In 1517 the selling of indulgences by clergy was condemned by Martin Luther. In 2015 a woman named Farkhunda protested to a local Mullah about the selling of "fake charms" and "promises written on paper" to women who wanted babies or for other health issues, arguing in favour of a "more orthodox, proper Islamic view".
The Mullah shouted that the woman was "burning the Quran" as he called men to his 'shrine' for assistance. Farkhunda was beaten to death before her body was taken to the river to be burned. These acts so horrified Afghan women that they have taken a stand. But the crowd at the funeral still shouted "Allahu Akbar" as they demand the murderers be brought to justice. God must be great by definition but if faith is not based on love it is worthless and leads to corruption.
The Mullah deserves his comeuppance, as do all clerics who ply their trade based on fear rather than on their calling. Christianity has taken some hard knocks in response to the abuse of clerical power. The latest episode in Afghanistan should serve to demonstrate that clerics in Islam who should know better may also be seeking only to serve themselves rather than the one they claim to represent.
On this day, 25 March, Christians celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, God's role model for women. Let us hope that the women of Afghanistan and throughout the whole Muslim world see the Light, releasing them from the misery of their subjugation.
Update
Listen to Ayaan Hirsi Ali who calls for change within Islam here.
and
'Why Islam Needs a Reformation' here.
The Mullah shouted that the woman was "burning the Quran" as he called men to his 'shrine' for assistance. Farkhunda was beaten to death before her body was taken to the river to be burned. These acts so horrified Afghan women that they have taken a stand. But the crowd at the funeral still shouted "Allahu Akbar" as they demand the murderers be brought to justice. God must be great by definition but if faith is not based on love it is worthless and leads to corruption.
The Mullah deserves his comeuppance, as do all clerics who ply their trade based on fear rather than on their calling. Christianity has taken some hard knocks in response to the abuse of clerical power. The latest episode in Afghanistan should serve to demonstrate that clerics in Islam who should know better may also be seeking only to serve themselves rather than the one they claim to represent.
On this day, 25 March, Christians celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, God's role model for women. Let us hope that the women of Afghanistan and throughout the whole Muslim world see the Light, releasing them from the misery of their subjugation.
Update
Listen to Ayaan Hirsi Ali who calls for change within Islam here.
and
'Why Islam Needs a Reformation' here.
Indeed Ancient Briton, the role model for women is the Virgin Mary. Certainly all of us,that is both male and female follow Jesus Christ ,but the icon for women is Mary, leading me on to say that women do not have a true calling to the priesthood.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago I met an elderly nun who was putting herself forward for the priesthood. I thought to myself that she must have convinced somebody several decades earlier that she was being called to the nun-hood, and was now trying to persuade some-one else that she was actually called to be a priest! Unless of course, it was God's plan that she be a nun for several decades, and then a priest-nun in her dotage!
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