Syrian Cleric - Ok for rebels to rape women

[John_fi_Skye]

Have you seen this in the news today?

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/201 ... s-rape-wo/

"Islamic cleric decrees it OK for Syrian rebels to rape women
http://www.washingtontimes.com
An Islamic cleric has cleared the path for rebels in Syria, who are trying to oust President Bashar Assad, to rape women, so long as they’re non-Sunni.."


I think about how I'd feel if it was one of my daughters, or any woman I love. So, we either support the materialism of capitalist imperialism, or we support those fucking nutcases. Where is sanity?

It's a trick that goes back millennia, of course: keep your warriors happy by telling them you'll let them have all the nookie they can seize for themselves. Have we not moved on, though?

To be fair to capitalism, it has been responsible for the pacification of the warring tribes of Europe. Maybe if some entrepreneur could find a way of working with the Quran to infiltrate capitalism into Muslim society, we could then at least put warmongering aside, and then eventually lay religions aside too, and live by reason and mutual respect. And when that happens, we won’t need capitalism any more, either.

EDIT: Main link corrected - KLR

EDIT: Title changed - KLR

[klr]

As odious as this is, you can't completely blame religion in this case, and doubtless there will in time be other clerics stepping forward to counter this loon.

But what's really striking is that religion is being used - yet again - to stoke up a situation rather than calm things down, and being used to justify a long-standing violent practice instead of condemning it. So much for religion being a force for good, and Islam being a religion of peace and all that.

[John_fi_Skye]

As odious as this is, you can't completely blame religion in this case, and doubtless there will in time be other clerics stepping forward to counter this loon.

But what's really striking is that religion is being used - yet again - to stoke up a situation rather than calm things down, and being used to justify a long-standing violent practice instead of condemning it. So much for religion being a force for good, and Islam being a religion of peace and all that.

Aye, OK - although guys like that would have nothing to hide behind if they didn't have what they regard as divine justification for their violent lunacy, and de facto some people follow them.

[Bella Fortuna]

These guys sound like they could fit in well with the US' conservative lawmakers.

[John_fi_Skye]

These guys sound like they could fit in well with the US' conservative lawmakers.

I think bad men are much the same the world over, and more of them are in parliaments than jails.

[JimC]

These guys sound like they could fit in well with the US' conservative lawmakers.

I think bad men are much the same the world over, and more of them are in parliaments than jails.

However, even with the weird commentary about rape by some US politicians a while ago, there is simply no way a Christian minister these days, no matter how whacko his particular sect, could get away with giving the same advice to christian soldiers in some conflict somewhere...

Go back far enough, and it probably happened, but christianity has, over time, lost most of the extreme barbarism that still shows in some islamic groups...

[John_fi_Skye]

I always wonder how much the British Empire and its like have been responsible for this situation. We've chopped the king's head off and burnt witches and all the rest of it, but then because of having the leisure to discuss and come to an accommodation on each matter over generations (leisure that was allowed by wealth built on the back of slavery and suchlike), our xtian society has been allowed (with notable exceptions, like Northern Ireland, where they still find it difficult to speak together) to cast off its earlier barbarism.

Islam has been the religion of the fighters against oppression and repression - OURS - and hasn't therefore had that leisure. We're now suffering the consequences of the yoke earlier generations of our societies imposed on others. Violence from us - further repression - won't sort this, and that takes me back to my OP.

[Clinton Huxley]

But Sir, Sir. They oppressed us first! Conquering Spain and nearly capturing Paris and Vienna.

[John_fi_Skye]

Yes, that's true. But we got better and better at that oppressing lark, and ended up the best in the world at it.

And by the way, as a Scot I take no pride in Scotland's role in the British Empire.

"Broken faimlies in lands WE've herriet
Will curse 'Scotland the Brave' nae mair, nae mair;
Black an white yin till t'ither mairriet
Mak the vile barracks o their maisters bare!"

[Clinton Huxley]

Yes, that's true. But we got better and better at that oppressing lark, and ended up the best in the world at it.

And by the way, as a Scot I take no pride in Scotland's role in the British Empire.

"Broken faimlies in lands WE've herriet
Will curse 'Scotland the Brave' nae mair, nae mair;
Black an white yin till t'ither mairriet
Mak the vile barracks o their maisters bare!"

In the absence of an external oppressor, people will find a way of oppressing themselves. Probably.

[klr]

Yes, that's true. But we got better and better at that oppressing lark, and ended up the best in the world at it.

And by the way, as a Scot I take no pride in Scotland's role in the British Empire.

"Broken faimlies in lands WE've herriet
Will curse 'Scotland the Brave' nae mair, nae mair;
Black an white yin till t'ither mairriet
Mak the vile barracks o their maisters bare!"

In the absence of an external oppressor, people will find a way of oppressing themselves. Probably.

Put three people together, and one of them will become an outsider. Such is human nature.

[rachelbean]

Something tells me this thread would have much more discussion if the title actually indicated what it was about...

[Clinton Huxley]

Oh you and your damnable common-sense!

[klr]

Title duly changed ...

[Jason]

Thank Allah we're supporting the raping rebels in their struggle against the brutal Syrian dictatorship.


....Am I rite?