LeftSidePositive pointed out yesterday that when Catholic archbishops prate of freedom of conscience they are bullshitting, because they don’t believe in or promote other people’s freedom of conscience to have nothing to do with Catholic rules. This needs to be mentioned more often. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a statement on religious freedom …
Tag Archive: Religious coercion
Sep 21 2012
Pakistan tells the world
Via Paul Fidalgo’s Morning Heresy – the Prime Minister of Pakistan says the UN “should frame laws to stop blasphemous acts.” Oh, yes, absolutely, because that kind of thing is working out so well in Pakistan. Asia Bibi for instance, accused of “blasphemy” by a petulant neighbor. Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, murdered for …
Aug 28 2012
Giles Fraser versus human rights
Giles Fraser strongly disapproves of the idea (and the judicial finding) that non-medical circumcision is what it is: genital cutting of an infant for religious reasons. Generally, the logic behind these moves is that circumcision is an act of unnecessary violence against a child and that it is imposing a belief system against a child’s will. If …
Aug 18 2012
Bishop Paglia blamed the pursuit of individual rights
Surprise surprise – the Vatican says French bishops are totally right to hate Teh Gayz. The French Catholic Church is right to defend traditional family values, a top bishop told Vatican Radio yesterday, a day after rights groups criticised a prayer focused on families and children as homophobic.
Jul 28 2012
He battered her about the head
A squalid little story out of Manchester Crown Court. A Muslim preacher who tried to strangle his 16-year old daughter after she refused to enter into an arranged marriage with her cousin has escaped jail. Abid Hussain, 56, grabbed the neck of Rabiyah Abid and said: ‘If you don’t follow my rules I will kill …
Jul 22 2012
Women are told to sit in back
Theocrats at it again – in Williamsburg (Brooklyn) this time. Ultra-Orthodox Jewish business owners are lashing out at customers at dozens of stores in Williamsburg, trying to ban sleeveless tops and plunging necklines from their aisles. It’s only the latest example of the Hasidic community trying to enforce their strict religious laws for everyone who …
Jul 17 2012
The ministry of truth
Kausik Datta has an incisive post on Ayesha Nusrat’s op-ed in the New York Times about how liberating it is to submit to a religious obligation to wrap your head and neck in a large bandage. Clearly, to Ms. Nusrat, the hijab is merely a few yards of cloth. For far too many women in far too …
Jun 28 2012
Marry the nice rapist, dear
Oh, human beings, sometimes I despair of you. The arrangements you come up with! Do you just get shit-faced drunk one night and decide all the rules, or what? There’s this idea that letting a rapist avoid jail by “marrying” the young girl he repeatedly raped, for instance – that’s a real dud. I’ll tell …
Apr 23 2012
Delusions of choice
And now I’ll spell out exactly why I think the Collective Response is so wrong and bad. The hijab is a statement of female subordination, and it’s also a statement of loyalty or obedience to a ferociously misogynist and coercive religion. Some people are “offended” to be told that. It doesn’t follow that it’s not true. …
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