Signs of the Times

You know how intense the clash of disparately evolved cultures and societies is getting when you can see it by simply loading a webpage.

As I loaded my [tag]Google[/tag] homepage this morning I first saw this: Cleric’s 2nd wife sparks polygamy debate. The article discusses the reaction in Indonesia of a [tag]televangelist[/tag]-style [tag]Islamic[/tag] cleric (yes I know it sounds like an oxymoron) and his decision to remarry — without divorcing wife #1 first.

The debate this has sparked is healthy because it’s highlighting once again the idea that [tag]women[/tag] in some Islamic societies are without the basic human rights that their male counterparts enjoy — for instance, in most Islamic societies a woman is not free to divorce her husband or take a second husband. She is usually blamed for being raped, cannot own property in her own right and is beholden to father, husband, or elder brother for all of her life. Is this “oppression?” If so, is this [tag]oppression[/tag] [tag]religious[/tag] or societal? Is there a difference?

Here’s another case in point: Islam finally outlawed female genital mutilation. It took ten high-ranking scholars listening to days of expert witnesses during this conference, but they finally realized and decreed that female [tag]genital mutilation[/tag] to be “punishable aggression and crime against humanity.” Now the big question is, how to get the word out to the 33 countries that still practice this barbarity.

In some cases even asking these questions can be dangerous — but the evolution of the human spirit cannot be repressed forever. As our Islamic brothers and sisters wrestle with these questions and formulate their own answers, they’ll be caught in the clash between the yearning to stop change and the incontrovertible need for it.

Islam isn’t the only religion enduring fundamental changes. In this article, conservative [tag]Jews[/tag] voted to allow [tag]homosexual[/tag]s to enroll as rabbinical students, and even to bless [tag]same-sex[/tag] couples. They stopped short of allowing gays to marry, or to loosen the restrictions on sexual activity — and the tumult that ensued from all this still hasn’t settled — but it is yet another sign that even the most conservative factions of a culture can’t resist the inevitable rate of change forever.

The last article I’d like to offer today is entitled Manliness is next to godliness. In it, you’ll read about a very testosterone-driven revival of what I have to term “primitive male Christianity.” Though I tend to sympathize with their frustration and agree with the general ideas espoused by some of these men, I don’t recommend regressing to some primitive state in an attempt to correct the problem.

Guys, the way out is forward into integration and wholeness, not backward into atavistic displays of hormone-driven vulgarity. The latter only leads you back into the issues that Islam is now facing in an attempt to transcend its tribal origins. Rather than rebirthing problems [tag]Christianity[/tag] had already resolved, let’s move on. Reclaim your inherent maleness and use it to evolve!