This is very elucidating information concerning the practices of harsh treatment of women, and others who might break over-zealous, if not distorted, norms and expectations emerging from the Qur'an in certain countries; and also what is probably the lessor known point that Christians and some of those who are not professing Muslims, within those cultures, hold to the same mutant cultural norms.
I believe the article above shares a more realistic, and detailed insight into how we as human beings will often conform to the cultural expectations around us - especially when they are coming down from "on high," or are simply the driving force in the impassioned subconscious of most people of the accepted cultural value, kept in place by what have become ingrained, or even intimidating, broad-scale traditions.
As a Christian, I understand and recognize that there is often a high degree of polemical and degrading sentiment, among certain outspoken Christians, about Islam and what are known, or at least thought of, as the trends resulting from the adherence to customs associated with it, when Islam is practiced on a wide scale within a certain country, or segment of society. While much of this rhetoric is very unfair, and is most likely even carries with it a refusal to engage in genuine discussion with real Muslims - engagement that could result in much more understanding on each side; if our intention really is to, with compassion, help root out any one of the many evils of various societies - even where they might exist in our own cherished religious beliefs and values - we also need to be able to recognize the centers from which pressure toward certain areas of conformity are emerging, wherever such rigidity exists, that holds an unquestioning or unthinking and cruel practice over the right and dignity of a human being not to undergo senseless suffering, at the hands of browbeaten masses and unconscious systems.
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