Iranians protesting election of 2009
(Photo by Emiliya_1998)
With the approaching first anniversary on June 12th of last year's controversial Iranian presidential elections, officials of the Islamic Republic are bracing for possibly millions of protestors pouring into the streets in a show of strength that could eventually spell the end of the government's 30-year reign of terror and oppression. So terrified is the current regime, apparently, that the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, on the recent celebration of Ayatollah Khomeini's birthday, ordered all Iranians living abroad to return to their native land to be hanged or jailed for being "enemies of the Islamic Republic."
The list of the Iranian people's grievances against the Islamic Republic headed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is long indeed, and includes the blatant and vicious oppression of women, manifested most pathologically in government-sponsored prostitution and sex slavery.
While the regime's apologists put forth weak arguments and excuses for the blatant Islamist abuse of women in Iran—claiming, for example, that because there are female Iranian lawyers and doctors women are thus treated well and fairly—festering below this shallow surface remains a horrendous record of sexism and misogyny justified by classical, not "radical" or "extremist," Islamic teachings.
Iranian Shah's wife, before 1979 revolution
One need only look at images preceding the Islamic fundamentalist takeover of Iran in 1979 to see how poorly women have fared in the past three decades under what some Iranians consider a criminal occupation of their ancient nation. Says Iranian-American writer Amil Imani, for example:
"Under the late Shah, Iranian women were the most respected females in the entire Muslim world. These thugs who are currently running my native country are not Iranians but packs of Muslim wolves who are simply following the examples of the prophet of Islam, Muhammad.
"This misogynist religion of Allah is custom-made for the savage male. A faithful follower of Allah is allowed to have as many as four permanent wives—and replace any of them at any time he wants—as well as an unlimited number of one-night or one-hour-standers that he can afford to rent. But, woe unto a woman if she even has a single love affair with another man. Nothing less than death by stoning is her just punishment."
Mr. Imani, an ex-Muslim co-founder of Former Muslims United, has good reason to make what sound to the untrained eye to be inflammatory remarks about the Islamic Republic, as he has watched from the safety of his well-appreciated adopted home of America the absolute oppression of his beloved Persian people, male and female, by rabid Islamists who use Islamic sharia law in order to establish a male-dominant, sexist and misogynistic regime that abuses, enslaves and exploits girls and women to the hilt. This exploitation and abuse include the kidnapping of girls and women off the streets to be enslaved in government-approved brothels, as well as to be trafficked in sex slavery around the Arab world and elsewhere globally.
Iranian brothels service male "pilgrims"
The government-approved or run whorehouses with kidnapped sex slaves who service male "pilgrims" and others are Iran's "dirty little secret," which mainstream media and human-rights activists may be ignoring as a "cultural idiosyncrasy" or "religious freedom" but which is in reality the cause of the intense suffering of thousands of Persian girls and women, as men have turned them into sex slaves, to be used in Iran as well as to be sold to men in other countries, including in the West, according to Dr. Donna M. Hughes of the University of Rhode Island.
Dr. Hughes is a "leading international researcher on trafficking of women and children" whose studies have included the trafficking of girls and women in such diverse places as not only Iran, Russia and Korea, but also the United States, France and Great Britain. In "Islamic Fundamentalism and the Sex Slave Trade in Iran" (2005), Hughes writes:
"A measure of Islamic fundamentalists’ success in controlling society is the depth and totality with which they suppress the freedom and rights of women. In Iran for 25 years, the ruling mullahs have enforced humiliating and sadistic rules and punishments on women and girls, enslaving them in a gender apartheid system of segregation, forced veiling, second-class status, lashing, and stoning to death.
"Joining a global trend, the fundamentalists have added another way to dehumanize women and girls: buying and selling them for prostitution. Exact numbers of victims are impossible to obtain, but according to an official source in Tehran, there has been a 635 percent increase in the number of teenage girls in prostitution. The magnitude of this statistic conveys how rapidly this form of abuse has grown. In Tehran, there are an estimated 84,000 women and girls in prostitution, many of them are on the streets, others are in the 250 brothels that reportedly operate in the city. The trade is also international: thousands of Iranian women and girls have been sold into sexual slavery abroad.
