How can a person not make it from sunrise to sunset without eating? I do it nearly every day. I will certainly do it today. 5:30 AM and I am in the office writing reports. Parent meeting at 9AM Classes also begin at 9AM. One teacher is a fucking asshole, can’t deal with Korea, and is floating on tears back to America. (Fucking Americans… LOL)
I will be booked solid until 6 PM. I have an opportunity to eat lunch at 12; however, I never sit and eat with the kids, so I will pass. The best I can hope for is a cup of coffee or a glass of water and a few minutes sitting.
Classes end at 6PM and then there is a 30 minute meeting for teachers. I leave here just before 7PM, stop by the supermarket on the way home and pick up dinner. Today… no need to go to the market. I have salmon steaks in the fridge. I’m covered. Salmon steak, a bit of vegetable, and some iced tea.
This is an average day… Okay, I eat something sometimes, a bowl of fruit in the morning perhaps; however, that is before the sun comes up. I literally do not eat during the day, almost every day. Damn, I should have been a Muslim… Perhaps I was a Muslim in a past life. I definitely like blowing things up. And… well… I hate to admit it but I am slightly attracted to camels. Something about their toes just makes me wanna sing…
Ahhh… I have coffee in the AM but drink hot water during the day. I had no idea water was also restricted. Yep… a bit difficult… Around 3PM if I have not had any water, I begin getting parched. I have to lube the vocal chords to stand in front of people and talk all day. It’s like the KY I keep on my hands while I am typing. Keep those fingers lubed and ready to go. Always be prepared. (I am in a weird mood this morning,. )
Those rules do not appear in the Quran, which say sonly that women and ,men should dress ‘modestly’. They are semitic tribal practices which predate Islam by 1000 years.
The kind of control you describe is not common in Islam internationally. Those extremes are only to be found in Ultra orthodox countries such as Saudi Arabia.
Having said that, yes, Islam is still an Abrahamic faith so supresses the rights of women.
I repeat my basic position about religions: That without exception, religions reflect the culture which invent them and the people who practice them. That as a general rule religions change as societies evolve. This true of Judaism, Christianity and of Islam, mostly. When it comes to the overt treatment of women, some societies have evolved more than others. Some seem hardly to have changed at all.
Okay… I am weird most of the time… but I like it that way. Life is so much more interesting.
Most mornings I wake up, get dressed, and walk out the door of my apartment by turning to the left. Today, I looked down the street and asked myself, why do I always go that way? I made a right instead. Nothing remarkable happened. What was I expecting?
I probably avoided the remarkable thing that would have happened had I gone the other way.
Ever wonder where decisions come from?
I bought a new computer and a new fishing pole this weekend. The offer I made on a house was rejected and the damn property was sold out from under me. Is this the way life … “supposed to” Now there is an idea.
I am in a great mood to meet one of my favorite kids today. This little shit enjoys asking questions. He does not ask questions because he wants to know the answer. He has learned that if you ask enough questions, you can frustrate the adults. He asks questions and then challenges the answers with the “but why” game. This little guy is so lucky to have me as a teacher.
(Raising his hand.) “Teacher, what does a whale song sound like?”
Me “Good question. What do you think it doesn’t sound like?”
Kid just looks at me… Then “I don’t know.”
Me. “Me too. You will have to google it when you go home.”
Kid, “What does google it mean.”
Me “It’s the opposite of not googling.”
Teaching is so much fun… mind games are even more fun.
Well, more like 1700-2000 years. The middle Assyrian empire had quite draconian laws regarding veiling of women - the veil was a sign of the social standing of the woman, a way to indicate the “respectability” of women and differentiate between respectable women of high standing and “publically available” women like slaves and prostitutes:
Elite women in ancient Mesopotamia and in the Greek and Persian empires wore the veil as a sign of respectability and high status.[1] The earliest attested reference to veiling is found a Middle Assyrian law code dating from between 1400 and 1100 BC.[2] Assyria had explicit sumptuary laws detailing which women must veil and which women must not, depending upon the woman’s class, rank, and occupation in society.[1] Female slaves and prostitutes were forbidden to veil and faced harsh penalties if they did so.
§ 40. A wife-of-a-man, or [widows], or [Assyrian] women who go out into the main thoroughfare [shall not have] their heads [bare]. […] A prostitute shall not veil herself, her head shall be bare. Whoever sees a veiled prostitute shall seize her, secure witnesses, and bring her to the palace entrance. They shall not take her jewelry; he who has seized her shall take her clothing; they shall strike her 50 blows with rods; they shall pour hot pitch over her head. And if a man should see a veiled prostitute and release her and not bring her to the palace entrance: they shall strike that man 50 blows with rods; the one who informs against him shall take his clothing; they shall pierce his ears, thread (them) on a cord, tie (it) at his back; he shall perform the king’s service for one full month. Slave-women shall not veil themselves, and he who should see a veiled slave-woman shall seize her and bring her to the palace entrance: they shall cut off her ears; he who seizes her shall take her clothing.[4]
Yes, I have. I’ve made some very bad life decisions. Sometimes they have seemed trivial, but have had major impact on my life.
