Boobquake! I am Not Making This Up

If the War on Terror were really a war on Islam, I think an argument could be made that it's redundant. All the infidels would have to do is stand back and let Islam shake itself apart.

Boobquake!

Here's the start of an AP article:

"Iranian cleric: Promiscuous women cause quakes"
The Associated Press (April 20, 2010)

"A senior Iranian cleric says women who wear immodest clothing and behave promiscuously are to blame for earthquakes.

Iran is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries, and the cleric's unusual explanation for why the earth shakes follows a prediction by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that a quake is certain to hit Tehran and that many of its 12 million inhabitants should relocate.

"Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes," Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi was quoted as saying by Iranian media. Sedighi is Tehran's acting Friday prayer leader.

Women in the Islamic Republic are required by law to cover from head to toe, but many, especially the young, ignore some of the more strict codes and wear tight coats and scarves pulled back that show much of the hair.

"What can we do to avoid being buried under the rubble?" Sedighi asked during a prayer sermon Friday. "There is no other solution but to take refuge in religion and to adapt our lives to Islam's moral codes."

Seismologists have warned for at least two decades that it is likely the sprawling capital will be struck by a catastrophic quake in the near future...."

The AP article doesn't include the word "boobquake!" - but quite a few other news services have. In their headlines.

That's a little unfair, I suppose. The (translated, surely) quotes from Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi's remarks didn't mention breasts. Modesty, yes. Overheated young men, yes. Breasts, no.

Still, breasts are often an outstanding part of a woman's appearance, once she strips down to contemporary American standards of dress.

It sounds to me that the Iranian imam's Islam is a lot like Pat Robertson's Christianity: they both assume that God hurts people they don't approve of. (Apathetic Lemming of the North (January 14, 2010)) I'm a Catholic, by the way, and there are times when I feel that it may not be an entirely bad thing that many Americans assume that Catholics aren't Christian.

From the Department of Unintended Results

Reaction to Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi's, ah, remarkable statements about modesty and earthquakes isn't all bad news for the imam. Now, he'll be able to blame all those wicked women for the next earthquake in Iran:

• "Purdue senior organizes 'Boobquake' demonstration to refute imam's claims"
  New York Post (April 23, 2010)
• "'Boobquake' 2010: 80,000+ women to bare cleavage, protest Iranian cleric's promiscuity claim"
  examiner.com Duluth (April 23, 2010)

Modesty is One Thing, Crazy is Another

Like I said, I'm a Catholic. Living in America. I've got a very counter-cultural view of quite a few things. Like Modesty.

For starters, I do not think that a primary function of women is to be ground under the heel of male oppressors - while decorating the public scene in as little clothing as possible. (A Catholic Citizen in America August 22, 2009, August 16, 2009)

But: wicked women cause earthquakes? That's - alternatively sane.

Related posts:

• "Ali Hussain Sibat, Islamic Law, and Getting a Grip"
  (March 19, 2010)
• "Saudi Cleric Wants Women to Use One Eye - I'm Not Making This Up"
  (October 4, 2008)
• "Pro-Islamic Ads Coming to New York City Subways: There's a Real Danger Here, of Becoming Informed"
  (July 21, 2008)
• "With Friends Like These, Does Islam Need Enemies?"
  (January 22, 2008)
• "Juashaunna Kelly's Track Suit Disqualifies her: Islamophobia? an Official on a Power Trip? or Bureaucratic Cluelessness?"
  (January 16, 2008)

Not-entirely-unrelated posts from other blogs:

• "Home Schooling, Religious and Moral Instruction, and American Culture"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (March 6, 2010)
• "Haiti: Voodoo, Pat Robertson, and the Catholic Church"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (January 16, 2010)
• "Pat Robertson, the Devil, Haiti, and an Alternate Reality?"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (January 14, 2010)
• "Modesty: Living in Balance"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (August 16, 2009)
• "Bikinis, Burkinis, and Modesty: The Other Guy isn't Always Wrong"
  A Catholic Citizen in America (August 16, 2009)

In the news:

• "Miniskirts and major quakes"
  Los Angeles Times op-ed (April 22, 2010)
• "Purdue senior organizes 'Boobquake' demonstration to refute imam's claims"
  New York Post (April 23, 2010)
• "'Boobquake' 2010: 80,000+ women to bare cleavage, protest Iranian cleric's promiscuity claim"
  examiner.com Duluth (April 23, 2010)
• "Iranian cleric: Promiscuous women cause quakes"
  The Associated Press (April 20, 2010)