Category Archives: Polygamy

One of the wealthiest people from Utah said he is officially resigning from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, saying the church has "hindered global progress in women's rights, civil rights and racial equality, and LGBTQ+ rights."

Jeff Green, the CEO and chairman of the online advertising company The Trade Desk, will also reportedly donate $600,000 to LGBTQ rights group, Equality Utah.

Green, who is believed to beworth more than $5 billion, wrote a scathing letter to Mormon Church President Russell Nelson and requested the LDS church, as it is also known, to remove his records, admitting he had not been part of it for over a decade. The letter, first published by the Salt Lake Tribune earlier this week, was obtained by CBS News.

"While most members are good people trying to do right, I believe the church is actively and currently doing harm in the world. The church leadership is not honest about its history, its finances, and its advocacy," he said.

In the letter dated December 23, he attributed his exit in part because of how church leaders have created "unhealthy paradigms around gender roles (exacerbated by canonized doctrines on polygamy)."

"This paradigm, coupled with the sex-negative teachings and policies, has a series of immeasurably negative impacts on nearly all participating members and their neighbors and communities," he wrote.

He said most Mormons are "good people" and many are born into the religion, saying the decision to leave is "difficult." Ultimately, after years of reflection, he said he made the decision to leave because he wanted to live a "life of honesty, morality, truth, and a desire to pursue a more socially just world."

"I feel deep empathy for those who have been ostracized from the Mormon community or who choose to leave because of their beliefs, values, or even just who they are," he added. "Leaving almost always means losing some amount of family harmony."

The 44-year-old tech executive said he hopes the church becomes more inclusive for "different views and beliefs among Mormons" in the future, saying it will benefit "the lives of millions of people."

Because of his views on LGBTQ rights, Green donated $600,000 to Equality Utah, a nonprofit that leads efforts for LGBTQ civil rights at the state and local levels. The group acknowledged the donation on Twitter on Tuesday.

"We are tremendously grateful to Jeff Green for believing in our work. We are firm believers that despite our political differences, we always must seek common ground. Thank you Jeff, for supporting our work," the organization tweeted.

In his letter, Green also took aim at the LDS church's wealth, which he alleges owns more than $100 billion in assets. He criticized them for not doing enough to "help the world and its members with its wealth."

"This money comes from people, often poor, who whole-heartedly believe you represent the will of Jesus... Instead, I think the church has exploited its members and their need for hope to build temples, build shopping malls, cattle ranches, fund Ensign Peak Advisors investment funds, and own mortgage-backed securities, rather than alleviating human suffering in or out of the church," he wrote.

The church did not immediately respond to CBS News' request for comment.

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Christopher Brito is a social media producer and trending writer for CBS News, focusing on sports and stories that involve issues of race and culture.

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Billionaire resigns from Mormon church, says it is "actively and currently doing harm in the world" - CBS News

It was a stark reminder of how easily the peace-loving people of the Pacific can suddenly be overwhelmed by political passion, recrimination and revenge.

In their Pastoral Letter for the year 2022, the Bishops of our two countries wrote, Since its beginnings in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands the Catholic Church has contributed to the betterment of society by shedding light of the Good News of Jesus Christ on destructive cultural practices (sorcery, polygamy, warfare, and the suppression of women).

They did this by promoting positive cultural practices and providing social, educational and health services to all without discrimination.

The Catholic Church has also taken a clear and public stand on more modern destructive trends, all belonging to what Pope Saint John Paul II once termed culture of death; corruption, bribery, the death penalty, abortion and Sorcery Accusation Related Violence (SARV).

In recent times, the Church have attempted to provide the best possible advice on what the Gospel has to say about refugee crisis, the current pandemic, SARV, the move to changing the Constitution to declare PNG a confessional state, and how the Christian should respond to these challenges using these principles.

Today on Christmas day, those suffering human beings are in our thoughts and in our prayers, particularly those who have lost everything in Honiara fires. The women and children tortured in the PNG Highlands and elsewhere due to senseless sorcery accusations, the victims of COVID-19 and their families with the young left to fend for themselves, the Church says.

A sad celebration of Christmas also awaits about 100 asylum seekers and refugees in Port Moresby. They are the remnants of the more than one thousand men housed first in Manus Island since 2013 by the Australian government.

By January 1, 2022, they will be under the full responsibility of the PNG government until a solution is found at least for some of them.

