Can giving too much freedom of religion increase oppression and segregation?

Many nations in Europe or North America where the Muslim population is rapidly growing, people that are not Muslim are forced to deal with Islamic based choices daily even though many may claim it does not affect them.

When driving through the streets of Toronto in Canada you will notice the huge signs that read “WE SELL HALAL FOOD HERE” or “HALAL IS SERVED HERE” made by desperate small restaurant owners who wish to gain as many more customers as possible because across the street is another restaurant selling the same food—only they serve halal meat.

Muslims are strongly against going to restaurants that do not serve halal meat which is common knowledge now, but they also do not eat food from restaurants that serve pork and recently even alcohol.   This leads small food businesses to take away their pork dishes from the menu leaving some wondering what happened to the dish they regularly ate because it suddenly disappeared.  However, they do not make that connection—that their food choice was easily taken out because it was worth taking out for the hundreds of more customers that will now come to this restaurant to eat the other meat dishes having the comfort of knowing there is no pig oil anywhere in the premise that may degrade their holy blood.The pattern here is that even though people may see this as not affecting their daily life choices, overtime they may realize that their initial thoughts were in error.  Those who do not eat halal or those who enjoy pork—their rights are being infringed upon but they don’t even realize it until it will be too late.  I myself do not eat halal and find myself going into restaurants being looked down at when I ask for non-halal food. Why?

I have as much of a right to ask for non-halal as those that ask for halal. The only difference is there are less of me’s.  It is important for those of us that do not eat halal or even for those of us that do not really care what type of meat we eat, to ask for non-halal otherwise overtime, majority of the meat being offered on grocery store shelves will be branded as halal.  This is the sole purpose of extreme Islamic thought—to have the world run by it.  For example, Muslims generally create offspring much higher than the Canadian average because they want to spread their religion. In the same way, Muslims refrain from anything that does not follow their religious thought in huge numbers so that eventually, an area highly populated with Muslims (which will be majority of places in a few decades due to their reproduction rates)—its businesses are forced to change what they offer to make money, leaving the minorities of that area with little choice.

Many Mcdonalds and Burger King stores sell Halal meatThe above may sound foolish or even something that people think they do not have to worry about because it does not affect them if Muslims choose to stay away from certain places.  However, soon they will find themselves in situations where things are rearranged for a work social for example, because the Vice President who may be a Muslim will not attend a party that serves alcohol—yet the VP is someone that must be present! The turn-out will be to have the party at the office with catered food and no alcohol! I have been in such situations—it’s not a joke!

Men shaking hands with women and bowing after performances is something Muslims do not want to partake in either.  This is not to say that all of them abstain from such actions—but it is a trend that is becoming more prominent as many Islamic youth are becoming more extreme.  It does not state anywhere in their religion that they cannot bow after a performance, but the trend towards more extremism in Islamic religious thought is causing an anti-western movement.  This movement entails refrain from anything western and intolerance of anything that is non-Islamic. It is up the public of Canada, including the moderate Muslims to take a stand and make a difference by every small decision they make.  Ask for non-halal, have a stance based on your religious ideals but do not forget to respect AND TOLERATE others ideals and viewpoints.  In the same way, one may say that we must respect Islamic thought as long as it does not affect our sense of living but based on the above, I hope I’ve explained how it will affect everyone overtime when more and more Muslims choose to take an Islamic path and no other.