some Islamists need enlightenment not Islam

Thursday, September 21, 2006 1:54:00 pm  
Blogger DiLLi O MiLLi said...

يعني ما لفيت موضوع أمعقد أكثر من هذا؟ :D

ماني فاهمه ليش أمبين أن الليبراليين ملحدين في نظر الديانات الأخرى؟هذا اللي فهمته في بداية المقال


Faithful <= Whom??
And why they reject the believers in human rights?! I don't think there are religions that reject human rights!!

As once a "WITTY" friend said : You really lost me there!

Plzz...bro less complicated Posts next time :D

I Loved the Days Left Count Down.
MISS U...

Friday, September 22, 2006 3:23:00 am  
Blogger wonders.me said...

dilli_o_milli: Sorry about the long response! bare with me

والله ما قصدت إن يكون الموضوع معقد. بس اضن، انه صحيح شوي مبعثر.والأسئلة أكثر من التعليق. والمصطلحات كالعلمانية والليبرالية و المحافظين الخ تؤدي لتشويش المعنى، لأني أظن إنها مصطلحات غير ثابتة، تتغير من شخص لشخص.

قصدت أقول بالبداية إن هل ممكن أن أليبرالية (قبل أن تكون حركة سياسية)، وما تدعي له من التفكير الحر و الشخصي، أن ينضر لها كخطر أو تهديد بنظر الديانات التي بأصلها محافظة؟

ِAbout the faithful, I meant believers in one God (Islam, Christianity, and Judaism).

So, is it possible that liberalism with what it calls for openness and free thought conflict with those religions?
----------------------------
On, the practical side, you don’t think these religions have issues with human rights? The way I understand it, most religions declare human rights and define them for the believers. So, as we keep seeing in many parliaments (not just Kuwait), the discussions seem to go around scripture and other points of view.

Even more practical, about human rights and religions. What about freedom of religion itself (and I mean absolute, without any discrimination)? Women’s rights (social and political)? What about civil rights (abortion, homosexuality, birth control, sex education)? Hereditary rights? It goes as deep as you want. In Kuwait we got stuck with people from the stone-age thinking mixing the sexes in school is wrong, celebrations should be banned, etc. In other places, there is double standards about drugs and alcohol - as I apparently heard about smooky-Sader ;). The list can goes on and on.

It seems to me there is more commonality between the religions, than conflict, so perhaps the liberal ideals might be thought of by conservatives, of these religions, as a common threat.

---------------------------
Definitely the post was too wide. It was a bit of rambling on, cause I go on and say other stuff.

I’ll behave next time, and stick to one point.

Glad you like the count down. I like the new icon ;)

Miss you too, and I hope you feel better!

Friday, September 22, 2006 1:43:00 pm  
Blogger DiLLi O MiLLi said...

What u just clarified to me can't be answered by writing back, it needs a face to face discussion, we will do that when u come SOON :D
I feel better thank u dear.

Embarak 3alaik elshahar :*

Friday, September 22, 2006 3:47:00 pm  
Blogger Witty said...

هممم درب على ما أقرى .. أقراه باجر إن شاء الله .. بس يايه أقول مبارك عليك الشهر وعساك من العايدين والفايزين

Friday, September 22, 2006 10:26:00 pm  
Blogger Fuzzy said...

since you like BETA testing, Windows Vista ( the Final Pre-release version ) is available as a free download from microsoft
Vista

try it out and let me know what happens hehehe :)

embarak 3alaikom el shahar

Saturday, September 23, 2006 12:48:00 am  
Blogger wonders.me said...

دلي يا دل
OK. I feel like it’s a call back to the headmasters office, but I’ll leave it at that. Besides, it would be an absolute please to see you again…even if it’s going to be a "face to face discussion" :)
علينا وعليك
Perhaps my message was too soon, eh? Glad to hear you feel better

witty
ماتقصرين،وانشالله علينا وعليك

fuzzy
I’m an adventurer, I’ve been on Vista for a while. I think microflop has got something right this time. ٍٍ

علينا وعليك

Saturday, September 23, 2006 7:06:00 am  
Blogger wonders.me said...

oops, please=pleasure

Saturday, September 23, 2006 7:08:00 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Religions are the root of all the world's problems

Sunday, September 24, 2006 12:09:00 am  

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