Global Quickies: Zombies, Evil Atheists, and Discriminated Virgos
MALDIVES
The government is trying to “reduce adverse effects on society that could be caused by published literature” by introducing new regulations to ensure “that the works published in the Maldives do not contravene Islamic principles, the laws and regulations of the Maldives and societal etiquette”.
LIBERIA
The supposed resurrection of two Ebola patients who died of the virus is reported to have created panic in residents of Nimba County. This is the same place where a witch doctor that claimed he could cure infected victims, died of the virus himself last week.
CHINA
Astrology-based discrimination is real in China. But Virgos, who get the worst of it, are fighting back.
UK
“A man who sent abusive Twitter messages to Labour MP Stella Creasy after she campaigned to put Jane Austen on the £10 note has been jailed for 18 weeks.”
SYRIA (From drdrprofesor)
Amazing pictures of the thousands of young Kurdish women who have taken up arms to protect their people against attacks from ISIS. It is said among the Kurds that their female fighters inspire great fear in the ISIS militants, who believe that if they are killed by a woman they will not go to heaven.
INDIA
India’s water resources minister, Uma Bharti, recently said the underlying cause of the catastrophic floods that hit North India in 2013 was atheists defecating near the holy shrine at Kedarnath, one of the most revered pilgrimage sites, that draw thousands of devotees each year.
BRAZIL
With just days to go before Brazil’s presidential elections, the issue of abortion remains conspicuously absent from the political debate.
UGANDA (From Michael Ahabwe)
Go fund Barefoot Grannies, a federation of 8 grassroots organizations working to end Female Genital Mutilation and promote women’s reproductive health and girl-child education in Northeastern Uganda.
ARGENTINA (Via Amy)
Mafalda, the iconic cartoon about a 6 year-old Argentine girl with progressive ideals and hatred of soup, turned 50 this week.
Featured image: Pro-choice activists at a rally in Brazil.
“It is said among the Kurds that their female fighters inspire great fear in the ISIS militants, who believe that if they are killed by a woman they will not go to heaven.”
I have heard variants on this before, and heard them debunked. Usually along the lines of “smear terrorists with pig fat before killing them, so they know they are going to hell”, and invariably it turns out upon actual research that no, Islamic theology does not offer any convenient way to send someone else to hell. Is this more of the same?