In this clamer for inclusivity,
and wanting everyone to have
a place, let’s not forget the
places outside our neat western
world where religion is not a
source of justice but of chains,
of suppression, of the loss
of human rights, where people,
especially women and girls, have
no place, no future, no hope for
anything beyond domestic bliss .

That is the paradox of acceptance:
for we in the West are ignorant of
what really goes down in places
where religion is the law and there
are no freedoms, and there is no speech.

We accept the person and their religion
but do we stop to question, to understand,
to recognise that in feeling good about
our generous inclusive selves we are
covering a gapping, bleeding wound?

 

10/1/2024