Sunday, March 19, 2006

Our Disaster In Afghanistan

Anyone who has read me over the past two years know that I am a supporter of George Bush and the War on Terror. I am a supporter of our attempt to spread Democracy within the Middle East. I am a believer in the idea that the desire for freedom beats within the breast of all human beings.

But, I am not a supporter of a Democracy project that allows this:


An Afghan man who allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death, a judge said Sunday.

The defendant, Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family went to the police and accused him of becoming a Christian, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavezada told Associated Press in an interview. Such a conversion would violate the country's Islamic laws.

Rahman, who is believed to be 41, was charged with rejecting Islam when his trial started last week, the judge said.

During the hearing, the defendant allegedly confessed that he converted from Islam to Christianity 16 years ago when he was 25 and working as a medical aid worker for Afghan refugees in neighboring Pakistan, Mawlavezada said.

Afghanistan's constitution is based on Shariah law, which states that any Muslim who rejects their religion should be sentenced to death.

"We are not against any particular religion in the world. But in Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law," the judge said. "It is an attack on Islam. ... The prosecutor is asking for the death penalty."


In the aftermath of WWII, we banned aspects of the Japanese state relgion; Shinto Buddhism. No longer would we allow the Japanese people to teach that the Emperor was God. No longer would we allow the cultivation of Kamikaze warriors.

Why are we allowing this. The Afghans don't have the right to do this, no matter what law they voted into place.

I've said it before and I will now say it again. Mob rule Democracy is not a Constitutional Democratic Republic.

What you have going on in Afghanistan, apparently, is a group of humans, having been infantilized and enslaved by a religious ideology over the course of centuries, have now voted their slave masters into power, and are now carrying out their self-loathing as government.

That we are allowing this is the equivalent of participating in it. It is an abuse of human rights, and if we don't make it so that these kinds of things no longer happen, then our war will have been a colossal waste of money and blood.

25 comments:

Christine said...

When I read comments that state, that the people in the ME should be allowed to elect an Islamic government, I just have to laugh.

So many people are simply ignorant of what that means. Ignorant of the fact that by electing this type of government, they are heading right back into the type of situation that they were "relieved" of. It is why I support the Sunni/Kurd "protest" that is going on in Iraq right now. If an Islamic government is allowed to have a majority of control, all of our work has gone to waste. Period. Part of that potential outcome, is already showing up in parts of Iraq.

English kaffir. said...

A Saudi man is in hospital after his divorced parents forced him to marry four times within six months.

The battle began when the father insisted the boy should marry a girl from his side of the family.

The mother retaliated by ordering him to wed a girl from her side, reports Arab News quoting Al-Watan daily.

But the father wasn't happy with the balance of power and insisted on a third wife from his side, to show who was boss.

The mother, not to be outdone, then demanded that her son include another wife from her side of the family.

The son has now been admitted to a hospital for psychological treatment. He is refusing to see his parents or his wives.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_1707969.html?menu=news.quirkies.rockyrelationships

Pastorius said...

Thanks for that EK.


Christine,
Iraq is a situation which has been appearing to be getting worse for a year now. Everytime I see photos from Iraq, more and more women are in burqas.

I just don't know what to think.

Avi Green said...

If I recall correctly, even Iraq may have based its constitution on Shari'a law. Not good, because if that's what happens, then the efforts to democratize Iraq have failed.

Pastorius said...

So, what is the conclusion to this people?

Christine said...

Pastorius,

One thing people need to do right now is, stop trying to rush the process. What is going on right now in Iraq is not just fighting in the streets. There is a "backroom" fight going on. The type of fight that we want.

The Sunni/Kurd alliance know's very well what having an Islamic government will mean. They are fighting to keep that from happening. No, this has not been easy and will not seem to be going in the right direction immediately. But, as long as this process is not squashed, it has a good chance at being successful. So far, the first success has been Jafari's statement that he would be willing to step down. An accomplishment that seemed impossible only 2 weeks ago.

Rushing things along right now would be a huge mistake.

Pastorius said...

The thing is, we do not have to allow this. Japan and Germany post WWII are our model for how to successfully instill Democracy in a fascist nation.

Why are we not following our own good example?

Christine said...

To be quite honest, I really wish we had. We didn't. So now, this mistake has to be dealt with in the best possible way. I feel, that the most important thing for those, who are making the decisions to do is, admit it. Realize that allowing an Islamic government to take a hold on a country, would be another disaster waiting to be fixed.

