"Tolerance" is an odd word. I've read that the secular government of Turkey, supported by the secular military, was very tolerant. I thought being "tolerant" included concepts like freedom of expression. Looks like I was wrong.
Turkey got a new constitution in 1980, after a coup by secularist military officers. The secularists decided that it was important to protect university students from head scarves, so they wrote a ban on students wearing that dangerous article of clothing into the constitution.
Twenty seven years later, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Muslim, is re-writing the constitution. Apparently religion and politics are hot issues in Turkey, as well as America.
I don't know Turkish culture well enough to fully understand the horrors represented by head scarves, but I know how deeply repulsed many sophisticated secularists are by religious symbols.
When I was going to college, and to this day, schools have fought to protect students from seeing another student wearing, say, a crucifix. It's gotten to the point, at times, where the phrase "freedom of religion" has seems to mean "freedom from religion."
As a devout Catholic, and a man who understands the importance of faith in society, I don't approve of efforts to purge religious symbols from public view.
I find it ironic that the same people who extol freedom of speech and freedom of expression, when a crucifix is displayed in a bottle of urine, or when yet another celebrity mocks religious beliefs, are aghast at the display of some religious symbols in public.
It will be interesting to see what happens in Turkey. The Turkish military has kicked out four governments since 1960, partly for being insufficiently secular.
Related posts, on Islam, Christianity, Religion, Culture and the War on Terror.
Related posts, on tolerance, bigotry, racism, and hatred
Welcome to the 21st century. The Cold War, WWII, and WWI are over.
The 19th and 20th centuries' class conflicts and colonial issues are behind us.
"Oppressed proletariat" and "European expansionism" are no longer relevant.
Religious fanatics want their beliefs to rule the world.
Free people want to stay that way.
Here's my view of the 21st century's great conflict -
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Blogroll
Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1
Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.
In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.
- American Islamic Congress
- American-Islamic Forum for Democracy
- Americas Interests.blog an Australian's perspective (on January 29, 2009 the author announced the end of new posts, and explained his reasons for doing so. He is, however, keeping the 21 months of accumulated posts on line, because of "the role that it plays in a larger ecosystem of information" - I recommend AI as an archival resource. )
- Blog 4 Human Rights: Human Rights in Georgia (the nation) News, Opinions, Videos and Photos (Why blogroll this? Georgia is about 10% Muslim, very near the Middle East: and human rights is a critical part of the War on Terror.)
- CAIR Council on American-Islamic Relations
- The Capitol Tribune "A Journal by a Citizen and Servant of the Republic."
- The Conservative Hawk An articulate conservative blog: definitely political, opinionated, informed, and intelligent
- Defenders Council of Vermont "...our mission is to educate the citizens of Vermont about the nature, reality and threat of radical Islam, deepen Vermonters' understanding of America's heritage, honor the men and women of the armed services and their families, and support the efforts of others to help our armed forces work with local populations in foreign lands."
- DefenseLink Blogger's Roundtable provides source material for stories in the blogosphere concerning the Department of Defense (DoD) by bloggers and online journalists.
- FactCheck.org "aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics". It's "a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania". From what I've seen, this non-partisan website must be quite annoying to all sides
- Fiqh Council of North America "...a body of qualified Islamic scholars who live in the United States or Canada."
- Foreign Policy Watch "Diplomatic strategy, international news, and thoughtful political analysis"
- www.free-minds.org Another flavor of True Islam: one more articulate than many
- Free Muslims Coalition "American Muslims and Arabs of all backgrounds who feel that religious violence and terrorism have not been fully rejected by the Muslim community in the post 9-11 era."
- GlobalSecurity.org "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. We try to bring you the facts, to help you form your opinion."
- Hudson Institute: Center on Islam, Democracy, and the Future of the Muslim World
- IntelCenter "Our focus as a company is on studying terrorist groups and other threat actors and disseminating that information in a timely manner to those who can act on it."
- Iraq the Model "New points of view about the future of Iraq."
- Islam.com "...an information portal site on the internet that is pure, clean and 'worthy of its name', InshaAllah."
- islamispeace.org.uk "...invites you to challenge your ideas of Islam and Muslims."
- Islamic Circle of North America "... to seek the pleasure of Allah (SWT) through the struggle of Iqamat-ud-Deen (establishment of the Islamic system of life) as spelled out in the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)"
- Islamic Republic News Agency Iran's official news agency
- Islamic Society of Central Florida (ISCF) "...an organization which strives to serve the greater Central Florida community by catering to the social, religious, and educational needs of its Muslim inhabitants."
- Islamic Society of North America "...playing a pivotal role in extending those bridges to include all people of faith within North America...."
(but note another view) ) - Islamic World News أخبار العالم الاسلا
- Michael J. Totten's Middle East Journal The War on Terror, as observed on the ground
- Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center A research resource for United States Air Force Air University students, "provided as a public service by Muir S. Fairchild Research Information Center and the Maxwell Support Division."
- Muslamics Affad Shaikh and "A Writing Collaborative" This American Muslim Affad Shaikh, a very west-coast Muslim Los Angelano
- Muslims Against Sharia An organization of Muslims, presumably dedicated "...to educate non-Muslims about the differences between moderate Muslims and Islamists..." - with a curious way of practicing Peace, Love Light, (words in their website's logo).
- National Interest, and as a corollary, Primacy "These are indeed my personal pontifications on the vicissitudes of International Affairs." (Be prepared for big words, long sentences: and unexpected insights.)
- PM’S World
- Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty "disseminating factual information and ideas"
- The Straits Times (Singapore) "...strives to be an authoritative provider of news and views, with special focus on Singapore and the Asian region...."
- Urban Conservative "Conservative 2.0 - A New Breed of Conservative
- Why Islam? "... articles, books etc on Islam and comparative religion. ... initiated by volunteers from ICNA (Islamic Circle of North America). ..."
Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.
In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.
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