Islam is a Religion?

A really sad article from the US state of Louisiana.  A state representative there was supporting a program to allow kids to use educational vouchers to go to private religious schools.  Because everyone deserves a Christian education in Louisiana!  Apparently, she did not understand that Islam is also a religion, and it is also protected by the US Constitution.  So some kids were going to use those vouchers to go to a Muslim school.  Once the representative discovered this, she was very upset and now wants to cancel the whole voucher program.

This is probably the biggest problem that I have with the far right religious group in America.  They want all of these religious protections and exceptions, or whatever, but they believe that religion = Christianity.  It never occurs to them that if prayer is allowed in public schools, it might be a Hindu prayer, or a Muslim prayer, or any other prayer.  For them, everything is Christian.

Women's News June 24, 2011

I've posted before about the plight of Asian workers in the Middle East (and elsewhere) who are mistreated.  You may remember that Saudi Arabia has really had some problems with mistreating house maids.  Well, now they've executed a house maid from Indonesia, who killed her abusive employer.  Indonesia is livid and recalled their ambassador, because they were not informed, and have decided not to allow any more workers to go to Saudi Arabia.  The suspension starts August 1st.  There are currently 28 Indonesians on death row in Saudi Arabia.

The Women2Drive campaign is under way in Saudi Arabia.  Women are driving and posting photos of it online.  You can support them at their Facebook page.

The first woman priest in the Middle East was ordained in Bahrain this month.  She's an Anglican who used to work in Yemen, but is currently posted in Dubai.  Apparently Bahrain is the "cathedral of the Gulf," which is why the ceremony was there.

Muslims Increase at Catholic Universities

The Washington Post has a good article about how Muslim enrollment is increasing at Catholic universities in the United States.  Which kind of makes sense when you think about it.  Islam and Christianity do have a lot in common, and it's easier to be actively religious at a religious school.  Hopefully this will expose even more Americans to Islam so they can see that Islam is NOT a religion of terror.