Saudi Arabia sentences a man to 10 years in jail and 2,000 lashes for being an atheist

[DrZoidberg]

I think SA is a main cause of shit in the ME.

It is? I thought consensus is the Ottoman empire followed by the Cold War?

BTW , Iran was a decent country before USA decided that democracy wasn't for them and brought in the Shah.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

I thought Muslims are supposed to kill atheists.

 

[ronburgundy]

Plus let's not forget Christian countries do this too.

Not sure how the first two posters missed this point.

There are no Christian countries any more, but when there were, yes they did this and worse.

Thankfully, those Christian countries were transformed into secular countries and that abandonment of inherently violent and authoritarian Christianity as the basis for government is why those practices ended.

Hopefully, the US will stop its policies that fuel Islamic power and have impeded secularization of the Middle East over the last half century.

 

[Juma]

Plus let's not forget Christian countries do this too.

Not sure how the first two posters missed this point.

There are no Christian countries any more, but when there were, yes they did this and worse.

Thankfully, those Christian countries were transformed into secular countries and that abandonment of inherently violent and authoritarian Christianity as the basis for government is why those practices ended.

Hopefully, the US will stop its policies that fuel Islamic power and have impeded secularization of the Middle East over the last half century.

US is a christian "country".

 

[ronburgundy]

There are no Christian countries any more, but when there were, yes they did this and worse.

Thankfully, those Christian countries were transformed into secular countries and that abandonment of inherently violent and authoritarian Christianity as the basis for government is why those practices ended.

Hopefully, the US will stop its policies that fuel Islamic power and have impeded secularization of the Middle East over the last half century.

US is a christian "country".

No it isn't, which is why you put "country" in quotes because only in the most vague and meaningless use of the word "country" is there any technical accuracy to that claim, and even then only if "Christian" is also used in the most vague and meaningless way.

The OP story is not about something the happened in the "country", as in some rural area, but within and by a specific political system and government, which is the only meaning of "country" with any relevance. The US is not a Christian political system and government, which would require that it be a theocracy. In contrast, Saudi Arabia is a Theocracy. It's status as a theocracy is why this event occurred there rather than a secular Western nation like the US. Which monotheism variant the Theocracy is based on has no relevance to the likelihood of such an event.

"

 

[DrZoidberg]

I thought Muslims are supposed to kill atheists.

According to Islamic jurisprudence, if you've never been a Muslim, then it's ignorance (Islamic term "Jahiliyyah") and that's fine. The crime (stoned to death) is if you've seen the light but chose to reject it anyway. It doesn't matter if you convert to atheism (lol) or to a slightly different version of Islam (ie heresy), then it's all the same.... DEATH.

Islam is actually quite fine with anybody not being Muslim. I'm not saying this applies to Muslims. But it does apply to it's teachings. I'm also not saying all Muslims think that it should be the death penalty. Clearly they don't. I'm just talking about the Quran.

A funny detail is that in the Quran a telltale clue that you're dealing with a non-Muslim is that they're militant religious fanatics. Islam is contrasted as being liberal and open.
(48:26) For the unbelievers had planted in their hearts a zealotry, the zealotry of lawlessness ...

Al-Baghdadi didn't read the memo.