Barry Duke, the Angry Atheist

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1. 

   As someone who produced dozens of nativity plays as a teacher and a Sunday School leader, that title ‘A Gay…

2. 

   The defence of a Christian view never seems to be settled by debate: exchange of facts, reference to historical events.…

3. 

   But …… Rwanda is a safe place: Parliament says so.https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2024/8/contentsSafety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Act 2024 S 2 Safety…

4. 

   Religion can survive only on the most unquestionable assumptions. The statements made on Sundays on the BBC as if they…

5. 

   Yes, if I’ve got anything remotely like a phobia, as an ex-fundy, its bibles, churches, tracts etc. I like to…

THE creator of Smethwick’s “The Strength of the Hijab”, renowned artist Luke Perry, claims in a BBC report claims that reaction to his monstrosity has been “really, really positive”, but beneath an Independent video people around 80 people have expressed horror.

One commenter said:

Next statue in UK to be ‘the beauty of stone pelting, ‘the beauty of polygamy’.

Another wrote:

Why are you wasting time on this when women are being imprisoned or worse for NOT wearing a Hijab. How about the freedom NOT to wear one?

Megan Manson, of the National Secular Society was particularly scathing in a piece entited “A monument to hijab is no way to celebrate women.”

She writes:

One can imagine such a statue in the centre of an Islamist theocracy such as Iran or Afghanistan—if radical Islam did not forbid depictions of people, let alone women, of course—as a reminder and warning to women who dare consider flouting these countries’ tyrannical Islamic ‘modesty’ laws.

But this statue isn’t in Iran or Afghanistan. It’s to be erected in a park in Smethwick, Birmingham, this October. And its message is not to condemn the hijab as the misogynistic tool of women’s oppression that it is in so many countries, but to celebrate it.

She added:

It’s worth remembering at this point that on Saturday, days before the news of the statue was announced, the world mourned the first anniversary of the death of Mahsa Amini. Amini was a 22 year old woman who died at the hands of Iran’s ‘morality police’ because she apparently wasn’t wearing hijab correctly. According to witnesses, Amini was tortured in the back of a police van. Medical evidence suggests she died from severe head injuries inflicted during this torture.

She concluded:

Monuments to symbols of religious oppression are the last thing we need. We should instead be highlighting the struggles of individuals around the world who put their lives on the line standing up for values which bring us together: equality, democracy and freedom. Rather than celebrating the hijab, let’s celebrate the women who bravely tear it off for the sake of those values.

The one-tonne statue, “Strength of the Hijab” was commissioned by local charity Legacy West Midlands and is reportedly the first of its kind in the world. The outfiit says:

All communities thrive by valuing and building on their own heritage together with the heritage that we all share.

Next up. Birmingham, four miles from Smethwick, is considering dropping the “ham” from its name to avoid annoying its Muslim population.

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