Ayaan Hirsi Ali Quotes
A culture that generates more backwardness with every generation.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Politician and writer, prominent critic of Islam, Dutch Member of Parliament, Quoted in The Washington Post, February 2007
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Olasky and many religiously oriented analysts, believe that public shame shapes and controls behavior and if a society does not have a set of recognized norms, and every person is free to determine his own propriety, there will be moral degeneration and there is no way to produce desirable social and political outcomes. This is perhaps the longest political and philosophical ongoing debate. In a society people cannot be free if there is fear, coercion and chaos with public safety primary. But how can this be produced unless there are generally accepted moral and behavioral codes like that of a religion. And then if one has that, and it is dominant, how can someone be free from the coercion of that morality or religious code? There must be freedom not to believe. Or must there be? Many say yes. Many others, especially orthodox leaders of most religions believe, No. Christian, Jewish and Muslim fundamentalists all say No, but then they insist that the norm be theirs.
One of the many difficulties that Muslims have in understanding America is their perception that Islam is snubbed by the government. Separation of church and state is the exact opposite of the basic doctrines is Islam which holds that everything in society including government should be driven and controlled religiously. While that view was true of the Roman Catholic church at one time as well as some of the National Protestant churches, America is the antithesis. In general, where there is a ceremonial role that religions are given by government like prayer at the start of Congressional sessions, there are very few consultations of government officials with specific religions about government civil and secular policy and legislation. There are just too many religions in America and it would be impractical even if it were not against American tradition and even law in some cases.
The problem was that the British had adopted an Indian Civil Service system and instituted an educational system to train Indians. The Hindus attended the schools and did very well on the examinations. The Muslims, however, resisted the secular education, and most of their young men could not pass the examinations. See {616924} & {616925}.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a Somali-born Dutch-American activist, feminist, author, scholar and former politician. She received international attention as a critic of Islam and advocate for the rights and self-determination of Muslim women, actively opposing forced marriage, honor violence, child marriage and female genital mutilation. She has founded an organisation for the defense of women's rights, the AHA Foundation. Ayaan Hirsi Ali works for the Hoover Institution and the American Enterprise Institute.
