There’s a growing taboo in our society around the religion of Islam.
The Book of Mormon, a musical that lampoons Mormonism, is a hugely successful, critically acclaimed Broadway show, but no one today would dare to stage a musical that subjects the religion of Islam to similar criticism and ridicule.
The taboo is partly the result of well-founded fear.
Beyond the threats of violence, the taboo is also enforced by a stinging epithet: “Islamophobia.” This term deliberately blurs together anti-Muslim bigotry and any analysis and criticism of Islamic ideas.
Challenging the taboo around the issue of Islam is doubly important when some proponents of that ideology seek to silence all criticism by threats of violence.
To explore the taboo from a unique perspective, I turned to Sarah Haider.
Her organization works with people who abandon the religion of Islam.
No mainstream religion, Haider notes, treats apostates quite the way Islam does.
In its own way, Haider’s organization is challenging the taboo around the issue of Islam. Which is important and necessary work, because no set of ideas, whether secular or religious, should be fenced off from critical scrutiny. That’s doubly important when some proponents of that ideology seek to silence all criticism by threats of violence.
VANCOUVER – Does talking about politics make you squirm? What about sex or religion? If you answered ‘yes,’ you’re not alone, according to the Discomfort Index.
And while the new national survey has found all three of those topics are considered taboo to Canadians, it turns out money is also a topic that is off-limits to most.
More than a quarter of women — 26 per cent — felt discussing religion was awkward, while 20 per cent of men felt the same way.
Lastly 23 per cent of Canadians said that talking about money and religion was taboo.
“Money was right up there with taboo subjects of sex, religion and politics. I think that it’s a very personal topic,” said Kelley Keehn personal finance educator and consumer advocate for FP Canada.
Here are our top ten social taboos of Ireland.
There are, however, some things we would rather not talk about, what we call social taboos in Ireland.
Perhaps you are not familiar with some of these or have never noticed them before, but once you read through our top ten social taboos of Ireland list, you will know to choose your topics wisely.
We don’t want to offend people now do we? Another of our top social taboos of Ireland best to be avoided.
Most people are familiar with the Troubles of Ireland, most of which were based around the two religions, Protestants and Catholics .
The Irish have very strong opinions when it comes to our history, and it’s best to leave the topic of religion to one side when in a conversation with an Irishman.
So there you have it, our list of the top ten social taboos of Ireland.
The paper which was written by researcher Garima Bhatt under the supervision of Dr Sonu Goel from PGIMER, presents case studies of tobacco users in Punjab to reveal how de-addiction programs can work more effectively if the cultural context and social vitals and taboos around tobacco use are addressed along with providing clinical care.
The study claims that that “ostracism due to religious proscriptions serve as a barrier and prevent users from revealing their addiction status”. It further adds that a religion as an institution has a great influence on the “cultural identity of individuals, moderating uniformity and behavior in their social lives”.
The researcher adds that “quitting tobacco use through a culturally specific, patient-centric, individualised, behavioural intervention using religion as a backdrop” is an effective means of tacking the issue.
In her paper, Bhatt has particularly analysed how Sikhism as a religious institute structures the stigma and taboo around tobacco users in Punjab; since 57.6 per cent of the state’s population profess Sikh faith.
Tracing the history of Sikh practices, the paper claims tobacco use has always been banned in the religion, and hence most Sikh tobacco users remain discrete about their tobacco dependency.
What is seen as taboo here in Punjab, might be seen as completely normal in central states of India, or even in the neighbouring Haryana,” claims Bhatt.
Bhatt began to build a rapport with such patients, focussing particularly on one patient that she used as her case study for the paper. She realised that by citing religion, which was the initial “barrier” she encountered in reaching out to tobacco users, she could also appeal to these users to cease tobacco use.
We all must have heard how in India, menstruation is a topic associated with immense stigma and numerous taboos; women are made to feel ashamed for a bodily function which is as normal as breathing.
What does religion suggest ?
