United States, and Australia where religion was often used as a tool to
eliminate Aboriginal language and culture. Religion is the great destroyer of
culture.
Granted, there are many works of art we can point to and say they were
inspired by religion, but without religion there still would be great works of
art; artists would still be inspired. Many things inspire art: war inspires art,
murder inspires art, rape inspires art. Just because something inspires art
does not mean it is something worth supporting and protecting. We should
strive to free culture from religion, not include it in the definition of culture.
Freedom From Religion
What is often cited as the failure of multiculturalism is in reality the failure of
too much accommodation; we cannot accommodate practices that isolate in
an inclusive society and expect that society to remain inclusive. Cultural
practices are only preferences. Maybe someone who grew up in Taiwan likes
to eat stinky tofu, and maybe someone who grew up on the East Coast of
Canada likes to eat donairs, these preferences are not absolute. The East
Coast Canadian and the Taiwanese individuals can eat either stinky tofu or
donairs and no one is going to be told they are going to hell. Society is
enriched by both of their cultural practices. However, despite their cultural
background, if you give a Muslim bacon it is a serious violation of their
religion and could potentially result in serious consequences. The only
difference with the Muslim is religion. Religion tells this Muslim he cannot eat
bacon, and it is absolute. This is why religion cannot be included as a part of
a true multicultural society; religion is absolute while cultural preferences
are not. We cannot include in multicultural societies practices that exclude or
isolate because they allow for no alternatives.
Multiculturalism is about inclusion; this is its fundamental intent. But, to be
inclusive does not mean we should include those that seek to exclude. There
are good reasons why we limit the free speech of those who preach hate and
try to limit the free speech others, and we must limit the freedom to express
oppressive religious practices for those same reasons.
We cannot accept practices that oppress women. We can not accept face
veils. We cannot accept genital mutilation. We cannot accept forced
marriages. We cannot accept honor killings. We cannot accept sharia justice
on our streets meted out by gangs of armed thugs. There should be no room
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