With all these pockets suffering in our midst and the pandemic, a Christmas of joy and happiness is hard to wish. Still, we do so on behalf of the Catholic Bishops Conference of PNG and Solomon Islands since the weak child in the manger turned out to be the most powerful source of hope, encouragement and strength.

He is our Saviour and Redeemer and as far as we decide to listen, to stop damaging people and convert. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2022.

Originally posted here:

Christmas Of Tears and Hope - Loop PNG

New Delhi: The contentious bill to raise the marriage age of women from 18 to 21 years Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021 may have been sent to the Parliaments standing committee but its political intentions are becoming clearer by the day.

The proposed law, it now appears, is one more logical step in the Modi governments well-thought-out and one-move-at-a-time strategy to push India towards a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) without actually needing to enact one.

The arguments by the ruling and Opposition party members around the proposed law are ranging from womens health and career, their right to choose, their familys socio-economic conditions and so on.

However, a deeper look into the chain of events chronologically, since 2019, gives the context about how the government has been planning and taking baby steps towards a bigger change central to the key political goals of the ruling BJP.

Also Read: Same family laws for all faiths whats Uniform Civil Code, and what courts say about it

In its 2019 sankalp patra (manifesto), the BJP spelled out a few central, and ideologically loaded, promises: The abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to Jammu & Kashmir, the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, the prohibition of triple talaq and the introduction of a UCC in place of a variety of personal laws that govern matters such as marriage, divorce, custody and inheritance within different religious communities.

The party has managed to meet each of these promises since then except the last, which happens to be the trickiest of all.

The BJPs quest for a uniform civil code, of course, is not new. Even in the 1998 general elections, the partys manifesto included a promise to formulate a UCC based on progressive practices that would benefit women across religions by giving them property rights, removing discriminatory clauses in divorce laws, and putting an end to polygamy, among other things.

This conception of gender justice carried forward to the partys 2004 vision document, and also the manifestos for 2009, 2014, and 2019.

In June 2016, the Modi government delegated the Law Commission to examine matters in relation to uniform civil code, the result of which was an August 2018 consultation paper on reform of family law.

The Law Commissions reflections and recommendations, which ran to more than 180 pages, were perhaps not what the government might have hoped for, but it provided something of a road map.

The paper noted that discriminatory laws needed to be addressed but a UCC was neither necessary nor desirable at this stage.

Instead, it suggested that making piecemeal changes to laws wherever necessary would be a better strategy. The BJP seems to have taken this to heart, especially since it understands well that trying to bring about blanket changes in personal laws will likely lead to massive protests across communities.

That doesnt mean that nothing can be done to work towards the greater goal, albeit one small step at a time.

Within about two months of the BJP being voted back to power for a second term in May 2019, Parliament approved a bill criminalising triple talaq, an Islamic law that allows a husband to divorce his wife instantly.

The wheels were set in motion for the next gender justice project in June 2020, when the Ministry of Women & Child Development (WCD) constituted a 10-member committee to look into womens age of marriage, through the lens of health, maternal mortality, nutrition, etc.

Modi, meanwhile, started doing the groundwork. In his Independence Day speech last year, for instance, the PM spoke at length about womens empowerment, and announced that a committee was deliberating over raising the legal age of marriage for women.

A few months later, in December 2020, the panel headed by former Samata Party leader and activist Jaya Jaitly submitted its recommendation that it would benefit women if the minimum age for marriage was increased.

The result is the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill. With it, the Modi government is not just taking on child marriage but is also on its way to introducing some uniformity in the personal laws of several different communities including Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and Parsis at least when it comes to a womans marriageable age.

The question now is, what next?

Also Read: Modi govt has been working for a Uniform Civil Code and we didnt even notice. Until now

Even though the decision to raise the legal age of marriage for women is not directly linked with the UCC, it is being seen as a systematic progression towards it.

The government has never wavered in its rhetoric about the UCC.

In March this year, for instance, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said in a speech at the BJPs Uttar Pradesh state committee meet that the party is still committed to fulfilling its promise on the UCC. Whenever we talked of Ram Mandir, people poked fun at us we fulfilled that promise. We also fulfilled our promise on Article 370 and triple talaq. We will do what we have said about the uniform civil code also, Singh had said.

How the fulfilment of this promise might be rolled out is not certain, but there are clues.

Talking to the Print, a top Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary said that the government now needs to amend the personal law that permits polygamy a clear reference to the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937.

