Murder in the Name of God

It appears that the Afghan goverment will have to overturn the constitution put into place by the Taliban fanatics. The current constitution, based on sharia law, allows for the death of this poor sap and many others who have converted to Christianity and other faiths besides Islam. Afghanistan is already - and has been for centuries - a very harsh place that severely tries the humanity of its citizens.

It is beyond ironic that Islam calls for the death of converts to Christianity, since the two faiths are much alike. Both are Abramic religions derived from the Tenach (the so-called Old Testament); and both are totalitarian dictatorships run by an all-powerful male God. Until it was tempered by the outcry of moralists and freethinkers, Christianity repeatedly called for - and got - the blood of "infidels," little different from the Mohammedan ideology.

As concerns sharia, we will all need to be vigilant to prevent its brutal influence on our culture. There has been talk for some years now about instituting it in - of all places! - Canada, but I don't know how serious are the powers that be there. There has also been a push by small but powerful special interest groups such as Hassidic Jews to implement Noahide Laws, which call for capital punishment in many cases beyond murder. If that development ever came to pass, we would, of course, lose many of the freedoms we may currently take for granted.

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Afghan prosecutors say Christian convert may be unfit to stand trial
Last Updated Wed, 22 Mar 2006 05:48:15 EST
CBC News

Afghan prosecutors say a 41-year-old man facing the death penalty for rejecting Islam and converting to Christianity may be mentally unfit to stand trial, according to a report.

* INDEPTH: Afghanistan

'We think he could be mad. He is not a normal person. He doesn't talk like a normal person,' prosecutor Sarinwal Zamari told the Associated Press.

Abdul Rahman went on trial last week in Afghanistan after being charged with rejecting Islam. He had converted to Christianity 16 years ago, but was arrested in February after his family denounced him during a custody battle.

A judge told Rahman he faces the death penalty unless he agrees to convert back to the faith in which he was raised, but on Wednesday a state prosecutor and presidential adviser said he may be unfit to stand trial.

A religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai said Rahman would undergo a psychological examination.

* FROM MARCH 21, 2006: Canada concerned over Afghan facing death for being a Christian

The case has raised international concern from Canada, the United States, Germany and Italy.

'Canada will continue to encourage the Afghan government to adhere to its human rights obligations,' Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Pamela Greenwell told Reuters on Tuesday.

Speaking with top Afghan officials in Washington Tuesday, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns also urged Afghanistan to respect freedom of religion.

The case highlights divisions between Afghan's conservative clerics and reformers.

The nation's constitution, drafted after the ultra-conservative Taliban government was forced from power four years ago, is based on Shariah law. Shariah is the legal code of Islam, based on the Qu'ran."