“It yields considerable social benefits – particularly in ethnic groups, where it is traditional for women to live with their in-laws.”… Read the rest
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Strictness and violence
Apr 21st, 2012 3:11 pm | By Ophelia BensonMaryam points out this helpful item: a speech last summer by Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, religious advisor to Ahmadinejad, explaining that human rights have no place in Islam. Oh. Well thank you; that’s what critics keep saying, and it’s helpful to have the corroboration.
Mesbah-Yazdi, the theoretician of violence, gave a new speech at the end of Ramadan (end of August) in which he criticized the opinion of those people who claim Islam is based on generosity and respect for Human Rights.
Yes exactly! I’m always criticizing the opinion of those people too. I keep asking them to name just one place where that works out in practice – just one country where the government is “Islamic” in some … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Why do French intellectuals “know nothing about science”?
Apr 21st, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe autism issue seems to be symptomatic of France’s difficult relationship with evidence-based science.… Read the rest
The only category
Apr 21st, 2012 2:20 pm | By Ophelia BensonThis little spat between the Inquisition and the slightly disobedient (but not disobedient enough) nuns reminds me of something that we generally don’t focus on sharply enough. It’s certainly obvious, yet it kind of fades into the background of the taken-for-granted.
The something is:
Women are the only category of people who can’t ever be Catholic clergy no matter what they do or don’t do. The only one. Atheists can change their minds. Buddhists can convert. Convicted felons can repent. Gay men can be closeted.
But women, and women only, are barred, completely and finally; barred as such, barred from birth, barred because of what they are. Trying to unbar them is an excommunicable crime, while raping children is … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The forbidden words from Taslima Nasreen’s autobiography
Apr 21st, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonWe are free to read them. Not everyone is.… Read the rest
The Vatican rebukes Radical Feminist nuns
Apr 21st, 2012 10:53 am | By Ophelia BensonAh the dear US Conference of Catholic bishops – how it does love itself a chance to tell people to obey it. The same of course goes for the dear Inquisition, now thoughtfully renamed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was Ratzinger’s part of the organization until he got the top job. The Inquisition has issued a new Obey Us, which the UCCB has kindly shared. It begins with – well, with Obey Us, of course.
… Read the restThe context in which the current doctrinal Assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious in the United States of America is best situated is articulated by Pope John Paul II in the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Vita consecrata of 1996.
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Stand with Sergey
Apr 21st, 2012 10:22 am | By Ophelia BensonA guy in Russia was arrested for saying gay people should have rights.
Sergey Kondrashov was jailed in St. Petersburg, Russia for defying a new draconian “homosexual propaganda” law. His crime? Holding up a sign saying a close family friend, who happens to be lesbian, deserves the same rights as he and his wife. Stand with Sergey – and other Russians who are refusing to be silenced, and challenging the spread of this backwards law nationwide.
There’s a petition you can sign. Only 30 thousand to go and they’ll have 100 thousand.… Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
16 Amish charged with hate crimes
Apr 21st, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonBecause the charges involve kidnapping, the first 12 defendants could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Bridget Brennan.… Read the rest
Jailed for defying Russia’s anti-gay censorship law
Apr 21st, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonHis crime? Holding up a sign saying a close family friend, who happens to be lesbian, deserves the same rights as he and his wife.… Read the rest
Review of Sadakat Kadri on sharia
Apr 21st, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonIt’s all very well to mention Bruce Bawer and the Daily Mail and Sun, but concern emanates from authoritative sources which Kadri completely ignores.… Read the rest
Inquisition tells US nuns to stfu and obey the bishops
Apr 21st, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe Leadership Conference of Women Religious are talking too much about poverty and social justice and not enough about teh gayz and abortion.… Read the rest
Bullying is healthy
Apr 20th, 2012 4:59 pm | By Ophelia BensonSo people are trying to combat the bullying of LGBQ teenagers in school, and religious conservative lunatics are trying to combat the efforts to combat the bullying. Yes that’s right. Grown-ups in grown-up organizations full of grown-ups are trying to prevent people from stopping bullying in schools.
