21st century and people still duped by bible?

Originally posted by KazetNagorra
Well, my point was just that, given that we know that more educated people tend to be less religious, it is a legitimate question to ask why some apparently reasonably educated people still believe in obviously flawed religious superstitions.

A question that was answered here:

Why do "some with frigging Phd's" smoke cigarettes?

Why are "some with frigging Phd's" obese?

Why are "some with frigging Phd's" addicted to gambling?

As with your question about believing "biblical fairy tales", they aren't arrived at rationally. The bottom line is that they reduce anxiety and/or increase pleasure. As such academic achievement and/or intelligence have little to do with it. Not sure why you don't understand this.

In other words, there are many people who are not rational when it comes to reducing anxiety and/or increasing pleasure. No matter how high the academic achievement and/or intelligence this is true of those people.

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Perhaps by 'more mature' they mean less oppressive. Islam is much more repressive of women than present day Christianity.

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I wish that some people at RHP would meet and speak with diverse Muslims before
imposing their often ignorant stereotypes upon all Muslims.

Why would they want to do that when they already KNOW what THEY are like?

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What would be your advice to Muslim women who dress the way they do not because they want to, but because they feel they have no choice or are being forced?

Originally posted by FMF
What would be your advice to Muslim women who dress the way they do not because they want to, but because they feel they have no choice or are being forced?

Did you read the book 'Not without my daughter' or see the movie with Sally Fields and the follow up book by the daughter, 'My name is Mahjtob' about life in America and the terror they faced every day thinking the father tracked them down (after escape from Iran)?

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An answer to my question would have been more interesting.

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That said, you still have to admit there is repression of women in Saudi Arabia, where for instance, women can not even drive a car, cannot get a drivers license, which I hear may be changing sometime in the future but still it represents women as being second class citizens at least in that one country.

I hear stories about women in Saudi being taunted by men, as if they are their private property,

I also see Christian women as being suppressed at least as much in the past but not quite so much today although it is still going on, and like you said, it could also be a cultural thing, which just makes it that much worse in my opinion, harder to eradicate even if the religion mellows.

Originally posted by sonhouse
That said, you still have to admit there is repression of women in Saudi Arabia, where for instance, women can not even drive a car, cannot get a drivers license, which I hear may be changing sometime in the future but still it represents women as being second class citizens at least in that one country.

I hear stories about women in Saudi being taunted ...[text shortened]... h just makes it that much worse in my opinion, harder to eradicate even if the religion mellows.

And in Switzerland (a predominantly Christian society), women did not have the right to vote until 1990 (including local elections). While criticism of "backward" societies like Saudi Arabia is valid, we ought to remember that women's rights in Western societies are a very recent phenomenon and we should not take it for granted. Google "anti-suffragette posters" for a taste of what our Western, Christian societies were like not too long ago.

Originally posted by FMF
What would be your advice to Muslim women who dress the way they do not because they want to, but because they feel they have no choice or are being forced?

First, I think you should tell us what you would say. It seems to me to be an unreasonable question to ask. I for one do not have any magical or life changing advice to give them. nevertheless I agree with Duchess on this one. Until very recently I worked with Muslim women. They were in no way repressed or forced to wear anything and to all intents and purposes were no different from most South African women. If the topic never came up, you probably wouldn't know they were Muslim.
On the other hand back in Zambia I have met many Christian nuns who cover their heads and are not allowed to have sex for life and have many other restrictions. I am sure that you are well aware of Christian groups in the US and Europe that have practices that are not particularly favourable to women.
Although there are many Muslims in the Middle East, you should not forget that there is a mixture of culture and religion there and it is not all religion.