Category: Religion

Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Media, Politics, Religion, Society

Pakistani Student Mob Beats Fellow Student To Death For Blasphemy On Social Media

Pakistan continues to remind the West that it remains a country struggling with Islamic extremists — encouraged by the country’s lack of separation between mosque and state.  The latest victim of such extremism is a college student named Mashal Khan who was accused of merely sharing a message on social media deemed blasphemous.  The response of these self-professed godly men in the northern city of Mardan was to beat the victim to death in the name of Islamic morality. What is even more distressing is that the culprits appear to be fellow students.  They no doubt learned this particular lesson from the government itself (and our ally) which still makes blasphemy a capital offense.

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Bizarre, Criminal law, Religion

Muslim Cleric: Nine Year Old Girls Are “Physically and Spiritually” Ready For Marriage

The marriage of underaged girls remains a common abuse in Muslim countries. We have continued to follow the plight of girls and women in Islamic countries who face honor killings and child marriages. Some Islamic clerics have maintained that there can be no age limitation on child brides. They often note that Muhammad married Aisha when she was seven and consummated the marriage at nine years old. Indeed, some clerics have endorsed the notion of girls as “religious offerings” and rejected any age limitation The latest outrage over child brides has come with the “wisdom” of Malaysian MP Shabudin Yahaya who insisted that marrying off nine-year-old girls is perfectly acceptable and moral under Islamic law.

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Constitutional Law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion, Uncategorized

Pakistan Reportedly Moving Toward Compulsory Study Of The Quran For Both Private and Public Schools

Flag of PakistanWhile the United States government often discusses the threat of Iran in spreading Islamic extremism, it is often silent on the same influence of our close allies in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and other countries.  Pakistan is reportedly moveing to eviscerate any remaining separation of mosque and state buy making Quran education compulsory in not just public but private schools.

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Bizarre, International, Religion

Iranian Morality Police Force Christian Women To Wear Islamic Hijab Inside of Church

Iran’s infamous morality church has reportedly turned its attention to a segment of the population that appears distinctly non-Islamic:  Christians.  The police stopped women outside of churches like the medieval Holy Savior Cathedral in Isfahan to enforce the requirement of veils under the country’s Islamic modesty laws.  So Christian women are expected to dress Islamic in church.  That captures the lunacy of these Sharia-based legal systems that are so insecure about their values that they must force others to follow them at risk of arrest and imprisonment.

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Bizarre, Religion

Iranian Sharia Court Sentences Man To Death For Critical Comments About the Quran On Social Media

Iran is again showing the world the true meaning of Sharia law as a medieval system enforcing religious doctrine and orthodoxy.  Sina Dehghan, 21, has been sentenced to death for criticism of Islam on social media.  He was charged under article 262 of Iran’s Islamic Penal Code for ‘insulting the prophet’ of Islam.

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Constitutional Law, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Media, Religion

Group Calls for Prosecution of Muslim Cleric After He Reads Passage Calling For The Killing Of Jews

There is a controversy in Montreal where Jordanian cleric Sheikh Muhammad bin Musa Al Nasr was invited to speak at the Dar Al-Arqam Mosque and quoted a version calling for the killing of Jews.   The imam recited in Arabic the verse: “O Muslim, O servant of Allah, O Muslim, O servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him.”  People have called for his prosecution for hate speech, rekindling the debate over Canada’s roll back of free speech with hate speech and discrimination laws. Continue reading “Group Calls for Prosecution of Muslim Cleric After He Reads Passage Calling For The Killing Of Jews” →

Bizarre, International, Politics, Religion, Uncategorized

Happy National Women’s Day: Iranian Religious Leader Declares Gender Equality To Be Western Plot and “Zionist Conspiracy”
Seyyed_Ali_Khamenei440px-Group_of_Women_Wearing_BurkasIran this week celebrated its National Women’s and Mothers’ Day and Ayatollah Khamenei held forth on his demented view of the ideal Islamic women.  Khamenei  denounced the very concept of  women’s rights and gender equality as a Western plot against all women.
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Criminal law, Justice, Lawyering, Politics, Religion

The United Arab Emirates Arrests Vacationing Couple For Sex Outside Of Marriage After Doctor Discovers That Ukrainian Woman Is Pregnant

The United Arab Emirates have supplied the most recent example of the Sharia legal system in the Muslim world.  South African Emlyn Culverwell‚ 29, and his Ukrainian fiancée Iryna Nohai, 27, were arrested after Nohai wemt to the doctor over stomach pains.  In the UAE doctors appear to have no notion of confidentiality (or humanity) and informed the police when he discovered that she was pregnant.  Since she had not yet married Culverwell, that meant that they had violated the Islamic code against sex outside of marriage — even though the impregnation occurred outside of the UAE.  They are criminally charged.

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Courts, Criminal law, Free Speech, International, Politics, Religion, Uncategorized

Pakistani Justice Pledges To Treat Blasphemers On Social Media As Terrorists

State_emblem_of_Pakistan.svgPakistani media is reporting a disturbing series of comments by Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui who has shown the danger of Sharia law and the erosion of the separation of mosque and state.  Justice Siddiqui  went on a religious rant recently in denouncing “disrespectful”  comments on social media and  pledged to treat all such blasphemers as terrorists.