… Read the restLast year, many conservative political organizations, including Focus on the Family, the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, Liberty Counsel and Concerned Women for America vocally opposed attempts by school districts and public officials to combat bullying based on actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity—categories typically considered along with other attributes such as race, sex, age, disability and national origin. Moreover, these groups smeared and demonized advocacy groups that collaborate
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Conservative groups defend their right to bully LGBT kids
Apr 20th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonThe right to bully is a matter of religious freedom.… Read the rest
On a billboard
Apr 20th, 2012 11:12 am | By Ophelia BensonI saw this billboard while on a bus yesterday; it was urging adoption of pets from shelters, and it was a big banner portrait (not a photograph) of five Yellow Lab puppies. Four of the five are looking straight out, while just one of them is tilting the head…and has a pink bow behind the ear. Well gee, guess what we’re supposed to think – the one with the bow is A Girl.
So why is there only one girl then? Why four forthright direct Boy puppies and just one flirtatious coy bow-behind-the-ear Girl?
(And why single her out? Why signal her sex? Why put a bow behind her ear? When the fuck do puppies ever wear bows behind their … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
Sarah Posner on Romney and Mormonism
Apr 20th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonOne would think that Romney would jump at the chance to demonstrate a Mormon-evangelical-Catholic alliance.… Read the rest
Kuwaiti jailed for “insulting” Mo attacked by inmate
Apr 20th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonKuwaiti authorities arrested the man last month, charging him with defaming the Islamic faith, the Prophet, his companions and his wife on Twitter.… Read the rest
It never stops
Apr 19th, 2012 4:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonLeo Igwe reports there is a new church in Cross River-Akwa Ibom states in Nigeria that looks set to cause more misery, torture and death with accusations of witchcraft.
Leo writes:
Recently, the prophetic ministry joined the vanguard of witch hunting churches that are fueling witchcraft related abuse in the region.
In what appears to be a clear and targeted attempt to undermine the progress which government and non-governmental agencies have made in the fight against witch hunting in Akwa Ibom, the church organized in March a crusade tagged ‘Uyo Festival of Fire’ at Ibom Hall in Uyo, the state capital. The theme of the crusade was ‘My Father! My Father!! That Witch Must Die’.
Religion is poison. It doesn’t … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
My People! My People!! This Witch Hunting Must Stop
Apr 19th, 2012 | Filed by Ophelia BensonLeo Igwe on a church which appears to be on a fast track to causing a new wave of witchcraft related abuse, torture and killings in Cross River-Akwa Ibom states.… Read the rest
Court sentences are based on sharia
Apr 19th, 2012 3:27 pm | By Ophelia BensonBut then we read a story from Saudi Arabia, and we are struck dumb.
A Sri Lankan woman is currently facing decapitation by sword on a witchcraft charge in Saudi Arabia, in accordance with Wahhabism, a strict form of Sunni Islam. The UN reports executions tripled in the kingdom in 2011.
A Saudi man complained that in a shopping mall his 13-year-old daughter “suddenly started acting in an abnormal way, which happened after she came close to the Sri Lankan woman,” reports the daily Okaz.
After the local man denounced the Sri Lankan for casting a spell on his daughter, police in the port city of Jeddah found it sufficient cause to arrest the woman.
A Sri Lankan woman … Read the rest
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)
The Romneys ate tuna
Apr 19th, 2012 3:16 pm | By Ophelia BensonI can only find it funny. There was an old joke about Martin Amis – that his first book was titled My Struggle. That should be a new joke about the Romneys. Our Struggle.
… Read the restYou’re going to need a hanky for this sob story, as told by Ann Romney back in 1994, of just how hard young Mitt and Ann struggled when they were just starting out:
They were not easy years. [...]We were happy, studying hard. Neither one of us had a job, because Mitt had enough of an investment from stock that we could sell off a little at a time.
The stock came from Mitt’s father. When he took over American Motors, the stock was
(This is a syndicated post. Read the original at FreeThoughtBlogs.)