Irish Times .Com
There are profound philosophical and practical problems with this version of multiculturalism. Philosophically, it ends up eating its own tail, as respect for one "identity" ends up canceling out another. If female genital mutilation is a protected part of an African identity, what happens to women's rights?
If it's okay for imams to preach hatred of homosexuals, is it okay for homosexuals to teach hatred of Muslims?
And who gets to define a "tradition" anyway? (Usually, of course, middle-aged or elderly men in dresses.)
Most obviously, of course, the purveyors of this ideology in the religious sphere don't actually believe it themselves. With a very few exceptions, religions are founded on the idea of a unique and superior access to the mind of God. The relativism that they sometimes adopt is merely strategic. If the Catholic bishops actually believed the stuff that they are currently spouting – that everybody's faith or lack of faith has the same status in a lovely world of pluralism or diversity – they would be Bahais or Unitarians.
Contributed by Gandolf
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