Mia Freedman: "No, I don't respect Pauline Hanson."

Mia I respect you, and I think your site has done a lot for feminism in many ways, but I don't agree with some of your ideas. I do understand why you don't respect Pauline, I agree that she has some bigoted and not well thought ideas, however as far as Islam is concerned I do think there are a number of problems with it, in terms of that most countries that are majority Muslim nations have severely oppressive laws against women. Also in the Koran it has lines such as men can beat disobedient wives. So I therefore can not respect Islam when it is sexist and homophobic. I also say the same for Christianity, it has lines in it where it says that women should be silent, it actually says women shouldn't be teachers, because they shouldn't have any authority over men. This is just one sexist example in Christianity, therefore I also do not respect Christianity.

So here is the thing I know if I said on this site that I don't respect Islam that I would be called a bigot. I also see many articles on this site by people like yourself trying to get us all to respect Islam and calling people who do not xenophobes or similar words.

You don't respect Pauline because you believe she is racist, just like I don't respect Islam because I think it is sexist.

However I do know people who are Muslims, Christians etc who are nice people and really just go along with all this stuff because that is what they have been brain washed into since birth, therefore I do not want to see any of these people vilified, but I do think that we need to take a good long hard look at the oppressiveness of these religions and call a spade a spade, these religions are sexist, they have also been responsible for a lot of oppression.

I understand Mia what you are trying to do, you don't want to see Muslims being vilified, I don't want to see that either, as I know some nice Muslims who I know would never harm another human being, but I think we can't keep sweeping every criticism of Islam under the carpet because we don't want to offend or hurt individual Muslims.

I feel the same way about Christianity, but I don't think it is on the same scale of oppression as Islam is. For instance there are some very oppressive Christian sects, but when it comes to Islam there is a lot more widespread oppression of women, therefore I am very concerned about the religious institution that is Islam.

My idea is that we support Muslims directly who come here by helping them with jobs, English lessons etc, but we also make it very clear that we aren't going to cosy up to their religious leaders or give them special exemptions for a religion that most of us don't believe in and that is actively oppressing the rights of many women worldwide. The ironic thing is that by calling everyone who disagrees with Islam a bigot, and legitimising Islam all it does is give the Islamic institutions more power to oppress women. If we said that people have freedom of religion but we aren't going to fund Islam anymore through government handouts then these Islamic institutions would have less power to commit horrific acts on women and homosexuals and all the other groups that they oppress.

Can't you see that these Islamic institutions are the modern day Nazis/Ku Klux Klan? When they segregate women and make different laws for men and women and kill women for doing things that they allow men to do? When men can marry up to 4 women, but if a woman sleeps with more than one man she could end up being hanged or stoned to death? When women can't leave the house without a male relative's permission. When women word is only worth half a man's in court. Can't you see that these types of discriminatory and oppressive practices are exactly what the Nazis did to the Jews, and what the Ku Klux Klan do to black people?

I know now what is coming, I will be told that these are just some muslims, but the reality is that you look across Islamic nations and the vast majority of them have oppressive rules against women and homosexuals, and these governments are very clear that they are doing this in the name of Islam.

Of course there are Muslims who do not agree with all of this, but the point is at the institutional level of Islam this is what is meted out to people. Yes of course some even at that level may not agree, but they still go along with it, instead of leaving. Of course some would be too frightened to leave and that is why I do not want to vilify individual Muslims because I know that many do not have a choice, but this is also why we need to stop funding the actual religious organisations.

I know you have probably been to some mosques and they all looked lovely and people were friendly etc, but this is exactly the same with any organisation that wishes to impress you. A woman I know who was horribly abused as an orphan in the Catholic church said that when it was the open day the nuns were so charming and to this day many people do not believe her when she says that Sister so and so abused her.

I plead you and beg you Mia to think about what I have written, surely it is better that we dismantle the support for this oppressive religion and surely that is one way that we can actually help those who are trapped within it and are oppressed by it, and those people are often Muslims.

Yes they should all have the right to freedom of religion, but let's not enable the oppressors of women by legitimising them and funding them.

What? I don't think all men's rights groups or people who opt for natural health alternatives peddle hate like Hanson. You can't just lump all of them together, based on your own preferences. Men suffer terribly in our broken family law system, they are deservedly supported by men's rights groups. Many, many children have been injured by vaccinations and over-medicating, just like many, many people the world over have cured their diseases like cancer through nutrition, which is why people are increasingly rejecting big-pharma or western medical-funded research. Don't link people choosing to go outside the mainstream seeking desperate answers to people like Hanson who intentionally cause hatred and suffering for others. What a cheap shot!