First Female Muslim - Why News?

So Anousheh Ansari is hailed as becoming first female Muslim in orbit.

"http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1619249.ece"

Terrific. But why should this be news? We don't routinely hear news
of
other religious "firsts". Did newspapers note the first Protestant,
Catholic,
Othodox, Buddist, Hindu, etc.? What about the first Atheist, Agnostic,

Secular Humanist, etc.?

- Ed Kyle

Ed Kyle wrote:
So Anousheh Ansari is hailed as becoming first female Muslim in orbit.

"http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1619249.ece"

Terrific. But why should this be news? We don't routinely hear news
of
other religious "firsts". Did newspapers note the first Protestant,
Catholic,
Othodox, Buddist, Hindu, etc.? What about the first Atheist, Agnostic,

Secular Humanist, etc.?

Come, now. Islam is a religion in the news for various reasons (mainly
bad, IMHO), and is also not known for treating women fairly, much less
well. I'd say that a female Muslim flying into space is newsworthy,
especially on what is apparently her at least somewhat self-made money,
and noteworthily after she emigrated to the US.

-jake

Ed Kyle wrote:
So Anousheh Ansari is hailed as becoming first female Muslim in orbit.

"http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1619249.ece"

Terrific. But why should this be news? We don't routinely hear news
of
other religious "firsts". Did newspapers note the first Protestant,
Catholic,
Othodox, Buddist, Hindu, etc.? What about the first Atheist, Agnostic,

Secular Humanist, etc.?

We heard about the Columbia astronaut being the first Jew in space. I
do recall a Saudi going up on the shuttle as a first for Muslims. Women
in space, etc.

Heck the way the Muslims treat their women overall I think mentioning
that a female muslim is going into space isn't such a bad thing. Surely
reformation of that religion will have some sort of equal rights
between the sexes, right? We want that reformation don't we and sooner
rather than later. I hope I made my point.

Eric

Eric


- Ed Kyle

Ed Kyle wrote:
So Anousheh Ansari is hailed as becoming first female Muslim in orbit.

"http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1619249.ece"

Despite what is implied by the article, do we even really know that she
is Muslim?

In article om,
"Ed Kyle" wrote:

So Anousheh Ansari is hailed as becoming first female Muslim in orbit.

"http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1619249.ece"

Terrific. But why should this be news? We don't routinely hear news
of
other religious "firsts". Did newspapers note the first Protestant,
Catholic,
Othodox, Buddist, Hindu, etc.? What about the first Atheist, Agnostic,
Secular Humanist, etc.?

None of those religions try to keep their women indoors and illiterate.

"Ed Kyle" wrote in message
ps.com...
So Anousheh Ansari is hailed as becoming first female Muslim in orbit.


"http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1619249.ece"

Terrific. But why should this be news? We don't routinely hear news
of
other religious "firsts". Did newspapers note the first Protestant,
Catholic,
Othodox, Buddist, Hindu, etc.? What about the first Atheist, Agnostic,

Secular Humanist, etc.?



Symbols can be more powerful that an army.




- Ed Kyle

Ed Kyle wrote:

So Anousheh Ansari is hailed as becoming first female Muslim in orbit.

"http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1619249.ece"

Terrific. But why should this be news? We don't routinely hear news
of
other religious "firsts". Did newspapers note the first Protestant,
Catholic,
Othodox, Buddist, Hindu, etc.? What about the first Atheist, Agnostic,

Secular Humanist, etc.?

- Ed Kyle


Have you kept yourself up on current events?

Anything involving Islam, Iran (yes, she's a US citizen, but that's
not the point), women and space/tourist, can't help but get attention,
these days.

In an ideal world, this would not be news (except perhaps the 'first
female space tourist' aspect), but we're not in that world. Like it or
not, intended or not, these things *do* have a connection to other
current geo-political events.

--

Frank

You know what to remove to reply...

Check out my web page: http://www.geocities.com/stardolphin1/link2.htm

"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the
human spirit."
- Stephen Hawking

Eric Chomko wrote:

Ed Kyle wrote:

So Anousheh Ansari is hailed as becoming first female Muslim in orbit.

"http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1619249.ece"

Terrific. But why should this be news? We don't routinely hear news
of
other religious "firsts". Did newspapers note the first Protestant,
Catholic,
Othodox, Buddist, Hindu, etc.? What about the first Atheist, Agnostic,

Secular Humanist, etc.?


We heard about the Columbia astronaut being the first Jew in space.


The late Carl Sagan did mention the fact that Judith Resnick was of
the Jewish faith (I had no clue before that, and it's just as well. Nor
do I know if *she* was even the first), when noting that Challenger's
last crew happened to be quite a multi-ethnic/cultural mix, almost in
the Star Trek condition. (This might well be said of the last Columbia
crew, too.)

Ilan Ramon was already noteworthy, for being an Israel Air Force
colonel who was part of the raid that destroyed Iraq's reactor in 1981.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilan_Ramon


I
do recall a Saudi going up on the shuttle as a first for Muslims. Women
in space, etc.


Being a Saudi Price, it was safe to assume he was a Muslim, yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sultan_Salman_Al-Saud


Heck the way the Muslims treat their women overall I think mentioning
that a female muslim is going into space isn't such a bad thing. Surely
reformation of that religion will have some sort of equal rights
between the sexes, right? We want that reformation don't we and sooner
rather than later. I hope I made my point.

I indeed hope you're right.

--

Frank

You know what to remove to reply...

Check out my web page: http://www.geocities.com/stardolphin1/link2.htm

"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the
human spirit."
- Stephen Hawking

wrote:

Ed Kyle wrote:

So Anousheh Ansari is hailed as becoming first female Muslim in orbit.

"http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article1619249.ece"


Despite what is implied by the article, do we even really know that she
is Muslim?


If she's a practicing Muslim, she doesn't 'wear it on her sleeve,'
so to speak.

http://www.transterrestrial.com/archives/007636.html

...and if she might have had any inclination to make any reference
to her faith, I can understand why, under current circumstances, she'd
choose not to. I mean, *anything* she might say about it, is going to be
misunderstood, misinterpreted and abused by someone, somewhere.

Don't take my word, ask the Pope.

--

Frank

You know what to remove to reply...

Check out my web page: http://www.geocities.com/stardolphin1/link2.htm

"To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the
human spirit."
- Stephen Hawking

In article ,
Joe Strout wrote:
Did newspapers note the first Protestant, Catholic,
Othodox, Buddist, Hindu, etc.? ...

None of those religions try to keep their women indoors and illiterate.

This is naive, to put it politely. Many of them did things much along
those lines within living memory, and still do them in poorer regions. My
own grandfather -- who was, in addition to being a farmer, the minister of
his church -- appears to have been opposed to educating women. To this
day, the single most effective step towards reducing the birth rate in
Third World countries (many of them staunchly Catholic) is teaching more
women to read.

Moreover, to say that Islam as a whole does this is basically bigotry.
Islam is almost as diverse as Christianity, and in particular it has
progressive branches as well as reactionary ones. The latter just tend to
get more press coverage, for obvious reasons.
--
spsystems.net is temporarily off the air; | Henry Spencer
mail to henry at zoo.utoronto.ca instead. |