I'm sure they're getting right to that in Riyadh at this very moment. Actually, the article below shows a mixture of dissimulation and religiously- and culturally-loaded notions like the "dignity" of women, which can mean very different things depending on whether you're talking to a Quaker from Harrisburg or an imam from Jeddah. "Theologians call for gender equality at Saudi inter-faith conference," from Agence France-Presse, July 17:
MADRID (AFP) Women have historically suffered discrimination in the name of religion, and the world's great faiths must do more to encourage gender equality, theologians told a seminar at a Saudi-organised conference Thursday.
"Women have been forgotten and marginalised in religions," Juan Jose Tamayo, director of theology at Madrid's Juan Carlos III university, told a roundtable on the second day of the World Conference of Dialogue in Madrid, aimed at bringing the great monotheistic faiths closer together.
"They are organised hierarchically and patriarchically, excluding women in all fields of knowledge and religious matters."
Now, at the start of the 21st century, all men, but especially clerics "must restore the dignity of women."
He said the holy books of the world's great religions have been "distorted by men."
"We must go back to the respective holy books of our religions to restore the idea of equality and non-discrimination."
Ahmad Ibn Saifuddin, a Saudi professor of theology, agreed that the role of women was misunderstood, and that religious leaders must reread their holy books to clarify the position of women.
"Eve was born from Adam, so women and men are the same," he said.
But at the same time he said Islam puts women "on a high level" because they are mothers.
Esther Ruiz, a Protestant pastor and theologian, said that "doing the will of God is confused with doing the will of men."
In Christianity, there is "repression and discrimination, which is expressed in the limited possibilities for women to fully develop the gifts God has given them..."
"Often religion and culture have been used to justify this attack against the will of God to create a free human species, and to impose a partial, masculine and patriarchal vision of what God intended."
See also: Saudi Arabia, just for starters.
Amparo Ruiz, a lawyer and director of the Buddhist Centre, told the seminar that Buddhism "makes no difference between men and women."
The World Conference on Dialogue is organised by the Muslim World League from an initiative by Saudi King Abdullah, whose country hosts Islam's two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina.
More on the significance of Spain as a meeting place can be found here and here.
Around 200 participants are attending, including representatives of the world's major religions.
Among them are the secretary general of the World Jewish Congress, Michael Schneider, and Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who is responsible for dialogue between the Vatican and Muslims.
The conference opened Wednesday with a speech by King Abdullah in which he called on the world's major religions to turn their backs on extremism and embrace "constructive dialogue."
The conference ends Friday with a final communique.
Here's what it will say, at least in part: All major religions seek "peace" and condemn the killing of "innocents." All major religions also "respect" women, and seek "justice" for all of humanity.
As for the definitions of those terms, well, you know, the devil is in the details. The important thing is that the Saudis look progressive, understanding, and open-minded, and deflect attention from the entrenched oppression and injustice in their own country.
Now, at the start of the 21st century, all men, but especially clerics "must restore the dignity of women."
...........................
"Restore the dignity of women"? Now, that is odd phrasing, since in most of the worldt women have never come closer to full equal rights than today. Although many Muslim countries have actually backslid--while some are at their most egalitarian today, some were actually better for women in the 1950s, or the 1970s, or the 1980s--often when Western influence was at its height.
We would have to know the model for this "golden age" of female dignity.
more:
"We must go back to the respective holy books of our religions to restore the idea of equality and non-discrimination."
Hah! You mean the Qur'an, where it states that women are deficient in their religion and learning, they inherit half of what their brother's inherit, and their testimony is worth half that of men, and they can be sent to their beds, or beaten, for disobedience? Oh, and that most of the inhabitants of hell are women. That'll "restore the idea of equality and non-discrimination", all right!
He said the holy books of the world's great religions have been "distorted by men."
That means the bible and the Thorah are 'corrupted'. Only the Koran is unchanged and a Allah has the original computer chip somwhere in his bordello in the sky...
"justice' means sharia, and peace comes after Islam rules.
The 'dignity of women', as we all know, lies under the burka.
Uncovered women are 'catmeat' and deserve to be raped.
See, I speak Islamic already!
If you're not an Islamophobe,
you just don't understand Islam.
Having spent much time in the middle east and learned much about islam, muslim women may think they are held in high esteem but that is just a myth to keep these vain and empty headed women ready and willing at all times and nothing more. All other women in the world, and none more so than those employed in islamic countries as servants, are viewed as whores, slaves and infidels to be used and discarded. They are not given any dignity nor shown any respect. Whilst in Saudi Arabia I was 'stoned' by a group of young muslim boys as I walked down the street on my way to visit a friend, even though I was covered shoulder to ankle in the drab abeya. No doubt the light skin and hair was the signal for attack as taught in the mosques. I took great pleasure in taking aim back with a handful of stones! Islam is not a religion but a brainwashing cult and for me it is regrettable that it is called a religion at all because all the other great faiths have been put under the same umbrella as islam.
Having spent much time in the middle east and learned much about islam, muslim women may think they are held in high esteem but that is just a myth to keep these vain and empty headed women ready and willing at all times and nothing more. All other women in the world, and none more so than those employed in islamic countries as servants, are viewed as whores, slaves and infidels to be used and discarded. They are not given any dignity nor shown any respect. Whilst in Saudi Arabia I was 'stoned' by a group of young muslim boys as I walked down the street on my way to visit a friend, even though I was covered shoulder to ankle in the drab abeya. No doubt the light skin and hair was the signal for attack as taught in the mosques. I took great pleasure in taking aim back with a handful of stones! Islam is not a religion but a brainwashing cult and for me it is regrettable that it is called a religion at all because all the other great faiths have been put under the same umbrella as islam.
so Saudi King Abdullah calls for a conference to deal with progressive religious matters.
