Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Rabbis warn that a university education is "dangerous" for young women.

Courtesy of the Independent:  

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish rabbis have banned women from going to university, The Independent has learned. 

The strict Satmar sect issued the decree, seen by The Independent, warning that university education for women is “dangerous”. Written in Yiddish, the decree warns: “It has lately become the new trend that girls and married women are pursuing degrees in special education. Some attend classes and others online. And so we’d like to let their parents know that it is against the Torah. 

“We will be very strict about this. No girls attending our school are allowed to study and get a degree. It is dangerous. Girls who will not abide will be forced to leave our school. Also, we will not give any jobs or teaching position in the school to girls who’ve been to college or have a degree. 

"We have to keep our school safe and we can’t allow any secular influences in our holy environment. It is against the base upon which our Mosed was built.”

The day that becoming more educated threatens your belief system, that is the day that you need to change your belief system.

You know I spend a lot of time going after Christianity here on IM.

But the main reason that I single out that particular religion is because it is the one whose negative effects we feel the most strongly here in America, and that one that negatively impacts our politics and education.

Trust me when I say I have the same disdain for ALL religions which argue against both men and women learning more about the world and universe which surrounds us.

And that certainly includes Judaism Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Mormonism, and even some forms of Buddhism. (Yes, I realize there are other religions, but I don't have all day to list them all.)

If I have any belief at all it is that as human beings it is our right and our responsibility to learn as much as we can and to help push forward the limits of human understanding.

If any religion interferes with that, then it is undermining who we are as sentient beings.

Orthodox Christian ministers lead thousands in Georgia to assault and chase gay rights protestors. (Disclaimer: This is Russia not America.)

Courtesy of Global Post:  

Two dozen stunned pro-gay rights protesters stood in a stranger’s kitchen last week. Blood streamed down a young woman's face where it had been struck by a rock. 

Outside the building, an angry mob was gaining in numbers and ferocity as the protesters’ outnumbered police escorts frantically debated how to evacuate them. 

“All this crowd, like zombies, they simply wanted to kill us. Not beat or humiliate, they simply wanted to kill us,” said Nino Kharchilava, one of the protesters. “At some point, I definitely thought, ‘We’re going to die here, and that’s it.’” 

Using their bodies as shields, the police eventually formed a narrow corridor through the throng of Orthodox Christian counter-protesters to a minibus the police had appropriated for their ad hoc escape plan. 

A widely circulated video shows Orthodox protesters accompanied by priests assaulting the minibus, breaking windows with rocks and fists and trying to drag the terrified activists out as the van slowly made its way through the crowd. 

The confrontation took place on International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO), when Kharchilava and her fellow activists were headed toward a small rally in the center of the Georgian capital. They were representing the Women’s Initiatives Supporting Group (WISG), an NGO that promotes gender education. 

Tens of thousands of anti-gay protesters organized by priests thwarted the demonstration by breaking through police lines and chasing the activists. 

Twenty-eight people were injured in the incident, which drew condemnation from human rights organizations and Western embassies. 

Often I hear that there is a vast difference between Christianity and Islam, in that Christians are less likely to use violence in order to suppress opposition to their world view or kill those that they deem sinful, but in reality such is not the case.

It is not the religion itself which instructs its peaceful existence within the community, it is the community's demand that it curtail its more aggressive and judgmental components that determine how it interacts with those unlike themselves.

When there are fewer willing to challenge the religious leaders, nor any government willing to hold them accountable, THIS is the result.

An even more effective conduit for organizing and leading people other than politics, is through religion. And the battle for supremacy, and control of the populace, between those two factions is never ending. Fragile treaties are only established once one gains dominance over the other, as we saw happen when the Fundamentalists took over the Republican party in this country.

Don't think for a moment that if our government were suddenly rendered impotent, and unable to maintain order, that the most strident and radical among the religious leaders in this country would not establish their own version of order that would see the murder and torture of all who did not adhere to their faith or dared to challenge their right to lead.

Indeed the streets would run red with both non-Christian and Christian blood and it would all be done in the name of God. And the thickest pools of blood would belong to the homosexuals and atheists.

Why do YOU think the Right Wing is constantly trying to sabotage government?