Should Religious Freedom protect ALL religious practices?

[Pattylt]

Yes that’s true. Just as certain Christians justify certain actions or beliefs by stating its biblical, the Quran is interpreted in various ways to justify actions that are cultural at the root.

Edit to add… the areas that culturally perform FGM just happen to be Muslim. Had Christianity predominated instead, it would be interesting to see if they continued practicing it with biblical justification

 

[Pattylt]

Let’s hope so…however if a group is determined to keep some tradition alive, they tend to find a way to justify it. Scary thought, huh?

 

[Shasta-Rose]

Calling the Catholic faith “an arbitrary opinion” is an offense against God

Yes, it is if you’re Catholic, as we both are. But not all of the country is.

 

[Padres1969]

Indeed. It’s cultural not religious. Unlike say male genital mutilation.

 

[ATraveller]

As for anti-vaxers, most belong to evangelical or pentacostal churches, and the Amish, not “new religious groups”.

That does not seem true. The Amish being the exception, who have not been included in the following.

Most in major U.S. religions support requiring childhood vaccination | Pew Research Center

 

[Neithan]

FGM prevalence in north-eastern Africa varies according to religion. In Ethiopia for example, it’s practiced by about half the Catholics, and over 80% of Muslims. (source p.321)

While it certainly wasn’t invented by Islam, it’s been adopted as a custom and brought to other parts of the world through Islamic influence, especially the Shafi’i school, which introduced it to Indonesia.