So silly to downvote your comment because you stated a fact. As a Muslim woman and a world citizen, I can tell you that you're right and I thank you for trying to educate others. Yes, there are fanatics everywhere, whether they're Christians, Muslims, Jews or Hindus. That's no reason to hate on a whole group. I pray, fast and wear a headscarf for funerals, but for the rest, I live in the same way as my friends who aren't of the same religion, who are gay or who live a life out of the traditional. There's a difference between interpreting something literally and understanding the meaning of it. I think it's a beautiful act that these people prayed together. Years ago, we were friends with a few elderly Catholic nuns who used to visit and when asked whether I wanted to listen to them praying or read a prayer with them (we knew Latin), I happily obliged. It's always easy to focus on the negative while the positive is always there for us! Always enjoy your comments! Stay healthy, you all!

Being 'allowed' by religion and being accepted by people in the religion are two different things. Women across religions continue to be rewarded or punished for their adherence to or rejection of rules set by the self appointed custodians of these religions. If i fear boycott by my family for entering temple during menstruation, i wont care about the words in scriptures and stay back. Resulatntly, we continue to be excluded from such a huge mass of public space.

They pretty much are but men and women should pray separately

Palestinian warrior. And yet here we are having Muslim women cover their selves, using separate entrances and segregated from men. Women have a lot to do all around the world. But please don't insinuate there is something like equality in the Islam for men and women. You are mistaking giving more space for equality. If you come from utter oppression, giving the right to walk to a store with the permission of a man might seem like giving someone rights, but if they are so far from your own, you're just manipulating the person you "give" that right to in thinking they got something when in fact they are still being oppressed as badly as before. Thanks for making me realize that that's the problem.

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