This is the kind of essay that has fallen out of favor in the last generation, as it's too long for the culture now. These days the rampant takers-of-offense will be so mad after his first few paragraphs, for the once-insouciant but now forbidden 'Married with Children'-style jokes, that they won't get to the serious point at the end. Indeed, the operative theory today seems to be that anyone who would make an offensive joke (let alone a series of them) couldn't have a serious point worth considering.
The serious point is that there's an American heritage of religious life that differs from the French approach, but that he thinks is worth preserving; and that he is willing to take seriously the idea that Muslim women are deserving of a kind of honor for devotion to a holy life.
The problem with Islam is their social, legal, and war coercion methods. Not the covering or uncovering of skin on women. That's not the issue people tend to worry about.
ReplyDeleteThe Leftist alliance and Islam are allies, because frankly they share a lot in common. Their methods are very much alike, even if their goals are semi incompatible.
http://www.ldsliving.com/Ultimate-Guide-Modest-Swimsuits-2014/s/75135
ReplyDeleteI looked online for the American version of this, and behold, on the first page.
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/videos/amish-on-the-beach/
ReplyDeleteUnless some offgrid survival communities are living like that, I can't think of any other data points to search for in modern America.
Since the US is more populated than the Roman Empire, I'm sure there are smaller communities with non mainstream lifestyles and beliefs. Islam isn't the only that looks like they are living back a few centuries.