The functionary also expressed outrage over issues in Sharia law such as the lack of rights and compensation afforded to divorced women. Other personal laws, including the Hindu Marriage Act, allow the woman to demand her right on property, he said.

It is also instructive to look at recent statements made by RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat. In October this year, Bhagwat made an interesting reading choice during his Vijayadashami speech: a resolution that the all-India executive committee of the RSS had passed back in 2015.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivering his Independence Day speech, in New Delhi on 15 August 2019 | PTI

This resolution spoke of the need to address the purported demographic imbalance in India, namely an increase in the ratio of Muslims in the population. The resolution articulated anxieties around Muslims outnumbering Hindus and the need for a new population policy, even though the fertility gap between Hindu and Muslim women has been shrinking rather than increasing, according to a Pew report released this September.

Prime Minister Modi also described having a small family as a sign of patriotism in his 2019 Independence Day speech, and, earlier this month, Rajya Sabha MP and BJP leader Kirodi Lal Meena brought up the need for a population control bill during the winter session of Parliament, despite the fertility rate in India dipping below the replacement rate.

Also Read: How RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat dusted off a 6-year-old document to set new agenda for Modi govt

Ram Madhav, a member of the RSS national executive, told ThePrint that it was time for everyone to start thinking of the girl child and her education and career rather than being in a rush to marry her off.

He denied that the proposed new law had any direct connection with the UCC, although he said it remained a desirable goal.

The government banned regressive laws like triple talaq. These are all progressive steps towards a balanced inclusive society. As far as the UCC is concerned, it is good for the country and there are several judgments on the need for it. The courts, starting from the 80s, said that the government must consider a common code in the country for all communities, Madhav said.

According to him, it is wrong of Opposition leaders to make the issue about Hindus and Muslims.

Left parties and some other Opposition members are saying that if a girl can choose the government at 18, then why not a partner? Is it the same? Madhav asked, adding that arguments that some families make girls marry young for socioeconomic reasons do not hold water either. They are trying to say that girls are commodities and they just need to be married off? Is that their argument? he said.

Mohan Bhagwat releasing a report on the status of women in 2019, with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman | PTI

Several Muslim leaders and members of the Opposition told ThePrint that they believe the Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill is an attempt to covertly implement the UCC.

Others said they objected to the lack of consensus-building before tabling the bill, while some claimed the move appeared to be aimed at winning political points ahead of the assembly polls in UP.

According to E.T. Mohammed Basheer, an MP who belongs to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the new bill reflected a trend towards encroaching on religious personal laws. The Modi government has already tweaked the divorce law of Muslims and now it is targeting marriage, he said, adding that inheritance and adoption may be next on the agenda. This is surely a step-by-step way forward to the uniform civil code, he said.

Basheer told ThePrint that the IUML has already spoken to like-minded parties, including the Left and the Congress, and might explore seeking a legal remedy.

Asaduddin Owaisi, Hyderabad MP and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief, said the decision was unilateral.

To bring UCC, the government has to amend all personal laws including the ones of tribal people According to the Law Commission, implementation of UCC is not practical. So, we do not know what the government is up to, he said.

Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Salman Khurshid also pointed out that the lack of consensus-building was problematic and there needed to be more debate and deliberation. This may be a signal to the minority that there would be another diktat coming. It outweighs an individuals right, the Congress leader added.

When asked for his views, former Union minister and Congress leader P. Chidambaram said his party would ask for the bill to be referred to the select committee, and he preferred to reserve his opinion for now.

It was later the same day that the bill was referred to the standing committee.

On Twitter, he expressed support for the age increase, but said it should be preceded by a year-long educational campaign on the benefits of the move.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi listed out several things that he thought wrong with the proposed law and what it sought to accomplish.

Firstly to believe that merely passing laws amounts to substantive and lasting social change, is to live in a fools paradise. Secondly, these reform measures must be debated in standing and select committees of Parliament, he said.

Thirdly, unless a lot of work goes in to reform mindsets, all that will end up, is criminalising large chunks of the female population between 18 and 21 years. Fourthly, the measure may not be bad if accompanied by solid, supportive, nutritional, dietary, educational, and employment reforms for women between 18 and 21 years, Singhvi added.

Senior Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury linked the bill to the UP elections. I think this is another ploy to polarise people along communal lines before the UP election. They might now say that they will bring UCC and portray this as a precursor, he told ThePrint.

