A Saudi Arabian court has reportedly upheld the 10-year prison sentence, along with 1,000 lashes, of a young man whose blog rubbed authorities the wrong way.
You see, there is no freedom of speech in that archaic patriarchal society, which also treats women like objects to be used by the men as they see fit.
The BBC reports that “In 2012, Raif Badawi was arrested and charged with ‘insulting Islam through electronic channels.’ For four years he had been running the Liberal Saudi Network, which encouraged online debate on religious and political issues.”
The report also says that Saudi Arabia responded to the international outcry over the absurd sentence by issuing a statement in March “saying it rejected interference in its internal affairs.”
I imagine the international outcry will pick up steam now, with bloggers and other writers condemning Saudi Arabia for the decision — because, you know, in Western countries, we have freedom of speech. We can call it as we see it: Saudi Arabia is a sick violator of human rights!
One has to wonder if Saudi Arabia is being entirely honest with the West: it claims to be fighting ISIS with the West, then behaves like ISIS in its own country — except that instead of just executing Raif like ISIS no doubt would have done, Saudi Arabian officials have decided to torture him with whippings and a jail sentence he is unlikely to survive.
In that sense, Saudi Arabia seems more perverse than ISIS . . .
— Jillian
ISIS and Saudi Arabia is one and the same, difference is just in who’s the caliph.
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ISIS, Saudi Arabia, Muslims, Christians, Faux News – they are all the same. Their god is the only real god, and they serve their god with the extermination of all non-believers.
“…either convert them [to christianity] or kill them. One or the other.” – Phil Robertson (a Faux News Golden Boy).
Muslims are commanded to fight unbelievers until they are either dead, converted to Islam, or in a permanent state of subjugation under Muslim domination. Allowing people of other faiths to live and worship independently of Islamic rule is not an option.
Pope Urban II proclaimed the First Crusade with the stated goal of restoring Christian access to holy places in and near Jerusalem by converting or killing the Muslims.
See the pattern?
Really, there’s nothing that the fundamental (with the emphasis on mental) Muslims have done that the fundamental christians haven’t in their time.
There is nothing that the fundamental Muslims and the Saudi government are doing that they haven’t been doing for centuries. You’re just hearing about it more. And if you watch Faux News, it seems there is a new atrocity every day. Faux News is the propaganda department for the Republican Party, and their job is to scare people.
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Would you say that, when the state is a theocracy, it is even more oppressive than when state and religion are separate?
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Ding, ding, ding, ding… Give the man a gold star.
Just remember this when legislators start talking about establishing a state religion.
In April, 2013:
“North Carolina legislators made national headlines last week with a bit of high-profile religious extremism. They introduced a resolution declaring that the state has the right to declare an official religion – presumably Christianity. The bill also contended that states are sovereign and that federal courts cannot prevent states from making laws respecting the establishment of religion.”
The bill was quickly quashed.
Huffington Post:
“Christianity As State Religion Supported By One-Third Of Americans, Poll Finds”
Republicans were more likely than Democrats or independents to say that they would favor establishing Christianity as an official state religion, with 55 percent favoring it in their own state and 46 percent favoring a national constitutional amendment.”
A state religion is a goal of the morons on the Religious Right in the US.
From RT News (UK):
“When asked if they supported ‘establishing Christianity as the national religion,’ 57 percent of the Republicans surveyed told Public Policy Polling (PPP) that they were in favor. Three in ten opposed turning the US into a theocracy, while 13 percent were unsure.”
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
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The issue is not the geographical position, it’s Sharia Law. Under Sharia Law, there is no freedom of expression…period, end of discussion. Like it or leave it. We as citizens of a free society try to impose our ideals to other societies, which we are not at liberty to do. The same holds true down here in the US, if you don’t like our laws (which you have a right to do), then you may get them changed in the proper method as described in the constitution…end of discussion, like it or leave it!
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