Secularism and Freedom

Secularism is the foundation of many powerful educated countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, and Turkey. It defines the separation of Church and State.

One may ask, well why is this so important? Why not have complete religious freedoms even inside government?

The problem is, if government leaders based decisions on their religious beliefs, then we would have wars constantly. Almost all wars in the planet were either motivated or caused by religion, money, or land. Some cases involve assassinations or extremist nationalism.

For leaders however, the three categories of land, money, and religion are the key reasons for declarations of war.

Government leaders must have a sense of respect for all religions and allow freedoms in an equal manner to all sorts of beliefs.

Some of the best cases of secularism were implemented in France and Turkey. Though France continues to violate freedom of speech constantly. In Turkey, you cannot wear any religious symbols in public institutions such as schools or government properties.

So, many religious Muslims who wear head scarves are blocked from entering universities unless they remove their head scarf (or veil).

Today many religious leaders and Muslims argue in Turkey that wearing a head scarf or other religious symbols are a freedom of religion and expression and that the government is oppressing them for their religious beliefs.

The argument is very weak, because we all know that freedom of expression and religion can also create the freedom to do bad things. Many religious people in India and Pakistan carry Sikh Swords which are large knives and they carry it as part of their religion. Now imagine if one of these children get into an argument with other children, they may decide to use this weapon to hurt someone. Imagine students in the United States carrying knives because they claim it's their religious right. Where do you draw the line?

If it is a religious right to wear head scarves in public, then couldn't it be my religious right to dress naked and be a nudist in public? Oh but then I would be arrested in many countries, but what is the difference?

The idea is simple, society has a dress code, and religious dress code should not be allowed in society unless it is a part of society's dress code. The idea is to dress accordingly and decently that will allow people to not judge you in the wrong way. This is why many people in the business world dress very similar because ones that dress awkwardly are not taken seriously.

Some have argued that it is the woman's freedom to dress however way they want. This is an incorrect conclusion, because the head scarf historically is an oppression of women. It is against the equality of men and women. If women should wear head scarves as a freedom of speech then shouldn't men wear it too? Why don't we all just dress like Arabs then?

The Islamic History
Guess what, historically these dress-styles were fabricated by religious leaders in the 1900s after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Mainly the Saudi kings and their religious leaders decided to follow a more strict and literal interpretation of the Qur'an instead of the correct interpretation established by Mohammad and the Caliphates that now ended with the Ottoman Empire. The Arabs had revolted and betrayed the last Islamic Caliphate, so in essence these Arab leaders betrayed Islam and created the foundation to seek fundamentalism. These leaders simply wanted the strict following of Mohammad's life according to the Hadiths (or a volume of numerous witnesses talking about how Mohammad lived and basically are the foundation of Sheriah Law [Religious oppression laws that Islamic states follow]).

If you read books from Dr. Bernard Lewis such as "What Went Wrong?" which talks about what went wrong in the Islamic world that lead to the wars today.

These literal interpretations and more usage of the Hadiths which in my opinion are just fabrications made by unverifiable sources even though Mohammad said to simply follow the Qur'an and only that.

So what are in these hadiths, here are some examples of the Hadiths and if you know Muslims who are following them they may not be bad people but they are following incorrect interpretations of Islam (which usually lead to fundamentalism; the idea is to live exactly how Mohammad lived, which usually has a sense of anti-Technology):
- For Men: Sit down while peeing, in order to avoid getting dirty. (completely ridiculous)
- For Men: Do not shave your beard
- Floss your teeth with roots instead of current technologies.
- Wear a headscarf
- Wear traditional clothing

Some Muslims choose to follow certain rules, while ignoring others. One Pakistani I know followed the first rule I mentioned but didn't follow the second (How Weird!).

So as you can see, Islam has a struggle within itself as to the correct ways to practice Islam. For Turkish Muslims they are the most moderate and liberal of all Muslims. They even drink alcohol and sometimes eat pork (which is mentioned in the Qur'an as big sins). Their justification is that these laws are guidelines for a better life (pork is a filthy animal [as mentioned in pulp fiction], and alcohol leads to crime, addiction, and death a lot of times), and they say that they won't be affected by the terrible effects of eating or drinking these and they believe that it isn't such a big deal. Though there are many Arabs that smuggle alcohol and drink it. So if you are a Muslim who has eaten pork or drank alcohol, do not think that you will automatically go to hell, this is nothing serious.

However, Muslims may ask "well don't these rules help make Muslims a good people that will eventually make them better people?", well no this is absolutely WRONG. In fact, it has kept Arabs and the Arab world in a state of primitiveness.

For example, Ramadan is a celebration in the Islamic world by fasting and only eating dinner to feel like the poor, so that you will go and help the poor and unfortunate, it is a very interesting and benevolent celebration of Muslims. So these rich princes with millions of dollars (there are like hundreds of princes in Saudi Arabia) have a lot of money to help the poor in Ramadan. So how is it that Saudi Arabia still has a MASSIVE POVERTY population?

Conclusion
So whatever you believe it's important to think balanced and moderately. Do not assume that every little sin you commit is going to take you to hell. As long as you are being a good person, it doesn't matter what you believe. Do not think in a prejudice way about Muslims or other religions, because this doesn't help civilization progress. Everyone has good intentions, but just different and odd methods at being a good person.

Your belief in God or other beliefs are for you alone. Do not force your religion onto others and do not promote religion because that is not your duty, if people like your religion they will believe in it without your help.

Secularism is a method of progress for further development and the respect of religion so that people get along, if governments become religious they will make the wrong decisions and fight with one another for no reason.