Tag Archives: religious freedom

Bush "Deeply Troubled" about Afghan Christian Facing Death .

Like, I would hope so because, I guess to me this is about religious terriorism. It is not about religious intolerance. Why are people afraid to call it what it is? If threatening someone with death for their religious beliefs is not terrorism, then what is?

On Tuesday I posted the blog, “Is this for Real? Death for Converting from Islam to Christianity?? I said I was waiting for George Bush to speak out on this. I had my doubts but my God here was a true Christian facing possible death for converting from Islam to Christianity and where was George?

So this afternoon as I’m driving I hear this update on Seattle’s KUOW station that Bush has actually said something. He’s deeply troubled” .

I was really wondering if this poor man was going to sacrificed because the President was afraid to speak out. After all, while Afghanistan is like an American colony right now, still we need to maintain the illusion that the Afghans can decide their own laws and justice, including for people who are non-believers.

This fellow’s sin was that he converted from Islam to Christianity. And the law in Afghanistan said that is a crime punishable by death. Now this man did not kill anyone or even cause bodily injury to someone.

But speaking out against Islamic religious law might offend people of the Islamic faith in Afghanistan and elsewhere and George could be threatened with death for questioning the Islamic religion. Islamic religious fanatics would scream that he was intolerant of their religion.

But is this religion? Is the world community ready to turn a blind eye on a supposed religious law of condemning someone to die because they choose another religion? This is religious terrorism.

George has to choose his words carefully. So he is “deeply troubled“. But I think he needs to be more than deeply troubled. He needs to be involved and say that this is not acceptable and the United States can not accept it and rally other countries to say it is not acceptable. I’m sure some of this is being done quietly behind the scenes as Bush is swearing.

Because this is deeply embarrassing. Because why are we fighting in Afganastan and Iraq if in the end if governments and religious laws support barbaric practices like this.

George needs to talk directly to Afghan President Harmid Karzai and tell him that the world community will likely turn against Islam if this man is killed for his beliefs. He needs to say that continued US support of his government is dependent on this law being abolished.

Sure, most everyone is now afraid to speak out after the Danish cartoon riots but I think many people realize those riots were inflamed and supported by certain Islamic governments and fanatics to intimidate other nations and religions. And it worked so far.

But fighting religious intolerance goes both ways. And for any Islamic country to kill someone for not being Islamic or freely choosing another religion is the height of intolerance. It is a form of terrorism and needs to be called such.

So on KUOW the newcast said that the prosecutor of this case, realizing I guess the extreme problem he is now in, said there is a way to not have to follow the Islamic law proclaiming death to this man. That is, he can be declared to be mentally unstable, you know insane, for converting to Christianity.

Such a simple solution to the problem. Of course this man is insane. Such a simple solution. What’s the fuss? What are they waiting for?

Is this for Real? Death for Converting from Islam to Christianity??

If you thought we were liberating Afghanistan from religious fanaticism, among other things, when the United States went after Osama Bin Laden, please explain this. “Afghan Man who became Christian may face Death for Rejecting Islam”

I’m waiting for President Bush to speak out on this. Will he speak out? Will he ask this man’s life be spared? Or will he keep silent out of fear of offending Islam? Is this religion or fanaticism?

An Afghan man is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death on a charge of converting from Islam to Christianity, a crime under this country’s Islamic laws, a judge said Sunday.

The defendant, Abdul Rahman, 41, was arrested last month after his family accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada said. Rahman was charged with rejecting Islam, and his trial started Thursday.

During the one-day hearing, the defendant confessed that he converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago while working as a medical-aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, Mawlavezada said.

“We are not against any particular religion in the world. But in Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law”, the judge said. “It is an attack on Islam.”

Where is the US Congress on this? Don’t tell they can’t rush back into session to pass some type of international plea for this person’s life to be spared. They did it for Terri Schiavo. Even President Bush showed some hustle for once and rushed back. And this person isn’t even brain dead! And, My God, he’s of the Right religion.

This isn’t a cartoon. This is about a real person. This is a question of religious intolerance, of religious intolerance within a religion. This is a clear issue for humanity that needs a response and a clear rallying cry from the world community to declare that this is wrong and inhumane. But it is a day later for this story and I don’t hear a peep. Isn’t something wrong here?

This story is about both religion and humanity. It is about the distinction about tolerating other religions and religious intolerance within a religion and what is reasonable and humane and just. Will the world conscience speak up?

Will individuals and individual nations speak up? Will the United Nations introduce a resolution declaring that this is barbaric and not acceptable to the world? Or have they been cowered by religious fanatics? Are their tails between their legs and they are hiding out of fear of a repeat of what happened over the manufactured and purposely inflamed outrage over some scribbling on a piece of paper?

The AP story continues:

Afghanistan’s constitution is based on Shariah law, which is interpreted by many Muslims to require that any Muslim who rejects Islam be sentenced to death, said Ahmad Fahim Hakim, deputy chairman of the state-sponsored Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. Repeated attempts to interview Rahman in detention were barred.

The prosecutor, Abdul Wasi, said he had offered to drop the charges if Rahman converted back to Islam, but he refused.

“He would have been forgiven if he had changed back. But he said he was a Christian and would always remain one,” Wasi said. “We are Muslims and becoming a Christian is against our laws. He must get the death penalty.”

Will the world react to this or not? Or are they too cowered by the reaction of some Islamic fanatics to a few Danish cartoons?

This is really a true test for non-Islamic peoples and countries as long as we do not act self righteous. Because Christians have a few skeletons in their closet also, like the Inquisition.
It is also a test for Islam as to whether they will enter the 21st century world or not.
Can we afford to really ignore this? If we do we are at peril for our future.
Should we in Washington state care? Well besides the larger issues here, we, like 49 other states are seeing our sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, friends and neighbors, dying over in Afghanistan and Iraq, fighting as Bush says, for democracy.

Stories like this make me wonder what it is we are fighting for.