The observation by Doctor Samuel Johnson that, ‘Sir, a woman’s preaching is like a dog’s walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all’ was recorded in 1763 in Boswell’s biography of Johnson. Well Doctor, you misogynist you, have you got egg on your face now because the first female Church of England archbishop of Canterbury has been appointed to the position? If that isn’t worthy of cheering around the flag-post what is? What …you didn’t know that and you don’t care? LOL. The only bishops of any value are those on the chess board.
A 2018 survey found that about ten million people identified as C of E. The C of E came into being because the English king at the time was told by the catholic pope that he couldn’t marry someone else so he said some rude words to the Vatican and made up his own religion so that that he could have as many wives as he wanted.
A religion that is basically irrelevant to the vast majority and has no impact on the daily lives of most is – whilst we continue to live in a social system that uses, or tries to use, religion as a method of control – arguably preferable to one that exercises a devastating impact upon the lives of those who blindly adhere to it.
***
‘Man’s inhumanity to man / Makes countless thousands mourn!’ comes from a 1784 poem by Robert Burns, Man Was Made To Mourn: A Dirge. History is, unfortunately, littered with examples but what of Man’s inhumanity toward women in the name of religion? A September Daily Telegraph report stated that following a 6.6 magnitude earthquake in Afghanistan women were left to die because of Taliban rules forbidding unrelated men from having contact with them so all male rescue teams were forbidden to do so (tinyurl.com/2s3wbazf ).
Also in September In Morocco a feminist activist Ibtissame Lachgar was sentenced for the heinous crime (sarcasm) of ‘offending Islam’, to 30 months behind bars and a 5,500 dollar fine. She was arrested after posting online a picture of herself wearing a T-shirt with the word ‘Allah’ in Arabic followed by ‘is lesbian’ (tinyurl.com/55uj2f5z).
‘A fire on 11 March 2002 at a girls’ school in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, killed fifteen people, all young girls. Complaints were made that Saudi Arabia’s ‘religious police’, specifically the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, had prevented schoolgirls from leaving the burning building and hindered emergency services personnel because the students were not wearing modest clothing’ (tinyurl.com/mzcku99w ).
In Afghanistan a few years ago females between the ages of thirteen and twenty-one were imprisoned, for the heinous crime (more sarcasm) of having ‘failed’ a virginity test. The report said that that more than 200 young women and girls were incarcerated. Their release, it was said, would see them all expecting a future ‘full of shame, exclusion and poverty.’ ‘Although supposed to be imprisoned for only three months, many are held for a year or a year and a half’ (tinyurl.com/yz5uw7ke).
DC
No comments:
Post a Comment