March 21st, 2006
Imagine living in a country where you cannot choose what god you want to worship or how you wish to worship or even if you wish to worship. Imagine living in a country where making that very choice could mean life or death. Imagine a country where owning a Bible or a Koran or a Torah could be a crime in itself. Imagine living in a country where you are considered a traitor or mentally ill if you convert to another system of belief.
KABUL, Afghanistan, March 20, 2006 — Despite the overthrow of the fundamentalist Taliban government and the presence of 22,500 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a man who converted to Christianity is being prosecuted in Kabul, and a judge said Sunday that if convicted, he faces the death penalty.
Abdul Rahman, who is in his 40s, says he converted to Christianity 16 years ago while working as an aid worker helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan.
Relatives denounced him as a convert during a custody battle over his children, and he was arrested last month. The prosecutor says Rahman was found with a Bible.
[…]
Presiding judge Ansarullah Mawlazezadah tells ABC News a medical team was checking the defendant, since the team suspects insanity caused Rahman to reject Islam.
“We want to know that the doctors have given him a green light on his mental state, because he is not normal when he talks,” says the judge.
The post-Taliban constitution recognizes Islam as Afghanistan’s religion, and decrees that Islam’s Sharia law applies when a case is not covered by specific legislation. The prosecutor says under Sharia law, Abdul Rahman must die.
The judge, however, holds hopes for a solution.
“We will ask him if he has changed his mind about being a Christian,” Mawlazezadah says. “If he has, we will forgive him, because Islam is a religion of tolerance.”[“Afghan Faces Death Penalty For Converting To Christianity” (ABC News)]
When I look at my bookshelf with it’s dusty copies of a a variety of Bibles, including the Morman version, a book on Wiccan philosophies, several books of Eastern philosophers recommended by my late step-grandmother, and a growing interest in spiritualism, I wonder how I’d be preceived if I lived in such a country. After all, I certainly have questions about the church, about all churches, really.
I’m grateful I live in a country where I’m still free to explore my spirituality and hope it stays that way despite the religious-right’s recent attempts to take over.
However, I’m saddened that all these years after liberating Afghanistan, they really aren’t all that free. We’ve just changed the names of the people in charge.
Tags: Faith, God, Christian Zealots, Islam, Afghanistan
October 24th, 2005
Cory Burnell wants to set up a Christian nation within the United States where abortion is illegal, gay marriage is banned, schools cannot teach evolution, children can pray to Jesus in public schools and the Ten Commandments are posted publicly. [“Christian group wants to ‘redeem’ US states”]
Twenty-nine year-old Burnell founded Christian Exodus two years ago with the goal of redirecting the United States by “redeeming” one state at a time, starting with South Carolina.
The plan is to move 2,500 Christians (though there are only 1,000 currently in Christian Exodus) into South Carolina with a goal of relocating tens of thousands by 2016 to fill the state legislature with “Christian constitutionalists.”
“We (want to) force Washington, D.C., to reform itself by not going along with it,” he said.
The organization’s Web site says if it does not meet its goal of change, it will work to secede from the United States.
South Carolina was the first state to secede from the union in 1860, and the first shots of the U.S. Civil War were fired from Charleston’s Battery onto Fort Sumter.
The group’s reception in South Carolina has been mixed. [“Christian group wants to ‘redeem’ US states”]
I bet.
Haven’t these people heard of separation of church and state?
Tags: Christian Zealots
August 25th, 2005
Despite nation-wide and world-wide criticism of his remarks regarding assassinating Chavez earlier this week, Robertson is not backing down.
The 700 Club comes on at 11pm locally on The Family Channel of all places. I know this because usually reruns of Who’s Line Is It Anyway? run from 10pm to 11pm and sometimes I don’t find the channel clicker in time. Last night was one of those times and by the time I got it, I was unable to change the channel because I was standing there with my jaw on the floor. Last night’s The 700 Club started with a five minute Hard Copy-like “news” story about what an evil person Chavez is.
