Cliff Berg
Aug 8, 2017 · 2 min read

It is true that American Muslims live a different reality than Muslims in Muslim countries. Those in the US are protected by US secular law and also by a larger US culture that has risen above religion. When the US was first settled, Puritans were the Taliban of the day. Our culture advanced above that, but there is still a constant pull by religious extremists to pull us back to those kinds of things. The hijab is a backward pull, just as a cross is, or a yamulke.

Muslims in Islamic countries have a very different experience than Muslims in the US, thanks to the fact that US culture has advanced beyond religious fanaticism and our laws protect us from religion — by making secular law supreme (above religious law). To me, wearing religious symbols is a sign of fanaticism, and it gives me pause. I see it as exactly equivalent to someone saying, “Yesterday I read in the news that a person walked on water, and I believed it; and I also read that they then parted a river and walked between the parts, and I believe that too”. I would think they are somewhat nutty, and would stay away. Yet today, when someone claims religious devotion, we give them a pass: “they aren’t crazy: they are just religious”. Hmmm. What we really mean is that they have been indoctrinated.

Given how dishonest politicians are today, and how humans have always used stories and information to garner power, is it not obvious that all of the stories of religion are a machine for acquiring a following? What is the most likely explanation? — that these stories are true, or that they are made up in order to obtain religious devotees? Of course, ancient tales are often based on some true events; but they are heavily embellished in order to make them more interesting and to support the teller’s claim that they are someone who is closer to “God” and therefore should be followed.

I would hope that in the far future, we would not be troubled by any of that anymore, but I also think that the need for religion is deeply rooted in the brain chemistry of a large percent of the population and so we will never rid ourselves of it.

    Cliff Berg

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    Author and IT consultant