[livius]

Good article analyzing some of the many contradictions - not to mention plain foolishness - in feminist thought on this matter.

Islam has always been vicious in its treatment of women. If you go to the Alhambra in Spain, you can see the small fountain that one of the rulers filled up with molten lead so that he could punish his favorite concubine, who he believed was unfaithful to him (with a eunuch, I think!), by having his guards shove her face into the molten metal.

The Old Testament did have very restrictive laws on women, and we must remember that Jesus himself rescued a woman who was about to be stoned to death for adultery under OT law. But the strange thing about Islam was that it came along 700 years after Christianity, and after Judaism had stopped doing things such as stoning women to death, and immediately took a long leap back into the past.

I'm not really sure to what extent Islam can be "modernized," not only regarding women, but regarding politics and the state.

[Morrigan]

I don't really think Islam can be modernized. Too many Muslims will resist that. Think about all of the Muslims that are estimated to be dangerous. Then think of twice that number that probably agree with them. They will never allow their religion to evolve in order to catch up with the rest of the world. That is why I think that eventually Islam will destroy itself.

And on the subject of Islam and feminism, I am a woman myself and find Islam disgusting. I expected feminists of all people to be denouncing Islam often and loudly, but when I didn't hear anything, I was surprised. I don't see how any self-respecting woman could condone, excuse, or practice that religion.