At times, you have to wonder if they just really hated their mothers. The new rules for women imposed by the Taliban brings us back to the dark days of the 1990s when women accused of impropriety were brought out to a sports stadium and stoned to death. What is the root cause of this misogyny, because there is no other word for this terrible suppression of women.
Now under the new rules, women’s voices cannot be heard in public, and a second face covering is required in addition to the burka. Morality police scour the shops looking for violators and women are banned from being outside the home on Friday afternoons so men can attend the Friday prayer services.
Over a third of Afghanistan is malnourished, mostly women and young girls, often sold into “marriage” to feed families. What the Taliban is doing does not reflect anything in the Qur’an, which states men and women are equal before God. What is that they are afraid of? Sounds a bit like far right groups of Neo-Nazis and super-masculinity here.
Prayer for the Day
You who see human need and call us to respond,
Open our eyes to the need around us;
You call us to be instruments of your grace,
And to be your face in the world.
Help us to put aside our fears and our concerns
So we become the face of your new community.
In the name of the One who opens our hearts,
Even Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The Taliban will keep using religion as a weapon against women. To them, seeing the hair of a girl is a sin, but starving your country is not.
Meena, a young woman in Afghanistan
Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves
Samuel Johnson, English writer and critic (1709-1784)
God created humanity in God’s own image. Male and female did God create them.
Genesis 1:27