strategy
Issuing edicts
Description:
Edict are interpretations of religious law or doctrine. Edicts are issued by various religions. In its strictest sense, a fatwa (Islamic edict) is an interpretation by a Koranic scholar of how Islamic laws written long ago apply to the demands of everyday life. Implementation:
Christian, Jewish and Islamic theologians across the ages have issued edicts. In the first several centuries of Islam, fatwas were inclined towards a liberal direction. In the present day Islamic world, fatwas have been and can be issued for a whole range of human activity, among others: religious fasting; charitable obligations; marriage; divorce; supporting and opposing peace with Israel; banning works by writers, artists, and filmmakers; forbidding and sanctioning genital mutilation of girls and women; killing of foreigners; hostage-taking; suicide bombing; death sentences. Counter Claim:
Edicts have been and can be used among others: as a tool to maintain or increase religious power and control over the masses; to run counter to modern notions and scientific findings; to run counter to the very founding principles of their respective religions (Thou shalt not kill; Love thy neighbour as you love yourself, and so on). With respect to the above: to reject a fatwa can cast the rejector as an atheist; the Roman Catholic Church reversed its condemnation of Galileo (he argued that the Earth revolved around the Sun) in 1992 - more than 350 years after the event; several years ago the supreme religious authority of Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa stating that the Earth is flat - whoever claims it is round is an atheist deserving of punishment; one of the Arab world's most popular Muslim preachers issued a fatwa saying it was legitimate for Bosnian Muslims to enslave their prisoners and force their wives and daughters to engage in sex. Edicts are a human response to the teachings of God, and all to often they are an abuse of and or failure to adhere to the teachings of God - out of ignorance or out of deliberate acts of self-gain. Then it is better never to issue them. Broader:
Issuing Type Classification:
G: Very Specific strategies Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
