I'm all for calling out bad behavior. A western Caucasian visiting China or Japan, for instance, should bow appropriately as a sign of respect.
But to label all Muslims this way is dead wrong.
by usualusername 72 Replies latest jw friends
I'm all for calling out bad behavior. A western Caucasian visiting China or Japan, for instance, should bow appropriately as a sign of respect.
But to label all Muslims this way is dead wrong.
May I ask if you told them the reason they were not awarded the contract, usual? I mean the fact that the young man declined to shake your girlfriends hand? He may want to find a different line of work.
I must say, the vicousness of the bigotry on here is a little frightening! Yes, there are the extremist muslims who must be stopped, and frankly, the fact that they are probably already in this country scares the hell out of me. They are pure evil!
But to categorize every muslim in the same way is unfair. Are all Catholics pedophiles? Of course not!
The one good thing about ex-JW's is that when they leave JW land they can truly let their intolerance shine
Over here, I read about a woman who became headmaster at a school in an area with a lot of muslims. Ofcourse most of them didn't want to great her because reasons.
She put a sign on the door that said something like: "If you feel you cannot shake my hand, please bow and say: "I cannot great you because of my religion but I hereby acknowledge you as a fellow human being"".
She would then insist it was one or the other. Odd thing, many would do the routine once and then deside they had no problems shaking hands...
Then there is the crackpot thing about greeting a person with the LEFT hand, I believe that's fairly common amongst some muslims.
I say good riddance. If the person cannot properly explain why he must be rude that's a pretty solid reason not to hire him that has nothing to do with religion.
Bob: Sorry, we dont serve your type.
Alice: My type?
Bob: Yes, blacks. Sorry about that, it is my religion. I don't serve blacks.
Alice: I am your manager and you are fired.
Bob: Don't be intollerant
Alice: I am being intollerant? You are discriminating me because of my color
Bob: no. That's just my religion that tells me to be intollerant jerk towards blacks. Don't be intollerant against my religion, unless it is for intollerant religious reasons.
Alice: Get out or I call the police
Bob: That is such a black thing to do.
Western greetings (especially for business) invariably involves shaking hands. This particular muslim deems shaking hands with a woman as unacceptable.
Which should win? Should muslim sensibilities always take precedence? I think the world is getting a little tired of pandering to religious superstitions.
But really neither should or needs to 'win' or be imposed on the other.
If the muslim doesn't feel they can shake someone's hand then they should accept that it could cause offence and they lose business from non-muslims as a result. It would be sensible to notify people in advance of a meeting to avoid any embarassment or awkwardness or they should send someone they trust who is capable of shaking hands - turning up and refusing certainly shows a lack of consideration for the feelings of the host which could be considered 'bad business'.
If the non-muslim decides that they want to base a business decision on something unrelated to the actual work expertise, price & quality then that is their right as well. Given that it would be reasonable to refuse to do work if some letch turned up and made your wife / girlfriend feel uncomfortable with leering then why not also with what would be considered 'rude' by refusing to shake someone's hand?
However, they did explain the reason so I don't imagine it was intended to be rude - it's not clear how this reason was given though (e.g. "I'm so sorry, my religious beliefs do not allow me to shake your hand" vs "I do NOT touch women, they are vile and unclean!!").
This is not direct religious discrimination IMO ... that is when you have no cause to make the negative choice other than 'he was a muslim'.
I think it's perfectly reasonable to make choices based on what someone's religion makes them do though, especially if that thing is silly and unreasonable.
I remember a co-worker from Vietnam, he told me this country sucks.
He was arrested for striking his wife. Hell, our women come to this
country and we (men) lose control.
He was arrested for striking his wife. Hell, our women come to this country and we (men) lose control.
He obviously hasn't learnt about the NFL yet ...
jam: He was arrested for striking his wife. Hell, our women come to this country and we (men) lose control.
Poor guy, he properly heard Smack My Bitch Up and desided america was for him, then he found out it was false advertisement and prodigy was british...
Well, in IT there is usually not a whole lot of outside the business personal intraction. A muslim feels it is wrong to touch any woman except your wife. Not shaking hands is a habit of people who feel afraid of germs as well. They find other ways of greeting. I must say, your decision based on not shaking hands is a bit off in my opinion. In your Op you gave a glowing report up until that point of shaking hands. The view religion itself is based on how it is practiced. if laws are not broken then this country protects the rights of the religion. Some actions are borderline, or cross the line, and still the religion gets away with it.
As an employer hiring you can decide not to hire based on a lot of things. To base it on not shaking hands when the postion does not require lots of public interaction is not really reasonable. That points more to religion based reason wheich is protected in the US. Now if you had a position that required privacy but I believe this is a legal basis ( Lawyers here, is there a precident in this?) An employer can refuse to hire based on hair color, personality, Etc., but not religion or any other protected class reason.