"The head of Iran’s Interpol bureau believes that the sex slave trade is one of the most profitable activities in Iran today. This criminal trade is not conducted outside the knowledge and participation of the ruling fundamentalists. Government officials themselves are involved in buying, selling, and sexually abusing women and girls.
"Many of the girls come from impoverished rural areas. Drug addiction is epidemic throughout Iran, and some addicted parents sell their children to support their habits. High unemployment—28 percent for youth 15-29 years of age and 43 percent for women 15-20 years of age—is a serious factor in driving restless youth to accept risky offers for work. Slave traders take advantage of any opportunity in which women and children are vulnerable. For example, following the recent earthquake in Bam, orphaned girls have been kidnapped and taken to a known slave market in Tehran where Iranian and foreign traders meet.
"Popular destinations for victims of the slave trade are the Arab countries in the Persian Gulf. According to the head of the Tehran province judiciary, traffickers target girls between 13 and 17, although there are reports of some girls as young as 8 and 10, to send to Arab countries...."
Hughes's article also reports the breaking up of several prostitution networks thriving in Turkey and Europe, extending to Pakistan and Afghanistan as well. In the Islamic fundamentalist country of Pakistan, she explains, also exist institutionalized brothels in which these sex slaves often end up.
Islamic sexism and misogyny
Iranian women today
(Photo by Zoom Zoom)
While Islamist apologists may argue that sex slavery exists around the world, exploiting innocent girls, women, boys and men, the fact will remain that in these Muslim nations this human-rights abuse has become institutionalized, with government-run brothels in Iran, for instance, offering what is called mutah or a temporary contract that allows men to "marry" for sexual purposes women other than the four concurrent wives alloted by Muhammad. Many of these brothels are near "holy sites," so that male pilgrims can "relieve their urges" while on a "religious" pilgrimage.
These sexist practices are justified by Quranic verses and other Islamic texts that proclaim women to be inferior subhumans to be used and exploited at will by men, who are given permission to beat and control them as they would property and animals.
For example, the Quranic verse or ayah 4:24 is held up as justification for mutah:
"Also [forbidden to you are] married women, except those whom you own as slaves. Such is the decree of God. All women other than these are lawful for you, provided you court them with your wealth in modest conduct, not in fornication. Give them their dowry for the enjoyment you have had of them as a duty; but it shall be no offense for you to make any other agreement among yourselves after you have fulfilled your duty. Surely God is all-knowing and wise."
Believers in a literal and eternal interpretation of the Quran/Koran seem to have only one place to go with this verse, which basically says that Muslim men can own sex slaves. Moreover, according to Islamic or sharia law, a woman has no right to divorce, as only a man does, a right he may freely exercise in some Muslim areas merely by saying the word talaq—"I divorce you"—three times. A man can then proceed to marry another woman and another after that by doing the same thing.
The notorious Quranic ayah 4:34 makes men superior to women and allows them to beat them:
"Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and forsake them in beds apart, and beat them."
Woman in niqab in Yemen
(Photo by Steve Evans)
As concerns the guarding of "unseen parts," in some Muslim sects, a woman's entire body is considered awrah or "naked" and thus must be completely cloaked. In other words, a woman is wholly a sex organ. In other sects, a woman's hands and face may be exposed, but the rest of her is a "walking vagina" and must be covered up in loose-fitting clothes so that no man but her husband-owner may see her shape.
Additionally, there are many hadiths or commentaries on the Quran and Muhammad that disparage women and essentially allow for their subjugation and enslavement. In the Tabari (9:113) or History of the Prophets and Kings, written in the 10th century by a respected Islamic scholar and theologian, we read the following about women:
"Allah permits you to shut them in separate rooms and to beat them, but not severely. If they abstain, they have the right to food and clothing. Treat women well for they are like domestic animals and they possess nothing themselves. Allah has made the enjoyment of their bodies lawful in his Qur'an."
Islamic misogyny is so rampant that it extends to the Muslim hell, the main occupants of which are women, allegedly seen by Muhammad himself:
"I stood at the gates of Paradise, most of those who entered there were poor, I stood at the gates of Hell, most of those who went in there, were women."
