Cartoons and Muslim countries have a long and troubling history, including the Danish cartoons that led to a global spasm of violence where Muslims killed Christians and burned churches in retaliation of an insult to Mohammad. The fact that cartoons are satire or that this is an exercise of free speech has little meaning in countries that punish blasphemy and many which follow medieval Sharia law. Many view Jordan as one of the more progressive Arab countries, but that reputation has been severely undermined by a ridiculous and abusive arrest of Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar for merely sharing a cartoon deemed offensive to Muslims. Notably, the cartoon actually mocked terrorists and their expectations of virgins and heavenly rewards for murdering people. Mocking the terrorists over such beliefs was deemed as a criminal insult to Islam.
Category: Religion
England has seen the rise of calls for speech prosecutions, including calls from powerful politicians for crackdowns on insulting or offensive comments. We have previously discussed the alarming rollback on free speech rights in the West, particularly in England ( here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here). The rapid decline of free speech in England has been both chilling and frightening for civil libertarians as the country appears to have abandoned this once defining right of Western Civilization. Now, a Manchester man reportedly has been arrested and sentenced for making “grossly offensive” comments about Muslims on Facebook. Stephen Bennett, 39, (who has a Muslim mother-in-law and sister-in-law) has been sentenced to 180 hours of unpaid work and a 12-month community order for expressing his views.
A new video is circulating on the Internet showing Sheikh Abdullah al-Muhaysini, a Saudi cleric in Syria affiliated with al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, sending out young Muslims to die in the battle for Aleppo with the promise of 72 virgins who are so beautiful that they can simply spit in the sea and turn it sweet. They also apparently release perfume when you hug them. There are many Muslims who insist that the 72 virgin claim is a myth started by anti-Islamic forces.
Iran has given the world another outrage in its enforcement of the medieval Islamic Sharia law. The victim was Hassan Afshar, 19, who was hanged for what the Sharia court called “forced male-to-male anal intercourse.” Afshar insisted that that the sex was consensual, though in Iran you can also be executed for simply being homosexual — as we have previously discussed.
Continue reading “Iran Executes Gay Teenager Under Islamic Sharia Law”
Ali Hammuda, an Imam at a Cardiff mosque, seems intent on maintaining a position as one of the most hateful and extreme voices in the West when it comes to Islamic values. Hammuda first attracted international attention when three young men from his mosque who became extremists in ISIS in Syria. He is now back in the news after a secret recording shows him telling his followers that it is permissible and moral under the teachings of Mohammed to have sex slaves.
Afghan cleric, Mohammad Karim, is in his sixties but he decided to marry a younger bride. For most people (including all non-pedophiles), this might mean a woman half his age in her thirties. For Karim it meant a six-year-old girl. After being arrested, Karim insisted that the girl was given to him in wedlock as a “religious offering.” The little girl could only say “I am afraid of this man.”
Continue reading “Afghan Cleric Defends Marriage To Six-Year-Old Girl As A “Religious Offering””
The infamous Iranian Basij militia cracked down on the use of satellite dishes by confiscating 100,000 dishes in Tehran. Iranian prosecutors insisted that dishes expose families to UnIslamic influences and are “morally damaging.” The dishes were destroyed in a triumphant ceremony before General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, head of Iran’s Basij militia. Most people view Naghdi’s crackdown as a pathetic and laughable example of religious orthodoxy that still strangles Iranian society. However, Naghdi heralded the latest achievement of his extremist forces.
Continue reading “Iranian Police Confiscate 100,000 Satellite Dishes To Protect Public Morality”
We have followed the rapid destruction of the secular traditions of Turkey by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has succeeded in creating a new Islamic authoritarian regime. With the support of Islamic parties, Erdogan used the recent failed coup to complete his work in arresting his critics, forcing the resignation of thousands of secular academics, and suspending all civil liberties in a proclaimed state of emergency. The United States helped create the tyranny rising in Turkey in its support of Erdogan as he systemically dismantled the only secular, free country in the Arab world. Recently, Erdogan threatened the United States that he wants his greatest critic, US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, delivered to him and that a failure to yield to his demands would be a “big mistake.” Now, one of Erdogan’s extremist followers, Ankara Mayor Melih Gökçek, has suggested that U.S.-based Islamic scholar Fethullah Gülen uses genies to “enslave” people. That’s right, genies.
