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*Originally posted by Seminole: *
I may be generalizing to say this, but you generalized the whole world.... Some faiths, cultures and practices encourage (and sometimes demand) conformity. Others encourage individuality and debate. I think there is a distinctin between Muslim and western societies in this area.
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is this a cultural issue or a religious issue? you think there is a distinction, and thus you are generalising all muslims and all in the west. whereas in actuality it may apply less or more to different pockets and groups.
Had conformity been so strong you would nothave seen the emergence and establishment of so many different sects. Now each sect would want its followers to conform to what it teaches, none different from what I hear from my eastern orthodox chritian pals who would never enter a catholic institution.
what is true though is that religion is playing an increasingly smaller part in the lives of people in the west. so what you see as individuality is part individuality because of the culture, and part of it is ppl doing their own thing due to lack of interest in religion overall. part of it may be education and economic status. To give the example of Pakistan, educated people who are well off financially are usually more open with their interest in discussion and debate. People from villages and/or poor backgrounds and with little education dont usually have the bvroader outlook..but that is not much different from what you experience in the bible belt in terms of conformity.
The amount of followers that morons like robertson and Graham etc have just indicates how many conformers are here in US as well.