Love Thy Neighbour... Unless They're Different...

Vanessa Feltz...
Whoda thunk it? But... 'Tis true... This blog is inspired by none other than Vanny herself!
I woke in bed, to the alarm-clock radio boomings of Vanessa...
She was arguing the religious right for sikh students to carry a kirpan (a small symbolic knife) to school after a boy of 14 was suspended and expelled from a school in Barnet for trying to enter the building with one on his person.
This threw up a great many religious and moral dilemmas for me...
I'm greatly interested in the ongoing and seemingly never-ending debate of what is acceptable in the name of religion.
The story of the kirpan interested me no end...
It is widely known, that a kirpan is nothing more than a symbol of faith to the Sikh religion. It is no more than 5" long and completely blunt as it purely represents the protection of the weak. It is no more a weapon than a pen or a ruler or a sharp tongue.
I'm stunned by the double standard that is still exercised in England... Especially considering that England is amongst the most liberal countries in the world.
For instance: Why is it okay for a Muslim child to wear a burkha when hoodies are banned from most inner London schools because children should show their faces?
Why are symbolic kirpans a reason for expulsion when the crucifix, a symbol of great violence and suffering, is still accepted?
Why is homosexuality still a taboo subject to teach when the alternative is intolerance, hatred and discrimination from a religion that promotes Jesus' teachings of love and non-judgement?
Why are school assemblies still a predominantly christian/catholic practice in London, when over 50% of London schools are made up of Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Bahai and jain children.
Why are young mother's frowned upon by the same people that insist contraception is a sin?
Why are Christian children taught that god is all loving, yet a small group are forced to stand by the roadside with signs saying "God hates this, that and the other"?
Why is paganism seen as mere folly by religions that can no-more prove their validity over another?
Why does it seem that everything to do with religion is bound in some kind of ignorance or half acceptance or cultural editing? Like nothing is absolutely clear or open or honest???
Recently, a senator in Tennessee, when arguing against foreign languages being taught in English speaking schools, said: "If English was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me."
I may sound like a dirty, sinful, heretic non-believer... But why does it seem that the only people able to give themselves wholeheartedly to a religion are the mildly uneducated, behind, backward, socially unsophisticated, ignorant ones? Hmmmmm!?


I'm a firm believer in the unconditional "Love Thy Neighbour!"... That's unconditional... as in un-con-di-tion-al... as in no exceptions... what a futuristic way to think!!
Just a thought
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