Although most women are not made to feel impure or are not shamed for not praying or fasting during Ramadan as there are relaxations provided by the religion for menstruating women, one can however still infer that during Ramadan women are either asked to not eat in public or are scared of getting caught while eating .
When asked about the taboos and restrictions- Most women reported just not being allowed to pray, fast or touch the holy book and so forth.
Even though Islamic principles do not recognize menstruation as a topic of stigma, there is a possibility of Indian Muslim women being subjected to the menstruation taboos, which is a result of being proximate to Indian cultures.
However, the data does not reflect any such peculiarity, as when respondents were asked about the taboos that their family/community follow, most of them did not report anything beyond not practising religious rituals which has legitimate reasoning from Islam.
Menstruation differs across cultures and religions.
It is indeed okay to say that stigma and taboos exist in our society regardless of religion.
Even though the ‘religion’ founded by L. Ron Hubbard is a dangerous cult, it still holds sway in Hollywood.
Despite her award-winning documentary in which she exposes her former religion for being the dangerous cult that it is, most of its more egregious acts continue to be swept under the rug, thanks in no small part to its most powerful members, such as Tom Cruise.
And even though Travolta finally acknowledged that Jett Travolta was, indeed, autistic in 2019, he credited the “religion” founded by L. Ron Hubbard for helping him “get through it.”
Leah Remini — herself a former Scientologist — thinks so, too. That’s why she’s on a mission, today, to not only finish taking down the religion she began to chip away at in her award-winning documentary series, “Scientology & the Aftermath,” but to expose its most powerful and popular member: Tom Cruise.
For far too long, people in our society have silenced the talk of mental health. Depression and anxiety is not given its due importance. The larger part of the community is even unwilling to identify mental health as a problem. Depression and anxiety are considered the figment of a person´s imagination or even worse, distance from religion.
The most common cure for anyone facing depressive disorder is to find solace in religion. No doubt religion has a substantial role to play in almost every aspect of human life, however certain issues require medical attention and mental health is one of them. It is a clinically diagnosed disease which requires medical treatment and cure. There is a reason why doctors professionally acquire training to treat patients facing mental health issues.
Unfortunately, societal defects lead to a person taking one´s life without any help being provided. The first diagnosis by a close relative would be weak faith. Elders will advise the person to attain closeness to religion in order to curb the psychological issues being faced. The second alternative would be to seek guidance from a spiritual healer who in turn would suggest a number of actions which themselves would be far from religion. Consulting a medical professional would be the last resort and for most, never an option.
Seeking professional health for psychological problems is even considered a taboo. People feel embarrassed to talk about visiting a psychiatrist for the fear of being judged or even considered a lunatic. Amidst this three-step process, lives are destroyed and even lost. People tend to end their pain rather than to endure depression. The number of suicides prevalent in our country at the moment is alarming and a huge cause for concern. The state provides absolutely no help regarding mental health. Even thousands of criminals might be mental health patients however, never would they ever be diagnosed.
As responsible citizens and family members, everyone should reach out to the people around them and try and be there as much as possible. We should carefully observe the people around us and try and identify a person facing psychological issues in order to sincerely help them overcome the same. With a focus on mental health, a large number of issues including drug abuse and suicide can be prevented to a great extent. Religion might be the last thing that comes to mind when thinking of The New School community. The university prides itself on maintaining a creative and progressive atmosphere, so traditional religious institutions may not appear to fall in line with our forward-thinking ethos. However, some students on campus might beg to differ.
Lauren Hoffman, a sophomore at Lang studying Journalism + Design is the president of the Jewish Culture Club on campus. She said there is a taboo against talking about religion and spirituality on campus. “I feel like the culture here, specifically at Lang, big corporation and big religion, anything that sort of relates to a systemic belief system, as wrong.
But the taboo on talking about religion forces some students to choose between pride in their faith and the assumption of political or social beliefs imposed by the Lang community.
“People are generally upfront and sincere about whether they have a religious identity or not. New York City is such a diverse city and The New School reflects this uniqueness in its student body,” said Han. “There seems to be a range of practices with most students sharing that they have no religion, are spiritual but not religious, or have a personal faith but are not a part of a community of faith.”
