Pakistani court sentences mentally ill man to death for"blasphemy"

Sometimes you read things that make you want to laugh- or cry- and that you couldn't invent if you tried. Case in point: a Pakistani court has sentenced a mentally ill man to death for alleged "blasphemy"(he had sent letters to public figures claiming to be the Prophet Mohammed- in our "infidel" societies we would sensibly consign such a delusional soul to the care of the nearest padded cell, but in Pakistan, he is to be hanged by the neck until dead). I for one fail to see what interest is served by the execution of a demonstratably unbalanced individual. And of course Pakistan and its other societies like Saudi Arabia will whine about "Islamophobia" in the Western media if he is put to death

Anybody think as I do?

Terry

Trepanation seems to be a bit better

Just another day in the middle east.

You're not understanding the level of devotion at work. They don't care about the man's mental state, because regardless of his condition, his claims are unforgivable in their eyes. It's just a punishment, they feel it's their duty to put him to death, and probably think that they could be punished if they don't.

I've spent a fair deal of time with Islamic people (both American and in other countries, though never Pakistan) and the biggest thing to take away is that most Americans literally cannot understand the degree of commitment that they have to their faith. I'm generalizing, of course, and this doesn't apply to every single Muslim in the world (and especially not the ones I've met in America, to be honest) but many of them are willing to die, or kill, for their faith at a moment's notice.

My older brother and I went to Africa on two different programs. I was there on more of a cut-and-dry relief program that wasn't religiously motivated, while he was there on a full-fledged mission trip. But even though I wasn't actually trying to convert anyone, I did receive a fair deal of negativity from Muslims for being a Christian, at least three people stopped me on the street to explain to me that I "worship a man," and after the first, I decided to not really debate them over it. My brother, on the other hand, was there for religious purposes... he had people threaten to set his camp on fire, and was chased by a man with an ax (granted, he was in the man's house at the time, and that would probably happen in America too).

I'm not trying to convey Islamophobia or whatever here, that isn't my goal at all and in fact I'm quite critical of people who brand Islam as some evil force because it's simply not... but the level of fervor is nothing like we have here in America. I had a man tell me that there is no such thing as "Radical Islam" or "Extreme Islam," there's only Islam. And again, that isn't true for everybody, but it is for a whole lot more than you might expect. They're devotion is astounding and, in cases like this, perhaps terrifying.

Yup, sadly.

Islam is in the same state Christianity was 800 years ago, in other words back when people believed every word in the holy book and took everything as literally as possible. Just like the west 800 years ago, Islamic countries partake in the popular medieval pastime of hunting for and executing blasphemers and witches, as well as other minority groups who their religion dislikes. All of this is simply endemic of a less advanced culture which is nearly a millennium behind most of the developed world.

@totalbalance: No, people are just crazy. Islam and Christianity didn't do that to them, they just use it as their excuse to justified thier actions. Nevermind the fact it goes against all the teachings of said faiths.

Religion ain't evil, that's just something people choose to be.

People suck

@ostyo: Goes against all the teachings? really? I think you are choosing to ignore the numerous passages both in the Bible and the Quran which advocate the fairly violent treatment of certain groups of people, and crimes, such as in this case, blasphemers.

"Take the blasphemer outside the camp. All those who heard him are to lay their hands on his head, and the entire assembly is to stone him." -Leviticus 24:14 (New International Version)

And the fact is it's not "just the people", this whole "religion is not blame" thing is ridiculous, One of my friends is an Iranian who I frequently talk with about Islam and its effects on the people where he is from. All of his friends and family members who live in Iran support the governments criminalization of homosexuals, support severe punishment for apostasy and support severe punishment for blasphemy. And these aren't crazy psychopathic serial killers, these are regular Iranians with regular jobs and a regular family. And why do they uphold these backward values? not because they are evil psychopaths, but because their religion sets out death for apostasy, death for blasphemy, death for adultery, and they are simply following the doctrine laid out in their holy book. It's not just a few people in the middle east that support such punishments, in many Islamic nations there is widespread support for such backwards and uncivilized treatment of people under the various tenets of Sharia law. Another point, their support for (or lack thereof) of woman's rights is not the result of all of them being born misogynists, but because their religion brainwashes them with misogynistic values, the bible is not free of such passages either.

"Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church." -Corinthians 14:34 (New International Version)

The difference is that Christianity went through its "zealous period" and eventually many people realized that living in a society that implemented strict religious values interpreted literally from the bible was rather unpleasant. Thus Europe went through a long period of liberalization that has gotten us to to where we are today in western society, where we no longer cut off the hands of thieves, where we no longer execute people for blaspheming, we even have freedom of speech rights that let you blaspheme as much as you like without punishment and no other citizen has a right to stop your blaspheming. Those who still follow the religions choose to ignore the violent or socially unacceptable passages, or at least not take them literally, for the sake of better social cohesion. You can claim to be the prophet and not got arrested and executed, if you are too crazy though, you might get a recommendation to see a psychiatrist. Islam however is still in its "Zealous" period where its tenets are considered the literal word of God to be followed to the letter.

Everyone in these Islamic countries is not crazy, the problem is a few crazy people wrote a "holy book" over a thousand years ago and a majority of otherwise rational people have over time been indoctrinated with its backwards beliefs and now support such barbaric and uncivilized behavior.

"Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion." -Steven Weinberg

And everyone says America sucks.

Savages

@totalbalance: thank you sir.

More reasons why religion is the root of all evil

@madeinbangladesh said:

False. Religion was created by humans.

So you're saying humans are the root of all evil?

Evil is just a concept us humans created. "good" and "evil" are completely subjective.

No, I'm saying humans created religion. At what point did I imply that humans are the root of all evil?

My mistake then.

I thought when you said humans created religion you were implying that humans are the cause of evil...Because they you know, did create religion and the poster above said it was the root of all evil.

HA HA HA

@dccomicsrule2011: Indeed. But I disagreed with him. Humans created the concept of 'good' and 'evil'. It's also interpreted differently by different people. I don't believe in either since it all comes down to opinions.

Ugh

Shocking.......no not really.

HAHAHAHAHA