Ground Report - International Politics

REVIEWED BY: Ms. Cairo

MY RECOMMENDATION: YES

AMAZON SUBSCRIPTION LINK: Ground Report

WEB ADDRESS: http://www.groundreport.com/

BLOG DESCRIPTION: Global news reporting and opinion from eyewitnesses.

MY REVIEW: I'm not quite sure about this blog. Let's just say it has political views I disagree with. (I'm all for the ban on burkas, and I wish a ban on the Muslim religion was not far behind. And I seriously doubt if Pat Tillman was murdered because he was about to become an anti-war icon!)

So...check it out for yourself. Several writers contribute to the blog, from around the world, from their own viewpoint.

Sample post:

Is Europe reverting to Religious Witch Hunting?
by SamRatan1 May 23, 2010

Hardly a day goes by without news about the restrictions that European countries have been introducing on Muslim proponents, much of which appears to touch upon a sign of visible expression of faith as is the case with the Burqa, a female full body veil that can make a woman literally invisible. The Belgian government has now made it unlawful for women to be veiled in public places. France, a leading light in the secular democratic world, has prohibited the use of veils in public places. The Swiss population in a majority vote has banned minarets; A mosque yes, but no minarets may be built in Switzerland. And some politicians want to introduce a general Burqa ban, though Swiss hotels, banks and other businesses that profit from these customers prefer not to proscribe such dresses; Understandably, considering their dependence on such customers.

Looking at the practical aspects of being confronted with someone who is masked makes it impossible to identify the person in question. Recently, a local flight in India made a priority landing because a fully veiled passenger, who could not be identified, refused to lift her veil for identification. Some countries have implemented legislation prohibiting the use of masks in public places, this as a form of protection, when identifying people by law enforcement agencies. Some put up the argument that the woman has the right to decide whether she wants to be veiled, others say that the veil is not a religious requirement and is the right of the woman in deciding to wear one or not.

Today this appears to have seriously cut into the freedom of religion enshrined in democratic governments. We need to recall that women have been veiled for ages both for religious and other secular reasons such as fashion or plain protection from the elements.

We seem to be attempting to tackle a problem in dealing with symptoms that have far reaching implications in a secular world. In looking for a panacea for many of our questions, we seek answers in the metaphysics of religious justification for the present and future expectations. Our yearning for paradise has not diminished and religion has been able to offer answers that science has yet been unable to do, albeit answers that merely promise rewards with no proof.

Oil and water do not mix and attempts to find commonality between common concepts of universal law and religious tenets of right and wrong have been not successful. Every attempt at a common civil code that is universal and acceptable has not been successful, where religion is relegated to the private arena of one’s beliefs. This is like asking someone to be a KKK member in private (if that is the person’s choice) but at the same time swear allegiance to the US Constitution in public. Politics cannot be yet bereft from religious faith and here lies the conundrum.

Without going into the discordant and disparate notes that major monotheistic religions have evoked and the continuous attempts to interpret these in varying contexts, it appears to be an impossible task to reconcile these to come to a common and universal agreement. The deliberations of many learned men and women have brought us no closer to what can be perceived as common and universal understanding of what is acceptable. Are we doomed to continue to perish at the religious battlefields that have torn man asunder, or does the answer lie in a complete disavowal of religion?

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