In Muslim countries throughout the world, and in much of sub-Saharan Africa, the grisly ancient practice of female circumcision continues almost unabated despite laws banning it in many countries, with its practitioners solidly certain that destroying all women's ability to enjoy sexual intimacy is the key to reining in the wanton, libidinous passion of the flesh, and preserving fidelity in the home. Modern protests against this practice are branded as interference and cultural imperialism, and the sense of outsiders dictating morality from afar is used to unify a community, and belittle the questions that native women are starting to ask. In Oakland, California, a school board grapples with using Ebonics as a tool to teach English, and sets off a firestorm of protest in which unified standard education is subsumed under the hidden agendas of competing group interests. In the universities across our nation, individual departments decline in a rush towards the new Holy Grail of Interdisciplinary Studies.
Multiculturalism is the word of the day, bringing diverse perspectives to all subjects.
They are all linked. And the stakes in seeing how they are different plants flowering from the same soil are high indeed. On February 7th and 8th, Jews around the world read from Parashat Mishpatim, the detailed and diverse laws which come after the Ten Commandments. This is an important distinction, used later by Jewish philosophers to defend the need for the Revelation at Sinai. It is a distinction sometimes oversimplified as a contrast between the ethical laws and the ritual regulations.