Continue reading “Ankara Mayor Accuses Erdogan Critic Of Using Genies To Control the Masses”
Zahra is a young girl who should be known to every person cares about liberty and the plight of young girls in many traditional Islamic areas. Zahra wanted to go to school and follow her dream but she lived in Afghanistan where girls are often treated like commodities. She ended up being transferred to a family as part of a dowry at 11 and married off while in the sixth grader. She was later allegedly burned alive and died in a Kabul hospital — she was four months pregnant. The reason was that the family (which reportedly beat her savagely) was mad that she was not working hard enough.
We have followed the rise of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has single-handedly destroyed Turkey’s secular traditions and rolled back on civil liberties. With the support of Islamic parties, Erdogan used the recent failed coup to complete his work in arresting his critics, forcing the resignation of thousands of secular academics, and suspending all civil liberties in a proclaimed state of emergency. The United States helped create the tyranny rising in Turkey in its support of Erdogan as he systemically dismantled the only secular, free country in the Arab world. Now, Erdogan is threatening the United States that he wants his greatest critic, US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, delivered to him and that a failure to yield to his demands would be a “big mistake.” Now, one could easily dismiss this threat as the ravings of an egomaniacal, delusional dictator with a persecution complex. However, Erdogan already forced German Chancellor Angela Merkel to reject basic free speech rights to appease him.
Saudi Arabia’s top Islamic clerics have renewed a prior religious edict or fatwa that warns against playing Pokemon in order to expressly denounce the playing of the wildly popular mobile phone application Pokemon Go as UnIslamic and evil. This will come as a shock to my kids and their cousins who recently coerced me to drive around the neighborhood to bag a few Pokemon (while correctly me that it is not pronounced “pokeMAN.”) One would have hoped that with Sunni following the Saudi Wahhabi sect beheading people and enslaving girls, Pokemon Go would seem fairly low on the list of “to do” subjects for clerics.
Continue reading “Saudi Arabian Muslim Clerics Issue Fatwa Against Pokemon Go”
The latest Islamic “honor killing” has claimed a feminist and YouTube star in Pakistan. Qandeel Baloch who challenged many religious and cultural norms for women in Pakistan was strangled to death by her brother, who has now admitted to the murder. Waseem Azeem told police that he was tired of ridicule by other Muslims for his nonconforming sisters and “I was determined either to kill myself or kill her.” Despite the universal view that the former option would have been far better than the latter, he decided to choke the life out of his own sister to uphold his view of Islamic morality.
By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
A fortnight ago we featured an article reporting that the The Pacific NW Annual Conference voted to not enforce church law proscribing homosexuality. Now, The Western Jurisdiction Conference elected the first openly-lesbian United Methodist Bishop.
The Rev. Karen Oliveto, senior pastor of Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco was elected on the 17th ballot which included The Rev. Frank Wulf, another openly gay candidate.
Such ordinations are in direct contravention to The Book of Discipline which reads as follows:
304.3 Qualifications for Ordination
“While persons set apart by the Church for ordained ministry are subject to all the frailties of the human condition and the pressures of society, they are required to maintain the highest standards of holy living in the world. The practice of homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. Therefore self-avowed practicing homosexuals are not to be certified as candidates, ordained as ministers, or appointed to serve in The United Methodist Church.
1. “Self-avowed practicing homosexual” is understood to mean that a person openly acknowledges to a bishop, district superintendent, district committee of ordained ministry, board of ordained ministry, or clergy session that the person is a practicing homosexual.
With several Annual Conferences adopting non-conformity to enforcing bans against gay individuals, the election of gay bishops I believe certainly shows evidence of effective inertia toward acceptance of our gay community members
Israel is in the midst of a growing controversy over the replacement of chief rabbi, Brig. Gen. Rafi Peretz, of the Israeli Defense Forces. His replacement will be Rabbi Col. Eyal Karim, who has been denounced for suggesting that Israeli soldiers are morally justified in raping Muslim women during wartime as well as other misogynistic statements.
Continue reading ““Satisfy The Evil Urge”: New Head Rabbi Of The Israeli Defense Forces Reportedly Justified The Rape Of Muslim Women”
We have previously discussed cases involving the view of many Muslims that dogs are unclean. Now, Saudi Arabia has again taken Islamic values to a far extreme by arresting two men for simply organizing a dog pageant in Jeddah. That’s it. They simply wanted to pick the 10 best dogs in the Kingdom so they were arrested for an “un-Islamic” act .
Continue reading ““Best In Show”: Saudi Arabia Arrests Two Men Organizing A Dog Pageant”