********************Afghan faces death for rejecting Islam
Afghan prosecutors have requested the death penalty for the 41-year-old convert, Abdul Rahman. Rahman told a preliminary hearing in Afghanistan last week that he converted to Christianity about 15 years ago while working with a Christian aid group helping refugees. When he recently sought custody of his children from his parents, family members reported his conversion.
Prosecutors have described Rahman as a "microbe" and said conversion is illegal under Islamic law. Conservative Afghan religious leaders dominate the country's courts and prosecutorial offices, but Afghanistan's American- backed constitution guarantees freedom of religion. The judge has said Rhaman should die.
The case illustrates the continued tensions between President Hamid Karzai, an American-backed religious moderate, and religious hard-liners who dominate the country's courts. Over the last several years conservative judges have threatened to close Afghan television stations that aired material they deemed indecent and charged journalists with publishing material they declared blasphemous.
To me, this incident is something that draws a line in the sand. Is Islam a peaceful and tolerant religion, or in the words of Wufa Sultan (see this great video on Al Jazeera - http://switch5.castup.net/frames/200410 ... 1050wmv&ak ), is Islam a "mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages?"
For all Muslims it seems to me that this is a watershed event. Do you believe in religious freedom, equal rights for women, and the many other rights found in a modern democracy?
Or do you agree that those who violate the tenets of Islam should be punished, that the government should have a bureau dedicated to enforcing Islamic law, such as the attempts to close bars in Palestine and the efforts to enforce "modesty" codes for women? Or, as we see in Malaysia, the efforts of Muslims to supercede inheritance laws even when the spouse is non Muslim?
There doesn't seem to be much grey area here. So what are moderate Muslims (and I believe there are many) going to do? If you believe in individual rights what are you going to do?
And if you believe in a Islamic based government, what justifications do you use to usurp the rights of others... religious freedoms, the rights of women?
I'm really very curious.
