This is such a repelling story: Indonesia: Shariah Official Urges That Gang-Rape Victim Be Caned – NYTimes.com.
I’ve already made my stand: the primary purpose of religious fundamentalism − always created by men for men − is to deny women anything like minimal, sane human rights.
This news from Indonesia reminds me uneasily that Islamic Shariah law would seem to be the ideal of Christian fundamentalist law in far too many states in this country and certainly Jewish fundamentalist law in Israel.
The only hope I can wrench out of this appalling piece of news is that East Aceh, the Indonesian district where this rape happened, is itself prone to violent assaults by tsunami. Those who believe in some sort of retributive god could take comfort from this.
Those, like me, who don’t believe in any sort of god can consider whether the frequent geological violence that might soon put this land and its extremely poor inhabitants permanently under water has made them crazy.