Sharia Alert from Indonesia. "Bali battles the Muslims who want an Indonesian cover-up," from the TimesOnline, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
SUNBATHING tourists in Bali and barely clad tribesmen in Papua are caught up in a cultural war between a minority of puritanical Indonesian Muslims and the country’s tolerant majority. The battle appears to be frivolous, involving, as it does, learned arguments over whether a navel is indecent, or a penis gourd, which guards the modesty of the Papuan male, constitutes nudity. However, it is serious for dozens of people who have fallen victim to zealous prosecutors, police harassment and mob violence in a battle for the destiny of the world’s most populous Islamic nation.The contest for the hearts and minds of more than 200m Indonesians is being closely watched by western nations, one reason for Tony Blair’s 24-hour stop here last week.
Blair saluted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a reformer with a reputation for honesty; held brief talks with moderate Muslim leaders; and fielded questions on Iraq, Palestine and George W Bush from an articulate group of boys and girls at one of Jakarta’s religious boarding schools.
But many Indonesians fear their president is losing his grip on a political debate increasingly dominated by fundamentalists, who have made a parliamentary bill on indecency the centrepiece of their campaign to purify the nation.
“This is an attempt by some people to import Arab culture to Indonesia,” said Yenny Wahid, a Muslim campaigner for women’s rights.
The draft bill would extend a ban on indecency to prohibit kissing in public, which would be punishable by five years in prison. Public nudity or the “indecent” exposure of the stomach, thigh or hip — some religious jurists argue that shoulders could also be deemed inflammatory — could be punished by a 10-year sentence and a £30,000 fine.
It is like a plague: contaminating everything with which it comes into contact.
Bring on the vaccine!!!
Give 'em 50 years and Bali will be look as thoug it has been Islamic land for ages. Soon Bali will be joining the likes of other de-Hinduised lands West Punjab, my very own Sindh, Kashmir.
What these idiot muslims seem to miss, is , when they ban the bikini and the topless, there won't be vacationers and there sure won't be any dollars. And who will they turn to for their handouts?
Perfect reason for any free country to ban the muslims. They turn it into a lifeless third world country.
If human sexuality is so evil then why do carnal delights figure so prominently in the Muslim idea of an afterlife?
Obviously because Islam itself is a laughable joke and a fraud perpetrated upon a billion ignorant human beings.
Caroline, that's the problem I can't get over. It's ok to have evil in heaven. That's ridiculous!! And STILL, no one has said what women get in heaven. Do they get 72 glorious studs? One would think.
I agree about the billion ignoramouses.
Freewoman - I think women are supposed to get some companions in heaven but if there's relatively less emphasis upon what rewards await women I surmise it's because women weren't taking part in jihad battles back in the 7th century and so there was no need to cook up some obvious incentives to participate for those who wouldn't survive the battle to collect their booty here on earth. Ergo, the promise of "booty" for jihadi warriors in heaven. That's my inference in any case.
freewoman & Caroline-
Mohammad himself said that most women end up in hell.
For being unable to concentrate properly on Islam.
So get those asbestos teddies ready.
The ones who made it to Muslim "heaven" held no interest for Mo (as far as what they 'get' out of being members of Islam) since it is a patriarchy all the way.
(From my reading of the Koran/Hadiths, I would assume that the posthumous pious Muslim women would be engaged in an eternal 'clean-up' of messes created by the celestial orgies of their former husbands... and meekly serving them ghost wine and ectoplasmic marzipan treats as the fellow shifted from virgin 27 to virgin 28... in effect, the departed Islamic ladies would be relegated to the status of otherworldy maids.)
A faith for misogynistic simpletons, in essence.
Well, I knew the muslims raped virgins before they killed them to make sure they didn't get into heaven. They're real men ,aren't they.
I can't figure out why a woman would want to be muslim if ole mo himself said that hell was full of women. There would be nothing to look forward to, no matter how well you treated your...ah...."man".
profitsbeard: "Mohammad himself said that most women end up in hell."
True.
Freewoman: "Well, I knew the muslims raped virgins before they killed them to make sure they didn't get into heaven."
Also true. Real nice guys!
Which raises the intriguing question - who ARE those virgins? They can't be non-Muslims since non-Muslims go to hell. So they are Muslim virgins obviously. Which certainly clarifies that Muslim women virgins get to heaven. But does that mean that the reward for a Muslim woman maintaining her virginity is to "service" men in the afterlife? I would have to come to that conclusion for the reason that when you do the math you have to come up with 72 virgins for every Muslim man who gets to heaven. And because non-Muslims go to hell obviously these must be Muslim virgins exclusively. But obviously you can't keep reusing the same girls because after servicing one guy they would no longer be a virgin! Virgins can't exactly be "recycled" in other words. So where do all those virgins come from anyway? Are they maybe little girls who died from various illnesses and accidents? If you counted up all the little girls who died in earthquakes and from childhood diseases and so on, could it maybe add up to enough virgins to provide 72 of them for every Muslim male?