Forced prostitution is illegal in civilized countries
While it may be argued that even the United States has legal, government-approved brothels, as in the state of Nevada, the fact is that forced prostitution is against American law and is generally vigorously prosecuted wherever it is found. The victims of forced prostitution in Western countries are not imprisoned and raped as they are in Iran and elsewhere, as part of the "religious" punishment according to Islamic or sharia law. Nor is the sexploitation of women in the West justified by "sacred scriptures" or "religious traditions" of any sort, although sexism and misogyny themselves are also common to the other Abrahamic faiths of Judaism and Christianity, as well as other religions.
In the end, the fact will remain that according to mainstream, classical Islam, women are subordinate to men and can be exploited at will. As the Quran (2:223) also says:
"Women are your fields: go then, into your fields whence you please."
Concerning the Iranian Islamic fundamentalists, Hughes states, "Misogyny is at the heart of their ideology and is the framework of their state structure and authority." Until the world grapples with the fact of religiously justified sexism and misogyny, it cannot call itself enlightened and civilized.
In conclusion, the videos appended to this article give a sad view of what has happened to so many women in Iran since Islamic fundamentalists took over—as well as what happens to any nation that oppresses women and does not allow them the opportunity to pursue their own natural and God-given gifts and talents. As Dr. Hughes also says, "Only the overthrow of the mullahs and the defeat of their theocracy will liberate women from a system of contempt and hatred for women." The lovely women—and men—of Iran deserve a much better life than they have been consigned to these many years, including the right to self-rule in a free, democratic state.
D.M. Murdock is the author of controversial books and articles on comparative religion and mythology that can be found at Truth Be Known, Stellar House Publishing and Freethought Nation. For more articles from the Freethought Examiner, be sure to subscribe!
Sources and Recommended Reading
Women Under Islam: Legal Marriage and Forced Marriages
Mutah or Temporary Marriage in Muslim Societies
Islamic Fundamentalism and the Sex Slave Trade in Iran
Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars: Women
Islamic Marriage and Legalized Prostitution
Womens Rights In Iran: Shah of Iran's Reign & Now
Women's Rights in Islam
The Violent Oppression of Women in Islam
The Plight of Iranian Women and Children Under Islamic Rule
Comments
riveting article!
There is also extensive sex slavery and prostitution in Israel, where they seem to prefer Russian and Ukraine women. But then the Talmud teaches that non Jews are just cattle or goyem anyway.
Yep, and notice no mention of the UN sex slave ring that was exposed as well. This is more demonization of Iran for the benefit of the warmongers. Pathetic.
If your going to go after a subject, at least include ALL the variables, otherwise you look like you are targeting only 1/100th of the issue. Can you say AGENDA?
What is "pathetic" is that you have no concern whatsoever for all of the women who have been horribly abused by Islam in general and by the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as the men who don't want to be enslaved under Islamic rule and who are now "apostates" marked for death, such as my friend Amil Imani.
Swaps, yes, of course, it's always those damn Jews isn't it? Looks like typical Muslim tu quoque to distract from the issue at hand, to me.
Thanks for writing this article. Iran's sex slave industry and the misogyny within Islam needs to be exposed.
No mention of the Christian sex rings within the church huh? Another selective retard.
Oh the muslims are bad, the muslims are bad...well, look in the mirror einsten.
Why can't women become imams? Is it because women are too stupid? Sarcasm intended.
The late Shah? Maybe. But no one else.
With regards to the prostitution and drugs issues, it sounds that they have it just as bad as we do in the west.
chop off their weenies!!!!!!!!!!!!!
this article doesnt help too much, anyways these women need to stand up for themselves! , the power is ours!
Anyone who has skimmed over Acharyas body of work would know that she has been consistent with the exposure of the various religionists ideologies that have destroyed the subtle balance with the feminine conciousness.
Our Prayes for our Iranian sisters comes with the same compassion we ought to feel for the millions of talented and sensitive women who were burnt at the stake during the inquisition that carried out it's evil agenda.
Acharya catalogues enough similar content with the other Judeo Christian and tribal God belif systems.
Thank you Acharya once again for throwing some light on a bunch of Cockroaches
"But then the Talmud teaches that non Jews are just cattle or goyem anyway."
People always invent baseless excuses to feel a false sense of superiority over others.
