Democracy before Religon

I published this in today's edition of JyllandsPosten. AGORA did a marvelouss job translating, posting it on AGORA right away. Click the headline to read all of it; here you'll find only a few quotes.

Democracy before Religion
by Poul Højlund, March 15, 2006 in JyllandsPosten today

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"Apparently a lot of people in high places in our Democracy have a hard time understanding the simple fact that Islam as traditionally interpreted is not compatible with Democracy. In a reversal of priorities, they are defending Islam's Freedom of Oppression by referring to the Freedom of Religion. Some even manage to bring the immigration debate into play: distancing oneself from the lack of Freedom in Islam is the same as discrimination or even racism.

Why is diminished Freedom acceptable when Religion is involved? Did not the Boers of South Africa call apartheid part of their faith? The Ku Klux Klan maintain their right to lynch black people as part of their faith - are they suddenly sacrosanct? No. None can be allowed to justify violations of Human Rights by invoking religious beliefs.

Only when it comes to Islam do some get all respectful and considerate of the intolerable. Where are the wrathful demonstrations against the massive oppression of free thought in the Moslem world? Against the grotesque oppression of women? Against the ongoing human rights violations? The standards by which we judge the Islamic world are obviously lower than the standards we apply to the rest of the world. To me, this seems like some kind of reverse racism, a twisted version of Kipling's old say about The White Man's Burden."
....
"Islam is like a one-way street with no exits. If one goes down that road, there is no turning back, no possibility of reforming or renouncing one's faith, no possibility of seeking other solutions and truths than those prescribed in the unchangeable and eternal laws of the Shari'ah. The system is self-perpetuating and completely closed. Islam was created by Muhammad with the intention of making it everlasting and universal."

Read on at AGORA, click headline. By the way: Muhammed is depicted again in my piece, the marble version from US Supreme Court. Let's see what happens ..