I do have to say that this whole scenario doesn't convey a very positive view of motherhood for Islamic women. Cause motherhood obviously takes away one's virginity. Which means that these are not the women servicing the guys in the afterlife. But not being virgins themselves, it isn't clear exactly what happens to them. Where is the assurance that Muslim non-virgins even get to heaven at all and if they do, how precisely do they spend their time there? And once one of the virgins there loses her virginity to the first guy, what happens to her then? How does she spend her time?
Well, maybe some Muslim women like Naseem and Jehana will stop by and clarify all this for inquiring minds.
But personally, I just don't get this whole scenario. The numbers just don't add up (in terms of the number of virgins required and all). If Islam wasn't such a great world religion, I would be tempted to conclude that someone just made all this stuff up, to give some 7th century jihadis an incentive to put their lives on the line in battle in the service of some psychomaniac's lies and fantasies of world domination. But of course that couldn't possibly be the explanation, Islam being such a great world religion and all. So there must be some other explanation.
Caroline-
"...someone just made this stuff all up..."
Actually, Mohammad stole 99.44 % of it (see: The Torah/Talmud and The New Testament/gnostic gospels). Then warped it to fit their resentful, vengeful mindset.
The salaciously demented 72-virgins-in-paradise idea he apparently came up with all by himself. (What a mind!)
For the answer to the perennially-puzzling "running out of virgins" connundrum: according to the Hadithic traditions, the celestial hymens of these "heavenly rewards" are self-renewing, eternally. So the otherworldy 'deflowering' is only temporary, thus, the supply of this most-important-bit-of-tissue-to-Muslim-men is endless.
Also, these maidenheady "females" are not ordinary deceased earthly Islamic women, but magical "houris", a type of angelic one-man-only prostitute for Muslims.
In short, they'll all crazy as loons.
Immoral, greedy, depraved, and perverted.
Starting with the pedophile "prophet".
profitsbeard: "For the answer to the perennially-puzzling "running out of virgins" connundrum: according to the Hadithic traditions, the celestial hymens of these "heavenly rewards" are self-renewing, eternally."
Brother profitsbeard - why thank you for that clarification. Obviously Allah the all merciful and all-knowing and wise would have taken care of that pesky detail of ruptured hymens! Please do forgive my insolence for questioning Allah's prescience in this matter.
"Also, these maidenheady "females" are not ordinary deceased earthly Islamic women, but magical "houris", a type of angelic one-man-only prostitute for Muslims."
But of course my brother. MAGICAL houris! Why it's all very clear to me now! Truly, Allah the all-merciful and all-knowing and wise has indeed thought of every possible contingency!
I knew there just HAD to be SOME logical explanation for the whole virgin numbers dilemma, Islam being one of the great world religions and all!
One thing I have learned today....detoxing one's body(no caffeine, no food) and thinking about islam doesn't go well. islam makes no sense anyway and it's worse without coffee.
My new fatwa....no coffee...no islam. It doesn't do a body good.
Imamma Freewoman
"What these idiot muslims seem to miss, is , when they ban the bikini and the topless, there won't be vacationers and there sure won't be any dollars. And who will they turn to for their handouts?"
I would not go to any country that doesn't have a proper legal system. Too many people have been falsely accused of drug smuggling and been killed for it in Indonesia.
As for beach tourism: indeed, it will be over soon. They don't even have to win the proposed legislation, just scare off the tourists.
'seem to miss' - I don't think so. I think the islamists want the country to be poorer, more desperate, easier to manipulate.
... a Muslim campaigner for human rights.
Oh now that's rich. We gotta Moslem humping and thumping for human rights. Well, first thing you gotta do to get that effort launched is to publicly burn the Koran, Hadiths, Sirat, and Sharia.
I'll bring the gasoline, you bring the matches.
The virgin thing is so pitiful, juvenile and sick. I'd rather be in paradise with one hot mama with a mind of her own.
"The virgin thing is so pitiful, juvenile and sick."
Oh, it's pretty logical if your idea of sex is sadistic hurting of women!
A couple of questions:
a) are there 72 mothers-in-law in heaven?
b) what is hell like?
Theocritic
religion-of-peace.blogspot.com