So clearly the guilty verdict on Nechemya Weberman, unlicensed “therapist” to rebellious young girls, presents a problem for people who need to control rebellious young girls. What to do, what to do. Export them!
Embarrassed by the sex abuse trial of a Hasidic counselor, leaders of Williamsburg’s pious Satmar sect are considering a different way to deal with rebellious teens: shipping them out of the country for treatment.
For “treatment”? Rebellion isn’t an illness. [Read more…]
Right right right, I’m an “Islamophobe,” and criticizing Islam is punching down because Muslims are a despised group. (The second part is true, but the first part doesn’t follow. Punching Muslims is punching down, but punching Islam isn’t, because Islam itself is what punches down. Islam has huge, illegitmate power in many many parts of the globe. Punching Islam does not equal punching Muslims. Yes one can be a stalking horse for the other, but that doesn’t make them identical.) So allow me to be a Christianityophobe for a few minutes. Not that I wouldn’t be anyway, but I feel like pointing it out.
Russia. Russia seems to be getting more and more priest-ridden and believer-whipped. This time it’s believers shouting about a production of Jesus Christ Superstar, and getting it shut down. [Read more…]
In Cairo, it’s reported that a mob attacked a Christian man, who was then arrested for being an atheist.
An angry mob of Egyptians gathered around a Christian man’s home on Thursday evening, attacking the building and demanding the man be put to death for his beliefs. Police arrived as the mob grew in size, but instead of dispersing the crowd, the Christian man, Alber Saber, was subsequently arrested. [Read more…]
Life should be dull and empty and joyless, because god. No music, no dance, no play, no laughter, no frivolity, no flirting, no getting jiggy. No faces, no conversation, no friendship, no mingling, no color. No joy – because that’s the devil’s work.
Taliban insurgents beheaded 17 civilians, including two women, who were holding a party with music in a southern Afghanistan village, officials said Monday. [Read more…]
The Islamists in Mali aren’t bothering about winning hearts and minds. Hundreds of people protested their plan to chop off someone’s hand and a radio journalist was beaten up for urging the protesters on.
“We don’t want to know what this young man did, but they are not going to cut his hand off in front of us,” a resident said on Sunday, according to the AFP news agency. [Read more…]
Career advice: don’t do anything book-related in Malaysia. They bust people for managing bookstores that distribute Irshad Manji’s book.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – A Borders bookstore manager in Malaysia has been charged with distributing a Canadian writer’s book that was banned as being against Islam.
The government in the Muslim-majority country regularly bans books it considers threats to religious stability. “Allah, Liberty and Love” was banned in late May.
…
Nik Raina Nik Abdul Aziz could face a two-year prison sentence and fine if convicted of the charge that was filed Tuesday.
For managing a bookstore that distributes a book, a decent book, a hopeful book, a book by a Muslim. She’s a progressive, liberal, reformist Muslim, yes, but she is nevertheless a Muslim. Managing a bookstore that carries that book doesn’t seem like a crime worthy of a two-year prison sentence. Well it doesn’t seem worthy of any sentence, or of being charged.
So don’t go into the book trade in Kuala Lumpur.
CFI is also taking on the bishops, by defending birth control and telling Obama to do likewise.
And we can help.
HHS is allowing public comments on the new guidelines until Tuesday, June 19, 2012. Here’s how you can get involved:
1. Visit www.regulations.gov.
2. In the search field, type the following: CMS–9968–ANPRM.
3. Scroll to the top result and click on “Submit a Comment.”
This drawn out debate over something as basic as birth control is a perfect example of the harmful influence of religious institutions on public policy. Send a message to policy makers at HHS right now and tell them it’s time to finalize the contraceptive rule and move on.
Remember, the deadline is Tuesday, June 19, 2012!
Dooo eeeeet!
The Center for Inquiry is organizing a protest outside the Indonesian embassy in DC next week. The protest is at the prison sentence handed down to Alexander Aan for expressing an opinion about religion.
Alexander Aan did nothing more than exercise the most basic of human rights — the liberty to express his beliefs — yet he is now in great danger. Not only has he lost his freedom, but many people in Indonesia are calling for his death. It is unconscionable that any person could be jailed or face death threats for simply stating his or her position regarding religion. Freedom of belief and expression are universal rights that should be afforded to all individuals.
In response to today’s ruling, CFI is organizing a protest outside the Indonesian embassy in Washington, D.C. The protest will take place next week, most likely on Monday afternoon, June 18. If you can attend, please email Michael De Dora at mdedora@centerforinquiry.net
Thank you CFI.
Well now I feel sick.
Last week there were news reports that four women and two men in Pakistan had been sentenced to death for singing and dancing at a wedding. Yes that’s right; singing and dancing at a wedding. It’s fornication, you see, because they were mixed. Only they weren’t – the photographs and video waved around to show the fornicators fornicating actually don’t show that.
Abdul Majeed Afridi, district police officer, said: “It was decided that the men will be killed first, but they ran away so the women are safe for the moment. I have sent a team to rescue them and am waiting to hear some news.” [Read more…]
Actually, that Jakarta Post account of the “protest” at Irshad Manji’s bookstore talk was a good deal too minimal. Manji gives a fuller account on (ironically) Twitter.
Four years ago, I came to Indonesia and experienced a nation of tolerance, openness & pluralism. In my new book, I describe Indonesia as a model for the Muslim world. But things have changed. Last night at LKiS community center religious extremists assaulted about 150 citizens of Jogja, as well as my team. My colleague, Emily Rees, was struck with a metal bar and had to be rushed to hospital. Her arm is now in a sling. Two other attendees sustained head injuries. I have spoken with them both and, by God’s grace, they will recover. But the reputation of the criminals should never recover: They hid behind masks & helmets while beating up ordinary people & destroying property. These men are cowards. In sharp contrast, the moral courage of several citizens saved my own life. As the gangsters shouted, “WHERE IS MANJI?” citizens shielded my body with theirs. I am immeasurably grateful for and humbled by their bravery. They have proven that Indonesians can unite for human dignity. Indonesians tell me that their police and government are capitulating to the thugs.
But the people needn’t capitulate, she adds.
Anyway – bad stuff. Thugs in masks hitting people with metal bars in an effort to silence a liberal Muslim woman who has a “wrong” kind of sexuality. Bad bad bad stuff.