Gwen Stefani is one of countless female singers these days who can’t seem to sing while clothed. Nakedness is a prerequisite for success if you are a woman in the entertainment field it seems, and there is no shortage of young, and not so young woman, happy to oblige in the name of feminism. That’s a rant for another day however. Today I am having problems with religious faith. Not mine. I know what I believe and what I don’t. No my issue is with the faithful who find that in order to remain faithful and in good standing, they must alter the behavior of others. Ms. Stefani performed in Malaysia recently. A country that is over 60% Islamic, they naturally have a telephone book thick list of rules and regulations that women in particular must adhere to regarding dress lest they force some good Muslim boy into sin. Couple of observations here before I continue, first of which is that sin, as the good Sisters of the Presentation taught me, is an individual’s choice. That old Flip Wilson punch-line “The devil made me do it” was just a figure of speech, and second, if men are so weak that the sight of a women’s arms or neck or hair can plunge them into the abyss maybe they should be the ones walking around heavily veiled. Basically Stefani was informed she would have to follow the country’s strict rules regarding female performers and that her usually skimpy wardrobe and provocative performance would not be permitted. Her spokespeople responded with a press release confirming that she would comply. My question is why? Why do women comply with what amounts to the tenets of someone else’s religion when they visit these countries? It’s respectful? Is it? Is it respectful to force me to comply with the rules of your religion? I have my own religion, thanks very much. Are you going to respect that? And the answer is of course, no, because as most reading people are aware if you aren’t Muslim in a Muslim predominant country you are treated as second class at best and persecuted at worst. Tolerance is a way one, non-reciprocal thing. 

The second thing that prompted me today was a seemingly unrelated article I read about pharmacists in the state of Washington who are suing for the right to not stock their shelves with the perfectly legal Plan B emergency contraceptive. Pharmacies in Washington are now required by state law to provide Plan B. A small group of pharmacists contend that this is a violation of their rights and that the state cannot force them to provide birth control to women if it is against their religious beliefs. My first question for these conscientious objectors would be if they require men to provide proof of marriage before they fill Viagra scripts, but beyond that what happened to the concept of living your faith? It seems to me that instead of forcing the circumstances to change, a person of faith would come to the conclusion that they needed to change careers in order to  uphold their religious beliefs. Jesus certainly never told the disciples that following him would be easy. As a matter of fact, St. Paul does almost nothing else but spout the “sacrifice” line as a matter of course for the early Christians. Of course, the Christians of way yore were willing to be eaten by lions or crushed by stones rather than compromise their faith in God. Today’s Christian’s hire lawyers and cry, “That’s not fair! I should be able to be a good Christian AND keep my really good paying job. I have a gas-guzzling SUV and a no money down mortgage to pay, and after all, I am right, and these fornicating women should just be grateful that I am here to prevent them from burning in a lower level of hell than they are already heading for.”

It seems to me that it is hypocritical to say you are faithful to God’s word, as you understand it, and yet need to cheat in order to actually be faithful. Because that is what it is. It’s cheating. God, at least the one I know, expects you to do the hard work yourself. No shortcuts. No rules aimed at controlling the actions of others (who interestingly, but not surprisingly, always seem to be women). And the funny thing (if you’re not the female being victimized) is that these people really think they deserve to be admired for standing up for their faith. Admired for what? Being weak? Not having the balls to give up something you like for something you believe in? Hypocrisy is not admirable.