SHARIA'S SISTERS

September 19, 2012

Australia's House of Representatives has voted against the first of four bills that were submitted to Parliament proposing legislation to allow same-sex marriage. The Bill did not have much of a chance, with both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the opposition leader Tony Abbot firmly against it. It was voted out by 98 votes, which is more than double the 42 votes in favour, despite the fact that polls show most people in Australia are not opposed to gay marriage and that civil partnerships are already either explicitly legal or accessible through cohabitation rights.

If anybody out there knows the difference between civil partnerships and marriage please tell me! As far as I can see the only difference is a semantic mantle that aims to appease religious sensitivities, while subtly humiliating those who have to wear it. Of course this varies from country to country, with differences in tax and detail, but ultimately the objection to the term "marriage" is predominantly religious. Whether we like it or not even "modern" states have their own versions of Sharia Law. They are often just to hypocritical to acknowledge it.

True, sometimes ethics has to take morality into account. Deliberately offending somebody's faith, for instance, is not ethical (even though some may wish to impose Machiavellian justifications). Freedom of speech is a bit like America's Gun Laws: just because you are allowed to carry a gun does not mean you are allowed to shoot everyone in sight. This said, there is still much confusion around ethics and morality. Take the case of Duchess of Cambridge: the real issue is the invasion of privacy, not nudity, and yet if the photos had showed Kate picking her nose, would they have caused such a furore?

Whenever a law is based on religious morality or tradition rather than what is purely ethical, it not legitimately secular or necessarily just. Our laws are littered with hidden religious labels, from the way we abuse animals, to the impositions we place on people like Tony Nicklinson who begged in vain to be allowed to die with dignity. Whether we like it or not sharia is not a purely Muslim phenomenon. In Islam, at least, it has a name.