Some are choosing to reclaim their spiritual identity from the institutions that they feel do not represent what they stand for. “One doesn’t want to be associated with the most vocal self-appointing representatives of religion who are politically opposed to the types of things that many of us care about,” said Larrimore.
Money is a bigger taboo than sex, religion or politics, according to new research.
Half of Brits say talking about personal money matters is taboo in everyday conversation, higher than sex , religion and politics .
Professor Tanya Byron, consultant clinical psychologist and Relate Patron said: “While we’ve become more comfortable talking about subjects like mental health in recent years, money is still a taboo subject for many of us, and people are shying away from important conversations as a result.
RELATED The new documentary “Islam and the Future of Tolerance” sheds much needed light on an issue engulfed in ignorance, confusion, taboo. The film centers on Sam Harris, an atheist intellectual, and Maajid Nawaz, a former Islamist turned reformer, who engage in a serious, frank, even brave, conversation on Islam, the Islamist threat, and attempts to silence discussion on these issues.
Let’s salute them for taking that risk. The documentary makes several important points that help us think more clearly about the Islamist phenomenon, its connection to the religion of Islam, and how discussion of these issues is muzzled.
At the outset, Harris and Nawaz challenge the emerging taboo about discussing Islam. They reject the widely held idea that criticizing Islam is inherently racist or “Islamophobic.” Clearly racism against Muslims is a real phenomenon, and it’s true that many view Islam as a kind of tribal/racial identity.
But there’s an essential difference between that and the documentary’s purpose: to analyze the religion of Islam as a set of ideas and to consider how those ideas shape the actions of its followers.
Distinct from Islamists is a far larger community of Muslims, whose level of religious commitment varies. Many of them, Nawaz argues, should be called “socially conservative Muslims.” In contrast to Islamists, they are not seeking to impose a political vision defined by religion.
Against that approach, Harris pushes back, and he offers a perspective that gets at something true and important. The problem for “moderates” in any religion and especially in Islam, he argues, is that they’re left to read the text selectively, reinterpreting or ignoring the barbarous parts of their scripture, in the light of views that come from outside influences, not the text.
Near the end of the documentary, Harris and Nawaz circle back to take a wider perspective on the taboo around discussions of Islam. Both are adamant about the importance of defending freedom of speech and, in particular, discarding that taboo. The “Islamophobia” epithet, Harris argues, is calculated to shut off honest debate, so that the needed analysis of the Islamist phenomenon is pushed to the margins.
They are one of six volunteers at Hidayah, a UK organisation for LGBTQI+ Muslims which campaigns against stigma, taboo and discrimination within the community.
A lot of the ideas about religion and Islam specifically are based on very conservative, old-fashioned ideas.
In hiding behind the religion, protesters are being disingenuous.
The parents are acting on an opinion of what they think the religion is, not necessarily what it is.
My religion, sexuality and gender identity are crucial to me, primarily because they do exist in harmony.
A survey of 2,000 adults revealed what is and isn’t acceptable to talk about with their emotions, religion and infertility all considered more socially acceptable to discuss than finances and debt.
Other unacceptable conversations include drugs, sex and parenting techniques, with Brits going as far as to say discussing these ‘taboo’ subjects leaves them feeling ‘anxious’ and ‘nervous’.
Top 20 most socially unacceptable things to talk about according to Brits: 1. Sex life 2. Bodily functions 3. Personal finances 4. Salary 5. Debt 6. Miscarriage 7. Infertility 8. Addictions 9. Religion 10. Asking someone’s age 11. Race 12. Weight 13. Other people’s lives 14. Mental health 15. Drugs 16. Family dramas 17. Sexism 18. Parenting techniques 19. Politics 20. Emotional feelings
The text of this article was generated by the Breaking The Silence system that collected 14 news articles posted on the web from January 2019 to September 2020 and clustered for the taboo subjects related to religions
