I am not, however, a multiculturalist who believes that all cultures and religions are equally worthy of respect. And I find myself in a lonely place in relation to many liberals, political and religious, because I cannot accept a multiculturalism that tends to excuse, under the rubric of “tolerance,” religious and cultural practices that violate universal human rights. (…)
Some have even suggested that dissidents like Hirsi Ali and Salman Rushdie have exaggerated the threats against them in order to promote their books. Such slanderous statements are invariably followed by, “This is off the record, you understand.”
(…)
AEI was, in fact, the only American think tank to offer Hirsi Ali a job when she needed one badly. Several years ago, I made repeated inquiries at the Brookings Institution and the Center for American Progress about this issue and was stonewalled by their press aides. Panderers to the multicultural gods, in foundations and academia, often assert that religiously sanctioned violence against women and other human rights violations are matters of “tribe and culture, not religion.” But what is more central than religion to most of the world’s cultures?
***
Not bad, Susan except for your last bit:
This muddled thinking allows the American religious and political Right to misrepresent itself as the chief defender of Enlightenment values.
You just spent hundreds of words detailing all the ways that your fellow liberals have abdicated their responsibilities in that regard.
It isn’t “misrepresent”ing if a) it’s true and b) it’s your friends’ own fault.
And it’s “muddled thinking” if you still can’t see that at the end of your very own article.
RELATED — Charles Krauthammer writes:
Liberalism under siege is an ugly sight indeed. Just yesterday it was all hope and change and returning power to the people. But the people have proved so disappointing. Their recalcitrance has, in only 19 months, turned the predicted 40-year liberal ascendancy (James Carville) into a full retreat.