Thank you for your very informative and timely article. We truly appropriate you telling the western world what is happening in our country, Iran. In Iran a woman's testimony is worth half as much as a man. Iran is an occupied nation and infested with filthy Muslim terrorists. The majority of Iranians have already left the cult of Islam and soon we will be free from the yolk of Islamic terrorism who have a grip over the entire innocent population.
Please keep up your great work.
Death to the Islamic republic and their supporters
and hello to freedom,
Maryam Farhang
The human species is a galactic embarrassment.
Thank you for bringing the crushing realities of "organized religion" to the table for discussion - and what it is really all about = the subjugation of women!!
Here we are in the 21st century and behaving as if we live in the most archaic of times. Maybe we are living in the most archaic of times! bummer...bummer
"We are lead by the least among us, the least visionary and complete sociopaths"
It is with awareness from articles like this that we awake from hypnotized trance states of metaprogramming.
This is not Acharaya's opinion,.... it's sources have been credibly researched and verified.
What Andrew below said rings a bell!!! What a terrible mess we are in.It's going to take more people to simply wake up.. and stand up and feel the new energy rising like a thousand petaled lotus
Thank you, Maryam and others. Your comments make it all worthwhile. I'm so sorry the noble Persian people must suffer under this spiritual and physical enslavement, and I hope you will be free soon - you can show the world how to escape this vicious human-rights-abusing ideology. I wish I could help more.
Enslavement? LOL, the people are free to leave for one, and ask yourself why the Jews and Christians who also live there are completely happy. Why did the Jews who live there refuse to move to Israel when asked? Unless you have lived there, you dont know WTF your talking about.
The muslims dont hate us because we are free, they hate us for what we are doing to their people. Before Israel, we had NO enemies in the middle east...chew on that...smucks.
Rembr - Iran's Clerics say that exposed Women, caused recent earthquakes! & Women are not allowed to get sun tans (in those coffin beds!) Such tans can get them arrested !
AND THESE FOlkS WANT TO BUILD A MOSQUE in NYC where the Great TWIN TOWERS once stood Realize - Sharia law DOES NOT favor women!
Hey, smart guy, how about you research WHO the ones who were going to fund the Community Center, not a mosque, look at the heads of Fox news, the ones who claim all muslims are terrorists, ask them why they wanted to fund it and then turn around and speak against it. Wake up to the contrived crisis created for weak minded fools.
As for the earthquake BS, ask Israel what they believe in their Talmud, then and only then will you stop falling for the demonization of the current country that has resources that we want.
ok...facts are facts...but don't you know that the largest prostitution rings operate in Israel?...women from the east block are deceived telling them of good jobs...but once they get in Israel they become slaves and are exploited with no mercy for years...and how about the thousands of iraqui girls that ended up in Siria as prostitutes because they lost everything thanks to the war of genocidal Bush...that devil...and what about all the iraqui girls that were raped in prison by american soldiers...you try to make iranians look bad...but look first your evil nation...certainly the scum of the earth...always invaiding and stealing from other nations...weak nations of course...but your time has come...you are going down soon...you will pay all your evil deeds...
Dear D.M. Murdock,
Take the bad comments as you are doing a fantastic job. These Hezbollahi terrorists are the same ones who have raped our brothers, fathers, mothers, and sisters. These Muslim animals are not Iranians and were imported to Iran from, you name it, all Arab terrorist countries. These Muslim rapists will rape their own mothers for some cash from the Islamic Republic. They all speak Arabic in Tehran. They have no clue what kind of plan we have for them. Persian warriors will cut their heads off soon and will send them back to their mothers in Lebanon and Iraq.
Islam is male cult, created by an Arab terrorist to destroy mankind. What is happening in Iran will happen in your country if you do not deport these Muslim terrorist.s Muslims are animals and they will never ever become humans, that I can promise you because we are dealing with these animals daily in Iran.
