Going down South of Thailand?

[Terry4]

I guess all Religions have their problems,there’ s even talk here in Australia to pass a Law that will let Religious schools refuse gay students.

At the moment in Australia its quite legal for Religious organisations to discriminate.

 

Whilst i like to be known as non judgmental i really had enough of religious policies hating others because their different in some way,i gave religion away long ago,

 

I prefer people who dont need religion to tell them how to run their live,but lets face it ,some people need that “routine” in their life to get through it.

[paborn]

"My countries"  I should never post so early in the morning - My country's when I'm awake!!!!!!

[a447a]

I can have issues with fundamentalist Islam and not be Islamaphobic - let's not use the term too broadly.

Well said!

[a447a]

Whilst i like to be known as non judgmental......

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you recently call someone a "dumb Australian"?

 

Yep, definitely "non judgemental."

[Londoner]

The curious thing about fundamentalism is that in whatever religion it gains a foothold, the results are very similar. Christian, Jewish, Islamic, Hindu,even some of the wilder extremes of Buddhism. Anti-women, anti-gay, repressive socially, oppressive politically  and aggressive militarily.

 

My experience in Palestine  is that the fundamentalism in Occupied Palestine is  predomiantlyJewish. It is Jewish women who tend to be subservient and closeted while Palestinian women are defiant and politically- motivated. In the schools, it is usually the young girls who are the most articulate  and politically aware; the boys tend to be the ones who are involved in confronting the settlers and Occupation Army.  You don't see women with full-face veils and in the larger towns, the dress of girls tends to be t-shirts and jeans. Very different to the settlement women....not that you often see them anyway!

 

Islamic countries were the ones where gay sexuality was tolerated and, in some cases, culturally -celebrated, right up to the middle of the 20th century. Wilde and Gide in North Africa, Burroughs and Orton in Tangiers for example....while in Medieval Islam there was a literary culture that celebrated gay love in poetry and song.For centuries,  European  gay men went to Islamic countries to escape oppression. 

 

A personal memory. In 2009  my boyfriend was seriously ill in hospital. My Muslim  Palestinian  friend made a special journey to Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to pray for him. I joked that my boyfriend was  the first gay , Buddhist Thai to have had special prayers said for him in the third most holy site in Islam in nearly one thousand years!

 

And in case you're wondering, Allah answered the prayer!

[paborn]

The curious thing about fundamentalism is that in whatever religion it gains a foothold, the results are very similar.

 

Well said Londoner. I might add that they are, almost without fail, hypocrites. 

 

The American comedian Bill Maher ten years ago released a film called "religulous" (as in ridiculous ) one hilarious scene is a store in Jerusalem where Orthodox Jews can purchase devices that dial phones, turn on lights, etc, that allow them to use these devices on the Sabbath despite interpretations of Torah law. In other words, how can we cheat God by skirting the commandments? They clash with the army because they will not fight in the army but every make has an Uzzi in the settlements.

 

By the way, I believe it is every type of fundamentalism, I'm just an old New Yorker more familiar with Judaism. 

[daydreamer]

I guess all Religions have their problems,there’ s even talk here in Australia to pass a Law that will let Religious schools refuse gay students.

 

 

 

At the same time, pass a law for religious organizations to be stripped of their tax exempt status.  The estimated annual total income of religious organizations in Australia is $30 billion.  And this is all tax exempt.

[vinapu]

At the same time, pass a law for religious organizations to be stripped of their tax exempt status.  The estimated annual total income of religious organizations in Australia is $30 billion.  And this is all tax exempt.

that's for Australian people to decide , not serial whorers frequenting this forum 

[paborn]

that's for Australian people to decide , not serial whorers frequenting this forum 

 

Vinapu, this does not sound like you at all. Has someone hacked your ID?