Would you like to super-size your wafer meal?
In Dudley (a town about five miles south of Wolverhampton, geography fans, and possibly home to that hideously unfunny Dawn French show), the town council has told the local church that putting up a cross outside the church would incur a charge of £75, because the cross is an advertisement for the church, a logo, if you will, same as McDonald's golden arches or Nike's swoosh. Obviously I'm delighted to see religion being treated as just another service or lifestyle choice, but I can't help wonder what Abdul Rahman thinks about it.
Rahman, in case you don't know, is a 41-year-old Afghan who is to be prosecuted under Afghanistan's shariah laws for converting from Islam to Christianity (he converted 16 years ago while working with a Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan). His judge in Kabul said that while "we are not against any particular religion in the world ... in Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law". The prosecutor in the case was a little more upfront: "We are Muslims and becoming a Christian is against our laws. He must get the death penalty."
I imagine that even as devout a Christian as Rahman must be wishing for the secularism of Dudley right now.
PS: From George W Bush, liberator of Afghanistan:
'There are all these conspiracy theories that Dick runs the country, or Karl runs the country. Why aren't there any conspiracy theories that I run the country?'
Rahman, in case you don't know, is a 41-year-old Afghan who is to be prosecuted under Afghanistan's shariah laws for converting from Islam to Christianity (he converted 16 years ago while working with a Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Pakistan). His judge in Kabul said that while "we are not against any particular religion in the world ... in Afghanistan, this sort of thing is against the law". The prosecutor in the case was a little more upfront: "We are Muslims and becoming a Christian is against our laws. He must get the death penalty."
I imagine that even as devout a Christian as Rahman must be wishing for the secularism of Dudley right now.
PS: From George W Bush, liberator of Afghanistan:
'There are all these conspiracy theories that Dick runs the country, or Karl runs the country. Why aren't there any conspiracy theories that I run the country?'
posted by exileonpatrickstreet at 6:50 pm
2 Comments:
Perhaps Rahman, depending on what kind of Christian he is, would prefer to live in a Christian state?
Being a good Christian, he would probably want to live in a state where there were laws implying that the governing body of his chosen hobby has no power over life or death; this can only be assured in a secular state.
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