I should have warned you before that this blog may get political from time to time. I mean, I'm getting a degree in Middle Eastern studies; how could it not? So this is one of those times.

An article in the paper the other day discussed the rising number of Muslim med students who are refusing to study the body of the opposite sex, take tests on reproductive health (including STDs and birth control), and do certain other things, claiming that such activities are against their religion (Islam). And in grocery stores, Muslim workers are refusing to seel alcohol to people, which means the entire flow of traffic in incredibly busy supermarkets is stopped because such a person must call for a manager to do the sale. And in pharmacies, Muslim workers refuse to dispense birth control or morning after pills. Because their religion dictates them to do so.

I would like to point out that this should be a complete non-Issue. If I refused to take a class that was required for me to gain a medical degree, I would fail the course. I would never get my degree. If I refuse to take a test in a class, and a failing mark would mean I fail the class, then I fail the class. It's very simple. If a student (any student, regardless of any kind of religious background) can't (or won't) do the work, then that student doesn't get the degree. To even think about allowing students to get off on taking required classes in a degree program is ridiculous. For any reason. If their religious background maintains that they do not learn about reproductive health, but the requirements of the degree program says they must, then they either abandon their hopes of being a doctor, or they find a religious or other school with different requirements. I, like most students here, attend Edinburgh University because it is a top-rate graduate school. I want the prestige that will go with my degree, and therefore I must live up to the standards of this school. I can't refuse to take a class because at a school in the States, I wouldn't have to take it. If it were a problem, I should go to a school in the States. If a Muslim finds a problem with the curriculum of this university but he or she desires to have the prestige of the school attached to his or her degree, then they suck it up and do it. Or they go to one of the many universities in Muslim countries that will allow him or her to make such amendments to the degree program but without the coveted Edinburgh name. Going to this school is a privilege, not a right, which should mean that if you can't hack it, you get that privilege revoked.

The same goes with Muslim workers in supermarkets or pharmacies. If I worked at a supermarket and refused to do any part of my job, I would be fired. The same should go for any other worker, Muslim or not. If any worker refuses to do his or her job, then that person can find another job. If not selling alcohol is so important to these Muslim employees, 1) why do they work at supermarkets much of whose business comes from alcohol sales (can you believe such a thing, in Scotland?) and 2) why do they work in a store that sells alcohol to Muslims? There are plenty of Muslim in this city that do not abide by the strict alcohol laws of the Qur'an. That person can and should find employment elsewhere in a place that doesn't compromise his or her religious beliefs. Same goes for pharmacists. A pharmacist should dispense any drug sold by the pharmacy. If that person will not, then he or she can find another job. It's all very simple. There are pharmacies out there that will not dispense the morning after pill (at the very least), and those pharmacists who find that medication to be against their religion need to find a job with them.

The whole thing seems ridiculous. All the liberals are up in arms when Sam Walton refuses to sell the morning after pill in his pharmacies or when a Christian teacher refuses to teach evolution in his classroom (as they should be, but that's another point entirely), but these same liberals are quiet when a Muslim refuses to learn the intended curriculum in medical school (a profession in which knowing reproductive health will save lives vis-a-vis the hippocratic oath). Does allowing Muslim to do such things qualify as "cultural relativism," while allowing Christians to do the same thing qualify as allowing the religious right and the crazy conservatives to take over the West? Christianity is not the only religion to have a "religious right," as such, and many liberals in North American and Western Europe forget that. But this is just an example of how religion can go too far.

Important Note: I have a policy of religious tolerance in my life. I believe that everybody has a right to worship who or whatever they want, as long as they keep it to themselves. I do not, however, believe that standards of internationally ranked schools should be lowered in order to accomodate those who cannot compete in certain degree programs. The same goes for Ohio University, which lowered its standards in order to allow more black students to attend. I am all for racial, ethnic, and religious diversity, but lowering standards is not the way to encourage such interactions. Anywhere and for any reason.