This is what a war on Christians (or anyone, really, who is a member of a faith that is out of political power) looks like:
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Senior Muslim clerics are demanding that an Afghan man on trial for converting from Islam to Christianity be executed, warning that if the government caves in to Western pressure and frees him, they will incite people to “pull him into pieces.”
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“Rejecting Islam is insulting God. We will not allow God to be humiliated. This man must die,” said cleric Abdul Raoulf, who is considered a moderate and was jailed three times for opposing the Taliban before the hard-line regime was ousted in 2001.
I believe that this is not the heart of Islam, and that there are plenty of moderate voices who do not believe that this is consonant with the heart of Islam. But this particular expression of it is evil. Maybe we should be focused on that, huh Rev. Dobson Keyes, Brownback, Bauer, Cornyn, Schlafly, and Delay?
I agree that Islam in itself (without being infused with religious fundamentalism) is a peaceful religion and the texts (though I haven’t read them) are largely misinterpreted – just as they are in fundamentalist Christianity. I think this was a horrific scare and I’m glad this man was released.
I do agree, though. I wish the religious right would get off its high horse and open their eyes to the REAL persecution and tragedy just outside their line of vision.