While I think this is profoundly sad, I had initially comforted myself that at least we're moving in the right direction. As a society, we're slowly but surely raising awareness about the right of all people to be themselves without apology or qualification. Most of all, we are hopefully starting to understand the importance of taking responsibility for one's actions and not blaming anybody else for them.
Then I read stuff like this and I despair:
Women who dress like harlots chum for sharks - with their own bodies. Women who dress like harlots make the waters unsafe for everyone. Women who dress like harlots are not the only ones who get attacked - they draw out predators who prey on innocent girls, who just happened to be in nearby waters. "What did I do wrong?" asks the innocent. Nothing - it's just that the waters are chummed by your friends. We should execute all rapists. But the waters won't be safer until we pull the chum out of the water. Sin makes the waters unsafe for everyone.
I just don't have the words for that kind of fanaticism. It's bad enough to blame some women for getting other women raped. However, there's an implication that if you're raped (and you, ahem, happen to be "innocent" - ugh, isn't any woman who's raped by definition "innocent"?) it's because you're friends with "harlots".
Can we not practice our faith in a quiet and sincere way that eschews political grandstanding and the absolute worst equivocations, such as this dude's appeal:
One primary purpose of modesty is to prevent men from "falling" on account of a woman's unguarded body.
I'm all for whatever faith or belief one needs to inspire oneself to live life to the fullest. But when that faith turns into making other human beings serve your purposes, one has turned one's religion into a cult of human sacrifice and slavery to absolve oneself of the nuanced responsibility of living a decent life.
Christianity doesn't have to be this way. If you want to make political or social commentary, do it without dragging Jesus into it. Last I heard, he was hanging out with the harlots, murderers, and other sinners, anyway.
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