Religion

LeftishBrit

(41,516 posts)

9. It's about theocratic religion

Tue Feb 26, 2013, 07:08 PM

Feb 2013

Pakistan is a country where the extremist fundies who want to go back to the 10th century are battling against people who want to live in the real world in modern times. It's a bit simplistic IMO to look at it in terms of religious vs non-religious: most of the progressives and sane people are also believers and Muslims, just not of the insane variety (just as most Christians aren't like Pat Robertson or Ian Paisley, and most Jews aren't like the Kahanists or even Naftali Bennett). Benazir Bhutto, Malala Yousoufzai, and Sherry Rehman are/ were all Muslims; just not insane theocratic nutcases.

Rehman's alleged crime is to have spoken against the anti-blasphemy laws; I suspect that an additional crime is to be a powerful female.

I hope that the saner voices in Pakistan defeat the far-right theocrats.

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Pakistani Ambassador To The U.S. To Be Investigated For Blasphemy [View all] trotsky Feb 2013 OP

And as expected, crickets from the theists. cleanhippie Feb 2013 #1

Hey, it's a very "complex" issue skepticscott Feb 2013 #2

I expect everyone here opposes criminalization of religious or irreligious views, struggle4progress Feb 2013 #4

Even if "everyone here" does oppose that skepticscott Feb 2013 #5

The military dictatorship added the blasphemy law to the Constitution in 1986, so one can struggle4progress Feb 2013 #6

And how would they have justified skepticscott Feb 2013 #8

They wouldn't have justified a blasphemy law... LeftishBrit Feb 2013 #10

Well, unless Allah or Mohammed skepticscott Feb 2013 #11

Your framing is most unwise: no one in Pakistan, for example, could argue against the blasphemy struggle4progress Feb 2013 #12

That would, however, be a complete mischaracterisation of the law muriel_volestrangler Feb 2013 #13

Human Rights First Submission to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights struggle4progress Feb 2013 #14

Your political analysis seems naive to me. It is, first of all, entirely clear that politicians struggle4progress Feb 2013 #15

"it is to argue that the real object of the blasphemy law is not actually to fight blasphemy" muriel_volestrangler Feb 2013 #16

How to commit blasphemy in Pakistan struggle4progress Feb 2013 #17

Nice try, but without religion, there is no blasphemy. trotsky Feb 2013 #18

"overwhelmingly being used to persecute religious minorities and settle personal vendettas" muriel_volestrangler Feb 2013 #19

You omit to notice that the law requires government action for its operation and struggle4progress Feb 2013 #20

"your intervention in this thread seems to be an attempt to divert blame away from the religious.." cleanhippie Mar 2013 #23

Reagan legacy lingers in Afghanistan, Pakistan struggle4progress Feb 2013 #7

Pakistan ambassador to US faces blasphemy probe struggle4progress Feb 2013 #3

It's about theocratic religion LeftishBrit Feb 2013 #9

The Kafkaesque reality of Pakistan's blasphemy laws struggle4progress Mar 2013 #21

Without religion, there is no blasphemy. trotsky Mar 2013 #22

Vague laws, operating opaquely, so that the accused may never even know the alleged factual basis struggle4progress Mar 2013 #24

And yet without religion, there is no blasphemy. trotsky Mar 2013 #25

And ... there would be no blasphemy laws if there were no laws! struggle4progress Mar 2013 #26

And yet in the end, without religion, there can be no blasphemy. trotsky Mar 2013 #27

I expect you'll never be troubled by having too many ideas or by the resulting problem struggle4progress Mar 2013 #28

I guess the only thing you have left now is to insult my intelligence. trotsky Mar 2013 #30

*snork* struggle4progress Mar 2013 #33

Pastor in Pakistan Released on Bail After Blasphemy Accuser Admits to Mistake struggle4progress Mar 2013 #29

... trotsky Mar 2013 #31

The prosecution here refused to drop the case after the complaint was withdrawn: struggle4progress Mar 2013 #32