Would you have been just as fervent a Muslim as you are now a Christian, Hinduist or atheist if you had been brought up in a Muslim community? Yes, most likely, since faith, beliefs and traditional values are fed to infants as mother milk.
Of course, today as a mature adult, you would not hold your beliefs and values if you were not convinced that they are true, but to what extent are you ready to test their validity? You may firmly believe that the monkey-god, Lord Hanuman is the only deity who directs your life, or, that all-in-life is predetermined by Jesus and the God the Father, and that all other gods are false, but who will determine what is true and valid?
In the Caribbean, beliefs and values are mostly determined by ethnicity, tradition and history. For instance, the British Caribbean islands are predominantly Protestant, the Hispanic and Dutch, Catholic, etcetera. Most Santaria-faithful are adherents to African syncretic religions and descendants of enslaved Africans. So how can you be sure that the beliefs about the world and life you hold, are verifiably correct and match how the world is?
Most of you embrace the religion, beliefs and values you were born into, you inherited, and not because you choose the views supported by the best arguments.
In a discussion between multicultural participants, or participants of all beliefs of life, could you limit yourself to rational arguments only and not argue from your holy books and prophetic or family traditions?
No, not likely, convince yourself by reading some discussions on social media to see how most participants fall back on preconceived beliefs, traditions and values! People do not want to choose views supported by the best arguments and will do everything to derail debates based on reason. With illusionary stories, feeling, and mysticism, often labeled as spirituality, people seek justification for their very own truth.
With enormous diversity in our global community, and, ever increasing heterogeneousness, how can a society be governed and administrated successfully with law and order? If smoking pot is a crime to Christians and a holy duty to Rastafarians, if killing unbelievers by Jihadist-Muslims earns a superior place in heaven, and at the same time warrants a death sentence and eternal condemnation by Christians, how can matters be reconciled when all are living in one community?
French laicity, “you are a citizen in public and a Jew, Christian or Muslim at home,” sounds practical but at the same time calls for situational ethics, for hypocrisy and a double standard!
A multicultural, multi faiths debate is essential to structure a functioning society. Many former Caribbean colonies that evolved into sovereign countries miss such an ongoing discussion and suffer from an increasing mismatch of beliefs and values amongst its people that make governing ineffective. Segregation in nearly all walks of life has become the unfortunate result, segregation rather than integration, not only by culture and ethnicity but also by ethics and values.
Bron: CuracaoChronicle
M=@Sonny: mijn mandarijn is niet zo goed, maar mijn peer wel.
Chinese wijsgeer Fok Yu Toe, 1223-1267.
@La Stiwz
Een oude Chinees spreuk* zegt:
handel = handel en je gaat nooit voor hetzelfde geld met twee vrouwen aan de wandel.
* Chinese wijsgeer: YacoPoenLegge
@Sonny:
Waarom heb jij het over verschillende prijzen van jouw partners?
@破土3
不错的话，我们现在也可以用普通话或广东话例如投票
The segregation Jacob is able to recognize is part of his own upbringing where society was divided by the different religious faith pillars (‘verzuiling’). This segregation along religious lines was never anchored in the Dutch Caribbean and Surinam as it was embedded and an integral part of The Netherlands society. The Caribbean for certain has always had a great influx of diversity (people, ideas, languages etc.). Therefore, what is being described in the column, while for the most part general observations, derails at the point of diversity and government. The (verzuilde) society of The Netherlands was able to thrive by respecting the other pillars (zuilen) and work with them wherever necessary for the common good. This respect (tolerance) for the other (tradition, religion, way-of-life) is something that is part of the general ‘makeup’ of the people born and raised in the Dutch Caribbean. It is just how they grew up. Segregation occurs when foreign ideas or concepts are being imposed (at times violently) on the other in order to deliberately create an ‘us versus them’ situation. Colonialism and the justification for slavery (racism, I am better than you) are such examples of imposing with violence something foreign, extreme, on Caribbean societies. Some have been better than others in undoing these (historical) shackles.
Please put off (sorry)
@Sonny Please put of your blinders (or blinkers) and try to suck in some of the diveristy inherent to the Caribbean.
Knipselkrant gathers its information from different sources. And in the Caribbean we speak different languages. Jacob wrote his article for an English speaking audience. For the benefit of this audience the response should also be in the same language.
1 x 1 = 2 ! inderdaad Jacob moet ze troep maar in een Engelstalig blad posten.
Altijd leuk als Nederlanders onderling corresponderen, op een Nederlandstalig-blog, in een andere taal dan hun moedertaal.
If you judge your own beliefs the ultimate truth for yourself, why is it then so difficult to grasp that it is the same for other people? If one can determine everyone has his own values, truths and reality, sacred to them, it should be easy to grant other religions as much understanding as you claim for your own beliefs. Provided they do not use violence. Unfortunately violence had been used by many religions because they claim to possess the truth and other religions do not. Forced conversion is unacceptable, does not work and is against human rights. All religions preach compassion, but humans often judge compassion to be violence against different religions. We might find out after we are dead, how utterly wrong we were. But then we cannot undo our wrongdoings any more. Renée van Aller&John de Vries