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Furthermore, Islam and Marxism are the only doctrines that
have absolute power.
It
is true that there are countries, such as Israel
and the Republic of Ireland, where a dominant religion is powerful ,
but it is only in certain (not all) Marxist and Islamic states that the
official faith can never be challenged.
It
is hard to find a believer in
Judaism so fervent that he advocates stoning for adultery, or a
Catholic so devout that he believes in a revival of burning at the
stake. But there are Islamic and Marxist countries where both adul–
tery and heterodoxy are punishable and, on occasion, capital of–
fenses .
Moslems and Communists have been waging a bloody war in
Afghanistan for several years. Islamic states have jailed Marxists;
Communist countries have persecuted Moslems. Nevertheless ,
there exists in the world an implicit Marxist-Islamic alliance. It is
most apparent in votes at the United Nations and in acquiescence or
complicity in international terrorism. But leftist writers and intellec–
tuals are blind to the excesses of Islamic regimes.
Marxism and Islam are strong for a variety of reasons. Each
has a complex system of analysis, supported by a strong intellectual
tradition, which can treat every aspect of human life. To the edu–
cated, these philosophies offer a framework; to the simple, they offer
the security of always knowing what is right and wrong. These
positive strengths are supported by a great fear, the fear of a phe–
nomenon perceived as evil: personal freedom, especially sexual
freedom, and most particularly pornography, prostitution , and
homosexuality. In addition to this fear, there is an obsession - an in–
ordinate concern with an issue that should not merit very much at–
tention: Zionism .
Few societies ever have tolerated free sex, because they must
provide for the rearing of the next generation. In most communities
throughout the world this has meant that fathers take responsibility
for their offspring- a responsibility much more easily evaded when
it is unclear who has fathered whom. Perhaps it makes biological
sense for the human species to place social limits on biologically
determined sexual desires. Yet a great number of philosophical and
religious traditions have defined sexual freedom outside of clearly
specified family situations as sin. On the other hand, members of the
highest (and occasionally, the lowest) classes are not completely
bound by sexual taboos. Men are frequently allowed more sexual
freedom than women, probably because men cannot give birth .
