OK, I'm Culturally Insensitive

[cali]

about Sharia law . Here's a story out of Afghanistan.

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - When Afghan parliamentarians went to London earlier this month to participate in a major donor's conference, it was a milestone of sorts, with a presidency and Parliament working side by side to solve the nation's problems.
<snip>
But for Al-Hajj Abdul Jabbar Shalgarai, a conservative legislator, the trip was distinctly un-Islamic. He saw the participation of two Afghan women parliamentarians - who traveled without their husbands - as a breach of the law.
<snip>
It was a debate that was bound to happen in Afghanistan sooner or later, a clash of two different visions of Islamic society, one traditional, the other modern. But for female parliamentarians hoping to improve the lot of women in this conservative Islamic country, the return of sharia rules - even if they are not specifically stated in the Constitution - is a troubling sign indeed. After all, it was this very same sharia principle that the conservative Taliban regime used to prevent women from going to school, to market, and to work.
<snip>
Under sharia, the notion of mahram-e sharaii, or male chaperones, allows for women to travel for more than three days if they are accompanied with a male relative. Because mahram-e sharaii has not been introduced as a bill, it is impossible to know just how much parliamentarian support it has. But with an estimated 50 percent of the lower house claiming past experience as fighters in the anti-Soviet jihad, and current affiliation with Islamist parties, it's clear that conservative interpretations of Islamic life have a strong political hold.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20060215/wl_csm/oentourage_1

[sam sarrha]

1. it isnt much of an achievement if they are shot in the head when the

opposition takes over in the next election...

lets face it as long as the clergy runs the religion, it isnt really a religion,.

[Gildor Inglorion]

3. What? Clergy doesn't run religion? Try telling that to the Pope...

or the Archbishop of Canterbury. Who runs religion, if not the clergy?

[sam sarrha]

7. they quit hanging and burning people 300 years ago, Islam still lets

women be buried up to their necks and have people crush their heads with stones.. for adultery and the guy goes free.. in Egypt a man can public ally cut his wifes throat and shout 'she shamed me' and go scott free and take a younger wife.. the plan all along.. etc etc

it is strange the catholics still agree to be told what to believe.. in our Buddhist Group of the 36 there, 28 were X-Catholics

[Missy M]

2. Perhaps what Afghanistan needs is for the men to become....

educated and then maybe their thinking will not be so narrow. They cannot hang on to the old, primitive way of treating woman and to me that will only come with men having a higher education. It is sometimes hard to believe this is the 21st Century when this type of nonsense is ongoing. Sadly enough there are some men in this country who still think that way.

[Gildor Inglorion]

4. Strangely, the more "educated" the USA becomes, the more primitive

our culture grows. Who would have thought 20 years ago that this nonsense about intelligent design and the ten commandments in court houses would still be issues?

[Missy M]

5. That is a good point. I think the people who believe that...

intelligent design should be taught in science class and the Ten Commandments should be in the courthouses, etc. are not highly educated or intellectual, so they are the people Bush and company appeal to. They are the base for the neocons and fundies. This country is a little further advanced than Afghanistan as far as women are concerned. We can at least travel alone.

[cali]

6. I would have.

I've always recognized these issues will emerge and re-emerge in perpetuity. American History teaches us that. Evolution, in particular, has always been contentious within the greater population. Fortunately, every time creationism rears its redesigned head, it gets slapped down. Expect more of the same.