(Edited by Asavari Singh)

Also Read: How Ambedkar, Munshi & Krishnaswamy Ayyar argued for Uniform Civil Code at Constituent Assembly

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Why raising marriage age of women is another step towards BJPs pet goal of uniform civil code - ThePrint

With 18 children, fans ofSister Wiveswould assume one ofKody Browns kids would live a polygamist lifestyle. However, it seems that the children, whom Kody shares with wivesMeri Brown,Janelle BrownandRobyn Brown, as well as ex-wifeChristine Brown, are not particularly interested in having a plural marriage.

In fact, there are some children from the TLC show who refuse to be polygamists despite being raised in theApostolic United Brethren(AUB), a sect of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FLDS) or the Mormon religion.

While Kody felt a divine calling to practice polygamy, he recognizes that his children may not feel the same way. In a March 2020 episode of the hit reality series, Kody stated that he doesnt think any of his children would be part of a polygamist relationship.

I think the majority of them are oriented towards Christianity, he told TLC. I wanted to advocate faith for my children, but Ive really set it in their place to make their choices about God and religion.

Kody and his ex-wife share their son, Paedon, and five girls, Aspyn, Mykelti, Gwendlyn, Ysabel and Truely. With first wife Meri, Kody shares daughter Mariah. The patriarch and his second wife, Janelle, share sons Logan, Hunter, Garrison and Gabriel as well as daughters Madison and Savanah. With Robyn, Kody shares two biological children, Solomon and Ariella. He also adopted her children from a previous marriage, Dayton, Aurora and Breanna.

Kody was spiritually married to all four of his wives and legally married to only Meri before divorcing her in 2014 to legally marry Robyn in order to adopt her children. He remains spiritually married to Meri and Janelle. In November 2021, Christine shocked fans when sheannounced her split from Kodyafter more than two decades together.

After more than 25 years together, Kody and I have grown apart and I have made the difficult decision to leave, the TV personality wrote on her Instagram account on November 2. We will continue to be a strong presence in each others lives as we parent our beautiful children and support our wonderful family. At this time, we ask for your grace and kindness as we navigate through this stage within our family. With Love, Christine Brown.

Keep scrolling to see Kodys childrens stance on polygamy and what they have said about plural marriages.

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Sister Wives Star Kody Browns 18 Children Reveal How They Feel About Polygamy - inTouch Weekly

Madrid, December 22 (EFE). An international team of archaeologists and geneticists, with great Spanish participation, has reconstructed the oldest genealogical tree to date, corresponding to a family that lived about 5,700 years ago, and revealed many details about their kinship. and social organization, including the presence of adoption, filial, or polygamous practices.

Researchers have analyzed the DNA of 35 people buried in one of the UKs best-preserved Neolithic cemeteries, in Gloucestershire (UK), which yielded new knowledge about the kinship rules that govern that community, and today they publish their findings in the journal Nature.

All of the individuals were buried in Hazelton North, a long Early Neolithic area with two opposing L-shaped chambers, and scientists have verified, by comparing archaeological analyzes with data extracted from DNA, that 27 individuals belonged to the same family and that the majority are descended from four women who had children by the same man.

Archaeologists from the universities of Newcastle, York, Exeter and Lancashire (UK) and genetics from the universities of the Basque Country, Vienna and Harvard participated in the research, who concluded, by organizing the bodies in the cemetery, that non-biological kinship adoption could be as important as biological for this community From the modern stone age.

Researchers analyzed DNA that they were able to extract from the bones and teeth of 35 buried people whose remains are preserved at the Corinium Museum in Cotswold (UK) and their findings reveal for the first time in such detail how prehistoric families were structured.

University of the Basque Country researcher igo Olalde, the studys lead geneticist and one of the first signatories to the work, noted that it was the oldest family tree ever reconstructed and determined that the description was possible thanks to the excellent conservation of DNA in the cemetery and the use of the latest techniques to recover and ancient DNA analysis.

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Speaking to EFE, Olalde noted that many social patterns are known by anthropologists who study current societies, and noted that the key is that they are the first large biological family recovered in prehistoric times, its the first time we can investigate the These details are straightforward and with great precision in such ancient societies.

The researcher pointed out that until now we have only been able to investigate it indirectly from archaeological data, and explained as an example that if a burial with a man and two women was found, the researchers assumed that it was a man and a couple of childbearing. .

