Thanks for participating. I can’t wait to find my next controversial photo.

In 21st century men and women can sit side by side, without any sexual
deviations and enjoy the beautiful game. Of course if the guy beside your wife/girlfriend
is getting a little too obnoxious, well there are ways to deal with that as well.
From my own experience I yet to see a fight based on disrespecting the ladies!
So Why should they be denied the opportunity of experiencing a live match?
That would be like denying men going to a women’s game, how absurd is that?
All religions should be like computer softwares that need significant updates every
1000 years ?? LOL Please keep sports and religions separate. It would be interesting
though to have leagues based on religion, lets roll back the times and start cooking with coal, and bring back the oil lamp and of course the most dependable mode of transportation, never runs out of fuel, the good old dromedary.

(Matt 5:31-32, NASB)
“And it was said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of dismissal’; but I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the cause of unchastity, makes her commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.” (Matt 5:31-32, NASB)

And some Pharisees came to Him, testing Him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause at all?” And He answered and said, “Have you not read, that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘ For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh’? Consequently they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.” They *said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.” (Matt 19:3-9)

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Divorce was used but does not mean God approved in the spirit of man but it happened and does happen. In the end the judgement is in Heaven not on earth and the end choice is yours but your spiritual judgement is between you and God and no one should get stonned or killed by it. The Old Testament applied to a Covenant of purity where Heaven and Earth was joined to the hip, if man overcame certain tasks then the rules changed. Some things changed because like Jesus, God in the Flesh he could turn the switchs a bit between Earth and heaven and openned a more tollerant door that the perfection of heaven required and saved man to be able to be resserected.

As for the Middle East even being in the queuing with a woman at a super market is wrong and many jobs for women require permission on paper including for driving. But things will change, I just hope they understand their own scriptures, the ones at the top read it often enough to make judgements and cultural laws. Then again I ask do our own Priests in the West understand the Bible any more?

And lets be honest–religion is the overwhelming factor in the culture itself in islamic nations.

I dont understand why people assume this is a west versus east argument. Just because I dont agree with one aspect of a system does not mean I agree with another.

And I dont think my response to Tamim means I am a bigot, only that I dont agree that women are treated like “precious diamonds” in all Islamic nations.

I never said that Islam was wrong or backward or that Arabs were evil. I dont think that is true, and, as a student of culture, I know the difference between Islam as a religion and how it has been interpreted by Arab tribes. As I said, my reply was in response to Tamim.

As for Turkey, the thread was speaking about gulf states (as was I). I fully agree that not all “Islamic” countries restrict women, only that some do.

Sandrahn, I am sorry that you were so offended, but I also think you are a little defensive. Read Tamim’s post then my reply.

But let’s be clear: making this an issue of wider Arab or Muslim culture is nonsense.

Inara’s posts are excellent. I’ve studied and worked in the Middle East. I studied at the American Universities in Cairo and Beirut. I was raised a Catholic and come from Brazil. What disgusts me here is the notion that everywhere else in the world things are just rosy and “moonbeams” for women, except in Islamic countries. Honor killings are very common in rural areas in Brazil and other parts of Latin America, not to mention non-Islamic parts of Asia. Girl infants are routinely killed in non-Islamic parts of Africa and Asia.

Islam comprises many different countries and cultures. The condition of women varies throughout North Africa, West Africa, the Gulf, South Asia, East Asia, Eastern Europe. Syria, for example, is a highly secular state where women can go to stadiums, dress as they please, etc. So was Iraq under Saddam. Islam in Turkey is quite different from Saudi Arabia — women can go to stadiums in Turkey. “Honor killings” happen in different non-Islamic cultures in Africa and do not happen in most Islamic countries. In highly conservative Islamic states, women’s lives are highly restricted — yet in Iran and Saudi Arabia more than half (about 60%) of university students are women. In Saudi, you’re seeing more and more women in high status professions such as physicians and engineers, working right alongside men. Countries like Afghanistan are deeply retrograde and are viewed as deeply backward and ignorant by Iran and other Gulf countries.

Honestly, Laurie, you really opened up a can of worms here given the reality of hatred so many ignorant people in the west feel toward Islam and Arabs (often conflating the two–not all Arabs are Muslims). Bad enuf there’s so much room on this site to express bigotry against other nationalities.

Saying that Christians are worse, it in no way makes the other things any better.

Basically, I was just trying to point out that it is not all moonbeams and roses for women in Saudi Arabia – precious diamond aside.