What Price Freedom?

Something floated across my Facebook wall the other day that scared me. It was an image of two women in burkas with a caption that read, “This has no place on American soil.” There are several ways to take that statement, but only one rings true for me. If the person who wrote the caption means that no women in America should be subjected to repressive behaviors, I can agree. No person anywhere in the world should be demeaned, diminished or degraded by an oppressive element in society. If the message was supposed to be about the freedom on the human spirit, I say amen.

That was not the first message that came to my mind. In the climate surrounding the Syrian refugee crisis and another Islamic terror attack in the US, I would wager that most people who saw the image of Muslim women in traditional dress thought otherwise. The first thing I thought was that radical Islamic ideology has no place on American soil. This led me to consider just what “radical” means when applied to religious ideals.

The burka represents one facet of Sharia law, a widely held system of rules which regulates Muslim behavior. Sharia is understood to be divine guidance for life on earth drawn from the Quran and other Islamic holy writings.  In America we have a similar situation with people who take biblical instruction about life more radically than others: the Amish – the Hassidic Jews. The only difference I can see is that there are no factions of Mennonites or Jews vowing to destroy America and create a world-wide religious government like the Islamic Caliphate.

I think we need to be very careful how we react to radical religious practices no matter what system they are based on. We would do well to remember the words Martin Niemöller, a Christian pastor who lived during the Nazi period in Germany:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—

Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— 

Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— 

Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

The ruling by the Supreme Court to legalize gay marriage has placed many believers in a tough spot. Our belief that marriage is intended by God to be the union of a man and a woman has become “radical” according to many in America. Preaching the biblical injunction against homosexual behavior has been labeled hate speech. Teaching chastity until marriage is considered outdated by most of society. The biblical injunction to apply corporal punishment to our children has effectively been outlawed in some jurisdictions. Bible-believing Christians are slipping gradually into the “radical” class in America.

If America is to remain the bastion of religious freedom it has been for over two centuries, we might have to get used to seeing burkas as long as the religion that they represent is not violating anyone’s fundamental rights. Protecting the Muslim right to practice their faith protects my right to do the same. I don’t necessarily like it, but I don’t see any other way. Freedom for all, or freedom for none.