Women leading prayers<\/p>\n
How sad was the headline, Many outraged by Muslim
\nmixed-gender prayers (The Jakarta Post, March 21).<\/p>\n
All right, I suppose if this was the year 1005, but the world
\nhas moved on despite all those that want to drag it backwards
\ninto a dark age of religious domination and stagnation.<\/p>\n
These so-called puritanical Muslim men cannot accept that
\nwomen are equal in all respects -- a battle they will eventually
\nlose in time no matter their conservative thinking.<\/p>\n
Religion, no matter which one it is, belongs to both genders
\nand equally so -- as it was man (and man alone) who decided he
\nwould set himself up as being some superior human being to women.
\nWe must ask the question -- was it in fact many who were outraged
\nand who are these people that consider themselves so self-
\nrighteous and beyond reproach? Do they not realize that they
\ncome from women and that their very life was dependent on the
\nbirth and the loving care they got from their mothers?<\/p>\n
I would suggest to these outraged Muslim men that they sit
\nback and evaluate their younger lives and where they came from in
\nthe first place. It is a great failing not to understand life
\nitself, and a greater sin to forget the roots and the purpose of
\nour very existence. It is also a great failing in a religion that
\nbuilds brick walls around a women's existence and disregards
\ntheir rights to be able to express their desire equally.<\/p>\n
Women leading prayers is indeed a tribute to their feeling as
\ngenuine followers of their chosen religion, and who in the realm
\nof man has the right to deny them this expression.<\/p>\n
Some men bring forward the sexual argument -- but really that
\nis a poor excuse for their own failure to control themselves. No
\nmatter your belief, the world moves on, and the sooner religious
\nleaders understand that they must also move with the times, then
\nthe puritanical believers will become isolated and rejected by
\nthe vast majority.<\/p>\n
DAVID WALLIS
\nMedan, North Sumatra<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/women-leading-prayers-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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