Raiwind IX Re: # 121

I am not a Hindu you moron. My ancestry is iranian. You know ``Persian``, what the majority of Pakistanis fantasize of being. At least iranians have a culture they are proud of. The don`t suffer as much as do you suffer from the neurosis of conversion. Self-hating people are pathetic but self-hating indians aka Pakistani are really pitiful. Pretending arab or persian ancestry when genotype studies have confirmed they in fact are almost identical to comparable Indian ethnic groups. Yes I have spent quite a bit of time in India and enjoy yoga, talks in Buddhism, tai chi just like many others. The east has much to be proud of and incomparable intellectual accomplisments. But you bozos have decided that 7th century Arabia is the end all and be all of the world.

Raiwind IX Re: # 112

Yeah like your religion makes any sense. Please rescue your womenfolk from their Darth Vader outfits. One day that have a severe weather warning this pathetic woman walks in ER from heastroke wearing a head to toe burqa in 40F weather.

Also I have seen enoug Muslims ``virgins`` after having had an abortion to know that hymen repair is alive an well. The doctor who does it in Toronto is Jewish! Makes a fortune.

Raiwind IX Re: # 117

Yeah but your too dumb to understand Mandarin. You and your ilk pose no threat. What do you do there drive a cab?

Raiwind IX Re: # 112

Hi dumbo FYI Indian girls are the best students and Pakistani boys are the worst in Britain. When was the last time you saw Sati in Hyde Park? Yet every month there is a Pakistani boy who along with his relative slits or strangle his sister. Bravo, even happens in Italy. If your way of life is so great why don`t you all stay in your own countries. Good riddance.

Raiwind IX Re: # 110

Does Hindooness mean getting your kids vaccinated? I suppose you think Pashto kids who are disabled is really funny. People like you make me sick all you do is sit on your arse and spew hatred.

Raiwind IX Re: # 106

Yeah just like you know Americans...dimbulbs are used and discarded at whim. I have heard what Chinese say about people like you and refernces to low IQ and what not.

Raiwind IX I never said I was a Hindu. Your simplemindedness comes through. Must must nice to be so simple with the same refrain tossing about in you head ``Blame the Jews, Blame the West, Blame the Hindus`` Wait till you come up against the Chinese, I know Iknow you are great allies. Yeah right just like Americans and Iranians.

Raiwind IX Re: # 95

Remember M.O.T.I.V.A.T.I.O.N., no brains needed! Or ethics, sanity, humanity or reason.

Raiwind IX You mean the prospect of young boys as beautiful as pearls waiting for you in Jannat? Whats holding you back? Why don`t you blow yourself up, I mean you can pick a spot where there are plenty of unbelievers and really make you mark.

Maybe you are too much of a coward....

Raiwind IX A superiority complex is the manifestation of the deepest most abiding feelings of inferiority. You personify this to a tee. Your mindset is why so many disturbed, marginalized young people in the West fall prey to radical Islam. Makes them feel like a ``winner`` even though they are a failure in society and win fame and acclaim by blowing up trains instead of contributing to a society in a meaningful way. Funny, when was the last time you saw a Western convert to Hindusim or Buddhism commit such acts of senseless violence. Why are the Richard Reid`s of this world feel so at home in Islam. I guess it is a point of pride for you. But you are a fool if you can`t see what the future holds fo dimming bulbs like you.

Raiwind IX Islam is increasingly being populated by the most backward thinking, uneducated, disenfranchised people of the globe The only scenes it is dominating is stupidity. Do you know children in NWFP are getting polio because some maulvi said it was haram? A senior doctor sent there has been shot. It is in the Dawn.

Zeemax you are so pathetic...I wish you could overhear Chinese and Japanese talk about your great religion...it would be an eyeopener for you. Yeah please tell me how they too are so stupid.

Raiwind IX Re: # 83

Thanks for your reply. I am defnitely a universalist and abhor relgious fanatacism by any group. It is no one`s business what religion a person wants to follow. Besides I have always been a fan of Chisti ``Love towards all, malice towards none`` and his Sufi compatriots. Your reply was informative and I do hope (I don`t read arabic) accurate.

But what about the Blasphemy laws? Perhap that`s what I was referring to. I mean why are people in Pakistan, Iran etc... condemned to death for questioning Mohammed? Not to be a smart alek but who would want their daughter to marry such a man. Marrying Safiyyah after killing her husband and father! I am sure you have heard all the negative comparisons but I mean why not question and debate (that includes Zionism, Hindutva nuttiness etc..)

ps Bahi`as in Saudi are not allowed to worship publicly and only if they prosytelize ie. try to convert Muslims is the death punishment rendered but that goes for any group.

Here is info on Bahi`as in Egypt:Yalla Bye-Bye, Ya Baha`i
Not content to arrest peaceful demonstrators, jail leading opposition figures for years on trumped-up charges, or have plainclothes security officers photographed kicking defenseless civilians in the streets, the Egyptian regime has pulled another doozy: denying the Baha`i religion exists.

We`ve been following the plight of Baha`is in the Middle East for a while now, though primarily in Iran - where 100,000+ Baha`is are not only outlawed but face a range of official persecution (and a covert yet official policy of ethnic cleansing). The problem is that Baha`is follow a prophet who came after Muhammad, thus breaking the glass ceiling that allows for ``tolerated`` dhimmi religious minorities. That sticky fact has created problems for Baha`is across the region. (One random example: Baha`is are not legally recognized in Tunisia.)

