In dusty Turkish village, surfing the Web for brides

By Yigal Schleifer
CSMonitor Correspondent

AXcess News) Gokce Village, Turkey – Since Hasip Yildirim opened his Internet cafe two years ago, the former truck driver has become something of a local matchmaker. Now that they have access to the Web, the men in this dusty rural village have started looking for wives online, where – thanks to Turkey’s growing clout and visibility in the Middle East – they are suddenly seen as quite a catch by women in the region.

“Everyone’s coming to the Internet cafe now to find a wife,” says Mr. Yildirim, speaking inside his fluorescent-lit one-room outfit, which has some 20 computer terminals. “Sometimes, there’s no space to sit down.”

An intriguing example of modern technology put to use in the service of ancient tradition, Yildirim’s virtual matchmaking business also has a somewhat unsavory twist: It’s re-inforcing polygamy. Though officially outlawed in 1926, polygamy continues today in Turkey’s impoverished and predominantly rural southeast.

In the past, the village’s Arabic-speaking men used to hop across the border to find a second wife in Syria. But the arrival of the Internet in the village has changed that.

Axcess News.com, 2 juli 2009

In killings, sect suffers a new bloody chapter: Colony that lost 2 to Mexico’s gangs has long known adversity

Today I read the next article:

COLONIA LeBARON, Mexico — Sustained by a stubborn resolve to live as they feel God commands them, the people of this American-founded outpost in northern Mexico’s dry lands find themselves besieged again by mortal menace.

Two leaders of Colonia LeBaron, a community of 1,000 who follow what they hold to be a bedrock Mormon faith, were snatched from their homes Tuesday morning and shot repeatedly as a warning to others who might defy Mexico’s criminal lords.

Killed was Benjamin “Benji” LeBaron, 31, a slight yet spirited man who had taken his family’s battle with crime to Mexico’s national stage this spring after the abduction for ransom of a 16-year-old brother.

Dying beside him was Luis “Wicho” Widmar, 29, a linebacker-sized martial arts devotee who was Benji’s brother-in-law and lifelong friend and who had tried to fight off Benji’s attackers.

Their slayings are the latest chapter in the storied lives of a family community with historical ties that reach into Texas, Arizona and Utah and whose people have long confronted adversity, even among their own.

Founded by Benji’s great-grandfather, the colony is one of several surviving communities established by Mormon pilgrims in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Many colonists were fleeing the United States after the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints banned polygamy.

chron, 1 juli 2009

In polygamy case, trustee wants wives to be named on leases

The wives of the polygamous men in the religious community of Bountiful in southeastern B.C. will have their names added to leases and property titles for their homes if a U.S. court backs efforts to privatize the communally owned land, trustee Bruce Wisan says.

“As the fiduciary, I have equal responsibility to the men and women,” he said in an interview yesterday from Salt Lake City, Utah.

“The FLDS religion may give women second-class status, but I cannot and will not do that,” he said, referring to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. “If there is one man and three women in a house, I intend to put all equally on the lease.”

The Globe and Mail, 11 juli 2009

Biseksuelen krijgen eigen conferentie in Nederland

Biseksuelen krijgen dit jaar hun eigen conferentie in Nederland. In Nijmegen vindt van 25 tot en met 27 september de eerste Holland BiCon plaats, een driedaagse bijeenkomst voor biseksuelen. Dat heeft het Landelijk Netwerk Biseksualiteit (LNBi) vandaag gemeld. De organisatie verwacht behalve Nederlandse bi’s ook geïnteresseerden uit Vlaanderen en Duitsland te trekken.

HLN.be, 11 juli 2009

‘Bij de jongeren zelf zie je weinig emoties’

Vandaag kwam ik het volgende interview tegen:

‘Bij de jongeren zelf zie je weinig emoties’

Schulden, verslaving, schooluitval, criminaliteit en dakloosheid. Daarover vertellen de jongeren in het boek ‘Zwervend door het leven’. Psy.nl verloot drie exemplaren onder haar lezers.

Jongeren die in de hulpverlening tussen wal en schip vallen. Dat is het onderwerp waar het om draait in het boek Zwervend door het leven; jongeren in botsing met zichzelf. Schrijfster Marcella Kleine interviewde op verzoek van de Initiatiefgroep GGZ-WMO Drenthe zes van deze probleem- en zwerfjongeren en liet hen vanuit hun eigen beleving vertellen wat zij nodig hebben aan hulpverlening. ‘Bij een enkeling moest ik erg doorvragen voordat hij vertelde wat er werkelijk allemaal was gebeurd in zijn leven. De een bleef oppervlakkig, de ander was net een waterval. Maar elk verhaal was uiteindelijk zo ontzettend indrukwekkend…’

(…)

