re: #4 palmerskiss

I am with you on all of that. I posted this article not so much to point out that Saudi Arabia is oppressing free thought because of Islam, but to follow on to this one i posted earlier in relation to the surprisingly equal amount of atheists in western and eastern cultures.

“littlegreenfootballs.com

Ah, I missed that page. You’re very prolific and sometimes I can’t keep up. ;)

As for the numbers, I guess I just wasn’t as surprised as you are. I mean, if you tell people that religious belief (or almost anything for that matter) is forbidden, then a percentage will insist on believing. Likewise, if you say religious belief is mandatory, then a percentage will refuse to believe.

I’m not saying that I think Saudi atheists made their choices purely as a knee-jerk reaction, but as someone who spent several of her teen years living with a (Christian) fundamentalist parent, I do think that the shove-it-down-your-throat approach can create aversion where none would have existed otherwise. After all, look at where I ended up, heh. ;)

I was trying to show the nuance of saudi culture, and provide context on atheism around the world. while i have no problem calling out religious hegemony, that was not my point with this page…

I understand what you’re saying and I didn’t mean to imply I thought you were unfairly criticizing any specific group or country.

i do want to find out more about this decree, so that is a duty for tonight while reading in bed,

I look forward to reading about what your find out.

i do try and take the time to be wary of ‘zomgoddism’ when i find pages, i am currently working on a project that requires a lot of research on pakistan, ahmadiyya cultism that focuses specifically on reversing the stereotypes of Islam.

“Zomgoddism”, huh? That phrase is definitely a keeper! Good to know you’re on the lookout for it. And thanks, we could do with less stereotyping & negative imagery (I can’t tell you how tired I get of seeing photos of Muslims who are appear to be angry/hateful, violent, or otherwise miserable).

i did write about the hudood ordinances in pakistan and rape - littlegreenfootballs.com because it is part of the research for the project. i did try to stay away from ‘zomg’ism in that.

Darn, I missed that one too!

Since you brought up women, I bookmarked a Canadian site called Outburst! last night. I didn’t do a lot digging into who runs it, but neither did I recognize any known wingnuts/islamophobes or moonbats associated with it. The exceprt below, from their “about” section, rang true to me:

With the increased focus on violence against women in Muslim communities, people often speak about us but not with us. When Aqsa Parvez was murdered in 2007, many of us Outburst! members remember exactly where we were and still feel immense sadness about her murder. She could have been one of us. We find that there is little space in the media, in institutions and our communities to have our diverse voices heard. Outburst! was formed in September 2011 by young Muslim women wanting to form an action group where we are at the centre of any discussion regarding our lives. Outburst! was named by us to exemplify how we want to speak out and be heard. We want to create more opportunities to build our own leadership capacity on the issue of violence against women.

http://outburstmovement.com/about-us/our-story/

This is not directed at you, it’s just a general observation: There are few things more annoying than a person with limited understanding of your situation who says s/he wants to help, then proceeds to talk at or about you instead of to you, insisting that you do things their way because it works for them, even though you know it will never work in your community (like what FEMEN did—coincidentally, that links right back to the vocative site).

i appreciate you pointing out the issues in this article, because i was not looking for them and i did miss them. they are worthy of more work, and if you could continue to point out when i get something on Islam or Islamic culture wrong, i would be very grateful.

I’ll be happy to do that, to the extent that my knowledge & experience allows.