There's Something Wrong with the World Today

I was disturbed when I heard about Switzerland banning minarets, there's ongoing discussion about banning the Burqa in a few countries in Europe, and now this http://sify.com/news/opposition-to-mosques-in-us-on-the-rise-observers-news-international-khvnafgjbig.html.

What ever happened to the Freedom to Practice Religion? Isn't it something that we've all been told is important and must be protected? Do you then start checking people at your borders, asking what their religious views are before you'll let them in? Isn't it blatant hypocrisy to allow their money in without any questions, but not to allow their faith?

And where have all the voices gone that constantly warn that one day it will be your turn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...) that authoritarian rule is never the answer, that people are people.

At times, I didn't know what to say, whether I had a right to say anything, but this is going too far. We have got to stop having knee jerk reactions to things that we've not considered before. People who are rational and sensible in their dealings with work and family turn oddly rabid when they discuss religion, believing that somehow a religion is responsible for the quirks of an individual. Surely we have thieves of every religion and denomination? We have the corrupt, the wife beaters, the child abusers, none of these can be separated out due to religion and it's even likely that every religion will swear that it is indeed the lack of religion that made them so.

Why have we all turned into this weird bunch of reactionaries? Demanding that Islam be limited to countries that are willing to declare themselves 'Islamic' and that Muslims in any other country hide their faith? Do we require that Hindus not wear caste marks? Do we force Christians to put away their rosaries and other signs of faith? Why are we becoming intolerant of an entire religion because of a few people? I've said this once and I'll say it again we have terrorists of all religions. I know of Hindu terrorists, Christian terrorists, Sikh terrorists and Muslim terrorists. Yet nobody is prohibiting the construction of temples or churches.

We need to stop and think. What are we setting ourselves up for here? A culture of hate and intolerance? Is that the future we want to leave our children?