Saudi jailed for discussing the Bible

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) -- A court sentenced a teacher to 40 months in prison and 750 lashes for "mocking religion" after he discussed the Bible and praised Jews, a Saudi newspaper reported yesterday.

Al-Madina newspaper said secondary-school teacher Mohammad al-Harbi, who will be flogged in public, was taken to court by his colleagues and students.

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, strictly upholds the austere Wahhabi school of Islam and bases its constitution on the Koran and the sayings of the prophet Muhammad.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20051114-015138-3548r.htm

Just think, the U.S. is helping to bring a similar type of "freedom" to the Iraqis as we speak! :grr:

I am not about to join the Washington Times in its crusade for religious freedom in Saudi Arabia or anywhere else. When people like Rev. Moon or fundamentalist Christians speak of "freedom of religion" they are speaking of their wanting the same sort of monopoly they have enjoyed in America. Get one Bible thumper, and you will end up with 10 Bible thumpers. They multiply like a deadly virus, spreading their filth and their lies. Should I mention Intelligent Design?

If Saudi Arabia were a Christian nation and enforced the same rules against the non-Christian faiths, you wouldn't be hearing any complaints from our politicians or their media lapdogs about "freedom of religion" in Saudi Arabia.

Go ahead, topple the corrupt Saudi monarchy, and you will be doing Bin Laden a favor!

You can uncover the intolerence of a country without connecting it to forced regime change.

The idea that anyone in the WH is thinking of forced regime change in SA is a joke considering that Bush is their number one ally and partner. That would be like saying Bush is thinking of regime change in Pakistan against his good friend Mushie.

(Now,why is that a comforting thought? :silly:)

What lovely people. So glad they're our friends.

:sarcasm:

:grr:

:nuke:

Publicly flout religion in school... get whacked!

Our friends in the Middle East, home of Prince Bandar Bush, where freedom of speech reigns...

Can a person survive 750 lashes?! Somehow I don't think that punishment is going to be meted out with wet string. Poor soul.

Hekate

if there is some greater depth to the current resurgence of the persecution story? This was one of, if not THE big instigations for the Crusades. Sure they blanket the world in their sudden revival in protesting but is this coordinated as well?

I would think it goes nicely with an expansion of the war to other Islamic countries and the need(here at least) to drive a wedge between Christians and Moslems, revive the fanatical dupes of the religious RW, provoke the Moslems into affirming the meme and NOT focusing on the Bush crime family- which they wisely do when angry about the war.

In other words, these talking points make the religious right a pawn of foreign policy. The type of persecution they are ranting about has been around forever and underneath the story is the deliberate wedding of Israeli foreign policy to Christian evangelism, which makes the sentence almost appear tolerant considering the one punished is an ethnic citizen.

Or it could be just the Wrath of the Month Club selection for the discredited RW blowhards.

:popcorn: I'd set everything aside waiting for DimSon to open his mouth and saying some "Christian". :popcorn:

or take a Bible into Saudia Arabia - that is their law - "when in Rome" - I think it's what the bush people want here only just his form of religion.

Now doesn't that make you feel better?

:sarcasm:

I lived in Saudi Arabia for a little over 2 years. There was a huge furor once over a sentence like this, when a couple of Westerners got caught out in public drunk as skunks.

They were sentenced to 200 lashes each, the lashings to be given over a 4-week period.

I'm currently working in another largely Muslim place--Alexandria, Egypt. Compared to Saudi Arabia, Alexandria is a paradise. There was that recent trouble between the Coptic Xians and the Muslims (check the news sites). But this is a generally tolerant and liberal city--a reputation it has enjoyed since the days of the Ptolemies, three centuries before Jesus allegedly popped up on the other side of the Sinai Desert.

Well, tolerant except for the occasional burning of a library or mob-killing of a famous female mathematician...;-)