Other evidence regarding female exogamy (that girls leave the family to join other societies), there were already indications of it occurring in the Neolithic because isotope analysis has seen that women tend to be more mobile than men because the geology of the place in which they grew It didnt match where they died, but this is the first time weve seen them directly in the family.

Archaeologist Chris Fowler, of Newcastle University and first author of the publication, highlighted the significance of the findings at North Hazleton Cemetery, and made sure that the architectural arrangement of these and other Neolithic tombs reveals how kinship in those graves worked. Burials.

In the same sense, researcher David Reich, of Harvard University who led his laboratory generating ancient DNA, emphasized that modern techniques will allow genetic fingerprinting to be analyzed with high accuracy to address transcendent questions for archaeologists. .

A few years ago, Ron Benhase, of the University of Vienna, stated that it was difficult to imagine that Neolithic kinship structures would have been known at this level of detail.

igo Olalde highlighted the importance of knowing how these groups are socially organized to reveal their mobility patterns, their relationships with other groups or livestock management, and emphasized that new techniques allow for the sequencing of the complete genomes of ancient humans and will allow us to learn aspects that are still unknown when applied to areas of past knowledge. which have not yet been used.

Thanks to ancient DNA, we can throw new clues into questions and details that archaeologists have been asking about for a long time, because DNA is the only technology that tells us about biological relationships between individuals, a university researcher told EFE from the Basque Country. .

The research was funded, among other things, by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Basque Science Foundation (Ikerbasque), the National Institutes of Health in the United States, various foundations, medical institutes and private donations.

(c) EFE . Agency

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Oldest family tree revealing adoptions, stepchildren, and polygamy - SmallCapNews.co.uk

On Oct. 17, a couple got married in Davis. A typical wedding would not be cover-worthy news at J., but the couple who wed are members of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem, a community based in Dimona, Israel, with adherents around the world. J.s editors saw the union of Micael Ben Shaleahk and Aminah Ha Rofah as a unique opportunity to provide a glimpse inside a Jewish adjacent community that many may not be familiar with.

Yet some readers found our coverage of the wedding to be strange, even offensive. They protested that Hebrew Israelites are antisemitic, that they are non-Jewish cultural appropriators who are trying to erase halachic Jews by claiming descent from the ancient Israelites and that, therefore, we should not write about them. One person commented on Facebook, I dont understand why you would glorify a cult with an antisemtic reputation for a Jewish mag, a polygamous male-dominated cult no less.

For over a decade, Ive been researching and publishing articles about Hebrew Israelites in Jewish publications. I know this is a sensitive topic for Jewish readers, one that raises hard questions about identity, authenticity, race and communal boundaries. It is also a topic that requires readers to keep an open mind. There are extremists in the Hebrew Israelite movement, just as there are in every religious and spiritual movement, and unfortunately those extremists have largely shaped the public narrative about who Hebrew Israelites are and how they feel about Jews.

For the record: The African Hebrew Israelites those who, like Micael and Aminah, follow the teachings of spiritual leader Ben Ammi Ben Israel are not antisemitic, cultural-appropriating cultists who are trying to erase Jews. Most live in Israel, where their youth serve in the Israel Defense Forces. They attend Israeli schools and intermarry with Jews. They may have beliefs and customs such as the practice of polygamy that some Jews find uncomfortable or even repellent, but they are not trying to erase Jews or do us harm.

Meanwhile, Jews of color feel that coverage of Hebrew Israelites often comes at their expense. They grumble when the media shine a spotlight on Hebrew Israelites and ignore their stories and concerns. As UC Davis sociologist Bruce Haynes put it to me, Normative Black Jews like [Forward editor] Robin Washington are not as sexy as Hebrew Israelites who curse at the Capitol Mall.

Moreover, Jews of color already struggle to be accepted in Jewish spaces, and some argue that coverage of Hebrew Israelites in the Jewish press makes that process even more challenging because the groups can become conflated in peoples minds.

So why, given these fault lines, did we report on Micael and Aminahs wedding? Because at J., we are tasked with exploring our Northern California Jewish community in all its complexity. Its why we regularly write about Jews from every denomination, and no denomination. Its why we have reported extensively on Karaite Jews, who have a community center in Daly City. And its why we cover non-Jewish religious communities that are connected to us in some way. For example, we recently wrote about a Messianic Jewish synagogue in Carmichael that was plastered with antisemitic flyers. We did so not because we accept Messianic Jews as being inside of our proverbial tent, but rather because as two small religious minorities in proximity to each other, we sometimes face similar challenges, from antisemites in particular.

