8 year old girl cursed at by religious zealots in Israel

In a town outside of Jerusalem, Israel, little Naama Margolese, an 8 year old girl, faces being called a whore and spit upon by ultra-orthodox Jewish men. Yes, you read that right. She is called those things and even has had rocks thrown at her. The average Israeli and the average Jewish man and woman is horrified by these things. But the ultra-Orthodox in Israel are like America's Christian rightwing/ Pat Robertson types. They hate womens' rights, they detest atheists and they have contempt for gay rights. She is of course not the only girl called these things by these religious zealots, as she walks to school.

What does she wear? Well, a long dress that entirely covers her legs and a shirt that completely covers her arms. Ultra-orthodox women by the way are expected to coverup everything except face and hands. So, they are just slightly more tolerant of women in public, than Muslim fundamentalists who require faces to be covered also. There is a religious rightwing in Israel that is extremely intolerant of any other groups, again, like the Christian rightwing here in the U.S.

Oh, in another case of religious zealotry, a pagan student took off for a pagan holiday. His teacher in Georgia (who probably is a very devout Christian conservative by her actions) stated that "Paganism is not a religion." The student was also punished later for speaking Spanish on a school bus by what seems a very overzealous bus driver. Why a bus driver believes student conversations that that much of a security threat where he has to monitor them word for word, I have no idea. Heck, students study Spanish at school, they can't do that kind of homework on a school bus?

I heard about this story while listening to conservative talk radio and the host (who I know is a Christian conservative/fundamentalist type, stated that paganism is a wacky, silly and crazy religion. As an atheist and not someone of either religion, I must say that paganism or wiccanism makes a whole heck of a lot more sense than a religion founded upon the blood sacrifice of a demigod to relive supposed sins eating from a tree in a garden. Now, that's the kind of religion that could only come about, by someone taking magical mushrooms. But, if I said this to that host, I would be accused of religion bashing. Ironic.