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International, Military, Politics, Religion, Uncategorized

Eco-Terrorists: The Taliban Goes Green With Tree Planting Message

440px-pinus_roxburghii_tree440px-taliban-torkham-2001Until now, I thought “eco-terrorist” was an industry spin.  However, the   leader of the Taliban in Afghanistan, Hibatullah Akhundzada, has gone all green. It appears that when his followers are not throwing acid in the faces of girls seeking to be educated or blowing up mosques and markets, they should be planting trees.  It is the Taliban version of Greenpeace without the peace part.

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Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Religion

Denmark Brings First Blasphemy Case In 46 Years

190px-WLM_-_roel1943_-_Koran150px-national_coat_of_arms_of_denmark-svgFor many years, I have been writing about the threat of an international blasphemy standard and the continuing rollback on free speech in the West. For recent columns, click here and here and here. Now, Denmark has opened up its first blasphemy prosecution in 46 years. It is chilling evidence that the West is yielding to the pressure to curtail free speech in a crackdown on those who criticize or mock religion.  In this case, a 42-year-old man protested what he viewed as the growing influence of Islam by setting a Quran on fire.  The result is now a criminal charge for blasphemy as Denmark joins this worrisome trend.

 

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Bizarre, International, Religion

Iran Bans Teenage Girl Chess Player From Competition For Not Covering Hair . . . Then Bans Her Brother For Playing Chess With An Israeli

Football_Federation_Islamic_Republic_of_IranIran is again showing the world the face of religious extremism.  Previously, we discussed how chess officials were under fire for cooperating in the championship in Iran, which imposes dress codes and religious restrictions on visitors (particularly women).  Now Iran has barred Dorsa Derakhshani, 18, from competing at the Tradewise Gibraltar Chess Festival 2017, because she appeared without an  Islamic head scarf.  Her brother, Borna Derakhshani, 15, was the banned for playing against an Israeli opponent.  This follows a horrific account of a girl beaten by religious police for simply wearing jeans with holes in them.  The brother and sister were also barred from the national team for their transgressions.

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Constitutional Law, Free Speech, Politics, Religion

WA Supreme Court Rules Against Florist In Gay Marriage Discrimination Case

By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor

Baronelle Stutzman
Baronelle Stutzman

What so far has proven to be a long ordeal for two men originally wanting only to be provided with a floral arrangement for this upcoming wedding, and also for florist Barronelle Stutzman who asserts her right to religious freedom by denying this service, has now come to another milestone in Washington.

A unanimous ruling by the Washington Supreme Court, the court denied Stutzman and her business, Arlene’s Flowers, INC’s assertions, ruling:

“…Discrimination based on same-sex marriage constitutes discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.” and therefore held that “the conduct for which Stutzman was cited and fined in this case-refusing her commercially marketed wedding floral services to Ingersoll and Freed because theirs would be a same-sex wedding-constitutes sexual orientation discrimination under the WLAD.” (Washington Law Against Discrimination)

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Bizarre, Religion

Valentine’s Day Banned in Islamabad

240px-Antique_Valentine_1909_01If you are looking for a fun romantic getaway for Valentine’s Day, you might want to pass on Pakistan.   The High Court in Islamabad has banned all public celebrations of Valentine’s Day despite the growing desire among students to have parties. Students in many countries in the Middle East and Asia have increasingly embraced the holiday to exchange cards, sweets, and have parties.

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Constitutional Law, Courts, Politics, Religion

Lessons from State of Washington v. Trump

By Mike Appleton, Weekend Contributor

“A scheme of government like ours no doubt at times feels the lack of power to act with complete, all-embracing, swiftly moving authority. No doubt a government with distributed authority, subject to be challenged in the courts of law, at least long enough to consider and adjudicate the challenge, labors under restrictions from which other governments are free. It has not been our tradition to envy such governments. In any event, our government was designed to have such restrictions.”

-Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer, 343 U.S. 579, 613 (1952)

The decision of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this week upholding the temporary restraining order against enforcement of Executive Order 13769 produced immediate outrage in the Trump Administration. The President himself characterized the ruling as “disgraceful” and claimed that any subsequent act of terror on our shores would be laid squarely at the feet of the judiciary. Mr. Trump has been variously advised to take the matter to the Supreme Court or ignore the lower court orders entirely. In my view, the wisest option is to return to the drawing board, an idea that is apparently also under consideration.

The anger over the Ninth Circuit’s ruling is misplaced. It is neither warranted by the decision itself nor by the perceived threat to presidential power. The court did not rule on the merits of the plaintiffs’ claims and its continuation of the TRO until completion of an evidentiary hearing in the trial court is not fairly predictive of the final outcome. Moreover, the Administration has not advanced any substantive argument, either in court filings or in public statements, to support the notion that temporarily maintaining current immigration policy creates serious security risks. Indeed, we are still waiting for an explanation of what the phrase “extreme vetting” even means.

Instead of railing against the decision and engaging in personal attacks against judges, the President would be well-advised to read the opinion carefully. It contains several useful lessons for the future of his presidency.

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