Where Geology And Religion Collide

I bet you didn't know that women engaging in promiscuous behavior like wearing their head scarves low enough to expose their hair, and show off their figure under knee-length coats, are actually causing earthquakes.  The sluts.

See, you didn't know that because you don't have the benefit of Muslim religious scholarship:  "Many women who do not dress modestly ... lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes," says Hojoatoleslam Kazem Sedighi, Iran's acting national Friday prayer leader.

Which would make Sedighi the Iranian equivalent of Pat Robertson.  See, wacko religious thinking isn't exclusive to any particular religion.  It's not the flavor of the religion one subscribes to, it's one's propensity to take its ancient mythologies literally, to impute one's own personal morals to the deity, and to view any dissent as heresy worthy of violent retribution.  The more fanatical you are about your religion, the more you gind yourself agreeing with patent nonsense like Sedighi's or Robertson's.

I'd hope the Iranian people laugh off Sedighi the way most Americans laugh off Robertson.  Problem is, some influential people do not laugh at this stuff, they take it seriously and use it to make policy.  That's why it's important for non-religious people to speak out.  That's why it's important for people who subscribe to more moderate versions of their religions to consign nutjobs like this off to the fringes rather than welcoming them as co-religionists.