Some Afghan women say death by fire is their only choice
By James Palmer
A group of self-immolation victims with their daughters and other young relatives during a sewing class at the women's affairs ministry office in Herat, Afghanistan. The classes for self-burn victims are sponsored by the of Cooperation of Afghanistan (ACAF), a Spanish aid organization. Religion News Service photo by James Palmer/The Star-Ledger.
HERAT, Afghanistan -- Simagol Yousefi was only 20 when her husband, Abdul, traveled to Iran to find work, leaving her and their two young sons in the care of her in-laws.
Yousefi said it soon became clear she and her children were not welcome by Abdul's parents or his five siblings.
"They beat my children and they beat me," Yousefi said in an interview. "My father-in-law threatened to throw me out of the house. I would have been homeless begging on the street."
Feeling helpless with no one or nowhere…
Monday, January 05, 2009
What’s the diagnosis?
Michael Paulson of the Boston Globe has a piece here on Christian Scientists trying to stabilize their denomination after years (decades, one might say) of declining membership and costly media ventures. But the article doesn't get into why membership is dropping; some scholars say that that appeal Christian Science, with its emphasis on spiritual healing, has been elbowed out by modern medicine. I would have liked to hear the Christian Scientists respond to that.
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RNS AFGHAN WOMEN a 01/06/2009 - (RNS2-JAN06) A group of self-immolation victims with their daughters and other young relatives during a sewing class at the women's affairs ministry office in Herat, Afghanistan. The classes for self-burn victims are sponsored by the of Cooperation of Afghanistan (ACAF), a Spanish aid organization. For use with RNS-AGHAN-WOMEN, transmitted Jan. 6, 2009. Religion News Service photo by James Palmer/The Star-Ledger.
Juli, a student at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Va., is featured in Jona Frank's new book, "Right: Portraits from the Evangelical Ivy League." Religion News Service photo courtesy Jona Frank.
Jona Frank
By Kevin Eckstrom
Patrick Henry College was founded in Virginia outside Washington in 2000 with a mission "to prepare Christian men and women who will lead our nation and shape our culture with timeless biblical values and fidelity to the spirit of the American founding."
Nearly all Patrick Henry students were home-schooled by conservative evangelical parents, and the school was founded as a training ground to prepare new generations of lawyers, politicians and culture warriors to reclaim America for God.
Los Angeles photographer Jona Frank, 42, spent four semesters documenting life at Patrick Henry. The result is her new coffee table…