Another Example of the Absurdity of Religion
Last month, an American-Israeli woman who was taking a bus to the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City got a taste of religious fundamentalism. A group of ultra-orthodox men who boarded the bus beat her because she refused to sit in the back. Most of the witnesses to the incident are hostile toward the woman, saying she brought it upon herself for sitting at the front of the bus. The bus driver claims she wasn't beaten at all. Only one witness came out in support of her story.
Most religions, even Christianity, preach discrimination against women. Islam puts such discrimination into practice more than any other, as far as I know. Christians today love to ignore the preaching of discrimination in the Bible when they cherry pick "the word of God" to suit their own beliefs, but some fundamentalists would like to see us practice more of it. Until I read the above article, I didn't realize that Judaism also practiced forms of sex discrimination.
As long as religion exists, there will always be ignorant fanatics who will try to impose their beliefs on others, no matter how many are hurt or killed in the process. That's just one reason why religion is a danger to mankind and should be shunned instead of embraced. The goal of responsible humans this century should be to abolish religion altogether so that the world can start down the path of being a better place.