Anonymous said...

the reintroduction of the death penalty in iraq is also a bad sign. they hung 13 "terrorists" about a week or two ago.

in both post-war japan and germany, it was one of the first things to be banned - the reasoning being that the population had become so used to death, that preventing the state from killing people would be part of the overall re-civillising and de-militarising effect.

whether you agree with the death penalty or not - you can kinda see the point in that.

Christine said...

Anonymous,

I agree with what you are saying. The death penalty does have it's time and place. But, it's use needs to be understood in the context of a civil society. It should not be used during a time when revenge is so heavy in the air. Once Iraq becomes a country of laws and justice, it can decide to reinstate it. Until then, it should be banned.

Always On Watch said...

Avenging Apostate: They were born slaves, slaves to a barbaric, blood-thirsty god called Allah and they want to die that way.

Does that make them "worthless people"? Well, nobody created in God's image is worthless.

But certainly the mindset is twisted. And that perversity is making them immune to normal affections. The Bible speaks to that condition.

This story about Ahmed Rahman is awful--just awful. I'm struggling with my emotions on this one. And I'm angry that such a thing can happen in a nation which we supposedly liberated.

Cubed © said...

Here's my thinking. Bush just can't bring himself to believe that a fellow monotheistic religion is nasty. I think he felt sort of "immoral" even thinking such a thought (if he ever did). And with Grover Norquist et al. around, he has been even more insulated from the truth.

Remember the poster on the wall in "X-Files"? The one that said "I want to believe"? I think that's part of Bush's problem - he SO BADLY wants to believe that Islam and his religion are not substantively different - a major case of denial. Since reality always wins in the end, he is losing.

There are so many things that could have been done immediately after Saddam's fall - we missed so many opportunities to "do it right."

One thing that seems to have gone out of style in recent decades is a formal declaration of war - that would have given us a whole new ball game. A formal declaration carries HUGE legal implications, not the least of which is an obligation to win, not politicize. But Congress probably wouldn't have gone along with that. Too un-PC.

Very frustrating; there are SO MANY things that could have been done differently after we got into Baghdad! Massive PR campaign, tight controls over what the population could and could not do, secure the borders (Bush kept saying "They're too long," which is nonsense - the old "ditch-and-berm" thing that Morrocco used against Algerian infiltrators worked beautifully, just has it has for thousands of years!), etc.

If WE had been in charge. . .

Sorry; this is another Rant Day for me.

Pastorius said...

Rant away. I'm pretty pissed off too.

Always On Watch said...

Shari'ah law as civil law is unacceptable!

That's all from me tonight. Time for bed. But what I want to do is rant like a mad woman.

Always On Watch said...

Maybe that should be "madwoman." Or both?

Pastorius said...

You say what you want, but I don't want anyone to think that we all think the same way as you do. I don't.

I understand your frustration. I feel almost the same way about the Palestinians. I certainly think that the Palestinians have brought a war on themselves.

Always On Watch said...

Pastorius,
Avenging Apostate is on the front lines of this spiritual war.

No offense here...but you and I may not be able to appreciate the same aspects which AA perceives and lives. He has to be very strong to go through what he's living.

Remember the book of Joshua? "Choose this day whom ye will serve"?

And what happens when people choose to serve within an ideology or faith promoting the extermination of those who don't serve the same ideology or faith?

I hold fast to my faith, but I would never kill or threaten to kill those who don't believe the same as I do.

Obviously my comment here is coming from the Christian viewpoint. AA has an advantage over me in his conversion from Islam to Christianity. I'm assuming that he knows a lot more about the ins-and-outs of Islam than I do.

The God I worship loves all of His creation, especially mankind. That said, He still commands that we stand up to evil. What Rahman is going through is evil, IMO.

I hope that I'm being clear in what I'm trying to say. It's early, and I've had only one cup of coffee.

Always On Watch said...

Update from the Washington Post web site:

"...After being an aid worker for four years in Pakistan, Rahman moved to Germany for nine years, his father, Abdul Manan, said outside his Kabul home.

Rahman returned to Afghanistan in 2002 and tried to gain custody of his two daughters, now aged 13 and 14, who had been living with their grandparents their whole lives, the father said. A custody battle ensued and the matter was taken to the police.

During questioning, it emerged that Rahman was a Christian and was carrying a Bible. He was immediately arrested and charged, the father said.

Afghanistan is a conservative Islamic country. Some 99 percent of its 28 million people are Muslim, and the remainder are mainly Hindu.

