The Myth Of A Moderate Malaysia
Posted: August 31, 2009.
Print: Forbes
Sadanand Dhume, 08.31.09, 12:00 AM EDT
If you’re looking for an image that captures the conflict between fervent Islam and basic human decency, look no further than the Malaysian city of Shah Alam, about 15 miles west of Kuala Lumpur.
On Friday, a group of about 50 men, agitated by plans to relocate a 150-year-old Hindu temple to their neighborhood, made their feelings clear by staging a protest march from a mosque to a government building. Amidst the usual cries of “Allahu Akbar” and “takbeer,” the protesters deposited the freshly severed head of a cow—an animal sacred to Hindus—before the building’s gate. The group’s leaders made threatening speeches and, perhaps caught up in the spirit of the moment, hammed it up for the cameras, stepping and spitting on the cow’s head. The police—who have been known to arrest people for such crimes as attending a candle light vigil or wearing black in support of the opposition—stood by and watched…
One thing. I think the author’s confident assertion that Harris et al. can lambast any religious idea without “thinking twice” probably looks a lot different from their vantage point. Who knows when one person whose morality has been ruined by religion will decide to do gods work and try to hurt them. it takes no small amount of courage even in our country to declare your disapproval of religions.
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