Before this, they had the politician who was assassinated just for suggesting that blasphemy didn't deserve the death penalty - and Pakistani lawyers were falling over themselves to defend his killer because they supported him. A horrific number of them really are barbaric - it is a suitable word for such behaviour.

According to the Reuters article, this is the result of the Afghan government's ceasefire with the Taliban three years ago. As a result, in Taliban controlled areas, Sharia courts with the force of state power were established, closing schools and trying Afghanis within their areas of control for violations of Taliban law, both civil and religious.

It is not about religious freedom at all, just the opposite.

This is really, really ugly.

You yourself are on record as being OK with applying a completely different moral standard to an act if it was done for religious reasons. The only justification you were able to give is that it's different when deeply held religious beliefs and tradition are a factor.

Deeply held religious beliefs and tradition are a huge factor here, too. It's interesting to observe your double standard. I wonder if you'd be willing to explain?

Oh, except in Arkansas where Charles Fuqua wants to execute children. It's in the Bible, it must be good.

that this person is in the extreme minority (hopefully extreme minority) but he would have fit in very well in the South and to some extent in the North prior to 1965 or even later. We can give some credit to the citizenry of this country but there are too many in this country who still hold these beliefs. My only concern is since 2009 the racists in this country have come out of the woodwork and there seems to be a fair number in the republican party.

The more it comes out, the more it will repel people.

but the other side does not think they are batshit crazy!

what are the polls on evolution, young earth and so on. Technology has not made these people smarter but, more cloistered.

I am certainly not rash enough to draw conclusions and facile causations from them.

(A)? lunatic Republican using the Bible as justification for destroying women's rights, are you serious? Nothing happens over night, small incremental loses are how history happens. Can a woman get an abortion (legal) in many states? No of course not the doctors have been killed, scared off or run out of town. Which state will the woman fly to from Mississippi to get one?

And am I serious about what?

I guess you still have to turn a blind eye to everything.

My eyes are fine but I still don't see sense in your post.

Stop trying to be cryptic. spit it out.

You're brethrens tout the same crap here. Is that clear or do you have to probe me for more?

What I find frustrating is the lumping of groups into camps, which often is what happens.

To the extent that the religious right in this country poses a political threat, I think we have to be a little sharper than throwing lazy epithets around. It is so easy to use religion to divide people - and it's been going on for thousands of years - that I hate being manipulated by the pwers that be into pointless side fights about caricatures.

The cartoon versions of Christianity and Islam, primarily, that have proliferated sometimes makes me wonder if they have been promoted for the sole purpose of division.

Here in the US at least I suspect there are more "cartoon Christians" than otherwise, there's no doubt in my mind that in my area at least the "cartoon" version is the overwhelming choice.

There are certainly fundamentalist churches around here but overall it's mixed.

Where are you?

We have a church on every other street corner, the closest Unitarian Church I could find in a casual search was about thirty miles one way in a crowded metro area.

There's a huge and brand new Jehovah's Witnesses Assembly Hall right down the road from me though, ties up traffic no end on Saturday afternoon.

Bishop Eddie Long is only about seven or eight miles from me, I've actually seen him in his flashy sports car out on the road.

As soon as we crossed the Ohio border crosses on barns appeared.

Its easy to be lazy about religion, giving one's common sense to a warm fuzzy feeling as opposed to thought is a hash haze.
Christianity and Islam are cartoons of real life, please grow up and get on with life. good luck!

Can makes you look foolish, as the post demonstrates.

And abortion being more inconvenient to obtain in some states is not equivalent to shooting 14 year old girls.

one guy saying something is a far cry from an entire group endorsing it and carrying it out, and now it seems, trying again.

kill DR Tiller, yep nice try

Most groups and people run from acts committed by those people.

The OK city bombings stand out in my mind.

Most acts are also committed against adults, not specifically children.

Islam, while many many of the adherents are peaceful people, are given a bad name by their more vocal minority, which seem more then willing to attack anyone and anything that they don't like, including children.

There also seems to be a greater majority not willing to give equal rights to women, the entire country of Saudi Arabia as an example.

I think you'd have to find a minority of a minority of a minority that though something like that in western countries.

Not much point in going any further with this, then.

Your list had incidents going back as far, as I could tell in my look, to 1855, probably longer. It also included groups that are no longer in existence, like the "know nothing party."

If you want to talk about modern groups and violence, that's fine.

If you want to include historical American groups and violence, THATS moving goalposts.

How far back am I allowed to go? 1 year? 10 years? 50?

Tell me where you've placed the goalposts, then I can nail them down.

The Klan is still active, so I'm allowed to cite them as an example of more than just "one crazy guy", right?