The Baha'i Studies Listserv > Perhaps you didn't intend it this way, but the basic form of your > argument was to say that Naison was wrong because he was echoing > Muslim arguments.
Dear Gilberto, My basic argument is that Naison's argument is inadequate because both Islam and Christianity have stated the same thing but it has not protected women from oppression in either religion. . As time goes on, all societies (Muslim, Christian, Bahai > etc.) are making progress in terms of women's equality. You don't have > to frame it as a Bahai vs. Islam argument. Yes, I realize that. But we claim to be saying something different about women's roles than those other religions. If in fact we are saying the same thing then our claim is bogus. > > Also, I've said this before but there are certainly issues where > "progress" isn't monotonic in a simple-minded way. For example, why > would God prohibit pork under Judaism, permit it under Christianity, > prohibit it under Islam, and then permit it under the Bahai faith > again? Granted. But Baha'is don't go around bragging that we get to eat pork the way we brag about the equality of men and women. In fact, if you push us we will tell you it is best not to eat any meat period! What I'm saying is that there needs to be some substance behind something we have made a cardinal principle. >> Perhaps it is. But what I see happening is that all too often is that >> the very few distinctions made in our Writings are made into an excuse >> to continue inequalities in all sorts of areas which are not >> warranted. > > Sure, and the same is true of Islam... both in terms of how Muslims > understand Islamic general roles, or, in this case, how non-Muslims at > times go too far in attributing problematic gender roles to Islam per > se. As I've said to you before, if you really believe that God is > merciful and just, and if you really believe that the Quran comes from > God, then it should be possible to follow the Quran and be > compassionate and just to women. I believe that the Qur'an as compassionate and just towards women as was possible at the time. warmest, Susan __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-537184-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