I’m starting to think that if we are going to have a place like Guantanamo Bay where we ship off the religious fanatic terrorist-types, we should ship Robertson there. Obviously he’s no better than the people the Bush administration are calling the enemy.
Anyway, I was finally able to come to my senses and change to Nick At Nite. Whew!
Tags: Pat Robertson, Christian Zealots, 700 Club, Guantanamo Bay, Hugo Chavez
August 23rd, 2005
Pat Robertson is a self-proclaimed Christian and man of God, but I have to wonder sometimes which God and which version of the Bible he has.
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested on-air that American operatives assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop his country from becoming “a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism.”
“We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability,” Robertson said Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network’s “The 700 Club.”
“We don’t need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator,” he continued. “It’s a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with.” [”Televangelist Calls for Chavez’ Death” (Yahoo!News)]
O.K. I know a lot of people believe that the New Testement cancels out the Old Testement, so I’ll provide a little New Testement to back my opinion up. (Emphasis provide by me.)
From Matthew 19:
17 And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Sooooo…the Ten Commandments are still in effect. They are the basic laws of Christianity. The very first one Jesus mentions is murder. Must be important.
- Murder
- The unlawful killing of one human by another, especially with premeditated malice.
- Assassinate
- To murder (a prominent person) by surprise attack, as for political reasons.
A Christian preacher/minister is supposed to set a good example and be a role model. How can Christians continue to follow a man who asks for the murder of another person and continues to make other contraversial and sometimes treasonistic remarks?
n October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to “kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians.”
This man is just a few marbles short of starting his own cult and his own version of the jihad. Does this not scare anyone else? Imagine if David Koresh had had Robertson’s money and a televised show. I’m starting to wonder if The 700 Show has subliminal messages. Remember some people are voting based on what this man says.
Tags: Pat Robertson, Christian Zealots, Hugo Chavez, 700 Club
August 23rd, 2005
From Diane Dees:
Extremists will always be with us, and they will always have followers. But while Americans are constantly asking mainstream Muslims to please denounce Islamic extremists, no one is asking mainstream Christians to do something about Robertson, Falwell, Dobson, Rudolph, and their ilk. [“Pat Robertson calls for assassination of Hugo Chavez” (MotherJones.com)]
Tags: Diane Dees, Christian Zealots, Pat Robertson
August 20th, 2005
One of my biggest complaints about voters is that so many of them are uniformed which makes them more dangerous than the people who don’t vote. Worse, are the people who only get their information from limited sources as evidenced from this quote from a candid interview with Mary Fowler, 54, Housekeeper, on Stories in America:
Where do you get your information about the war?
The Bible and the 700 Club. I also listen to preachers who know what’s going on. Pat Robertson. [“Conversations At The Gas Pump” (Stories in America )]
I’m pretty sure that the Bible was written before the war started.
Anyway, I’m begging everyone to read and watch the news from real news media like CNN, Yahoo!News, MSNBC, NPR, and even Fox News. Try to get a view of the big picture by checking the facts with multiple sources and don’t get sucked in by other people’s (including the media’s) opinions!
Be responsible; be a well-informed voter!
Tags: politics, vote, blogs, Pat Robertson, Christian Zealots
June 29th, 2005
I don’t understand what’s going on in our country right now. I just don’t get how the Religious Right can be campaigning so adamantly about making abortion illegal and keeping gays and lesbians from marrying each other and all the while spouting Bible verses as their reasons; yet there is also a strong movement in this country to have The Ten Commandments removed from public courthouses because of separation of Church and State. If we’re so interested in keeping our Church and State separate, why are legislators trying to pass laws that affect other people’s lives based on their own personal religious beliefs?
I just don’t get it. This world seems more and more illogical and contradictory by the day.
Tags: abortion, Gay Rights, Christian Zealots, politics
