The Freedom Conflict

On Tuesday 19 May 2015, a court in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom ruled against Asher’s Bakery who refused to bake a cake with a pro gay marriage slogan on the basis of discrimination. This took place a week before Ireland went to the polls for a referendum on the legalisation same sex marriages. This has sparked a debate across Europe as many countries only allow marriages between men and women. The debate between balancing the freedom of belief and the freedom of expression within a society which continues to plague the West to ban gay marriage. As attempts are made to balance these interests with the creation of clauses and exceptions within the law, the issue of conflicting freedoms continues to plague the west.

The source of the oft-cited freedoms is secularism. Secularism came as a result of a compromise between the intellectuals present in society and the Church. The restricting nature of the Church led the intellectuals in society to dispose of its influence and separate it from the affairs of life and instead, make man the legislator in society. This led to the birth of secularism and democracy, whose manifestation includes freedom of belief, freedom of speech, freedom of ownership and personal freedom. It is vital to realise that as secularism was born out of a negative view of religion, freedom of religion will be subjugated in order to enhance the remaining aspects. This is why there is no surprise to see the view of the Christian population across Europe put to the side to enhance the personal freedom of a select few in society. It is also no surprise when we see the views of Muslims around the west become policed and restricted despite western nations claiming to be vanguards of religious freedoms. The reality is such that the individual interests of those within society are the primary focus of democratic states and subjugating the views of religious groups is fair game.

The western view of self-gratification and individualism has seen all camps within society trying to maximise the benefits they obtain. What is beneficial to one person is not necessarily beneficial to another and this requires governments to renegotiate space, entitlement and privileges in order to protect individual freedoms. The criterion however, remains the states liberal viewpoint which demands all judges to act in the interests of it. This ensures that anything contradicting their liberal viewpoint is bought in line with it. Hence, it is no surprise when we see the views of the Church in Northern Ireland become sidelined as explained by DUP assembly member Paul Given who said “Christians do not feel there is space being made for their religious beliefs”. This is not new, as the quest to legalise prostitution and gay marriage around Europe has already laid waste to a number of Christian traditions. The removal of all restrictions and the right for man to legislate remains the sole focus of Democracies around the world.

There is a huge disparity between freedom in theory and its application in reality. In essence, there is no level playing field between the citizens of the state as far as their right to exercise freedom is concerned - one man’s freedom - weather its speech, belief or ownership  encroaches on someone else’s right. In practice, members of society clash as some members of society find the actions and speech of others provocative, incendiary, insulting, humiliating etc. and subsequently governments intervene to regulate freedom amongst its citizens through enactment of laws. The laws are always skewed in the favour of the most powerful faction, and subsequently this faction is able to protect its freedom at the expense of the rest. Hence, there is a mad rush to influence the legislative process through lobbying by the most powerful interest group(s) to secure legislation to protect their freedom to speak and even act in a certain way.  Subsequently the limits of freedom for them are expanded, and for the rest

The West’s struggle with the Church in the medieval ages is what led to freedom to be institutionalised and over the years many laws have been removed from Europe’s Christian heritage to bring them in line with freedom. Freedom is fundamentally about removing all restrictions and allowing the public to determine the laws they wish to live by, this drive has led to the permissive situation prevalent in the West today. It is exactly these type of values that would lead to the degradation of the Muslim world if they were to adopt Western secular liberal democracy as the basis for politics and state.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Mohammed Ubaid