It is a basic tenet of liberal thinking that a multi-cultural
society has many benefits and that the world should welcome the widespread,
heterogeneous distribution of ethnic, racial and cultural groups. A corollary to this is the sense that
cultural and religious practices should always be respected and protected.
Since 9/11, progressives have rallied to resist the
wholesale denigration of the Muslim culture by right wing antagonists. They
have insisted, correctly, that Islamic terrorism is confined to an extremely
small group within Islam. They have
waged a social media battle against the vile stereotypes of both Muslim and Hispanic
cultures. More recently, they have
fought to prevent Trump from implementing draconian immigration and refugee policies
based solely on religious or cultural affiliation.
The necessity for liberals to oppose stereotypes and misinformation
from the right is clear when one reads that at one point 24% of Americans
believed that President Obama was Muslim, or that an equal number believed that
the U.K. or other European countries had whole regions where sharia law was
practiced.
But in answering the call to oppose the wholesale
condemnation of various cultures, the left has also been put in the difficult
position of being reluctant to strongly advocate against some cultural
characteristics or practices that are clearly undesirable.
There are basic conflicts between some elements of modern
Western culture and Islamic culture. The
Pew Charitable Trust has spent years charting Muslim and Western views on
various aspects of morality and culture.
The results are simultaneously encouraging and concerning. One encouraging result was the great majority of Muslims
that oppose suicide bombings, Jihad violence and Isis through the Muslim world.
Perhaps the most difficult area is the concept of freedom of
religion. Muslims favor freedom of
religion by a significant majority, yet a majority in most Muslim countries are
also adamant that sharia law should play a large role in society. More shockingly, in many Muslim countries, a
majority support the death penalty for apostasy (a Muslim leaving the religion)
or blasphemy. These are views and
traditions that are simply not acceptable in any society, yet liberals are
hesitant to speak out strongly against them for fear of contributing to the
overall prejudice against Muslims.
Another major area of friction between Western and Muslim
cultures is the role and treatment of women.
The tradition of women covering themselves in varying degrees is in one
sense a cultural choice that one must respect, as long as it is truly the woman’s
choice to do so. However, the forced
covering, and application of punishments or ostracism when a woman chooses not
to cover is not an acceptable cultural tradition in modern society and even
liberals must be vocal in their condemnation of such practices. Other aspects of the limited role of women in
Muslim society that are evident in some Muslim countries may in part be
cultural norms that we must accept, but it is hypocritical for liberals to
advocate for women’s rights in one situation and ignore them in another.
The general question of how to deal with morality is still
another dividing point between some Muslim (though certainly not all) and most
Western cultures. Homosexuality,
adultery, premarital sex, alcohol and a variety of other ‘morality’ issues are
viewed quite differently in the two cultures.
When these viewpoints are simply different cultural practices there is
perhaps some friction and division, but they are certainly not
irreconcilable. However, in cultures
where these behaviors are punished by law or extralegal means, such as honor
killings or imprisonment, then liberals must be just as critical as they would
be in judging their own societies.
The western world has only recently shed many of the same pernicious
cultural and religious practices that now hamper the development of some parts
of the world. It wasn’t so long ago that
we were burning heretics, condemning adulterers to death, or treating women as
chattel.
Multiculturalism can make a beautiful contribution to civilization
by creating a new interwoven fabric of traditions, foods, and behavior. We certainly do not wish for nor advocate a move
toward a homogeneous society. As
liberals, we have a responsibility to dispel the cruel stereotypes and
misinformation that are spread by ignorant people who react negatively to
anything that is strange, unsettling or different, and thus fear the
assimilation of different cultures, ethnic groups or religions.
But we must also not hesitate to speak out against aspects
of any culture or religion that violate the basic human rights, freedoms and
decency that have been won at great cost in the advance of human civilization.
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