Multiculturalism: the good, the bad and the ugly (Part 3)
When is multiculturalism ugly?
“Contrast is the mother of clarity.”
—Os Guinness
Most immigrants arriving from other countries happily choose Canada as their destination. Their motivation for moving is often the desire to start life afresh. For some, the driver is opportunities that are unavailable in the country they are leaving.
Alternatively, a not uncommon driver is the desire to shed certain aspects of the culture within which they were living including authoritarian regimes, legal systems that abuse personal freedoms, and unpalatable religious rules and doctrines. Among those emigrating from Muslim-majority countries, the aforementioned concerns are sometimes top of mind.
In this context, it is noteworthy that Western leaders often decry antisemitism and Islamophobia in the same breath, in effect treating them as moral equivalents. They are not. Antisemitism means hatred against Jews. By contrast (and recognizing that many choose to define Islamophobia as hostility toward Muslims), its obvious connotation is fear (phobia) toward Islam (the ideology, not the person). And fear is not unwarranted with respect to many aspects of Islamic ideology.
As noted previously, the current explosion of antisemitism including the clear call for the elimination of Israel and the Jews altogether (“from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”) has deep roots in the ideology of Islam. Moreover, the establishment of parallel Islamic communities throughout the West, particularly in Europe, is the opposite of cultural assimilation.
Differences between Islam and Christianity are material and many.
Many, if not most, Muslims living in Canada have adopted core Canadian values relating to the treatment of others. However, some have not and this subset is becoming larger and more problematic. While differences between Islam and Christianity are material and many, let’s focus on some that affect social harmony, either disrupting or encouraging it.
Contrast being the mother of clarity, let’s compare the treatment of non-adherents of Islam by Muslims in Muslim-majority countries with the treatment of non-adherents of Christianity by followers of Jesus around the world.
Islam
The Qur’an and the hadith (attributed reports about what Muhammad said and did) make it abundantly clear that non-Muslims occupy a lower rank in the human pecking order. Indeed, it’s not uncommon for their religious leaders to label Jews as “apes and pigs” and to persecute Christians.
Islam means submission to the will of Allah of the Qur’an and all four major schools of Sunni jurisprudence teach that everyone ultimately must bow the knee to Allah of the Qur’an. Whenever Islamists take over a country as in Afghanistan, non-Muslims lose rights, often being killed or subjected to a tax (the jizya).
Moreover, Islam is a hegemonic ideology that seeks to expand through the overthrow of other cultures. Following the example of Muhammad, when Muslims are a small minority, they often behave respectfully toward their newly adopted homeland but their demands for various rights based upon Sharia law grow as their population increases.
Christianity
According to the New Testament, Christians are commanded by Jesus to love everyone regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, or religion. Period!
Like everyone else, Christians are imperfect and don’t always follow Jesus’ commands. However, the Bible, from which Christian doctrines are derived, is clearly in conflict with Qur’an-based doctrines that pertain to the treatment of others, including those both outside and inside Islam.
Next week, I will conclude this series with the argument that Christianity is multiethnic but monocultural.
Photo by Aidan Bartos on Unsplash