Welk verhaal heeft het meest met u gedaan?
‘Natuurlijk maakt elk verhaal indruk op je. Ik ben zelf moeder en doe er alles aan om mijn kinderen een goede jeugd te geven. Als je dan de verhalen van deze jongeren hoort… Vooral het feit dat ze zelf geen emoties tonen als ze vertellen, heeft me een hele tijd bezig gehouden.
Het verhaal dat me het meest heeft getroffen, is dat van Ciske. Hij vertelde mij dat hij uit een heel net gezin kwam: Mijn vader en moeder zijn veertien jaar samen geweest. Ze waren niet getrouwd. In die tijd is mijn moeder met wel tien verschillende mannen naar bed geweest. En: In de tussentijd dronk mijn vader zijn verdriet om de ontrouw van mijn moeder weg. Door zijn alcoholgebruik werd het thuis minder leuk. Mijn ouders maakten ruzie als mijn zusje en ik al op bed lagen. Mijn moeder kreeg dan klappen.‘

psy, 9 juli 2009

Drug gang murders frighten US Mormons in Mexico

COLONIA LEBARON, Mexico (Reuters) – Hundreds of mourners attended a funeral on Thursday for two American Mormons murdered in a northern Mexican community by drug hitmen for denouncing cartel kidnappings, and the FBI offered to aid a police probe.

Guarded by Mexican soldiers, more than a thousand people, including family members, wept over the coffin of Benjamin LeBaron, a breakaway Mormon leader and anti-crime activist who was abducted and killed by around 20 armed men in revenge for helping track and arrest a group of drug gang members.

Boston.com, 9 juli 2009

‘Huwelijken met minderjarigen in Nederlandse moskee’

Vandaag kwam ik het volgende bericht tegen:

Geert Wilders wil sharia-rechtbanken verbieden als blijkt dat deze actief zijn in Nederland. Via Kamervragen probeert hij Britse toestanden, waar 85 islamitische rechtbanken actief zijn, te vermijden. ‘Pure Wildersmania’ is in de ogen van prof.mr.dr. Fokko Oldenhuis. Het verfoeien van kerkelijke geschilbeslechting strookt niet met de eeuwenoude traditie die we in Nederland hebben, vindt hij. Geschillen oplossen met de sharia kan volgens hem zelfs positief zijn! Gelukkig voor de gemoedsrust van Wilders, bestaan er volgens Maurits Berger geen sharia-rechtbanken in Nederland. Dat schrijft de jurist en hoogleraar Islam in de Westerse wereld aan de universiteit van Leiden op de opiniepagina van NRC Handelsblad. Dat valt dan weer mee. Oh nee, toch niet, want polygamie en huwelijken met minderjarigen zijn aan de orde van de dag.

HP/De Tijd, 9 juli 2009

Husband Of One Wife

A theological interpretation of 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:6:

Husband Of One Wife

This article, written by President Ray McAllister, Emmaus Baptist College, Brandon, FL, appeared in the January 2005 issue of the Baptist Anchor.

In one week three people asked my opinion on a pastor being divorced and remarried. In my forty-seven years of ministry I don’t remember doing an in-depth study on the subject, I just had my opinion.

The Scripture verses alluded to in such questions are 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:6, which deal with pastors, and 1 Timothy 3:12, which deals with deacons. These are found in the qualifications that Paul laid down to Timothy and Titus concerning pastors and deacons.

(…)

To begin my study I looked at the Greek construction of “husband of one wife” found in all three verses and found them to be very similar. The same words are used. The Greek word used for husband is andra.Since that did not give me a conclusive answer to the meaning of “husband of one wife” I checked a dozen or so commentaries to see what others have thought about these passages. I found that through the years preachers have held (and still do) to four basic positions. They are:

1. A pastor must be a married man.
2. A pastor could be married only once, regardless.
3. A pastor could not be divorced and remarried.
4. A pastor could not be married to two women at the same time.

Pastor Matt´s Blogsphere, 8 juli 2009

Gallup’s poll on the morally objectionable

A poll from Gallup:

Gallup apparently got the idea to conduct this survey from the Mark Sanford mess, but beyond that, the data presents some interesting comparisons. Are there any taboos left in American life on which we can have broad agreement? Yes there are, although surprisingly few. Here are the taboos still getting majority agreement:

• Married men and women having affairs: 92%
• Polygamy: 91%
• Cloning humans: 88%
• Suicide: 80%
• Cloning animals: 63%
• Abortion: 56%

Hot Air, 7 juli 2009

Review: M.Paz Galupo (ed) Bisexuality and Same-Sex Marriage (2008)

M.Paz Galupo (ed) Bisexuality and Same-Sex Marriage: Routledge: New York: 2008.

Routledge Press has recently produced a book on the subject of Bisexuality and Same-Sex Marriage. I investigated it.

What do the aforementioned bisexual activists feel about the issue of one person at a time down the altar, or does it discriminate against polyamorous bisexuals (lesbians, gays and heterosexuals)? Here’s one problem I can see- from my own perception of the bisexual communities, they seem divided between those who engage in polyamory, and those who engage in alternating gender serial monogamy.

GayNZ.com, 8 juli 2009