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For those of you who DON'T follow me on Twitter, identify the country and religion in this somewhat edited article. (If you read the original article, don't play either, you'll ruin the experiment):
<COUNTRY> — In <Country's> <Religion> community, where the rule of law sometimes takes a back seat to the rule of <Deity>, zealots are on a campaign to stamp out behavior they consider unchaste. They hurl stones at women for such "sins" as wearing a red blouse, and attack stores selling devices that can access the Internet.
In recent weeks, self-styled "modesty patrols" have been accused of breaking into the apartment of a <City> woman and beating her for allegedly consorting with men. They have torched a store that sells MP4 players, fearing devout <Personal Religious Descriptive> would use them to download pornography.
"These breaches of purity and modesty endanger our community," said 38-year-old <Name>, defending the bearded, black-robed zealots. "If it takes fire to get them to stop, then so be it."
Many <Religion> are dismayed by the violence, but the enforcers often enjoy quiet approval from <Religious figures> eager to protect their own reputations as guardians of the faith, community members say. And while some welcome anything that keeps secular culture out of their cloistered world, others feel terrorized, knowing that the mere perception of impropriety could ruin their lives.
"There are eyes and ears all over the place, very similar to what you hear about in countries like <Country>," says <Personal Religious Descriptive> novelist <Name>, an observant <Religion> who has chronicled the troubles that confront some women living in the <Generic Religious Descriptive> world.
The violence has already deepened the antagonism between the 600,000 <Religious Descriptive>, or <Deity>-fearing, and the secular <Amount>, which resents having religious rules dictated to them.
Religious vigilantes operate in a society that has granted their community influence well beyond its numbers _ partly out of a commitment to revive the great centers of <Religion> scholarship destroyed in <Historical Event>, but also because the <Generic Religious Descriptive> are perennial king-makers in <Country> politics.
Thus public transport is grounded for the <Religious Rite> each Saturday, and the <Religous figures> control all <Religion> marriage and divorce in <Country>.
In recent years, however, the <Minor Religious Figures> have eased up on their long campaign to impose their rules on secular areas, and nowadays many restaurants and suburban shopping centers are open on the <Religious Day>.
These days, most vigilante attacks take place in the zealots' own neighborhoods.
<Country> police spokesman <Name> said the modesty police are not an organized phenomenon, just rogue enforcers carrying out isolated attacks. But <Country's> Justice Ministry used the term "modesty patrols" in an indictment against a man accused of assaulting the <City> woman.
The unidentified, 31-year-old woman had left the <Generic Religious Description> fold after getting divorced, according to the indictment filed by the <City> district attorney's office. The indictment said her assailant tried to get her to leave her apartment in a <Local Description> neighborhood in <City> by gagging, beating and threatening to kill her. He was paid $2,000 for the attack, it said.
A 17-year-old who moved to <Country> from <City> five years ago said she was hospitalized after being attacked with pepper spray by a crowd of men outraged that she was walking down a <City> street with boys.
"They can burn in hell," said the girl, who would identify herself only as <Name>.
She lives in <City>, a town outside <City> where the vigilantism has been particularly violent. Zealots there have thrown rocks and spat at women, and set fire to trash bins to protest impiety. Walls of the neighborhood are plastered with signs exhorting women to dress modestly _ spelled out as closed-necked, long-sleeved blouses and long skirts.
The state, catering to religious sensitivities, subsidizes gender-segregated bus routes that service religious neighborhoods. <Name> and several other women challenged the practice in <Country>'s Supreme Court after an <Gerneric Religious Description> Canadian woman in her 50s told police she was kicked, slapped, pushed to the floor and spat upon by men for refusing to move to the back of the bus.
Another <City> girl, who asked to be identified only as <Name>, said zealots threw rocks, cursed and spat at a friend for wearing a red blouse _ taboo because the color attracts attention.
<Name>, a 50-year-old <City> teacher, is one of those who deplore such behavior.
"They are stupid troublemakers who are bringing shame and disgrace on this holy community," he said.
But the <Religious Figure>s are afraid to condemn them, says <Name>, another community member.
"They can't come out against zealots who champion modesty. Here and there they write against violence, but the militants ultimately set the tone," he said.
Stores are targeted too.
In August, a <City> man was placed under house arrest on suspicion he set fire to a store in a <Place> district of the city that sold MP4 players.
"It started about six months ago. They would come into the store, about 15 of them at a time, screaming, 'This store burns souls!' and they would throw merchandise on the floor and threaten customers," said 31-year-old <Name>, a <Personal Religious Descriptive> worker at the Space electronic store.
One <Weekday> night, just before the <Religious Event> was about to begin, "they smashed a window, doused the place with gasoline and lit a match," <Name> said.
Now, a big sign behind the counter says, "All products sold in this store are under <Religious Figure> supervision. By order of the <Religious Figure>s, no MP4s are sold here."
Clothing stores that sell clothes regarded as provocative have been vandalized, and bleach thrown at merchandise.
Suspicion is all that's needed to spark an attack.
Girls have been expelled from school after being seen talking to boys, a punishment that ruins their marriage prospects.
"It could be very innocent; she could be talking to her brother,"< Name> said. But once thrown out of school, "no one _ NO ONE _ will take you in," she added.
In one case, the violence reached the highest levels of <Personal Religious Descriptive> society.
Three years ago, a son of <Country>'s <Personal Religious Descriptive> chief <Religious Figure>, <Name>, was accused of kidnapping a 17-year-old boy, beating him at knifepoint and terrorizing him with snarling dogs because he had sought the attentions of the accused's unchaperoned sister.
The son was sentenced to two years and eight months in jail.
His sister married a different suitor the following year.
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Religion makes you stupid
Categories: Politics
Posted by John C. Welch at 13:22 | Permalink
©2003-until I'm fucking dead and then some. you steal my shit, and I will fuck with you like you were a lonely shepherd's slowest sheep.
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