US Muslim woman defies hardliners, BBC News, 07/26/2004
This is a strange article, since anyone who has been to a mosque knows that most of them have a seperation of men and women. But, then again, that the target audience of the article's not muslim is just as glaringly in focus as the actual subject. I feel a need to write a bit about this, since, as far as I can remember, it's always been segregated, though there's never been any support or rationale other than 'tradition.' It's definately interesting she's waging the battle in the media -- granted, that appears to be her job and vocation -- since it seems to only bring shame, mistrust, distrust and a variety of other sadnesses upon her (and other) communities. She may not have gotten redress from her mosque's 'tribunal,' but I believe she's going about the whole affair in precisely the wrong way. With an eye towards the uninitated, as this article and her campaign so clearly has, I'd begin by searching Islam's teachings and the cultures that it's influenced for inspiration. There are "liberal" theologicians and writings around, I'd use the process of awareness for good, not for division.
Sites referenced in the article:
Muslimwakeup.com
altmuslim.com
Jack finally has a
blog. Evolution. For a quick peek back to blogging history, here are two entries from
Kim Jong Il's
blog.
Christian Zionism, Evangelicals, Born Agains and
Premillennial Dispensationalism
The Jesus Landing Pad, Village Voice, May 2004
Christian Zionists soldier to prophecy
A Strange Kind of Freedom, Independent.co.uk, July 2002
Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin and
Rumsfeld comments [10/2003] (interesting note, Wikipedia doesn't have a Boykin entry (only a
reference), but disinfopedia does... maybe some research and a first entry?)
Political Mobilization of the New Christian Right, Bryan Le Beau, Creighton University