Saudi Arabia Allows Women To Live Alone Without Male Permission
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/4379519068801585
Location: Saudi Arabia
The Makkah newspaper reported that Saudi Arabia has formally allowed single, divorced, or widowed women to live separately in a house without consent from their father or any other male guardian. Administrative authorities scrapped Paragraph B under article No. 169 of the “Law of Procedure before Sharia Courts,” which states that an adult single, divorced, or widowed woman shall be handed over to her male guardian. In July 2020, Saudi writer Mariam Al Otaibi, 32, won a historic decision ending a three-year legal fight against her family, which sued her for living and traveling alone under the “absenteeism” law. Under the old “absenteeism” law, parents or male guardians were permitted to file a report with the police against a woman in the case of her disappearance or living independently without getting permission from the guardian.
6 Arrested in Burglary of Buddhist Temple, Possible Nationwide Spree
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/4379707132116112
Location: Arkansas, United States
An organized wave of break-ins and thefts at Buddhist temples is sweeping across the United States. Most of these criminal endeavors occurred at Asian-American temples that serve Buddhist Immigrants from Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Sri Lanka. So far, these burglaries have occurred in Arizona, North Carolina, Southern California, and Oklahoma. Six people were arrested in May 2021 for charges ranging from robbery, trespassing, and assault on Buddhist temples in Rogers, Arkansas. Five women and a man have been detained, who all identified as Romanian natives. The Chùa Đức Viên Temple was targeted initially on April 18 by four women asking for prayers on behalf of a family member. A few days later, all six suspects returned to the temple, forced themselves inside, and stole cash donations.
Chief Rabbi Labels LBGT Pride Attendees as ‘Inferior To Wild Animals’
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Location: Israel
Shlomo Amar, former Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel, has a lengthy track record of barbed comments and sermons against LGBT+ people. According to The Times of Israel, on June 3rd, Amar dubbed the Jerusalem Pride parade, attended by some 7,500 people, as an “abomination.” In an interview published in a local newspaper, the rabbi stated that being gay should be punishable by execution under Jewish law. In 2015, he predicted that homosexuality would disappear as most of the public is disgusted by it and oppose it. Alon Shachar, the executive director of the LGBT+ non-profit Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, said that the parade is not an abomination, but oppressive positions that Amar expresses are.
Funeral of Ahmadi Woman Attacked By Pakistani Mob
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/4374344225985736
Location: Pakistan
On June 6th, a mob led by right-wing Muslim clerics attacked the funeral of an Ahmadi woman in Pakistan’s northwestern region. Ahmadis are a religious minority in Pakistan who are severely persecuted because they do not believe that Muhammad was the final prophet of Allah. The funeral procession got together in the northwestern state of Punjab for a burial service of an Ahmadi woman. A mob of locals showed up at the burial grounds as the Ahmadis entered the local cemetery. The mob pelted stones at the mourners and hit them with sticks. Still, the Ahmadis stood their ground and performed the burial process. The incident was captured on a video that went viral online. The viral video provoked a heated reaction from Muslim clerics across Pakistan. Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer, a radical cleric, urged the police to side with the mob instead of the Ahmadis.
7 US States Have Bans on Atheists Holding Office
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Location: USA
Tennessee’s Constitution, along with six other states, incorporates a provision that prevents three groups from holding office: atheists, ministers and those engaging in duels. Efforts are initiated in the state legislature to eliminate this ban for ministers, but not for duelists or atheists. When Republican Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody was asked why his decision removes only the prohibition of ministers, he responded that it is best to clean up the constitution “one simple step at a time.” Various state constitutions established laws forbidding both ministers and atheists when they were ratified. Atheists, it was insisted, could not be assumed to be good citizens in a democracy. While Supreme Court rulings in 1961 and 1978 have already made it unconstitutional to ban atheists and ministers, the failure to eliminate these anti-atheist clauses reflect the normalization of the belief in God as being tied to moral citizenship.
