But My Religion IS Misogyny

Interesting article in the latest issue of The Nation by Deborah Scroggins (subscription only) about Holland's "Muslim Problem."

In passing, it reinforces what I wrote below in an earlier Comments Box: Many critics are too ready to see all Islam as inherently oppressive of women. My point about Saudi Arabia's restrictions on women drivers, however, points up the fact that the problem is NOT Islam as such, it is patriarchy. There are female-friendly readings of the Koran (and many different forms of Islam) and it isn't as though the oppression of women historically has been the exclusive preserve of Muslim countries.

We're not massively sympathetic to any religion at this site, as you know, although, as I've written before, the human "urge to religion" is something I believe necessarily arises from the human condition. Even so, it still behoves us to know precisely what our problems are and when criticism is deserved or not. Why antagonise people of goodwill simply because we regard their values as bizarre?