Category Archives: Religion

Hang the Hangmen

Britain, History, Islam, Justice, Morality, Religion, The West

With reference to Abdul Rahman of Afghanistan who narrowly averted death for apostasy: I pointed out that the “Afghani judiciary is criminal, not—conservative,” as it had been characterized in our multicultural media. By natural law standards, to kill someone for his beliefs is a crime.

Mark Steyn dredges a delightful anecdote from a time when Englishmen were real men and knew what was naturally just. A doff of the hat to George Reisman for sending along this relic from a proud past:

“In a more culturally confident age, the British in India were faced with the practice of `suttee’ – the tradition of burning widows on the funeral pyres of their husbands. Gen. Sir Charles Napier was impeccably multicultural: `You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: When men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks, and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours.'”

Religious Freedom in ‘Liberated’ Afghanistan

Democracy, Middle East, Politics, Religion, The State

Lawrence Auster is BAB’s Guest Blogger today. First up, he comments on the case of the Muslim convert to Christianity, now awaiting death in “liberated” Afghanistan.–ILANA

“How Democratization has put us in Bed with the Muslims” By Lawrence Auster at View from the Right:

Here’s something to make your teeth hurt. The U.S. State Department refuses to call on the Afghanis to stop seeking the death penalty for a former Muslim who became a Christian. Instead, the State Department spokesmen are saying things like, “We believe it is important that the Afghan authorities handle the case in a transparent manner,” as though all they care about were proper legal procedure. But wait—that is all our government cares about, isn’t? For example, if a mass-murdering terrorist organization comes to power in the Palestinian Authority by legal popular vote, that’s fine with us, right?
Meanwhile Italy told the Afghanis it would withdraw its troops from Afghanistan if the Christian man is not spared.

Religious Freedom in 'Liberated' Afghanistan

Democracy, Middle East, Politics, Religion, The State

Lawrence Auster is BAB’s Guest Blogger today. First up, he comments on the case of the Muslim convert to Christianity, now awaiting death in “liberated” Afghanistan.–ILANA

“How Democratization has put us in Bed with the Muslims” By Lawrence Auster at View from the Right

Here’s something to make your teeth hurt. The U.S. State Department refuses to call on the Afghanis to stop seeking the death penalty for a former Muslim who became a Christian. Instead, the State Department spokesmen are saying things like, “We believe it is important that the Afghan authorities handle the case in a transparent manner,” as though all they care about were proper legal procedure. But wait—that is all our government cares about, isn’t? For example, if a mass-murdering terrorist organization comes to power in the Palestinian Authority by legal popular vote, that’s fine with us, right?
Meanwhile Italy told the Afghanis it would withdraw its troops from Afghanistan if the Christian man is not spared.

Justice And The Question Of Jewish-Christian Continuity

Christianity, Hebrew Testament, Judaism & Jews, Justice, Religion

In response to an exchange in the Comments Section on Christian forgiveness between Rob Murphy and Jess Strong: A growing number of Christians—Replacement Theology proponents, perhaps—pretend Jesus was not Jewish and was not steeped in the Hebrew (“Old”) Testament’s ethics. It’s as though he were an alien from Deep Space. Jesus was certainly a radical, very much in the mold of the classical prophets, some of whom had to sleep in the fields to escape the people’s wrath. Deuteronomy, an early book—the fifth of 39—showcases an advanced concept of Jewish social justice, and is replete with instructions to protect the poor, the weak, the defenseless, the widows, the orphans, the aliens, etc.

This ethical monotheism, developed centuries before classical Greek philosophy, is echoed throughout the Hebrew Bible (Exodus), and expounded upon by the classical prophets, who railed against power and cultural corruption so magnificently:

“There is blood on you hands; wash yourself and be clean. Put away the evil of your deeds, away out of my sight. Cease to do evil and learn to do right, pursue justice and champion the oppressed; give the orphan his rights, plead the widow’s cause.”—Isaiah 1:11-17

The claim, made by the dazzling Catholic controversialist Clare Boothe Luce, that “New Testament universalism superseded Old Testament particularism” can be dispatched with a reminder that the Ten Commandments preceded the Epistle of St. John.

Knowledge and wisdom don’t arise in a vacuum; like so many greats, Jesus stood on the shoulders of giants. As for retributive justice in the Hebrew Bible, it would be hard to rival the Book of Revelation–it is pitiless about those “cast into outer darkness.” Jesus, moreover, returns not as a Prince of Peace but as a warrior who “rule[s] the nations with a rod of iron.” If Revelation is not about violent retributive justice I don’t know what is. In fact, some contend that based on the allusions to Armageddon in Blair’s speeches and the apocalyptic themes in Bush’s, both are inspired by Revelation. All in all, history best attests to the propensity of the three major religions to inspire brutality in their followers. The Jews, a dispersed people until very recently, have been most likely to turn the other cheek.