This week, there was a story
on the BBC news website regarding Theresa May’s outline for
additional ‘anti-extremist’ legislation, curtailing the freedom of speech,
movement and association of organisations deemed ‘extremist’ (whatever that
means).
The extremely worrying nature of the proposed laws would probably take
up a blog post by itself, but that’s not what I want to concentrate on
here. The comments section swiftly
filled with people either decrying or hailing the ideas. Predictably, many people took ‘extremism’ to
mean primarily ‘Muslim extremism’ and couched their remarks accordingly.
At least one person said something along the lines of the following, and
I have seen it multiple times before:
“If I was living in a Muslim country and tried to convert people to
Christianity, or tried to build churches or went out on the
streets preaching the destruction of the country I was in, I’d be arrested and
imprisoned/deported in the blink of an eye, so why do we allow these people to
do the equivalent here!” A direct
quotation for you: “My feet wouldn’t
touch the ground. My head would.”
What their argument boils down to is “These countries are oppressive and
dictatorial, so why shouldn’t we be?
It’s what they’d do in our place!”
This isn’t even an ‘eye for an eye’ argument, it’s a desire to equalise
everyone at the level of the lowest and the worst. “Why should we uphold personal freedoms when
they don’t?” “Why should we have the
rule of law when they don’t?”
“Barbarians murder, torture and rape, so why shouldn’t we?” “The beasts of the field root in the muck for
food and fight tooth and nail for scraps.
Why shouldn’t we?” Why should we
try and be better than them?
We should be proud that we live in a society in which one can believe
what one wants, say what one wants, wear what one wants, do what one wants,
assuming it doesn’t hurt others. It
should be a matter of pride that the poor and the dispossessed of the world
make a beeline to us. Instead of whining
about immigrants taking advantage, complaining about ‘scroungers’ on benefits,
we should be standing tall, happy to be an example to the world that the best
and only way of truly judging a country is by how it treats the poorest and
most vulnerable.
The true test of whether you live in a free society is whether you can
speak out against that society without fear of prosecution. It is whether you can state categorically
that you disagree with the fundamental truths of every single other person in
that society, if that is what your conscience dictates, and do so without fear
of persecution. At the moment, I am proud to say that I do. I am truly afraid that this may not always be
the case, and I do not believe that the greatest threat to our society is in
what our government is pleased to refer to as ‘extremists’.
Why should we treat them well when they wouldn’t do the same for us in
our place? Many of the people asking
this question insist that British Muslims are refusing to integrate, forcing
their culture on ours and forcing their values on our British Christian
ones. Here’s a Christian value for
you: “You have heard that it was said,
‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, do not resist an evil
person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek
also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat
as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to
the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow
from you. You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbour and hate
your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
That seems fairly clear to me.
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