Understanding Conservatives
“Let us not console ourselves by imagining that the worst of beliefs abides in the past. Even if we omit current religious conflict as political, the fate of women under the auspices of custom is one inescapable measure of social coercion and violence. Even today, extremists throw acid in the faces of girls who don’t dress conservatively or girls who dare to want an education. In Africa, fools hiding behind tradition literally slice off a girl’s capacity for sexual joy. In the West, it seems that neutralizing women’s sexuality also happens, using sexual shame instead of a knife. The shaming can go so deep that some women feel guilty for wanting pleasure; other women have a great difficulty finding sexual joy. Similar shaming affects men in different ways; the guilty conflict over the impulse for sexual joy creates unneeded stress. If we ignore the correlation between sexual dysfunction and the moral shaming typically rooted in religion, we are being willfully ignorant.
Do not forget the cruelty of depriving a child of sex education, factual history, science or any of the best knowledge currently available. The withholding of reliable knowledge still happens in America today. Invariably religious-minded people are involved with such censorship. If you want to make your own judgments, leave admiration for holy showmen behind. To be fair, religious moderates do not cause the harm that fanatics do, but the same arguments from scripture justify moderates and extremists in their beliefs”.
Excerpt: The Relevance of Kabir
Buy the ebook. Click on the cover