The Afgan government is getting ready to execute a man for converting from Islam to Christianity.? Coversion is against the law and those guilty are rewarded with death.? How can this be? I thought the Taliban was hiding in South Dakota?? I am glad that change has taken place in Afganistan.
Any thoughts?
no decision has been made, so let's see how this thing plays out.
the fact that a living Constitution AND freedom of religion are being discussed/considered is major evidence of the accomplishments (and CHANGE) made in Afghanistan.
Pressure Builds Over Plight of Afghan ChristianPatrick Goodenough
International Editor
(CNSNews.com) - The government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, accustomed to warm receptions in Western capitals, is coming under growing outside pressure over the trial of a Christian facing a possible death sentence for converting from Islam.
The governments of the United States and three other countries with troops deployed in Afghanistan -- Germany, Italy and Canada -- have voiced concern about the case of Abdul Rahman.
Afghanistan's foreign minister acknowledged Tuesday that the country's embassy in Washington had received "hundreds of messages" on the issue.
Abdullah Abdullah told a joint press briefing with Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns that the government was not itself involved with the case, "but I hope that through our constitutional process there will be a satisfactory result."
Burns said the U.S. had raised the case in talks with Abdullah. But Burns stopped short of calling for the trial to be abandoned, saying "this is a case that is not under the competence of the United States. It's under the competence of the Afghan authorities."
Separately, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack also declined when pressed to call for the trial to be terminated, calling it "a legal issue for the Afghan government."
In his comments, Burns said he hoped that Afghan courts would uphold the right to freedom of religion, which he said was enshrined in the new constitution.
In the U.S. view, he said, if the constitution is upheld "then, of course, he'll be found to be innocent."
Analysts have pointed out, however, that the constitution's freedom of religion provision could be interpreted as being in conflict with the very next clause, which states that "no law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of the holy religion of Islam." (see earlier story)
Under Islamic law (shari'a), Muslims who convert to another faith and refuse to return to Islam -- usually within a specified period of time -- may be put to death.
Although the issue is a contentious point within Islam, scholars who support it point to an injunction in the Hadith, or sayings of Mohammed, which states: "Any [Muslim] person who has changed his religion, kill him."
Countries where people have been accused or convicted of apostasy include Sudan, Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Mauritania.
Rahman became a Christian years ago while living abroad but was put on trial back in his homeland after family members, involved in a custody dispute, brought up his conversion.
Christian organizations in the U.S. and Britain are urging Christians to contact their lawmakers and to protest to the Afghan government and diplomatic missions.
"You need to let them know that 'democracy' worth the name must include protection of the most basic human right: freedom of conscience and belief," said Prison Fellowship Ministries' Charles Colson.
"Otherwise, places like Afghanistan, whoever is in charge, are nothing more than brutal theocracies and will always remain so."
Family Research Council president Tony Perkins said he had written to President Bush, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the chairmen of the House and Senate foreign relations committees.
"Americans have not given their lives so that Christians can be executed," he said.
Rep. Tom Lantos (D-Calif ) said he had written a letter to Karzai: "In a country where soldiers from all faiths, including Christianity, are dying in defense of your government, I find it outrageous that Mr. Rahman is being prosecuted and facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity, which he did 16 years ago before your government even existed."
Government and religious figures in Canada, Italy and Germany were also quoted as protesting the case, with Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini summoning the Afghan ambassador to Rome.
"If this news is confirmed, Italy will move at the highest level, referring the issue to the E.U. in Brussels, to prevent a development that would be incompatible with the defense of human rights and fundamental freedoms," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
A U.K.-based expert on Islam, Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, said the outpouring of indignation in the West was long overdue.
"What I would like to emphasize is that the death sentence for apostasy is part of mainstream Islam and always has been since the seventh century," he said.
Sookhdeo is head of the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity and director of Barnabas Fund, a charity helping Christian minorities in Islamic countries.
He urged political and church leaders to take up the cause of Muslims who embrace another faith.
"In the face of Abdul Rahman's plight, those who have for a long time refused to accept the implications of Islam's apostasy law can surely do so no longer."
Sookhdeo noted that Islam was itself active in seeking converts from other faiths.
"In the twenty first century Islam can no longer continue to be a one-way street, which people may enter but can never leave."
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