Taliban Executes Pregnant Widow (page 3)

BurnTheShips

IF Christians could do so, they would gladly parade 'sinners' out to be stoned too.

That's ridiculous.

BTS

White Dove

What if our laws were based on Christianity in the strict way that they were in the Old Testament?

Christians would be hurting Christians in the name of God.

It would be the same as Islam and Sharia Law.

cognizant dissident

It's true that not all Muslims are extremist, not all Muslims would murder and maim women and young girls, just as not all Christians are pedophiles or have such extreme views as JW's.

However, even though all JW's may not be wife beaters or child abusers, they still belong to and support a system that holds women and children in an inferior position to men and a system of belief that accords them less human rights in the organization. If JW's took seats in government, you could be sure they would be backing that same belief in legislation if they could.

I have nothing against any individual JW's or Muslims. However, it is not prejudice, nor bashing, to speak out publicly against a system of belief that would accord an entire group of people (in this case women) less human and legal rights than they do to another. I would speak out against both the JW belief system and the Islamic belief system because both systems treat women as inferior to men. Despite all the shades of differences in the individual's beliefs between moderation and extremism, it cannot be denied that the fundamental teachings that underly the practices are based upon the belief in the inferior position and rights of women.

It is not bashing, ignorance or a lack of education that acknowledges that both of those systems are harmful to women. It is only the degrees of harm that change with the individual and national practices. As some of you are probably aware, I'm fond of much Buddhist philosophy. However, I acknowledge that there are many factions of Buddhist practice that place women in an inferior role in their monastic societies. I thoroughly disagree with those practices too. Even though they may stem more from historical Indian and Asian attitudes towards women than from actual Buddhist philosophy, still, I would never call myself a Buddhist while any such inequities exist among its members and those who practice it

Quite frankly, it doesn't matter where misogyny originated, or what you call it after it is absorbed into your religious culture and your law. It's got to go!

tec

What if our laws were based on Christianity in the strict way that they were in the Old Testament?

Then that would be Judaism.

Tammy

tec

(although Jewish people don't hold with stoning family members and such anymore, anyway)

cognizant dissident

White Dove, the religion of Christianity is not found or practiced in the old testament. That is Judaism and yes, it is very misogynist. The Christian religion as taught in the new testament is much less so, but it still holds that women should be held in subjection. A gentle, respectful subjection, but subjection none the less.

It is ultimately up to the male's subjective opinion to decide what is gentle and respectful. I've observed some pretty non-abusive JW men and other Christian denomination men with some pretty disrespectful attitudes towards women. I'm quite sure they would never beat or maim a woman but, no thanks, Ill reject their systems of belief too. I prefer to decide for myself the way I will allow myself to be treated by the men in my life.

XPeterX

Almost 2000 years have passed since Christ's death and still they haven't changed a bit.Bastards

Scully

My daughter got me to watch The Stoning of Soraya M. the other day. It left me feeling sick to my stomach the way this woman - this wife and mother - was treated by her husband, her community and her religion.

She was stoned on the basis of a trumped up charge of adultery. Her husband wanted to divorce her so he could marry a 14 year old. Apparently he couldn't afford to keep a second wife, so according to Sharia law, he was entitled to divorce his first wife. She denied his request on the grounds that she needed financial support, because Islam does not require a man to pay spousal or child support when he divorces his wife. The local mullah arranged for her to work for a man who was recently widowed - doing housekeeping and cooking for the man and his son. Soraya's husband seized the opportunity to accuse her of adultery, and started rumors in the village, based on the fact that she was alone in this man's house. The mullah and the mayor colluded with the husband, and strong-armed the widower into saying that Soraya would "lay down on his bed" and "say things that a woman should only say to her husband".

She was not allowed to defend herself. She had to prove her innocence. Apparently when a man accuses his wife of adultery she must prove her innocence, but when a woman accuses her husband of adultery, she must prove his guilt. If her husband colludes with the good ol' boys network, they can railroad her into a charge of slander against her husband, which is also punishable by stoning. Long story short: if a husband wants to ditch his wife and the mother of his children, all he has to do is call her a whore, get a couple of other men to go along with the charges, and she's dead before the sun sets. The scene of her being stoned was so sickening and revolting. It made me think of the following quote in the Watchtower, which, by the way, has never been retracted or repudiated:

*** Nov 15, 1952 Watchtower ***

We are not living today among theocratic nations where such members of our fleshly family relationship could be exterminated for apostasy from God and his theocratic organization, as was possible and was ordered in the nation of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai and in the land of Palestine. "Thou shalt surely kill him; thy hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. And thou shalt stone him to death with stones, because he hath sought to draw thee away from Jehovah thy God, . . . And all Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall do no more any such wickedness as this is in the midst of thee."-Deut. 13:6-11, AS.

Being limited by the laws of the worldly nation in which we live and also by the laws of God through Jesus Christ, we can take action against apostates only to a certain extent, that is, consistent with both sets of laws. The law of the land and God's law through Christ forbid us to kill apostates, even though they be members of our own flesh-and-blood family relationship.

Taliban Executes Pregnant Widow

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