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August 7, 2004
More Multicultural Follies
Hat tip to a Publius for finding this story. Publius reports that
If anything this story makes me more angry than the one in Miami about the employee fired for eating pork in the lunchroom. I'm reasonably sure that Lina Morales will win her case, and that most Americans see her as being in the right.The New York Times today (August 4) reported on efforts in Canada to allow Muslims to apply Sharia in disputes over property, inheritance, marriage and divorce. The Times is late in reporting on the establishment of the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice in Canada. In “Justice Canadian Style,” responding to an April 28 article in the Washington Post addressing the same subject, I argued that Sharia is the antithesis of civil justice.
The Times report is distinguished from that of the Post by quotations that boggle the mind and reasoning that demands comment. For example, in introducing what would seem to be a Canadian multicultural ideal, the Times wrote, “The late Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau dreamed of a Canada in which distinctive customs and identities could live side by side in harmony. Turning nationalism on its head, there would be no dominant Canadian identity, no melting pot, no official culture.
The Times continued, “H. Donald Forbes, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said he cannot be sure how Mr. Trudeau would have responded to the idea of Shariah tribunals, “but I think he would go along.” He added that as long as the arbitration is voluntary, Mr. Trudeau would probably have concluded that “this kind of meaningful accommodation was in the spirit of multiculturalism.””
What worries me is how American liberals are increasingly taking their lead from foreign countries. We're always hearing about the wonderful government-run health care in Canada and Sweden, and even Supreme Court Justices are citing foreign law.
Application of Shariah will present them with a dilemna, and I'm not sure how they'll work it out. On the one hand the dictates of multiculturalism demand acquiescence to minority demands (well, "oppressed" minorities anyway. Successful Asians need not apply). On the other, Shariah is anathema to Western beliefs.
I saw the battle lines drawn a few years ago when some Muslim women demanded to have their drivers license pictures taken while in full veil. The response of most politicians was quite tepid, with few willing to come out and say that their demand was ridiculous.
Posted by Tom at August 7, 2004 9:56 AM
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