(no subject)

[owl]

Has anyone heard anything more about the man in Afganistan who was to be executed? It was all over the BBC news yesterday, but I haven't heard anything today. The thing that bothered me was the Muslims on the news saying things like 'Muslim law does not require the death penalty for converting to another religion, but if he were to cause problems, such as trying to convert others, that would be a very serious matter.'
Because telling other people about your religion is a terrible crime. *eyeroll* These regimes act as though they think their people just have to hear about another religion to abandom Islam. Is Allah so unable to look after his own?

Comments

[liadnan]

here's nothing new: the case was expected to last two months so I suspect it simply "continues"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4823874.stm
(On the substance, II agree with you)

[owl]

Imagine 2 months in that situation...

[aquarius-1977.livejournal.com]

This is exactly why I believe in *spirituality* and not "religion." Spirituality is something that comes from within and is shown in your own actions. Religion is a thing created by man, dictated to man, designed to control man through fear, and is inherently intolerant of those not following it, because that means it doesn't have control over those people. Throughout history, people have invoked their religious morality as justification for doing all sorts of horrible things to others in an effort to control them--and I'm not just talking about Muslims.

Spiritual people, I think, tend to be more secure in themselves and their beliefs and don't feel so threatened by the beliefs of others. People I would describe as spiritual pretty much don't mind others doing their own thing, as long as they're not hurting anyone else.

This is not to say that a spiritual person can't follow a particular religious doctrine, but there is a distinction between the two.

[owl]

I always put up red flags when a person talks all about 'religion' and never mentions God. I suppse that's sort of what you're talking about.

[aquarius-1977.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure...

When I speak of spirituality, I don't necessarily have the Christian God in mind.

As far as talking about "religion" without mentioning God, I'm not sure because again, when discussing religion, one is not necessarily discussing the Christian God.

What I'm saying is that any religion, be it Judeo-Christian or not, is infuenced by the interpretations of the people recording it and preaching it, and historically it can be shown how those interpretations have been used to control groups of people.

With this in mind, I'm saying that a person can get so caught up in "religion" that they don't really think about what's "right." A spritual person probably wouldn't think it's right to kill someone else just for not believing the same way--as long as the other person's beliefs don't hurt someone else, they'd be cool with it. But a fundamentalist religious fanatic can be convinced that "God" *wants* them to kill people who don't agree, even that they'll go to Heaven (or that religion's equivalent) if they do it. And it's not just these fundamentalist Muslims who've done this; even the Christian religion has imposed itself the same way (Crusades, anyone?). In these situations, the "spirit" of what whichever "Higher Power" intendend has been blurred and twisted by man to get a desired result and justify doing some pretty horrible things.

This is not to say that I am trying to vilify all religions or anything; part of being spiritual is doing what you think is right and following a system of beliefs that match that, which requires *thinking* about what you're doing and why you're doing it. Too many times, though, being religious involves blindly following without thinking about it, and that's where you get things like suicide bombers.

[owl]

What I meant was that people get so caught up in the mechanics of the religion that they lose what—or whom—it's about.

[http://users.livejournal.com/bc_/]

At least some versions of Islam do mandate death for conversion. Without judicial delays: every Faithful one can kill the renegado.

Many Moslems would claim that all that is now obsolete etc. But OTOH there is no central body recognized by all Moslems that could cancel obsolete fetwa's forever.

[owl]

At least some versions of Islam do mandate death for conversion.

Scary.

[leeflower.livejournal.com]

I have so had it up to here with Sharia law-- seriously. Those people make Islam look just as bad as the Ku Klux Klan makes Christianity look.

They twist their entire faith into a pretzel to make it a tool of hate and death instead of love and life, and they think they're somehow justified because God might be construed to have told them so if they hold up certain parts of their holy book at the expense of the others.

Grah. Religious fanatics make me sad. I seriously doubt their dieties would approve (evidence pretty well dictates Christ wouldn't approve of a great many things done in His name-- bombing the Olympics comes to mind).

[/rant]

[owl]

I think Mohammed gave more violent teachings against people of other religions towards the end of his life, because of the opposition he faced. Sad, because they can claim that that trumphs his earlier more moderate teachings.

Your icon is very appropriate. Is it available for others? :)

[leeflower.livejournal.com]

oh, please feel free! I'm happy to share.

I think just like any religion, Islam's teachings can be twisted and abused. I'm sad that the people intent on doing so have found their way into power.

[owl]

Thanks!

[leeflower.livejournal.com]

:D enjoy.

[crazy-vasey.livejournal.com]

They don't seem to have realised that the time for this sort of crap passed with the crusades and the inquisition. It'd almost be amusing if people weren't actually being killed over stupid crap like this.

[owl]

It'd almost be amusing if people weren't actually being killed over stupid crap like this.

Oh, I dunno. I find it hard to get amusement out of so much hate.