Agence France-Presse reports a senior Afghan official said Abdul Rahman, who is facing a possible death sentence for converting to Christianity would probably be released from jail:
Top government officials will meet on Saturday to discuss Abdul Rahman, 41, who was denounced by his own parents and arrested under Islamic Shariah law on his return to Afghanistan from Germany two weeks ago."He is likely to be released soon," the official said.
I hope the AFP report is correct. We have gotten ourselves into a fine pickle by allowing the Afghan and Iraqi constitutions to officially recognize the supremacy of Islamic law. The obvious problem for us is that should Rahman be executed because he converted to Christianity, support for Afghanistan would collapse and al Qaeda would achieve a great victory in the War Against Terror.
The vast majority of Westerners do not realize how deeply most Muslims believe that a Muslim cannot convert to another religion. Regardless of how repugnant the idea of killing a person simply because they want to convert to a different religion seems to those of us who believe in freedom of religion, such killings are a deeply held tenet of the Islamic faith.
You are right.
Fortunately, we can "understand" as amateur anthropologists, but retain our ability to judge.
My view? I want to see this guy at Yale.
Posted by: bird dog | Saturday, March 25, 2006 at 04:37 PM