Feedback is always one way and it reflects the impact of what is written on the person…

So, try not to take it personal

I wasn’t expecting much from Vogue of course, but Time highlighting it is what irked me.

Saudi have to wear icky black gowns.

Last I heard Saudi women were suing Batman claiming that his costume was a serious copyright violation.

… Not really.

In any case, just because they have to wear that doesn’t mean the entire world has to look down on and pity them. It makes a lot of hard-working, intelligent Saudi women sick to be repeatedly treated like this.

you are saying most people in the Muslim world would still choose religious rule over democratic rule.

Be aware of the many hypocrisies involved in certain Muslim people claiming to want democracy. It is alarming. A perfect case is Kareem’s, lots of Muslim activists and supposed advocates for “free speech” refused to support him and in fact justified his imprisonment, simply because they were “offended” by his posts. Many people who want democracy here barely understand what it means, all they want is political freedom, but they would have no idea what to do with it, it seems. Not if they justify people like Kareem being imprisoned. I am against religion dominating people’s lives when they lead to illogical situations such as this. Everyone wants freedom for themselves, but many refuse to understand that real democracy means feelings will get hurt all the time, ideologies will be questioned, people will be criticized. And what are they going to do? Burn tires in violent rallies and threaten others with death every time someone writes a blog post or article criticizing their political or religious beliefs? It drives me nuts. I want to see more Muslims fight for minority religions, and those being violently persecuted in our societies, before they run around claiming to want democracy. I dislike it very much when Muslims pout about discrimination and Arab-Muslims racism when we ourselves discriminate and are racist against so many minorities in our own cultures. Who are we fooling? Anyways, this is besides the point. But I felt like mentioning it here to prove how hypocritical and self-important many people are. I’m sure this applies to people other than Muslims, but our experiences are somewhat worse and more frequent than in other societies (at least that I’m aware of.)

I admire anyone who is in that situation and who is still able to steadfastly hold onto their ideals and principles.

It is very hard, my heart goes out to the thousands of people who as we speak are being tortured in prison simply for holding and expressing certain opinions. For as long as such people are being imprisoned, and whose imprisonment is being justified and uncared for by the masses, we can’t possibly function properly under any democracy. Not until people learn to fight these grave injustices, regardless of political and religious stances.

I’m saying is that I don’t believe that the seperation of church and state should be an ideal “impossible” for Muslims to accept, because it may be the only viable solution.

I don’t see this happening without the extremist elements in our societies rising violently. Right now, simply too many people oppose this idea, and something like this can result in major political and social instabilities. There are many steps to take before putting this sort of thing into action, don’t you think so Jessica?

I think it comes down to the extent of the interplay between religion and politics. I still vote with my morals and religious principles in mind, but I live in a democratic system where if I am in the minority on such issues I ‘lose.’ This is the choice one would have to make, and from what I understand of your comment, you are saying most people in the Muslim world would still choose religious rule over democratic rule.

I think many Christians, too, used to feel that seperation of church and state was a sin – look at the Catholic/Protestant issues in Ireland, the Church of England, ect. However, society (and religion’s reaction to society) was able to evolve and still keep religion as founding principles for democracy. In fact, many Catholics would credit Catholicism with the ideal of seperation of church and state…although that’s debatable, in my opinion.

I understand that there are many people who are persecuted in the Muslim world for purporting these ideals, as there were many people jailed/killed for making this same argument back in the time of Queen Elizabeth and Mary, Queen of Scots. Unfortunately, it’s often persecution that moves change, so it’s a necessary evil. I admire anyone who is in that situation and who is still able to steadfastly hold onto their ideals and principles.

I guess what I’m saying is that I don’t believe that the seperation of church and state should be an ideal “impossible” for Muslims to accept, because it may be the only viable solution. If it is right now impossible to accept, then I would say that there needs to be an evolution of understanding what is acceptable or not.

Of course, this is easy for me to say because I am not Muslim and I would not be persecuted for stating this opinion in my country.

Since no religion can remain perfect or “ideal” once put in the hands of sinful humans, isn’t this actually an argument for the seperation of Church and State?

This is impossible for many Muslims to accept, the Quran is supposed to act as our constitution. While many Muslims understand and dislike the consequences of that, more would pick this religion over human rights (and let’s face it, “ideal” Islam is rarely being practiced in any of the Muslim countries right now, where censorship and crimes are rampant.) If this wasn’t the case, we would have crawled out of these struggles a long time ago.

For a lot of people, just the idea of separating religion from politics is a sin. Remember, there are many people suffering in prison all over the Muslim world simply for putting these discussions on the table.