| atheism.davidrand.ca: Living Without Religion | |
|---|---|
| > Table of Contents | |
| > > News Archive | en français |
| Previous page | Next page |
| |
2004-06-08
Announcement of the formation of a new international committee for the protection of the human rights of freethinkers,
to assert reason over faith, and to promote freedom of conscience, freedom of religion, and freedom from religion.
From India, Germany, the USA, and Canada, the Executive of the International Committee to Protect Freethinkers announces to the world
the establishment of this movement on three continents on this 8th day of June, 2004.
By choosing this symbolic date, we intend to signify the universality and global consciousness of our new entity. On June 8th, 1992,
the Egyptian secular thinker and writer, Dr Farag Foda, was sprayed with bullets by Muslim fundamentalists in Cairo.
Toronto Star —
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 2004-06-08
Muslim women's groups vow to stop sharia courts. Lawyers say it will lead to injustices to most vulnerable
When Britain's Muslim community requested the right to use Islamic law to settle family disputes,
the government's refusal was unequivocal. No, the petitioners were told: This is one nation, with
one justice system for all. Until last fall, no Western jurisdiction allowed the 1,400-year-old
body of religious law called sharia to take root inside its secular legal system.
Then the province of Ontario quietly approved its use. Under the 1991 Arbitration Act, sharia-based
marriage, divorce and family tribunals run by the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice are expected to
begin later this year. The move has so horrified many Muslim women that they're vowing to stop the
tribunals before they start.
"We've had a flood of e-mails from people, asking 'How can we help?'" says Alia Hogben, president
of the Canadian Council of Muslim Women, whose 900 members come from a variety of Islamic sects. They were
outraged that Muslim women could be coerced into taking part in sharia tribunals or face family and community
ostracism—or worse. Why, they asked, should these women be treated differently from other Canadian women?
"When you come to Canada, you are a human being with full rights," says Jonathan Schrieder, a Toronto
civil litigation lawyer. Allowing sharia here—even a "Canadianized" version, as its proponents
claim—"will subject Muslim women to a huge injustice." Schrieder is so alarmed at the prospect
that he, like a half-dozen other Toronto lawyers, has offered his services pro bono in the fight to halt it.
Many others are appalled that Ontario is setting a precedent that other secular nations will be pressured to follow.
To writer Sally Armstrong, whose work has taken her to several Muslim countries, Ontario's move is a "human
rights catastrophe." Her 2002 book, Veiled Threat, described the oppression of women in Afghanistan under
the extreme sharia rule of the Taliban, but she has also documented their harsh lot in nations such as Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Jordan. Sharia interpretation varies from culture to culture, but in no instance does it regard
women as equal to men.
See also:
| XHTML CSS |