Outcry rises over Afghan Christian convert...

[bridgit]

'KABUL (Reuters) - Growing international pressure on Afghanistan to respect the religious freedom of a Christian convert was met in Afghanistan on Friday by a clamor of calls for the man to be executed for denying Islam.

The controversy over 40-year-old Abdur Rahman, whose trial is due to begin next week, threatens to drive a wedge between Afghanistan and Western countries that are ensuring its security and bankrolling its development' http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyid=2006-03-24T151939Z_01_ISL307059_RTRUKOC_0_US-RELIGION-AFGHAN.xml

[acmavm]

1. We own them, don't we? I mean, we set them free, gave them

democracy, yadda yadda yadda. :sarcasm:

[bridgit]

5. umm, yeah, that sounds right...

:sarcasm:

[Jack Rabbit]

2. More discussion in LBN

Please click here.

[bridgit]

3. good to hear it, thanks...

:-)

[oasis]

4. Our "freeing" the people of Afghanistan is a joke if their laws enslave

their citizens. They may bow to U.S. pressure in the case on this one guy, but their law will remain on the books.

[bridgit]

6. agreed...

[The Magistrate]

7. For All Its Proclaimed 'Christianity', Ma'am

If one simply looked to the facts of what has occured, the easiest conclusion to be drawn is that the present administration is in the business of using the U.S. military to establich Islamic theocracies around the world. A point to bring up with Christian Right types....

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[oasis]

12. "Christian Right types" have a terrible time dealing with reality. To

bring such a logical point up with them would hardly be worth the headache, IMO.

[npincus]

8. this is a BIG issue- may fracture Religious Right support for *

The RW Christian wingnuts are flipping out about this... will not support fighting and dying in Afghanistan in a "War on Terra" that is 'anti-Christian'.

I am sorry for the poor man, but am enjoying the theatre.. Bush's nuts in the proverbial nutcracker.

[bridgit]

11. yup...

[Leopolds Ghost]

13. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like a lot of secular Dems

are sufficiently outraged over this.

Freedom of Religion cuts both ways.

When will Dems realize the importance of these sorts of issues?

[VTMechEngr]

14. I'm an ACLU guy, and I'm furious.

We have wasted American soldiers lives for this shit?

[npincus]

15. Amen... and Theocracy is "on the march" in Iraq

[chaplainM]

9. Don't look to Justice Thomas for help

He thinks a state religion is okey-dokey.

[bridgit]

10. true, in fact perish the thought...

x(

[JohnyCanuck]

16. Losing faith in Afghanistan

Losing faith in Afghanistan
By Syed Saleem Shahzad

KARACHI - Even as the Bush administration steps up pressure on Afghanistan over the plight of a Christian convert, thousands of youths are descending on Kabul to demand that he be hanged for renouncing Islam.

US President George W Bush and other Western leaders have latched onto the case of Abdul Rahman, 41, who was arrested last month and accused of apostasy for converting to Christianity in 1990, saying that the issue was one of "honoring the universal principle of freedom".

For many Afghans, though, it is just another rallying point to step up pressure for a broader alliance against the presence of foreign forces in the country, while for the Bush administration and its allies it is an opportunity to rethink their position on Afghanistan.

snip

Bush said this week that US forces did not help liberate Afghanistan from Taliban rule so that conservative Islamic judges could issue death sentences against people because of their religious beliefs. He added that he was "deeply troubled" by the case, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice phoned Afghan President Hamid Karzai to call for a "favorable resolution to this case at the earliest possible moment".

The masses in Afghanistan are not listening, though.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/HC25Df02.html

[bridgit]

17. thank you for your post...