Diversity vs dogma

I'm taking a break at work, and flipping through a May edition of The Advocate. There are a couple of interesting stories on Muslim lesbian women, women who have courageously stood and said "count my opinion, and you may not like what I have to say..."

And I think on the various messages in these articles and in their words. There is Irshad Manji (of Canada as near as I can tell) who talks on "Muslims not asking hard questions about what happens when faith becomes dogma."

This statement provoked my own mind to delve into this, applying it well beyond Islam. Surely Islam is not the only belief system that should stand such scrutiny. Look around us, at what those in this country would like to do with their belief systems vis a vis the rest of us.

People are all too willing to blindly follow someone else's outline of a belief system, get themselves all in  a lather if the precise syllabus is deviated from, and soon begin viewing those who are not believers as sinners and as evil.

My grandmother once told my sister and mom you could tell a Protestant by their eyes, they were soulless. (She had issues with those not Franco-American as well, hello mom, even though she was adopted and English-American by birth. Go figure.) Damn beer is empty, go figure again.

Where was I? We need to reshape our belief systems in such a way as they are less judgemental and harsh, and more enabling of critical thought and examination, more willing to embrace and respect, more willing to slide over on the seat and make room for someone who looks a little different.

We distrust each other. It's easy. What do those Muslims 8,000 miles care about anyway? And we then outline their outlook, as if everyone there thinks in the way we perceive, or that we have captured the essence of their belief.

And we do it right here, with each other. How can you believe that? Don't you know you will go to hell for how you live? Don't you know those Christians are all pigheaded dogmatics too? And we aren't? There are times I catch myself thinking something, and a big 'whoa!' forms over my head. Time to think a bit further, nelle dear.

In another article, author Christopher Lisotta delves into the 'clash' of lgbt folk and Islam in Europe, and wonders if we are next. He argues America is better suited to handle the assimilation of Muslims, and to have the discussion/tempering advocated by Irshad. We are? America? Did I miss something?

Perhaps we all are, eh? Perhaps we all have it in us, but simply refuse to admit we can be dogmatic and accepting, open and closed minded, contemplative and rejecting, fearful and fearless. If we see these things within us, we can challenge them.