http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/back_of_bus_furor_FbzAfUvswGJHpPZgsi7YLO Don't know if anybody outside of the tri-state area knows or cares, but this was big on the local channel. Some of this stuff is ridiculous. I understand having a sheet up in synagogue or restricting what can be worn, but stuff like this, sitting on a bus, not photographing women, is ridiculous. If they want to have restrictions like this, why not make their own buses?
Public makes the rules on public buses. If they want to segregate men from women, they should start their own bus line.
Seems almost acceptable accomodation of religion until one thinks about all the Christian colleges and bible schools that hid behind scriptural interpretation to justify segregation. I don't think it's changing anytime soon, though; I imagine this group has some fairly well organized lobbyists.
I don't know how well y'all know Brooklyn, but there are A LOT of Hasids and Ultra Orthodox Jews. The really devout ones tend to live amongst themselves and try to avoid outsiders. They pretty much run the neighborhoo.
Religion is so stupid. Unity and human progression will never be achieved because of stupid backwards traditions like these.
Google is your friend....there are plenty of stories of closeted Haredim and the trouble it brings them. Also a lot of incest and pedophilia. My main issue with them is...dogs. Israeli law says that dogs can use public transportation as long as they are wearing a muzzle. Apparently dogs are unclean abominations of God to the ultra-Orthodox and having them on the same bus defiles their souls. They can be awfully mean-spirited about it. I've been thrown of buses in Jerusalem and forced to take a taxi back to Tel Aviv more than once. It sucks.
Yeah if we could just get rid of religion unity and human progression would have no problem being achieved. All greed, selfishness, murder, theft, adultery, hatred, resent, bitterness, depression, loneliness, etc. comes from religion!
They don't do incest and peophilia on busses. So we safe. And dogs are indeed unclean abominations of God. They are just awfully cute ones. And delicious. To some people.
Religion neither helps nor hurts the vices and evils in society. Its a paperweight on humanity that achieves nothing. People need to take a more realistic stance on life than just "living on a prayer". Religion breeds irresponsibility.
Organized Christianity was the administrative backbone of the post-Roman West, when most governments were just incestuous motorcycle gangs. All the institutions that define modern civilization and put us at its vanguard: academia, corporate industry, bureaucratic government, were built and run by the church. You don't need to believe in hovercrafting carpenters, soylent bread or travel agent brushfires to understand that.
