Too many politicians want us to respect other cultures but the implicit assumption is that all cultures respect human rights.  While it is true that many individuals do respect human rights this is not true of their culture. While most  Muslims are quite ethical and care about other people, even those in other faiths, this is not true of their culture.  That is, it’s not true of the official version of their religion as spelled out by their holy book, the Qur'an, and it’s not true as preached by a large number of their holy imams.  In particular, Sharia law does not respect the rights of women and has no place in our society.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali is a tireless advocate of these points and continually slams Islam for having no respect for  the rights of  women.  Although some Muslim countries like Indonesia, Malaysia and Turkey have secular governments, fundamentalist Muslims are working to reduce the fragile separation of Mosque and State that exists there.

Scientology is getting more into the news recently.  Russia has now decided it's a hate-mongering organization (Moscow Times) and is treating it as a criminal organization; England and France long ago decided that it hardly worth being called a Church; Australia is debating whether it deserves to be given a tax exemption (article1 and article2);  last year, the St Petersburg Times in Florida ran an exposé of Scientology practices;  famous Scientologists John Travolta and Tom Cruise have been getting scornful press;  and more.  What surprises me is why Scientology can get away with their totally unethical and sometimes criminal activity.  Too many people seem to think that because it's a "religion", it should be left alone.  But it didn't start out as a religion - it just calls itself one because 1) it allows it to be tax exempt and 2) they can get away with talking about mystical things without men in white coats carting them off.

If a person can simply accept that there is no God and appreciate that the world is a self-generated 'natural' occurrence then one can cherry-pick the holy books for anything that is fundamentally 'good' for all of humanity and in that process he/she will realize that 'goodness' is an inbuilt human trait and that the 'goodness' factor exists to improve humanities ability to survive. If one is honest and rational in that process, they will also realize that humanity also includes 'bad' qualities and he/she can then work to eliminate or at least reduce those 'bad' qualities that work against survival and enjoyment of a life.

Complex arguments from theologians or philosophers are of minimal help to the ordinary citizen of the world. The majority of humanity must find easily understandable reasons for a better appreciation of 'goodness' that can be translated into everyday living. Reliance on external, imaginary creator guidance or leadership from those who profess that a 'God' speaks to 'them', puts members of the human species into a position of subservience.  Such authoritarian guidance only works to reduce self-directed rational thought about our existence and, unfortunately, seems to be a natural means for developing autocratic states. i.e. "do it my way or suffer punishment."