Jordan writer killed for "offending" Islam

[Talon]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-37465656

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/0...080745317.html

Summary: Jordanian writer Nahid Hattar shared a satirical cartoon on facebook. Social media users condemned and threatened him, and he took it down. But he was still arrested and detained for 15 days on a charge of "inciting sectarian strife and insulting Islam".

On his way to court, he was fatally shot by a lone gunman.

A man died for the grave crime of sharing a cartoon. For shame! Christopher Hitchens must be doing somersaults in his grave.

It's nice of the government to condemn the killing, but they're the ones who put him in the line of fire to begin with. Any country that still considers blasphemy a criminal offense needs to go back to the fucking medieval era.

Say what you like about the major religions of the world, and believe me I can say quite a bit. But as far as I can tell, Islam has a uniquely repulsive distinction: it's the only religion on this planet for which making a cartoon satirizing the faith can get you killed. Even the Cult of Scientology isn't that harsh.

Nahid Hattar, Je Suis Charlie, Salman Rushdie... not the first people to be killed or threatened with killing for insulting the ultra-fragile egos of Islam's followers. And they won't be the last.

[Rusty Shackleford]

That can't happen. I've been told Islam is a completely peaceful religion that does not go for violence.

/sarcasm.

[Canarr]

And Christianity is a religion of love and compassion. No Christians would ever, say, try to cause additional pain for grieving families by protesting their loved ones' funerals, right?

[Rusty Shackleford]

And Christianity is a religion of love and compassion. No Christians would ever, say, try to cause additional pain for grieving families by protesting their loved ones' funerals, right?

In theory, they are Baptists, not Christians.

[Kheldarson]

In theory, they are Baptists, not Christians.

If you think that's an actual distinction, I need to introduce you to a hair I'd like split.

[Rageaholic]

And this is why separation of church and state is a good thing.

[HYHYBT]

In theory, they are Baptists, not Christians.

Were you playing the debate drinking games, or is there some reason you do not believe Baptists to be a subset of Christians?

EDIT: The first half of that sentence is clearly meant to be a light-hearted joke and nothing more.

[CrystalSkull]

Don't paint all of us with the same brush. Westboro Baptist Church makes me sick. I'm a Christian, and I think anyone who uses their religion, mine or anyone else's, as an excuse to be nasty and hateful make me angry. Incidentally, I left the Southern Baptist Church because of their position on the place of women. I refuse to be treated as a helpless appendage of man, because I am neither helpless nor subservient to any man, even my husband.

[Canarr]

Don't paint all of us with the same brush. Westboro Baptist Church makes me sick. I'm a Christian, and I think anyone who uses their religion, mine or anyone else's, as an excuse to be nasty and hateful make me angry.

That was basically my point; I posted in reply to this post:

That can't happen. I've been told Islam is a completely peaceful religion that does not go for violence.

/sarcasm.

in order to point out that every religion has their share of assholes who abuse their religion's tenets in order to justify their own hate or spite. But that's not the religion's fault; it's the assholes' fault.

[wolfie]

Of course, for some religions the assholes and lunatic fringe are giving the other 2% of worshipers a bad name.

[Canarr]

Can you back that up with some figures?

[Kheldarson]

Of course, for some religions the assholes and lunatic fringe are giving the other 2% of worshipers a bad name.

I'm sure you meant the 2% are giving the rest a bad name? Even in the case of Islam, more folks are Muslim outside of the Middle East than in it. Even before the refugee crisis. The largest concentration on Muslims live in Indonesia/SE Asia. And in greater number than all the Middle East combined.

[Pixelated]

I've yet to hear the fanatics -- of any stripe -- explain why their deity can't deal with these problems on his own, instead of demanding that some of his deranged followers do his dirty work. I mean, he IS omnipotent, right ... ?