US Justice Dept says it can defend religious schools’ exemption from anti-LGBTQ discrimination laws
https://www.facebook.com/130148817071986/posts/4374666819286810
Location: USA
In a recent court filing in the case of Hunter v the US Department of Education, the Justice Department said it would “vigorously” defend religious freedom of federally-funded religious schools to discriminate against LGBTQ students. LGBTQ advocates were outraged by the filing. They want the government to agree that it’s unconstitutional for federally-funded schools to discriminate against LGBTQ people and that the religious exemption isn’t defensible. To others, including advocates of President Biden, the administration had no other option since federal civil rights law concerning education, called Title IX, excuses religion. On June 9th, the Justice Department revised the document, removing the word “vigorously” to explain its defense of the religious exemption and retaining multiple uses of the word “adequate.” Slate legal writer Mark Joseph Stern said the Justice Department tried to prevent a Christian organization from mounting extreme arguments. Despite the change in wording, the legal matters at the crux of the lawsuit remain the same.
Elderly Indian Muslim’s beard cut off in beating, viral video on Twitter causes Gov crackdown
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Location: Uttar Pradesh, India
On June 5th, an elderly Muslim man, Abdul Samad, was brutally thrashed by a group of people in Uttar Pradesh's Ghaziabad district. Abdul was on his way to the mosque when an auto-rickshaw driver offered him a lift. Later, two more men got inside the rickshaw and told him to stay. Then they took him to a jungle and locked him up in a room and assaulted him. He was forced to chant Hindu slogans like “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Matram”. The attackers accused Abdul of being a Pakistani spy. The police arrested three of the six perpetrators for their role in the incident, but ruled out any communal angle, and alleged that the attackers, including Hindus and Muslims, were unhappy over the amulets Samad had sold them. The Indian government has revoked Twitter’s intermediary status, accusing the platform of promoting “communal enmity” for not removing the video, leaving the tech giant open to a significant risk of mass lawsuits.
Florida governor signs bill requiring moment for school prayer
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Location: Tallahassee , Florida
On June 14th, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attended a South Florida Jewish temple to denounce anti-Semitism and stand with Israel. The Republican governor cloaked himself in religion while signing two bills into law. One would increase the role of volunteer ambulance services, while the other makes Florida one of at least 15 states that compel schools to set aside at least one minute of silence for children to meditate or pray. DeSantis said “It's important to be able to provide each student the ability, every day, to be able to reflect and to be able to pray as they see fit. The idea that you can just push God out of every institution, and be successful — I’m sorry, our founding fathers did not believe that.” DeSantis used the event to promote his support for Israel, which he visited during his first year in office.
Surge of Non-Believers In Northern Ireland!
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Location: Northern Ireland
According to the latest data from the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey, the number of adults in Northern Ireland with no religion is growing. The results of the 2020 survey were published on June 10th. 27% of respondents said they had no faith, an increase of 7% from 2019. This latest wave means that the overall figure has more than doubled in the last decade, with just 12% saying they belonged to no religion in 2009. The rise of non-religious people in Northern Ireland is also reflected in the growth of humanist traditions. In 2018, Humanist marriages were legally recognized. Since then, they have expanded in number, with hundreds of couples choosing a humanist union every year. Northern Ireland Humanists was established in 2016 to promote humanist values. Its membership has increased by a factor of 10 in just five years, with the organization now representing more than 2,500 people across Northern Ireland.
What does Alllah look like? Allah depicted for the first time
https://www.patreon.com/posts/true-face-of-52698891
Most people, even most Muslims, don’t know about or understand that there is a great debate within Islam about the appearance of Allah. Certain Sunni schools of thought are very literalistic, and they do not accept any metaphor in interpreting scripture. According to Islamic scripture, Allah has a physical form and presence that looks quite strange! Atheist Republic has decided to depict Allah for the first time in the Blasphemous Art project, and the result is glorious!
If you would like to hear a more detailed discussion on the appearance of Allah according to Islamic Scripture, watch this: https://youtu.be/SU4oOt-XLys
