Sunday, July 21, 2013

A question of religion or culture?

Does Islam force this kind of barbarism, or is Yemeni culture play the major role. Or, is it a a corrupt mesh of both?

By today's standards, we know selling an 11-year-old child into marriage is wrong. Why is it that her family does not?

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mikespeir 65p · 616 weeks ago

My gut reaction is, Shoot to kill!" But, no, no. That's not the right response. But, dang, I wish I knew how to fix the human race. One thing's for sure: religion isn't the answer. It's had thousands of years and we still have crap like this.
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v1car 40p · 616 weeks ago

Strictly speaking, religion IS culture. We live in Christian-dominated areas, and Christianity likes to pretend it's universal (heck, we have the "catholic" -- which means "universal" -- church). But that's not really true. Christianity got its hold by specifically and deliberately bringing in local elements. Going to proselytize to Ireland? Let's have some Irish saints! Trying to win over fertility goddess worshippers? Let's elevate Jesus' mother to a sort of co-god! Name our major spring festival after a heathen goddess and keep her symbols -- rabbits and eggs -- part of the whole thing! Etc. etc. etc. Heck, let's encourage Anglo-Saxons to think Jesus had Nordic features!

Our modern vision of Christianity, insofar as it has managed NOT to be a cultural identity thing, is really the exception. Judaism is locked inextricably with ethnicity, Islam started off (and largely remains) a self-esteem movement for the arabic-style desert-y cultures (for whom a pilgrimage to Mecca isn't such a big deal, for one thing). Buddhism is rooted in Indian culture, ideas, and prejudices of 5000-odd years ago. And other religions such as Shinto are even more tied in to geographical locations, with their own local cultures.

At best, you might be able to argue that this is because Yemenis have integrated Islam into their own culture, displacing other things. But more accurately, whether this was part of religion or not, it is a Yemeni cultural issue.
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shayman 58p · 615 weeks ago

Culture, primarily. Religion is used to reinforce it. But our problems are much deeper than our religion. In secular China, the treatment of women is horrible in the rural areas (and others).

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