Thank you,
Maryam
What??? You are the dumbest person alive if you believe the propaganda fed you by the sellers of saddams nookular weapons. Stop messing with their countries and they will leave you alone...I think you spent way too much time in the body scanners.
obvious smear piece just liek the ones they wrote aboyt saddam hussein,and since it is such a biased report i take it for what it is,an attempt to stir emotionsand make amelikans feel they be ok to invade iran.or sit like the toadstolls they are on the sidelines.Do you know what they israeli policy is on this ? well as long as they are not jews they can be held as virtual prisonerrs in israeli brothels .many are lured by job offers and once thetre are enslaved it is legal in isrzael as i said.I do not think the uprisiongs are a majority otr even a example, they are obviously agents paid and to do itiran is a non issue for any one except israel.who does not sign nuclear treraty,no inspectionms and reserves the right to murdwer any one they want to.israel is the problenm not the muslims.and arachnya your jewishness is showing.
Right on. Iran has not attacked anyone for over 200 years, and THEY are the terrorists? Look up the word terrorism people and then look at our domestic and foreign policy. THEN you will have grown some brain cells.
Sorry, but your remarks display an appalling ignorance of all the state-funded terrorism by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Moreover, who is "our?" And to whom are you referring with your insulting remarks?
I fully endorse the sentiments carried through this article on the rights of women in Sharia Law. As far as I am concerned, I am not agreeable on the practice of "Islamic Ideology" on several other scores too. But since we are discussing here only on the 'Women's Rights', I am aware of these Islamic practices and I strongly condemn in no ambiguous terms. I have always called for a "Reformation of Islam" in its own interest. Because the medieval days are over, when the people were living in their own enclaves without exposure to the external world and very little or no awareness. The time has come to wake up to this stark reality. Those who do not, are bound to suffer the same fate as the mammoth gigantic animals called "Dinosaurs" had suffered in the past. We know them from their fossils only. I hope not that the Islam will also be known through her fossils.
God bless.
Dr. O. P. Sudrania
"but look first your evil nation...certainly the scum of the earth...always invaiding and stealing from other nations...weak nations of course...but your time has come...you are going down soon...you will pay all your evil deeds... "
I hardly find that kind of vicious attitude and wishing whole swathes of people to suffer horribly as some sort of "righteous" improvement over what already exists.
Apparently, you are interested in replacing one supposedly rotten and evil system with your own.
How about well wishes for people who are trying very hard and risking their lives to live freely and to help others to live as well? Or do you just go around spewing hatred at others whom you don't know at all?
Again, your mentality is no improvement over the atrocious attitudes we find globally. In fact, it is exactly the same as the hard, nasty and sadistic mind being addressed in this very article.
Good Artiicle...It's so sad what we are as a human race. As a whole we are brainwashed children playing with guns...!! Some of us have woken up, but when will the rest? It seems really idiotic that people just can't see how ridiculous and cruel religions are. It seems no one has the common sense to question what they are told. I do realise that some people don't have a choice..they would just disappear if they spoke out as in times past and present. But some of us have the freedom to question God and who made him up..so let's hope more people come out and speak their minds who can. I Have read some of your works and you are doing an amazing job. I'm with you and am picturing a world where women can be truly free to do as they please.
Morvenna
"arachnya your jewishness is showing"
From your deranged rant that doesn't address a single important issue about the suffering of women and children over under a horrendous misogynistic cult, you have ZERO credibility.
This article has nothing to do with Jews, and I am not Jewish.
But you are not concerned about truth - that is obvious.
@telena,
I am prety sure that nobody will defer with you on this score if it is happening in Israel on the same scale. I am not aware of but I shall endorse your angst here and on this score. I know that so many more will. So please don't feel bad only on this point.
We are equally concerned in Iran as well as Israel or elsewhere. I am aware that Acharya has done a lot of hard work and she deserves accolades on this count. I hold very high regards to her untiring work.
God bless.
Dr. O. P. Sudrania
Maryam said:
"These Hezbollahi terrorists are the same ones who have raped our brothers, fathers, mothers, and sisters. These Muslim animals are not Iranians and were imported to Iran from, you name it, all Arab terrorist countries. These Muslim rapists will rape their own mothers for some cash from the Islamic Republic. They all speak Arabic in Tehran."
I've been hearing about this issue of hordes of non-Persians having been brought in essentially to enslave the natives under the Islamists, and you are confirming this fact. I appreciate you speaking your mind, Maryam. If these predators can do this to your lovely nation, they can do it anywhere. And there are some in here spewing a bunch of garbage who may as well be paid agents of this oppressive regime. I have little doubt Persia was targeted because it possesses the third-larged oil reserves in the world.
