I think to say "it needs to change" is...problematic. It's their religion. If Southern Baptists, or the Amish, or Mormons for example, want their women to stay home and have babies, if they fear the impact of "education" and so educate their children at home, where they won't be "polluted" by modern values (like equality), then who are we to tell them to change? I feel the same way about Muslims as I do about Southern Baptists.
I don't care what role they choose for themselves, what I get upset about is when they want to change the roles for EVERYONE. In that sense, I find Christians much more officious in the US than Muslims (although perhaps Muslims would be if they could be). I hate all mixtures of church and state. Extremism, as long as it is just extremism at home, really isn't a threat. It's only a threat to others when it focuses outward. Many religions are quite extreme (like the serpent handlers in Ky), but they don't really focus their extremism on others, so no one really cares.
If women wish to be part of Islam, or any other religion, because they want to give up their "rights" (as you and I see them), in a free society that must be an option. To force people to be free when they don't want to be is not freedom, and makes people crave authoritarianism even more (since I do think the appeal of authoritarian religions and political leaders is that they release people of the fear that comes from having to decide, from freedom, in other words. Freedom can make people nervous, and fearful. Freedom involves taking on a lot of responsibility; responsibility not all individuals are equipped to cope with or may think they are equipped to cope with, and many people just don't want that kind of pressure - not here in the US, and not elsewhere) |