While Egypt apparently has only 2,000 Baha`i citizens, they have now become a political hot potato. (Read a quick overview of Baha`is in Egypt over the past 150 years.) A Baha`i couple recently wrote ``Baha`i`` in the ``religion`` section of a government form - and promptly had their IDs confiscated. Egypt does not recognize Baha`is, and so the case has gone to court. Unsurprisingly, the Muslim Brotherhood and other hotheads have weighed in on the infidel-ity of the Baha`i. And now Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court has ruled against the Baha`i family.

But Kudos to the Egpytian Initiative for Personal Rights - which has boldly defended individual religious freedom despite the odds and helped represent the Baha`is in court. EIPR describes a nasty scene there:

Lawyers and other individuals seated in the courthouse interrupted and heckled defense counsel each time they tried to address the court and yelled insults at them, calling them “infidels” and threatening them with physical violence during the hearing. Unable to impose order in the courtroom, the Court briefly adjourned the hearing before resuming the proceedings in camera. When the hearing was adjourned, courthouse security officers refused to protect lawyers who were surrounded by members of the crowd, verbally threatened, pushed, shoved and not allowed to walk away from the area.

Sounds like the good ol` days in the American South, when African-Americans seeking basic legal rights not only lost rigged court cases but had to face a hostile mob. Today, in 2006, the treatment of Baha`i in Egypt - and in states across the Middle East - is a litmus test of civil rights repression. Hopefully the court ruling can be reversed and a glimmer of light can at last shine on one of the region`s proud indigenous religions.

UPDATE: Here is a moving appeal by the Baha`i community:

- We cannot move securely in Egypt, our dear nation.
- We cannot document our marital contracts.
- We cannot obtain birth certificates for our children. Obtaining death certificates has also become a problem.
- We cannot get passports.
- We cannot deal with banks.
- We cannot deal with traffic departments.
- We cannot put our children in schools and universities.
- Our sons cannot clear their position with regards to military conscription
- We cannot get medical care in hospitals.
- Our widows cannot get pensions.
- We cannot buy, sell or even own …

We the Bahais are committed to the law regardless of the fact that administrative authorities reject us and force us to deny our creed.``
May 19, 2006 in Civil Rights Abuses: Religious Freedom | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

May 03, 2006
Catholic Pastor Expelled from Saudi Arabia
This story is from a few weeks ago, but worth noting nonetheless.

A Catholic Indian priest was yesterday forced to leave Saudi Arabia. He was discovered by the religious police as he organized a prayer meeting in the lead-up to Easter. Arrested on 5 April, he remained in police custody for four days and on Saturday 8th April he left for India. The practice of any religion other than Islam is forbidden in Saudi Arabia. Meetings held privately in people’s homes, among friends, are also banned.

The priest, Fr George Joshua, belongs to the Malankara rite of Kerala (India). His visit to Catholic Indians in the Saudi Kingdom was planned with his bishop’s permission.

On 5 April, Fr George had just celebrated mass in a private house when seven religious policemen (muttawa) broke into the house together with two ordinary policemen. The police arrested the priest and another person...

AsiaNews sources said there were around 400,000 Indian Catholics in Saudi Arabia who were denied pastoral care. Catholic foreigners in the country number at least one million: none of them can participate in mass while they are in Saudi Arabia. Catechism for their children – nearly 100,000 – is banned.

Over one million Catholics in Saudi Arabia, but none are allowed to practice their religion, ostensibly even in private. Unbelievable that the world basically accepts this, in the year 2006.

Raiwind IX Re: # 78

The reason I am so irate has partly stems from my frustration with people who want tolerance but often unwittingly are themselves agents of intolerance. In the 1980`s there was a large migration of Bahia`s, members of probably one of the most enlightened progressive religions in the world. Do you know who the mullahs executed with fury? Well the first female surgeon of Iran for example. This was way before 9/11, Irag (complete miscarriage of justice) and Muslims feeling scorned for their faith. In Egypt everyone has to carry an identity card and they can choose only one of three faiths: Christian, Jewish or Muslim. Please give me one example of Muslim outrage and subsequent collective action to demonstrate and protect minority rights. I have countless examples of the reverse.

Lastly: Why are Muslim countries the ONLY ones in the world who think it is totally normal to kill someone because they want to leave Islam? I am really skeptical that the majority of Muslims have a problem with this which really creeps out the rest of the world.

Raiwind IX The reason I am emphatic about this is that I am not suprised at all by the course taken by the Pakistani cricket team. Natural extension when you look at the laws of the land. In Saudi Arabia the punishement for being a Bahia is death penalty.

Raiwind IX Re: # 76

I think I posited a legitimate reply to your assertion that everyone, regardless of their religion is considered equal as per Quran. So my Persian friend is wrong? I am curious to hear your reply.

If Islam so egalitarian and tolerant as you seem to suggest, why is it the only religion that specifies death for apostasy. Most schools of Islamic thought support this. Please spare me the bit about no compulsion in reilgion. That was the tagline when it was a weak. I really want to understand why so many Muslim countries specify death for apostasy.

Raiwind IX Re: # 73

Well I have never been active on this site before. It might comes as a suprise but most of my views are shared by a large constituency of progressive mined people from ALL walks oflife and varying faiths and ethnicities. NOT confined to Indians or Hindus. I guess this is particularily hard to digest. That is why I choose to participate.