Isn't that a bit like Hitler calling for a conference about restoring dignity to the worldwide Jewry?
or have I missed something?
288 people --"world leaders" and "religious leaders" and so on -- attended this "historic" event. thing. For many of them, it was just one more gabfest, one more Davos, but with one difference. It was not about the Challenge of Change but rather, goody-goody stuff, the kind of thing everyone likes to take part in, the Common Good By Finding Common Ground For Humanity -- oh, the humanity!. Who could resist? Say, did Jimmy Carter attend? Desmont Tutu? Were there specially luxurious quarters for the most ostentatiously pious helpers-of-humanity, or did everyone get equal treatment?
And who could resist the free visit to Madrid, and the hotel suites paid for by the Saudis, and the banquests paid for by the Saudis, and all the luxe, and the gift bags, and the mementoes of this epic and epochal and earth-shaking phony event, and even the Mont Blanc pens, or whatever brand the Saudis are currently handing out like confetti, knowing -- just like PR firms in New York and Los Angeles -- that there is nothing like expensive gifties to win hearts, and win minds, no matter whose hearts and minds are being won.
Forget about, just for this "historic" event, what's actually taught in Saudi schools and preached in Saudi mosques. Forget about what is in the Qur'an, the Hadith, the Sira where Muhamamd, uswa hasana, al-insan al-kamil, displays quite a different model of behavior than that of Jesus or Buddha.
No, don't bother with any of that stuff. That's merely dragging up old unpleasantness. And don't start talking about how in Islam there is a clear division between Believer and Infidel, and that Believers are inculcated with the idea that between them and Infidels a permanent state of war (though not necessarily of open warfare) exists, and for all time.
Don't mention that stuff. Don't bring it out in the open. It just gets in the way. Why spoil the atmosphere by raising these questions? Shut up.
And remember why we are here. We are here, you see, because we are "world leaders, spiritual and temporal." We are here because we are sending a joint message to humanity: We Care. We are here because we are Very Important Personages, and on the ever-lengthening shadows of our resumes, another Great Achievement may be listed: Guest, Madrid Conference on Inter-Religious Blah-Blah.
Impressive, isn't it? We are certainly impressed with ourselves, and even more impressed with ourselves now that we have attended the conference. Aren't you more impressed with us, too?
And then, of course, there's the loot.
The loot. The loot.
Topic for the inter-faith conference:
Woman was created from the rib of man.
She was not made from a part of his head to be above him,
nor was she made from his feet to be trampled on.
She was created out of his side to be equal to him,
under his arm to be protected by him
and near his heart to be loved.
How can there be equality between the genders in Islamania? Men are people and women are mere objects. They can't fathom this equality thing any more than we in the West could fathom giving full human rights to monkeys. That bunch has been hopeless in that area for 1400 years and will remain so until the last Koranist is dead and gone.
This latest bun fight organised by the saudi king, (I refuse to use caps) is a ruse to convince the West that not all muslims are fundamentalists and that many are for world peace - NOT. This meeting is a guise to gain agreement for more mosques to be built in the West financed by the WHOLE arab world under the pretence of bringing peace to the world, when in reality the object of the exercise is to spread islam and eventually subjugate us all. Wake up world and understand a fundamental of islam and that is lying to the infidel is permissable in the name of allah: never believe a word these people say however high powered the delegation and meeting. The infidel participants attending this meeting are unwittingly placaters of the next step on the islamic march towards world domination and an attempt by the islamists to lose the warrior status they have to a new status of being peaceniks. Watch this space for the next 'agreement' for a new larger than ever mosque to be built in the West.
"Eve was born from Adam, so women and men are the same," he said.
But at the same time he said Islam puts women "on a high level" because they are mothers.
So, the role of women is "misunderstood". What exactly does that mean? Basically, it sounds very profound, but he's basically saying nothing.
They are mothers -- That means that they stay barefoot and pregnant, and "out of sight, out of mind". Because guess who defines what it means to be a mother? You guessed it, MEN!
The following didn't make it into my last post, for some reason. I commented on this; my comment made it, but not the quote.
================================================
Ahmad Ibn Saifuddin, a Saudi professor of theology, agreed that the role of women was misunderstood, and that religious leaders must reread their holy books to clarify the position of women.
"Eve was born from Adam, so women and men are the same," he said.
"Eve was born from Adam, so women and men are the same," he said."
That must have been painful. Aside from the physical impossibility of this, it's disingenuous in its implication that Adam was in any way responsible for the creation of Eve.
Eve was created by God, as was Adam. That's what makes them equal and equally loved, in his sight.
"Around 200 participants are attending, including representatives of the world's major religions."
I wonder how many of them will be women.
Why is it that when you get a group of these religious types together in some KumBaYa togetherness-fest, it is always dhimmi Christians, and dhimmi Christian women in particular, who are the most uniformed and ridiculous?
These people do not know their own creed or their own Scriptures. They are unable to discern fiction from reality. But they go anyway:
because the greatest of all sins is pride, and these people are full of it.
P.S.
Whenever Muslims say you are 'misunderstanding' their doctrine, you are getting warm, very warm...
I wonder why the King of Saudi Arabia did not organise this gabfest at a conference centre in Riyadh or Jeddah?
Of course, the customs officials would have to confiscate any non-Islamic "religious" artifacts from the VIP guests.