A Christian aid worker in Kabul, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said there was no reliable figure for the number of Christians, though it was believed to be only in the dozens or low hundreds. He said few admit their faith because of fear of retribution and there are no known Afghan churches.

An old house in a war-wrecked suburb of Kabul serves as a Christian place of worship for expatriates. From the muddy street, the building looks like any other. Its guard, Abdul Wahid, said no Afghans go there.

The only other churches are believed to be inside foreign embassies or on bases belonging to the U.S.-led coalition or a NATO peacekeeping force.

Hakim, the human rights advocate, said the case would attract widespread attention in Afghanistan and could be exploited by Muslim conservatives to rally opposition to reformists who are trying to moderate how the religion is practiced here.

"The reformists are trying to bring about positive changes," he said. "This case could be fertile ground for extremists to manipulate things."

Muslim clerics still hold considerable power in Afghanistan, especially in rural areas where most women wear all-encompassing burqas and are dominated by men.

Hakim said that if Rahman was acquitted, it would be a propaganda win for the Taliban rebels, who have stepped up their insurgency in the past year.

In the months before U.S.-led troops ousted the Taliban in 2001, it claimed Western aid groups were trying to convert Afghan Muslims. They arrested eight foreign aid workers for allegedly preaching Christianity, but later released them unharmed.

Pastorius said...

AOW,
Thanks for your challenge to me. I don't want to sound as if I am condemning Avenging Apostate. I simply want to be clear that I do not think the same way as him

I may be wrong. One must understand who prays for evil people to be forgiven their sins. I pray that they will step before God even after their death and get down on their knees, and be forgiven.

I believe this is possible, even though most Christians do not seem to think so.

I think Jesus died for the sins of everyone. I do not thirst for the destruction of my enemies so much as I thirst for the destruction of their ability to do evil.

Maybe it's just a quirk of mine.

Avenging apostate doesn't have to believe the same way as I. But, I just want to make myself clear.

Pastorius said...

IceRatt,
I'm sorry for you that you have to read this intense conversation. Go to www.cuanas.blogspot.com and read the comments thread on the identical article posted there.

Reliapundit makes some very important points.

Pastorius said...

Here's something we need to think about. IceRatt and people like him are over there giving the moments of their lives and sometimes their lives themselves.

For what, if not freedom?

Freedom is the only thing worth dying for. Would you die for your children to remain enslvaved.

Christ died so that we wouldn't remain in bondage to sin. He died so that we could choose Him.

Freedom is God's First Principle.

We are Free as the PRECONDITION of our humanity. God cares more about our freedom than about our requirement to follow Him.

If we do not follow His example then we are fools and idiots.

People like IceRatt will still be credited for their righteousness in being willing to "lay their lives down for a friend," but we who sit on the sidelines and say nothing while tens of millions of people fall into slavery will have some answering to do.

Jason Pappas said...

I was going to post this story but Pastorius is clearly on the ball.

Without a direct assault on Islam, what we see in Afghanistan will continue to happen. As long as we fail to champion our values over theirs, we aren’t fighting the ideological war. I agree with Cubed that Bush is in denial but by temperament he also isn’t an ideological fighter. One of the most important aspects of being President is being in the Bully Pulpit. We need a Reagan who can see a stark difference between our culture and theirs … and express it forcefully.

I’ve said on my blog some time ago that fighting for religious freedom is one of the most important goals required to transform an Islamic country. No respect for the sanctity of each individual life can be achieved if a person can’t own his own soul.

Pastorius said...

Oh believe me, Avenging Apostate, I am not a great human being.

I need God's mercy.

Always On Watch said...

Avenging Apostate,
I think the prayers of your students are making me stronger every day. :)) Who knows, it just might get easier down the road and if it doesnt, well, I hope I keep getting stronger.

You made me cry--tears celebrating our unity in Christ.

Always On Watch said...

Pastorius,
I wasn't exactly challenging you.

I admit that I am very interested in what apostates have to say. Inside track, and all that.

I pray that they will step before God even after their death and get down on their knees, and be forgiven.

We are commanded to pray for our enemies.

I believe this is possible, even though most Christians do not seem to think so.

I guess that I fall into that group of "most Christians." That gives me an urgency for reaching them in this life.

I think Jesus died for the sins of everyone.

Those who come to Him, as I interpret the Word. However, God is the final Judge, and I don't presume to override "With Him, all things are possible."

I do not thirst for the destruction of my enemies so much as I thirst for the destruction of their ability to do evil.

Amen to that!