An interesting post, Bruce.

Most often, we hear the worst kind of messages about Islam, and none of the good ones. And yet most of us (in Canada, at least) live peacefully with Muslims in our own communities, as friends, neighbours and co-workers, and only rarely does the religion interfere with our relationships.

When it does, I personally have found it is often an echo from that other Abrahamic religion, Christianity, that highlights the issue. The Koran's mixed messages about the status of women are remarkably similar to those of the Bible, on the one hand praising them, on the other, demonising them or subjugating them to men.

A mild example is the wearing of the Hijab by women. It does not bother most people that Islamic women often (but not always) wear a headscarf. I remember, as most Canadians over the age of fifty would, when a woman would feel ashamed if her head was uncovered in a Protestant church. Ministers would even preach on it. However, in practice, some Muslims go to extremes. I take no joy from seeing an eleven year old Muslim Canadian girl sobbing her way off the sports field because her head scarf has been deemed a safety hazard in that particular sport. It frustrates me to no end that neither her family nor the safety experts are able to give on such an issue. But it frustrates me even more that a symbolic bit of cloth is given a status that can mean life or death to women in some parts of the world, and restrictions on their activities in more moderate parts of the world.

No deity (if such existed, which I doubt) worth worshipping would intend that women be punished for the sake of a flimsy cloth. Neither, having created women in the first place, would such a deity be offended by the sight of a woman's uncovered head. There is no sense in it, and if the God you worship makes no sense, something is very wrong.