That's just horrible. And they are bringing their "secret" jihad to western countries. No way!
The world should declare war on all Muslims and wipe them out from the face of the earth, and when they are done, Christians next!
We all have a great deal to thank women for on this planet and they deserve every bit of eppreciation, they are the backbone of a family. It's about time these fanatical small minded men treated them as equals.
Thank you for bringing the crushing realities of "organized religion" to the table for discussion - and what it is really all about = the subjugation of women!!
I have taken the time to read carefully your article, as I do your books.Respectfully, may I say that one of the terrible things in this world is the efforts of Democratic nations to seek to enforce 'Democracy' on the politic of other nations as being the best possible remedy to the world's ills!! Democracy
as it is demonstrated today, is,sadly, a failed and flawed politic. I in my studies and personal experience have come to the belief that no country,nor its religion and politic has the right to impose their particular ways and beliefs upon another.
Change has to come from within such countries that enslave and
exploit their fellow-humans.For myself,I have always seen women
as equal, enjoy their company, appreciate and value their beauty, never have I seen- nor used- them as a commodity for man's benefit to satiate basic sexual needs. It is really the men, in the country under discussion that need to change, and by that change, free their enslaved counterparts their right TO BE.
I quote Acharya in defence of the Bill of Rights that we always have to be vigilant about.
"It is the over arching wisdom concerning human dignity, integrity and individual potential, behind the Bill of Rights that needs to be defended and extended globally.
Our fore fathers in many parts of the world have fought too hard for the liberties we enjoy now, for us to let them go so easily. As a wise leader once said “ The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”. If we do not defend the Principles behind the Bill of Rights and Freedoms – no matter what land we live in, we will be enslaved by fascistic ideologies devised by mankind and ‘Holy Law’ which is not “holy”, but concocted to exploit the weak, and prey upon the poor and downtrodden, to enslave human beings and commit brutal acts upon them at every turn.
(to be continued
(Continued)
"A charter of this sort should be the law of the land worldwide. Few of the alternative forms of governance contain all the liberties freedoms and human rights, afforded to every single human being, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender or age, as can be found in the Bill of Rights and Freedoms. Indeed, the alternative in other nations border on slavery, and many people of those countries cry out for help. We will be less human ourselves if we do not attempt to assist them.
In this regard please take the Charter values to heart and make sure that you speak out against the would-be enslavers of mankind, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity, race, religion or political leanings. And be certain to use these rights, to protect your own freedoms,
And So it should be clear from Acharayas perspective through her work, that this not about a culture war, or about singling out a country for harbouring prostitutes, but the realization that the brutal process is deeply embedded in the values of a diabolic male/solar mystery cult that has taken root in many different forms for centuries world wide. The Iranian exposure is a wake up call to this hideous ignorance that has enveloped us all in the name of Religion. How can the word 'Organized' be even attributed to such blasphemy on such a species creation as Humans and more specifically woman.
Let the myths be exposed and the light shine in these sewers..
Thank God for the Brave souls that carry this torch. All praise to Acharaya for disturbing the Cabal
From a Theosophic perspective: (Not Mine!)
Ms. Blavatsky (One whom was 'Initiated' in the 'Mysteries' of the 'East') stated that in 'Divine Time'...Women will not require Man to progenate the Human species. They'll be able to control 'Creation' themselves! Whatever that might mean?
I'm not Islamic, but if I may play the Devils Advocate for one moment? Would the burkas be out of respect, as "Symbol" for the "Sacred Feminine"? They do have a "Crecent" and a "Star" on their flag? I'm Ignorant of their Religious beliefs...just thought I'd toss this out there.
I too think it is horrible, how they treat the "Sacred Feminine" the birth mother of the "Cosmic ALL". Hermetically speaking...
Look at Nature...SHE'll never lie to you! The Male+ and Female- system of Generation is right in front of your eyes...right down to the Flowers! Open thy Humane Eyes!
>>SHE<< not 'he'. We can all see what 'he', has done to >>SHE<< in the Gulf of Mexico! Those 'Drill baby Drill'ers...
