Iranians Are Ready For A Different Approach to Religion and Government

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Protests in Iran have been raging on for nearly two weeks because 22-year-old Mahsa Amini died in the custody of the “morality police” after she allegedly failed to comply with the nation’s veiling laws. The protests that began on the streets of Saqqez, her hometown, have now spread to roughly 80 cities across the nation, as Iranian women lead demonstrations in defiance of a law that mandates they cover their hair and wear loose-fitting clothes while in public. At least 76 people have died, although the toll is likely higher as internet restrictions have made information harder to confirm.

Amini’s death may have sparked this recent uprising, but data shows Iranian opposition toward required veiling isn’t new. The Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran, a Netherlands-based research foundation, conducted a comprehensive study in 2020 on Iranians’ opinions about religion and found that a whopping 72 percent of literate Iranians over age 191 disagreed with the government mandating that women wear the hijab in public, compared with only 15 percent who agreed with it. Over the years, those who have subverted the law have faced violent beatings and, in the case of Amini, fatal consequences at the hands of the government.

These events have brought a simmering question to a boil: In a world increasingly secular and interconnected, what role do people think theology should play in determining law?

While Iran is now associated with mandatory veiling, that was not always the case. In 1936, the penultimate shah of Iran, Reza Shah Pahlavi, decreed a ban on hijab in an attempt to promote European attire. Women who failed to comply with this prior law similarly faced punishments, such as imprisonment. The newer mandate, which Iranians are protesting now, was implemented when the pro-Western, secular monarchy was replaced with an Islamic theocracy after the 1979 revolution.

-more-

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/iranians-are-ready-for-a-different-approach-to-religion-and-government/

[Layzeebeaver]

1. what role do people think theology should play in determining law?

None.

[scarletlib]

2. Agreed

Also how about men let women wear what they themselves want to wear whether it’s a hijab or not, pants or dress etc.
Her body her choice.

[patphil]

4. The problem has always been that people decide what God thinks and decrees.

This isn't theology applied to law, its the lowest, darkest, most evil aspect of humanity being cast as God's law to force the will of these horrible people on the rest of us.

That's why our founding fathers separated church and state...to prevent this shit from being part of the law of the land.

[Lunabell]

3. Women are always the scapegoat in abrahamic religions.

They banned the burkini in france, for the love of nobody. Why do they care if a woman doesn't want to bare her skin? Forced bikinis for all women?

I would never chose to wear a hijab or whatever, but regulating my apparel is MY job, not the government's.