Unjust law

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Butaperson

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Ok, so Catholics are obliged to follow civil law unless it is unjust or immoral.

I was thinking about this question the other day. In Iran, it is mandatory to wear the hijab. In my opinion, this is an unjust law. It corrupts the freedom of the person for no reason except an interpretation of a religion I do not ascribe to.
Covering your head is not wrong, and granted, if it culturally modest, for a Catholic it is even mandatory (although it is my understanding that many Iranians are against this law, so whether a headcovering is necessary for modesty is debatable). However, regardless, it is an unjust law. If I went to Iran to live, should I submit and cover my hair in order to follow this Islam-based law? What if I want to commit “civil disobedience” and go out in public with exposed hair in order to protest an unjust law? I don’t know what the penalty is, but I’m sure people have done much more in the name of freedom. Is this wrong for me to do as a Catholic?
 
For my part, just wearing the hajib in and of itself is just not such a big deal that I could justify the possible or likely violence and harm to others that could occur. The Blessed Mother wore something similar. If wearing the hajib also came with a requirement to bow to the east with everybody else, five times a day, pray from the Koran, if these laws were basically telling me to be a Muslim, that would be another story.
 
Antegin said:
For my part, just wearing the hajib in and of itself is just not such a big deal that I could justify the possible or likely violence and harm to others that could occur. The Blessed Mother wore something similar. If wearing the hajib also came with a requirement to bow to the east with everybody else, five times a day, pray from the Koran, if these laws were basically telling me to be a Muslim, that would be another story.
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I get that. Wearing a headcovering is not wrong, and it can even be good. However, there is a huge difference between choosing to wear the hijab as a form of modesty, and being forced to wear it by the government.
This is different than public decency laws. The hijab has not always been widely worn in Iran, these laws are relatively new, and they are only in place because of Islam. It’s not a harmful law, but it is an unjust one.
Maybe I’m just a radical American, but I consider clothing to be a form of speech and I consider free speech to be important. Isn’t that something worth fighting for?
Also, how would violence and harm to others occur? If I committed civil disobedience, I would be the one punished, unless others decided to follow my example (of their own free will, of course).
 
Freedom of speech, woman equal to men, these are American concepts that are very good but are not accepted in all countries, especially in many Africa Nations and the Middle east. Those countries have just as much right to their sovereignty as we do. When women’s civil liberties are really being violated,
  • forced marriages,
  • forcing Christian women to adopt Islam,
  • taking children away,
  • stoning or hanging for offences like talking back to her husband or nonsense the husband made up so he can get rid of his wife and move onto the next one,
these are real issues that blood is going to be spilt for. Foreign women, usually journalists, have been chased down in the street by lynch mobs who would have had them stoned if other men hadn’t risked life and suffered injury getting them out of harms way. When in Rome do as the Roman’s do. When in Saudi Arabia, Arab Emirates, or anywhere else in the middle east, wear the appropriate clothing and pick your battles.
 
Antegin said:
Freedom of speech, woman equal to men, these are American concepts that are very good but are not accepted in all countries, especially in many Africa Nations and the Middle east. Those countries have just as much right to their sovereignty as we do. When women’s civil liberties are really being violated,
  • forced marriages,
  • forcing Christian women to adopt Islam,
  • taking children away,
  • stoning or hanging for offences like talking back to her husband or nonsense the husband made up so he can get rid of his wife and move onto the next one,
these are real issues that blood is going to be spilt for. Foreign women, usually journalists, have been chased down in the street by lynch mobs who would have had them stoned if other men hadn’t risked life and suffered injury getting them out of harms way. When in Rome do as the Roman’s do. When in Saudi Arabia, Arab Emirates, or anywhere else in the middle east, wear the appropriate clothing and pick your battles.
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So freedom of speech is not worth fighting for? Does that mean the Revolutionary War was an unjust war? I mean, we weren’t being stoned or killed or forced to convert when America was a part of England. It wasn’t a huge deal, not like that. It was solely over freedom. I’m not a patriot at all, but geez…is America just the result of a massive, widely committed sin?

Now, I don’t know the numbers, but let’s say the majority of Iran is against the hijab laws, but they are unwilling to protest because they are still religious. Where does that leave the country?

I’m just using this one law as an example. I understand the concept of pick your battles. But there are more than enough laws in the world, which are not “wrong”, but are subjectively unfair. How do we decide when it is moral to protest, and when we have an obligation to obey?
 
Some countries don’t really have a concept of “freedom of speech” and covering yourself is considered a religious/moral issue there. So, pushing your own agenda on them is disrespectful of them and could get you in a lot of trouble. They aren’t going to “get” what you are trying to do and many women who live in that country agree with wearing the covering. Besides any government punishment, you would be seen as a loose woman in such a country and therefore putting yourself in danger of assault.
 
Butaperson said:
Now, I don’t know the numbers, but let’s say the majority of Iran is against the hijab laws, but they are unwilling to protest because they are still religious. Where does that leave the country?
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Iran ain’t Saudi Arabia. Or Afghanistan. A majority of Iranians probably are against the religious law imposed on them, and don’t bother to observe them when they’re not being watched.

As Americans, we don’t get to see much of what goes on in Iran, but I have friends (who are not Americans) who travel to Iran semi-regularly for business reasons. The Iranian people are much more modern and secularized than you might think. Women are more free, and often highly educated. I very much doubt that most of them have any desire to wear the hijab.

They’re unwilling to protest because they’re afraid, not because they’re religious.
 
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