thanks maahey, i stand corrected.
there is , in US press, a distressing tendecy to use the term muslim country as disparaging term..
and there is some anti-islamic feeling,in a percentage of US population.
i am more or less a christian (with emphisis on less) and was raised catholic.
i can identify, readily, all the good thing the catholic church as done (they were drilled into my head, as a child in school)
glossed over, and sanitized (in school)were some of the less savory actions..(inquisition, etc). i try not to lump all muslims into the 'same catagory'--just as there are right-wing fanatics (who call themselves 'christian', but who preach hate, and bigotry) there are also saintly christians, who are willing to give up their lives for others (one group of nuns, has volunteered to become human testers of AIDS virus vaccine.)
I recognize that government and laws can 'take the worst case example', and make it the law, (with or with out a 'religious' excuse).. and that's wrong..
One of the sticking point in 're-uniting ireland used to be the irish constitutional prohibitting of divorce. --the catholic church, in certain circumstances permits divorce.. but the irish government used not to recognize a divorce even when rome (catholic church) did.. stupid really. some predominatly muslim country's are 'just as stupid'--but.. all too often the US press fails to note 1)'christian' goverments stupidity, 2)and presents facts (out of context) that show islamic based laws in the worst context. 3) they also fail to note that a particlar law, might be exceptional, and not realy common to most islamic experience.
(so they would present a case, along the lines of 'Divorce, is total outlawed, even when religious leaders recognize it.. this results in women being abandon by their husbands, who go to other countries, and take new wife's. the first wife is left, with no legal recourse.. she often can not buy or sell(jointly held) property, because if she is legally married, she need her husbands co-signature, nor can she collect allimony.
but her husband, can legally sell a home that his wife is living in, (if she is not listed as a co-owner)right out from under her, and leave her, and children homeless.
this was the case in ireland, but it is not 'common or usual' in countries with large christian (or even catholic populations)..and if presented as 'an example' (and not as an anomaly) it paints a skewed picture...
i think, very often, the US press is guilty of 'presenting facts' about islamic/muslim countries in just that sort of way... it make the government/laws seem very unfair, unjust, and uncomprihensible...