Once I was whining about my mistakes to a good mate. His response was that we make the best decisions we can based on the information we have had the time.
When I think of decisions I enter the murky waters of free will and determinism. When does one actually make a decision and when does one simply react? So much of life seems to be habit.
Yeah, I wasn’t sure, but was confident it was at least 1000 years. I had an idea that this was a Persian invention.
Also have my doubts about circumcision. Not entirely convinced that practice [for males] was the result of a covenant between YHWH and Abraham. Have no idea where or when female circumcision began. I’m aware it’s still common in some Muslin societies and in parts of sub Saharan Africa. Don’t know about where else.
I think male circumcision is bad enough***. The idea of female circumcision turns my stomach.
When I was born, Australian male babies were routinely circumcised In Australian Hospitals. Mum told me that a few days after I was born, the nurse simply announced “we’re going to circumcise baby today” . My mother was 21,and wouldn’t dream of questioning a nurse or doctor.
I read a while ago that the US has the largest number of non religious circumcisions in the world
I don’t take anything in the Torah or the Bible or the Quran at face value. I have several bibles in my book shelf. My books are sorted by genre and author, so the bibles are in the fiction section under G (for God).
Indeed. Especially as I do not read or understand ancient Hebrew or Greek.
Yeah, no shit. I have seen the Old Testament as mythology for over 30 years. It took a bit longer to see the New Testament the the same way.
I was raised catholic. It was only quite recently that I came to realise that the religion invented mainly by Paul of Tarsus is based on his hallucinations. In this context, I consider ‘visions’; to be a polite euphemism. Also in any other context I can think of.
As I grew up, catholics were treated like mushrooms; kept in the dark and fed bullshit. Doesn’t seem to have changed. If anything its worse when one considers the disgusting church behaviour resulting from the vast child sex scandal.
I read the Quran around 1978 as background for a paper I was doing. I was struck by how much was lifted from the Torah and by the fact that it seemed to me to be just as muddled and contradictory as the Bible. There seems to be just about as many possible interpretations.
Okay Boomer, here’s some numbers:
According to the religious forecast for 2050 by Pew Research Center, between 2010 and 2050 modest net gains through religious conversion are expected for Muslims (3 million)[294] and most of the net gains through religious conversion for Muslims found in the Sub Saharan Africa (2.9 million).[14] The study also reveals that, due to young age & relatively high fertility rate among Muslims by 2050 there will be near parity between Muslims (2.8 billion, or 30% of the population) and Christians (2.9 billion, or 31%), possibly for the first time in history.[295] While both religions will grow but Muslim population will exceed the Christian population and by 2100, Muslim population (35%) will be 1% more than the Christian population (34%).[296] By the end of 2100 Muslims are expected to outnumber Christians.[297] According to the same study, Muslims population growth is twice of world’s overall population growth due to young age and relatively high fertility rate and as a result Muslims are projected to rise to 30% (2050) of the world’s population from 23% (2010).[298]
The wiki article goes into a lot more detail: Growth of religion - Wikipedia.
Basically muslims are not projected to out number christians by much, and a lot of the growth will be in Africa, but the growth rate is pretty impressive.
I don’t know if the more oppressive versions of Islam can be counted on not to spread. You yourself eluded to the fact that the more lenient forms in the places you visited some years ago could have changed by now. The women of Iran and Afghanistan, at least in the cities, once enjoyed more freedom and choice. When the hajib was made mandatory in Iran women took to the streets in protest because they knew it would be used as an excuse to harass and beat them and their daughters in the streets. Young woman of Kabul were actually wearing mini skirts and enjoying being out and about until the Taliban took over and they ended up in those burkas so restrictive they can’t see where they’re going.
Taking a purely personal perspective, I can’t see such a growth in my country during what remains of my life . So although I accept likely truth of your claims I’m indifferent to the reality.
IMO oppressive forms of Islam, such as the Wahhabists of Saudi Arabia are as likely to spread as the bible belt Christianity of the US. .
Saudi Arabia is a special case, being an absolute monarchy with few of the basic rights we take for granted. As say laid out in the US Bill of Rights. Even though Saudi Arabia lacks the extreme poverty of many countries, its government controls most aspects of daily life, including freedom of worship and freedom of speech (there isn’t any)
My observation about religiosity has not changed. IE that religions flourish with poverty and ignorance. Secularism flourishes with education and affluence.
… no water from sunset to sundown. He does good with the food, but the hydration during the day is the “killer” for him.
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