Israel has once again arrested a group of women for daring to pray at the Western Wall in ways that the state does not allow. That is, they were arrested for wearing traditional male prayer shawls rather than the female ones. Because that’s really important for some reason.
Category Archive: Religious Authoritarianism
Jan 31 2013
Christian Pastor Sentenced in Iran
Iran has sentenced Iranian-American Christian minister Saeed Abedini to eight years in prison, prompting the U.S. State Department to issue a strong condemnation of that action. Abedini was born in Iran and converted from Islam to Christianity, then came to the U.S. and became an American citizen. He has gone back to Iran many times …
Jan 11 2013
Russian Orthodox Leader Only Wants ‘Moderate’ Blasphemy Law
The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church is urging Russian lawmakers to adopt a “moderate” law to protect the feelings of religious believers — as long as the punishment is more than a fine. Reuters reports on the absurd position taken by Patriarch Karill:
Jan 01 2013
Another Atheist Banner Stolen
After local atheists paid $50 to put up a banner from the Freedom From Religion Foundation in the public square in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania, another local man, citing the Newtown shootings, climbed up and ripped them down. And a local TV station caught it all on film.
Dec 22 2012
Israel Arrests Four Women for Praying at the Wailing Wall
Police in Israel arrested four women for daring to pray at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem in an unapproved manner, something that only men are allowed to do. Haaretz has an article about the arrests and the fallout from them:
Dec 12 2012
Corruption and ‘Purity’ in Hasidic Communities
I’ve written before about some of the truly twisted things that routinely go on within insular orthodox and Hasidic Jewish communities in and around New York. And a lot of interesting information is coming out in the trial of a rabbi accused of sexually assaulting a girl who was sent to him for counseling. The …
Dec 07 2012
British Christian Group Bans Women From Speaking
A Christian group at Bristol University in England has adopted a new policy forbidding women to speak to the group unless their husbands are speaking with them. This is apparently a reversal of an earlier policy, which was likewise the reversal of yet another policy:
Nov 26 2012
That Old Fashioned Christian Privilege
If there is one thing my book is aimed at, it’s Christian privilege — the innumerable ways that Christianity operates as a cultural assumption, as a given to most people. This site provides more than 30 examples of the ways in which Christianity is privileged in American society, most of which are entirely ignored by …
Nov 14 2012
Egyptian Islamists: How Dare He Criticize Us!
It isn’t just insulting Islam itself that the Muslim reactionaries in Egypt and elsewhere want banned. Or rather, it is, but they think criticizing them is blasphemy too. A group of Islamists in Egypt have filed a legal complaint over a reform politician daring to criticize them in public:
Nov 07 2012
Church Allegedly Imprisons Gay Member
A church in North Carolina has been accused of falsely imprisoning a man who was a member of the church after he came out as gay. The church is called Word of Faith Fellowship Church and it’s located in Rutherford County. And it isn’t the first time they’ve been accused of seriously creepy behavior:
Oct 18 2012
Muslims Protest Google in England
Thousands of outraged Muslims have been protesting outside Google’s UK headquarters in London over the posting of the Innocence of Muslims video on Youtube, which Google owns. So far those protests appear to be peaceful, but I wouldn’t bet on how long that will last when they’re expressing authoritarian nonsense like this:
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