Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World
Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World: "Diplomats say the Afghan government is searching for a way to drop the case, and on Wednesday authorities said Rahman is suspected of being mentally ill and would undergo psychological examinations to see whether he is fit to stand trial."
When I first saw this story on the wires and commented on it earlier I wondered if the whole thing would be swept under the rug. And in a way there is that attempt going on. The Bush administration has been extremely muted in their response to this travesty of everything we are supposed to believe in. The 'solution' in Afghanistan seems to be in an attempt to say that the man is 'mentally ill' and so shouldn't be killed for the heinious crime of being a Christian. You know, Americans didn't die and Americans are not dying in Afghanistan so that a bunch of neanderthal Imans following a primative, barbaric religion could go around killing people for converting to Christianity. Conversion by the sword and killing of unbelievers went out with the Middle Ages. And if the United States government can't stand up for this basic principle of freedom, a basic principle of freedom that we ask American soldiers to die for, then we too are morally bankrupt and undeserving of the moral high ground.
Indeed, if the Ancient South American civilizations suddenly reappeared and continued with their massive human sacrifices as part and parcel of their religious belief structure the modern western world reaction would be similar. We would be personally against it but you know, it's their culture and we must 'respect' the differences of our cultures. Stupid stupid words and thoughts. We all don't live in little bubbles where we don't interact and principles and morality are not so mutable and changable as to allow that sort of horror. It's no different here, there is no need or place in our government or our policies for allowing in any respect this sort of barbaric behavior. The man who converted to Christianity years ago is not mentally ill for having done so any more than opponents of the Soviet Union or of the Chinese Communist government are mentally ill for having chosen to speak out against those systems. The government of Afghanistan must stop this and it must put an end to any reference to 'Shariaa law' completely. It has no place, we have no place in proping up or supporting any government that allows or supports this sort of lunacy. In fact, the United States should have a policy that seeks to contain and isolate any government that resorts to such religious based government systems where the lives and liberties of it's people are subject to the vagaries of lunatic Imans or other religious figures.
It saddens me to see the political dance around this story and the fate of this man. It's clear cut, it's not hard to figure out. Right and wrong, but then we put our faith in politicians who have a congenital inability to distinguish between right and wrong in the first place so I really on some level can't be surprised by the slow and inadequate responses to this and other horrors from our 'friends' let alone our enemies.
When I first saw this story on the wires and commented on it earlier I wondered if the whole thing would be swept under the rug. And in a way there is that attempt going on. The Bush administration has been extremely muted in their response to this travesty of everything we are supposed to believe in. The 'solution' in Afghanistan seems to be in an attempt to say that the man is 'mentally ill' and so shouldn't be killed for the heinious crime of being a Christian. You know, Americans didn't die and Americans are not dying in Afghanistan so that a bunch of neanderthal Imans following a primative, barbaric religion could go around killing people for converting to Christianity. Conversion by the sword and killing of unbelievers went out with the Middle Ages. And if the United States government can't stand up for this basic principle of freedom, a basic principle of freedom that we ask American soldiers to die for, then we too are morally bankrupt and undeserving of the moral high ground.
Indeed, if the Ancient South American civilizations suddenly reappeared and continued with their massive human sacrifices as part and parcel of their religious belief structure the modern western world reaction would be similar. We would be personally against it but you know, it's their culture and we must 'respect' the differences of our cultures. Stupid stupid words and thoughts. We all don't live in little bubbles where we don't interact and principles and morality are not so mutable and changable as to allow that sort of horror. It's no different here, there is no need or place in our government or our policies for allowing in any respect this sort of barbaric behavior. The man who converted to Christianity years ago is not mentally ill for having done so any more than opponents of the Soviet Union or of the Chinese Communist government are mentally ill for having chosen to speak out against those systems. The government of Afghanistan must stop this and it must put an end to any reference to 'Shariaa law' completely. It has no place, we have no place in proping up or supporting any government that allows or supports this sort of lunacy. In fact, the United States should have a policy that seeks to contain and isolate any government that resorts to such religious based government systems where the lives and liberties of it's people are subject to the vagaries of lunatic Imans or other religious figures.
It saddens me to see the political dance around this story and the fate of this man. It's clear cut, it's not hard to figure out. Right and wrong, but then we put our faith in politicians who have a congenital inability to distinguish between right and wrong in the first place so I really on some level can't be surprised by the slow and inadequate responses to this and other horrors from our 'friends' let alone our enemies.
posted by gadlaw at 6:19 AM
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