I recently watched the film “The Stoning of Soraya M.” This was the most heart-wrenching film I have ever seen. It is based on a true story about a young mother and wife. 
It is situated in a small village in Iran in the mid 1980’s. Without giving too many spoilers, the young mother is accused of adultery because her husband wants to be rid of her to marry another woman. Soraya is, in fact innocent, and only her aunt believes and defends her. Finally her husband succeeds in turning the entire village, including her own young sons, against her. He goes to the mayor of the village and the Imam and demands that according to the Koran, his wife must be stoned to death. When the day arrives, armed guards ensure that Soraya cannot escape her aunt’s house. A hole is dug in center of the village and Soraya is buried nearly chest-deep. Her father, agreeing with the accusation and the execution and calling his daughter a whore is there and casts the first stones (which miss, by the way). In no time the village is in a seeming frenzy as the stones fly and the helpless and alone Soraya is repeatedly and brutally pelted; her young sons take up their stones as well. The promise Soraya made to her aunt that she wouldn’t cry is soon unable to be kept as this forsaken innocent woman receives what the people in the village are convinced by the men and by their god that she deserves. Soraya is not even allowed a burial but becomes food for the dogs.
It is situated in a small village in Iran in the mid 1980’s. Without giving too many spoilers, the young mother is accused of adultery because her husband wants to be rid of her to marry another woman. Soraya is, in fact innocent, and only her aunt believes and defends her. Finally her husband succeeds in turning the entire village, including her own young sons, against her. He goes to the mayor of the village and the Imam and demands that according to the Koran, his wife must be stoned to death. When the day arrives, armed guards ensure that Soraya cannot escape her aunt’s house. A hole is dug in center of the village and Soraya is buried nearly chest-deep. Her father, agreeing with the accusation and the execution and calling his daughter a whore is there and casts the first stones (which miss, by the way). In no time the village is in a seeming frenzy as the stones fly and the helpless and alone Soraya is repeatedly and brutally pelted; her young sons take up their stones as well. The promise Soraya made to her aunt that she wouldn’t cry is soon unable to be kept as this forsaken innocent woman receives what the people in the village are convinced by the men and by their god that she deserves. Soraya is not even allowed a burial but becomes food for the dogs.
I don’t think anyone could view this film with dry eyes or a heart that hadn’t temporarily relocated in their throat. All of that happened for me, but something else happened: This film made me once again, and in a more visceral way, realize how much our beliefs about God condition our behavior. And lest one think this is an attack on Islam, Christianity hardy has hands that are not stained with blood. What was done to Soraya is not essentially much different than what was done to women accused of being witches. There is the Inquisition and forced conversions with torture. And if all that seems too distant in the past to seem relevant, how many Christians gladly participate in war or support the death penalty?
Our beliefs about God matter. The belief that God is violent, opens the door to violent behavior by humans. The belief God is male, opens the door to patriarchy. Soraya could never have been brutally murdered by an exuberant blood-thirsty village without both.
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