CDN Aviator said:
How would you react if someone from over there came here to Canada and told us to change our laws ( after one of their citizens broke one of them) ?
Well... I don't know all Saudi Laws (at the same time, I don't know all Canadian laws), but from what I do know they can result are much "harsher" punishments. 2-3 Days in jail and a fine for speeding, cutting off ones hand for stealing, public beheading for murder. Like I said, I can't assume to know for certain, but it seems like no matter the crime, the punishments there are worse then here.
So why would someone from KSA want to change one our laws
after breaking them? He wouldn't want to make his punishment harsher (unless he's EXTREMELY pious), so maybe he'd want to make them less harsh? Actually either way, he'd be free to try.
OK lets forget picking apart the hypothetical situation, I understand what you were trying to say. I guess my reaction would depend on what he was basing his grievance upon. What factors were causing his desire to have the law changed. If he was basing his grievance on some universal moral principle, I would probably not oppose him very much.
For example, lets say he does not believe in the statute of limitation and it is his opinion that if you are found to have committed a crime long in the past (say, having stole candy from a store many year ago), that you should still be prosecute and punished. I personally wouldn't agree, but I can see his side of the story, and frankly I wouldn't make a fuss of the change actually came about. If he wanted people to have their hands cut off for stealing, believing such a harsh punishment would deter future crime, I would say that the punishment is to severe for the crime, and that it may deter some crime, but it also would cause resentment towards the institution of law and government.
On the other hand, if he wanted a law changed based on religious or cultural grounds, that I would no agree with.
First! You might say our laws are based on Western culture; they are based on Western values. Personally, I don't see our culture and values as simply "different" from Eastern ones. In some regards, they are. But things such as fairness, democracy, the rule and transparency of the law, and most importantly equality are not merely aspects of "western" culture, they are self evidence truths of the human race. Murder is not wrong because the Bible or the Qur'an say it is so, it is wrong because, well it simply is! You don't need a supernational explanation for it, you don't need any deep explanation for it; it is a reality of nature, just like gravity or inertia.
So how would I react in this regard? If he said "I want it to be a law that women must wear a Burka, because that is part of my heritage/culture" or "I want people to have their hands severed for stealing, because that is Islamic law" (<--is it?), I would say give me a logical reason why these punishment are appropriate, explain to me how they would benefit society as a whole and the individual in question (where appropriate), and prove to me that they will not harm society, and you'll have (most likely) convinced me.
Very controversial view point, and this can't possibly cover all angles. For example, a Sikh in Toronto is petitioning the government to have the requirement to wear helmets when riding a motorcycle removed because by his religious customs he cannot wear any headdress overtop of his Turban. I understand his particular religious custom, and I do not want to interfere with his religious practices. I am without religion, but I am not against religion. However, the law was designed to protect the safety of the individual, and thus society as a whole. I can not see the government to make an exception in this case.