The Bay Area is full of communities of people who follow different lifestyles and traditions. J. is a Jewish community newspaper, but Jews are not an island. In order to understand our place in the larger society to which we belong, we at J. believe it is important to understand the place of communities like ours, communities like the African Hebrew Israelites.

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Why we covered a Hebrew Israelite wedding J. - The Jewish News of Northern California

When Naheed Farid joined the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of Afghanistans national assembly in 2010 at the age of 27, she hoped that her elevation to public office would show the country that women in democratic systems dont just do the electingthey are also elected. The moment marked the culmination of an education in law and passion for advocacy, both of which were inspired by teenage years spent under Taliban-imposed house arrest.

In the 11 years that she served in the assembly, Farid worked on behalf of Herat to safeguard the equality of ethnic and religious minorities, support economic development projects, and push for an Afghan government-approved peace process amid ongoing fighting with the Taliban.

Farid wasnt the first or only woman to serve in the Wolesi Jirga, but quickly made a name for herself as a staunch defender of gender equality. During her two years heading the Human Rights, Civil Society, and Women Affairs Committee, Farid advocated to protect voting rights, bolster prohibitions against polygamy and child marriage, advocate for gender diversity in the workplace, and expand maternity leave. The commission also helped women and girls on an individual basis, assisting victims of domestic violence and wives seeking divorces from their husbands.

It took only a few short days in August to dash Farids hopes that her lifes work would yield lasting change for Afghanistans women and minorities. The Talibans swift takeover of the countrys provinces, aided by al-Qaeda-aligned fighters, reversed the nearly 20 years of progress that followed the toppling of the first Islamic Emirate in 2001.

Like me, so many women traveled a very bumpy and uneven road toward introducing a new Afghanistan, Farid said in an interview with The Dispatch. But now, as we look back, it has just disappeared. All the roads that we drew, all the paths, all the achievements, we just see nothing.

For Farid, the reversal was all too familiar. The day that the Taliban came to my city, in 1995, I was a teenage girl, she said. On that day, I asked my mother to take me to the school. She said, no, the school is closed. I insisted, and so she took me to the school and asked me to cover my face for the first time in my life. I went to my school and saw a man with a gun sitting in front. They burned so many things inside of the schoolchairs, books, so many things. And that day, they burned my hopes.

Despite Taliban assurances that the countrys schools would remain open to women and girls this time around, girls in Afghanistan have now been barred from secondary school for nearly 100 days.

The stratified systemwhich Farid described as a gender apartheidconfines school-aged girls to their homes, and, particularly amid an unfolding humanitarian crisis, encourages parents to sell their female children into forced marriages. According to some reports, girls as young as 20 days have been auctioned off as child brides as Afghan families struggle against starvation.

Even as Taliban fighters surrounded the countrys provincial capitals in preparation for sweeping offensives, Farid remained hopeful that the Afghan security forces would recover the lost territory. In the days before Herat fell, Farid traveled to her home city to boost morale among the government soldiers responsible for its defense.

Shortly thereafter, however, the countrys leadership reversed course, warning Farid and other at-risk lawmakers of its plans to surrender. She escaped to Iran alongside her three children, one of whom is a U.S. citizen, with only their clothes, a phone, and diapers for her baby. Farids husband and other family members remained in Kabul before eventually escaping via Hamid Karzai airport.

A United Nations World Food Program and Food and Agriculture report from October projected that 22.8 million peoplemore than half of Afghanistans populationface acute food insecurity between November 2021 and March 2022. An estimated 8.7 million of them are at risk of famine amid skyrocketing food prices, low crop yields, and diminished external support.

There has to be a response to the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan through a trusted corridor and that has to be established as soon as possible. For this, we dont have months. We dont even have days, Farid said. The winter is coming and it's very cold in Afghanistan.

In testimony before the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, Farid stressed the importance of local non-governmental organizations and civil society groups in the absence of a government able and willing to provide education, health care, and food aid. Without outside assistance, more Afghans will suffer, more Afghans will die, she told the committee. But the Taliban cannot be allowed to set terms and conditions on how this humanitarian assistance is delivered and who it is delivered to.

