Tony Benjamin

2017-02-11 21:09:28 -0500

So sad. We have no capacity for dealing with this reality! It is so outside our mainstream culture and law. It is not uniquely a Muslim practice either. Some Mormon communities have got away with this practice (and polygamy) too. We need to wakeup to the reality that these girls suffer greatly and are isolated, especially if they cannot attend school or learn the local language or seek help because their husbands can legally control them. If they try to break away, their families disown them. In Canada, no one says a peep when a City of Toronto Chaplin and various Imams promote the idea of girls as young as 9 being married off. To have any chance of improving conditions for any newcomer we need to stand firm on enforcing our time tested values, including valuing girls and women and be very vocal about our condemnation of such practices. It may feel normal to them but to us it is not right and it is not our way.

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