Being not a feature, I will not provide an entire critique on the following. I am myself an apostate and long-time anti-religious (dogma) campaigner. I have been kicked out of mosques, yelled at by “mullahs” and scorned for being “intolerant”. Vocal chords are raised to shrieking point when confronting Reason as many of you, dear readers, can probably testify to.
And I would ask to raise your voices in protest to this: Iran is seeking the death penalty for apostasy. It seems we’ve heard it all before. Being numb though, we should not also be dumb. The majority of Iran’s parliament voted for “a bill mandating the death penalty for apostasy.” Already in that country, we have seen many cases of intolerance based on religious identity and irrational post hoc assertions to political agitation.
When brave women campaigned against the misogynist Islamic (one could equate the two words considering the irrational hadith) views of Iran, four were arrested. The reason (a word so inappropriate when attributed to faithblinkered Iranian officials) given was atypical for any arrest that goes against the cemented Islamic law: “[the women] have been jailed for six months for allegedly ’spreading propaganda’”. The “propaganda” being the promotion of basic human rights.
I am failing miserably in my attempt to remain uncritical but, as an ex-Muslim, this grates me. Death for apostasy is one step closer to madness. Death for an alternating, deeply-philosophical world-view seems to me irrational. This means of course that my views could merit death (I am thankfully not a citizen in a shari’ah government state).
I have attempted – I really have – to find a good reason for supporting the death penalty (in general but in this case for apostasy). I have tried to find a defense for the parliament’s view that is not simply hearsay. But considering their views have to be in line with the shari’ah law, it is difficult if not impossible. I have read through the Quran, the Hadith and various books on Islam and came up with nothing.
The parliament’s draft could see its first bloodletting soon. Two men, “53-year-old Mahmoud Mohammad Matin-Azad and 40-year-old Arash Ahmad-Ali Basirat, were charged with apostasy at the Public and Revolutionary Court in Shiraz, Iran and are awaiting the court’s verdict. The men have been in prison since May 15 2008.” If this bill comes to pass – and since all opposition is silenced or, worse, minimal – they could face death.
And not just them. Iran has a population of over 70 million people. Apostasy could be rife, even amongst which form of Islam is practiced – leading to many of these people being unjustly executed. Considering that Iran’s parliament is focused on moulding views to match that of shari’ah law, I struggle to see how freedom, reason and tolerance could supplant the egregious politicising of misogynist, faithblind superstition. I want to be proven wrong.
I raise this in awareness so that you might see this atrocious march of unreason. Death for apostasy is something that should strike one deep as a human being. I do not care whether you are Christian, Jew, Quaker or Pastafarian – we are human and this is inhumane. There is a reason we have such a word. Bertrand Russell said that if every human focused on living a happy life, making himself better and more knowledgable instead of focussing on oppressing others, paradise would be ours. I tend to agree. Let us raise our voices in protest against Iran’s dictum. Let us ask for reasoning not based on religious intolerance, but reasoning based on human acknowledgment and awareness. Anger is the first step and so far mine is known. I hope this is echoed.
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and this is a country that wants Nuclear weapons. I often hear many people remark that Muslims aren’t speaking up enough to promote the modernizing of their faith. It’s true, we need Muslims speaking up against the these Mullahs and Imams attempting to once again stifle basic human rights. It seems like the parliament there understands this, and is now trying to oppress apostasy. and people wonder why so many of us in the science minded community call Islam a destructive religion…
Yes. I just hope we can all remain acutely aware of activities in the Islamic states. We must not be afraid to criticise their irrational decisions based on nothing but faith. Human life is more important than that. I am also trying to get Muslims to engage with these matters. A lack of action is itself an action and I know open-minded, intelligent and eloquent Muslims – silence on these matters gets to me. “Cultural relativism “can go back to the dark ages, holding hands with astrology in my opinion.
[...] Iran Seeks The Death Penalty for Apostasy | EdgerSep 23, 2008 … Being not a feature, I will not provide an entire critique on the following. I am myself an apostate and long-time anti-religious (dogma) … [...]