Asked by The Dispatch about lawmaker concerns that assistance provided to Afghanistan would empower its Taliban leadership, Faridwho has a background in nonprofit managementexplained how establishing proper humanitarian corridors would mitigate the risk of support falling into terrorist hands. A regional partner, namely Tajikistan, would be necessary to give aid organizations a base from which they could maintain headquarters, distribute wages to workers, and deliver goods.

Providing in-kind aid like food and medicine rather than cash payments could also benefit Afghanistans civilian population without enabling its occupiers. The Talibans leadership is currently seeking up to $14 billion in frozen assets belonging to the Afghan central bank, with Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi urging the international community to show mercy and compassion toward Afghans facing food insecurity. But Farid, along with many other Afghan activists and lawmakers, has urged the United States against financial or legal recognition of the jihadist, all-male interim government.

They have never denounced their ties with al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. The Haqqani Network, which is on the blacklists of all international bodiesincluding the United Nationsnow has three ministers, including the minister of interior, Farid said. Their rise to power gives other extremist and fundamentalist groups all over the world a sense of pride and a sense of confidence.

And while Farid has been a vocal critic of President Joe Bidens hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan this year, she views her countrys current plight as a multi-administration failure. The 2020 Doha agreement between the Trump administration and the Taliban, Farid argued, left the existing Afghan government with no leverage and emboldened the Taliban. That was not a peace deal, Farid said. Afghanistans government tried to play a role, but unfortunately, because the U.S. already signed a deal with the Taliban, Afghanistans government did not have any choice.

In the time between the deal being signed and the U.S. military withdrawal, Farid and other members of her committee met with lawmaking bodies from around the world to urge them not to abandon Afghanistans women. We met with more than 25 parliaments, including Congress, asking them to safeguard womens rights in the peace process of Afghanistan and to not let the achievements of women be undermined in any negotiation, Farid said. We told them: Dont withdraw in a hasty way, let the situation become more clear, and continue your support for the national security of Afghanistan.

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committee who has long advocated for the women of Afghanistan, praised Farid and her fellow members of parliament for their work.

Ms. Farid and her female colleagues who served in the Afghan parliament showed immense courage to seek higher office in the first place, and continue to exemplify the bravery of Afghan women and girls to hold onto their hard-fought rights. The U.S. is committed, across party lines and between Congress and the White House, to support Afghan women and girls so the progress made over 20 years is not erased, Shaheen, who was among the lawmakers Farid consulted, told The Dispatch. We have a moral imperative to stand by Afghan women and girls and make clear to them that we have not, and will not, forget them.

Farid, who now serves as a board member for the Afghanistan-U.S. Democratic Peace and Prosperity Council, remains steadfast in her commitment to charting a new course for her home countrywith women at its center. I hate when the world recognizes the women of Afghanistan only as victims or as beneficiaries, she said. They have been leaders, they have been agents of change in their society.

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'As We Look Back, It Has Just Disappeared' - The Dispatch

Period is the story of an integral part of a woman's life, the story of millions of girls moving forward at an indomitable pace. The story of each girl having a certain number of special days in each month since she reaches a certain age. But it is a matter of great regret that in the socio-economic perspective of our country, this very common biological cycle is not taken as normal. Shame, secrecy, forbidden topic, taboos, the special matter of the female which contributes in the development of genital diseases like cervical cancer.

The uterus is where we are when we are in the womb. And the cancer that is caused by its mouth is the cancer of the cervix. We become fully regulated humans through mitosis cell division. When this orderly division of the body is disturbed in any way, uncontrolled cell division occurs. When this uncontrolled cell division occurs, a lump or wheel is formed in the body. It can be benign, it can also be malignant. Benign is usually harmless, but malignant is harmful. If a lump forms in the cells of the cervix, it is called cervical cancer. According to a 2018 study by the World Health Organization, about 570,000 people worldwide were diagnosed with cervical cancer and about 311,000 people died from it. In Bangladesh, about 12,000 new patients are diagnosed every year and about 6,000 of them die. That is, about half of all patients identified die. This is a picture of cervical cancer in Bangladesh and around the world. But the hope is that with proper treatment, cervical cancer will be completely cured and this is the only cancer that has been vaccinated. Uncontrolled menstruation is one of the symptoms of cervical cancer. It can be different.

There are some things to keep in mind in preventing cervical cancer, for example, not marrying any girl before the age of 18, not taking birth control pill for more than 5 years, prevention of polygamy, etc. Cervical cancer is also caused by smoking, sexually transmitted diseases or uncleanliness. So these should be avoided. Without it, you have to get vaccinated in time.

