"Make Me a Muslim"

What an awful exercise of a show.

I think BBC2 did a version of this, like 'The Abbey', where interested (and I stress interested) people looked into switching, so to speak, to Islam.

This show is a bit like the latter day Wife Swap, where they now get the most incompatible people involved for, presumably, more explosive results. And by that, I mean: A lazy arse, beer swilling middle aged moron, a 'glamour model' and a lisping homosexual, for three examples.

Of course, there's going to be conflicts. While the BBC2 show was about, perhaps, people growing and finding something new in their lives, this C4 trash is simply about conflict. Oh, maybe by the end they'll have made a 'journey' or whatever, but I doubt it.

When you get a gay annoyed that Muslims won't accept homosexuality, well... surely he should've looked into this before going on the show? The Muslim faith, unlike some of the branches of Christianity, hasn't bent (pardon the pun) it's stance in modern times. So why are they going to change for this one, quite annoying little man? And why should he expect a faith to change for him? If he didn't want to change himself for the show (and I don't think people should change if they don't want to) then why go on it in the first place?

What do I think about Islam, then?

I'm a count myself as Wicca, which is an Earth-based religion (as they say, these days). It's pretty loose fitting, compared to some of the more strict religions. Wheras some faiths have very strict rules and tenents, Wicca (as well as most of the Pagan faiths) advocates living well, generally. And it allows you to express yourself without offending some higher power. Unless expressing yourself involves being an absolute cunt - which no religion advocates unless someone twists it for their own ends.

So, I don't enjoy the rules of religions like Islam. 21st Century Britain is a greedy, capitalist, sort-of Democracy. We have freedom to buy (most of) what we want, thanks to the free market, and you can sort of do what you want. I can live with that.

Most religious societies suppress the ideas of buying and doing what you want because those acts run opposite to some badly translated rules from a dusty old book, and this worked, back in the olden days before money and science. But now I think it's a bit old fashioned, the concept of a set of moralistic 'rules' applied to all people whether they like it or not. People should free to do what they want, as long as it doesn't inflict grevious harm on another person. And even then the rules can get quite hazy.

The big religions don't really agree with that concept of freedom. And good for them. If you want to follow those paths and believe in those morals - do it! But don't force other people to do it. Especially if they don't agree.