Several religions and a couple dozen countries are covered in her survey of what is happening in the world today. What sort of commonalities does she find? Few will be surprised that one of the strongest characteristics most of these movements have is the desire to control women and sexuality:
- "Without women and children under firm control, there would be no continuity of community and no guarantee of a religious community. Furthermore, religious community leaders have enough problems with men who want to think for themselves; they did not want problems with women too. Thoroughly indoctrinated women have always been the bedrock of maintaining traditional values into the next generation."
The status of women is arguably a litmus test for society: in terms of science, politics, and ethics those societies which actively promote the interests, education, and equality of women are those which have progressed most rapidly while those which have worked hardest to retard the development of women are those most backward.
One might assume that money plays a role here, but it need not. Consider that situation of Saudi Arabia, which collects massive amounts of money but produces little in the way of culture, science, scholarship, or anything else that would make it an attractive country. This isn't caused by the government's treatment of women, but the two are inextricably linked. The reasons for their backwardness are the same as the reasons for their intolerance towards women's rights.
God's Law or Man's Law: The Fundamentalist Challenge to Secular Rule
The question is, what direction will we go in the future? What path will we take? The path laid out for us by the religious fundamentalists is not an appealing one — in that direction lies ruin, barbarism, and destruction. Because few people will go that way willingly, though, they may make an effort to force us down that route whether we like it or not.
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