There are many cancer patients who are indifferent to treatment. In this case, raising awareness is the most important. And, we all should launch a social movement against menstruation taboos so that an environment is created in our society where everyone can talk about menstrual hygiene openly. Sometimes women do not inform family concerning the disease and even feel shy to go to doctor. Sooner they break the demu, better for everyone. It is to keep in mind that uterus is not a shameful organ, it's a mother's and a girl's pride. And period is a greatly special matter.

Samia Jahan is a student of Rajbari Government College and Ashikujaman Syed is Research Assistant, Bioinformatics Research Lab, Center for Research Innovation and Development (CRID).

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Take away the shame of menstruation and cervical problems - theindependentbd.com

Sister Wives is a show that is no stranger to controversy, having made headlines many times over the course of the 10 years that it has been on the air. However, recent seasons have revealed even more drama within the Brown family, with many fans diving deep to learn everything that they can about the high-profile split between Kody and Christine Brown. Recently, viewers took the internet to discuss what impact the significant age gap between Kody Brown and his fourth wife, Robyn Brown, might have had on Christine Browns decision to leave the polygamous family.

Sister Wives tells the story of a large polygamous family, helmed by Kody Brown and his four wives.Browns first three marriages, to his wives Meri, Janelle, and Christine Brown, all took place off-camera, well before the reality show started airing on television. Cameras captured the moments when Brown decided, in 2010, that he was ready to start courting a new, much-younger woman, Robyn.

Kody and Robyn Brown were married in 2010. As the first new wife to enter the family in 16 years, tensions were elevated, and many fans wondered how the other wives really felt about Robyn Brown joining the family. Notably, Robyn Brown is quite a bit younger than Kody Browns other wives; she is currently 43, compared to the next youngest wife, Christine Brown, who is 49, according to The Sun. Browns other wives, Janelle and Meri Brown, are 52 and 50, respectively.

Some fans believe that the age gap between Kody and Robyn Brown has been causing friction with the other wives for some time, and could have even played a role in the recent split between Kody and Christine Brown. Many have taken to Reddit to discuss the tension between Robyn Brown and some of Kody Browns other wives.

One fan noted, Imagine you are married for 20 years and your husband gets married to a new, young, attractive woman of childbearing years.

Robyn Browns young age and relative inexperience with polygamy has caused some issues in the Brown family in the past, as documented by the reality show. One fan detailed, I completely agree the age gap/marriage gap had a large part as well.

In early November 2021, Christine Brown took to social media to share that she and Kody Brown had decided to separate. While she didnt reveal the official reason for the split, fans werent exactly surprised by the news. The split itself will be documented on the current season of Sister Wives, but there are many fans who already have their bets placed on the friction with Robyn Brown as being a contributing factor.

In a recent clip from Sister Wives, Robyn Brown opens up in a confessional, admitting that she feels a lot of guilt over the split, and crying over the fact that her family is crumbling. Fans dont feel sorry for her, taking to social media to denounce her as Sobbin Robyn.

One fan wrote, Err newsflash for Sobbin Robyn Youre the reason, while another said Our family is crumbling' Cryn Robyn Like she didnt have a big hand in it! Smh.

Fans will undoubtedly have even more to say as the latest season of Sister Wives continues to unfold on TLC.

RELATED:Sister Wives: Which MLM Businesses Are the Browns Involved With?

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'Sister Wives' Fans Think Robyn Brown's Age and Marriage Gap Is to Blame for the Polygamist Family Falling Apart - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

B.H. Roberts historian, politician and leader in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints died in 1933. Yet, within LDS church circles and even beyond, his influence lingers.

Roberts led a rich and varied life. He served a mission for his faith, edited a multi-volume history of the Church and ran for Congress twice. He won one of those elections but was denied his seat because he practiced polygamy. A devoted Mormon, Roberts once disguised himself and recovered the bodies of two murdered missionaries, and returned them to their parents. And his legacy isnt without controversy either: Roberts was also a fierce opponent of womens suffrage. The historian John Sillito has completed an exhaustive biography of Roberts. He joins us this Friday at 11 a.m. to talk about the life and influence of B.H. Roberts.

John Sillitos book isB.H. Roberts: A Life in the Public Arena[Amazon|Bookshop].

Excerpt from:

B.H. Roberts: A Life in the Public Arena - KUER 90.1