For any Persian women reading this:
Please know that at least some men respect your courage and want you live a free and happy and fulfilling life.
I was born and raised as a Catholic. I have come to see that religion as something manufactured by cruel deceptive men to control and manipulate other men and women. Since giving up that religion , I have become a lot less judgmental and less entitled to have opinions about how women should be.
It is now obvious to me that if I want to create excellence in my own life without hassle or hindrance , I have to allow others the same peaceful choices. I fully support a woman's right to be the best she can. I have to. Because I notice that any culture that uses law to crush women freedom to be her best is a culture that with will use law to crush the best and brightest men.
DM Murdoch, you have more courage than all the Prime ministers of Europe, I'm glad our Federal Empire hasn't been able to pass laws to silence y
Now that Persian women are getting "nose jobs" in droves, were they cover their faces because they were scary? Do they wear the veil now, because they were too cheap to get the nose job fad, or because they actually had something worth looking at.
Acharya, why didn't you include a nose job documentary. Those docs are hysterical, and the vainity of the Farsi Folk is hillarious.
As I have come into my own perspective and wisdom in life, I find that everything we think do or say is reflected back to us as our reality, a mirror so we can see ourselves feelings from an exterior perspective. In the Catholic religon they have a blessed trinity. The father, the son and the holy ghost, the mysterious three in one. I believe there in no mystery for we are all one and Allah... God is all. All there is, everthing, is part of the conciousness of God and we are part of it. We cannot do to others without doing the same to ourselves. Apparently there is very little Love in the Quran since the fundamentalists need their sharia law. With Love you don't need law!
For a number of years, I have been on the search for truth. Conventional logic has taken me down different paths, all of which have left me asking more questions. This article is an example of such a path. As much as we try, the context of a situation can never be fully understood unless it is lived; however, this is impractical. Instead, we must educate ourselves to understanding and where ever possible, make a choice to do the right thing by humanity. To hate, takes effort that can never be satisfied and thus becomes a vicious circle of madness.
The world is not a perfect place and I don't believe that anyone disagrees with this point, what I find challenging is the root of hatred. Why do people do the things they do and why do they find it acceptable to do so? The power and control that the people have over their government is many to one, but the people must work together for one cause (peace). If they continue to ask "What's in it for me?" the message is lost.
For a number of years, I have been on the search for truth. Conventional logic has taken me down different paths, all of which have left me asking more questions. This article is an example of such a path. As much as we try, the context of a situation can never be fully understood unless it is lived; however, this is impractical. Instead, we must educate ourselves to understanding and where ever possible, make a choice to do the right thing by humanity. To hate, takes effort that can never be satisfied and thus becomes a vicious circle of madness.
The world is not a perfect place and I don't believe that anyone disagrees with this point, what I find challenging is the root of hatred. Why do people do the things they do and why do they find it acceptable to do so? The power and control that the people have over their government is many to one, but the people must work together for one cause (peace). If they continue to ask "What's in it for me?" the message is lost.
.
Senecca knew it all those years ago when he said, "My atheism denies only those gods fashioned in the image of men to be servant to their human interests". Of course he meant all of the thousands of gods that people have worshipped.
The only way for world peace is for us to relieve ourselves of the burden of religions. Atheism is the way, the truth and the life.
>>RCHenry wrote<<
>>Atheism is the way, the truth and the life.<<
I've never been to Church(ianity) and or belong to any Secret Society (S.S.). However, your making a big mistake if you choose Atheism. Everyone is Free to choose--but choose wisely!
I see what Religion has done to humanity. Need not look further than the rear-view blood stained historical mirror (not to mention today). Mythology catches--what History misses. The only message (Universal Language) that can be sent across Time--with the rise and fall of Empires and Languages--is Mythologies--Twin Sister--the Ancient Science of SYMBOLISM.
Hermeticism and I believe the far east religions--all stated Philosophically that this (Lunar) World or Sphere/Plane of existence was an "Illusion" on account of all its Polarites i.e. Contrarities. (Wo)Man was Evil. We are all here (incarnated) because we sinned in a former Life. All Relgions are Mythologically (Astrologically)based. "Exoteric" Fanatics are the Cause & Effect.
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