Mrrzzy: "I meant that the Christian and Moslem treatment of nd attitude towards women is disgraceful. Judaism isn't much better but at least they can work"

Last time I checked, Christian women are allowed to work too. Though 'sexual exploitation' encompasses 'disgraceful treatment' the reverse is not necessarily the case. All three monotheisms you speak of have at least not exploited women sexually as is openly done in our 'civilise' western society. Sometimes I get so fed up of it I am tempted to write to the big companies and TV stations and tell them specifically I will NOT buy any products they advertise using gratuitous images of women. Of course they'd probably write me off as a 'fundamentalist' or a 'killjoy'.

You seem mostly to have Islam in mind in your comments on women. While you say the problem of sexual exploitation in the secular west is a social problem, you don't seem to realise the status of women in middle eastern societies is also a social issue. While it's true (as far as I know) that the Koran says women should obey men etc., it's unlikely men would have taken this religious justification much further unless it served some use. When you scrach the surface it has less to do with religion than chauvanism. All through history, in religious and secular societies, there has been a tendency by men to treat women as sex objects and exploit their physically weaker nature.

You also overlook the tireless work done by many religious, pastors, priests and nuns in saving women from exploitation, such as being sold into sexual slavery, kidnapped etc., (as M.Ted noted in China). They often risk their lives to do so, and act both from rational human compassion and the belief - based in their religion - that all human life is sacred and God-given.