I would have almost forgotten that religious police are patrolling the streets of Malaysia, trying to catch those that abstain from fasting during the month of Ramadan, if I had not caught a piece of news report stating so yesterday. In my mind, there is no confusion that the religious police forget that it is sincerity that matters, not coercion.
This is perhaps but a symptom of how for the Muslim society in Malaysia, specifically the religious conservatives, imposition of their moral values on others has become a favorite pastime instead of self-improvement. Several other issues that lead to the same conclusion are apostasy and moral policing.
Concerning cases of religious freedom in particular, religious conservatives are more interested in forcefully preventing a person from choosing his or her religion rather than understanding why the person is leaving Islam. Indeed, when debates on Lina Joy dominated public domain, some religious conservatives as well as other sympathizers leaned on superficial factor as the main issue — procedure — whereas those that see it pass skin deep know full well that it is about freewill; liberty; freedom.
All this portrays Islam in a bad light to outsiders. Thanks to religious conservatives, many outsiders see the religion as stressing on appearance rather than appealing to the heart. I have always in the opinion that religion is about the inner self, the content of a book, not its cover. This is why freewill is so crucial; sincerity and freewill come together. Without freewill, there can be no sincerity; an unfree conscience knows no sincerity. What is the point of having Muslims that are unwilling to be Muslims? What is the point of forcing somebody to do religious biddings? Looking the issues through Islamic tradition, would the supreme being not know what is the truth?
Religious conservatives fail to understand this. For this reason, religious conservatives will always be ridiculed for their preference for the superficial.
