Originally posted by Arlo
Christian bible and Jewish Torah has similar instructions. By such rationalization Christianity and Judaism are no less barbaric religions. There may be some Christians and Jews who behave so (though I haven't read about a stoning, specifically, as of late). That doesn't make Christianity or Judaism, as wholes, so.
Now, if we want to compare percentages of radical fundies who went off the deep end between various religions, I'd venture the trend shows more Muslims than Christians and Jews being so. But I also contend the number of people who claim all of Islam is the problem have more in common with the radicals than they do with the rationals.
Go visit Iran. Strict Islamic cultures actually treat women worse than their animals.
Ever heard of "honor killings" of Islamic women?
http://www.themodernreligion.com/ugly/ugly_women.htman excerpt: "In April 1991, a 22-year-old Saudi woman arrived at Montreal's Mirabel Airport and requested asylum on the ground of "gender-related persecution." She told authorities that if Canada forced her to return to Saudi Arabia, her life would be in danger. Her crime? Walking outside her home without being enveloped from head to toe in a black chador.
Initially, the woman's request was rejected. Canadian officials were apparently reluctant to believe that women in Saudi Arabia today live as third-class citizens. In fact, they do: Saudi women are not allowed to drive, to marry whom they want or to travel without written permission from a male guardian, and they are the target of frequent searches by the Mutawwai'in, dreaded religious police.
Following an outcry, Canada finally granted the woman asylum. However, some people feared that the decision would lead to an influx of women asylum-seekers. One official commented, "There are one billion Muslims in the world, so we're talking hypothetically about 500 million who might want out."
As Islamic fundamentalists seize the social agenda of one country after another, women have been the greatest sufferers. By selectively interpreting the Koran, Hadith (the sayings of the Prophet) and Shariah (a code of religious law), regimes in certain Muslim countries have severely restricted the rights of women. Many have legalised polygamy and repudiation - whereby a man divorces his wife simply by announcing, "I divorce you." At the same time they have denied women the right to divorce, child custody and community property.
Under the banner of Islam, (although it is not Islamic in origin) female circumcision, more accurately defined at female genital mutilation (F.G.M.) has flourished in many countries. Algerian Marie-Aimee Helie-Lucas, founder of the French-based advocacy group Women Living Under Islamic Laws, likens the past decade for Muslim women to the Dark Ages. She rattles off some of the most heinous developments regarding women in the Muslim world: -
In 1990, Iraq issued a decree effectively allowing women to kill their wives, daughters or sisters for adultery. -
In Pakistan, current penal laws stipulate stoning to death as the maximum penalty for murder. Unlike man, however, an accused woman is not allowed to testify on her own behalf. Women who claim to have been raped are often imprisoned for committing 'zina', sex outside marriage. In maximum-sentence rape cases, women's testimonies carry no weight. They must produce four adult, pious, male Muslims who actually witnessed the crime. An estimated 2000 women languish in Pakistani jails under ordinances governing such crimes as 'zina'.
TIGERESS
