Arab World's Response to Beheading!

[BarbB]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=1&u=/ap/20040512/ap_on_re_mi_ea/arabs_american_beheaded

I am so upset over this event. This is the face of Islam. Removal of hands, feet, ears, and heads. Please forgive me if I offend anyone, but this family is near where I grew up. I'm also including a link to the AP story about Nick Berg - he wasn't a fortune hunter; he was a young man out to make a difference in this world!

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=10&u=/ap/20040512/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq_american_found

 

[trunks2k]

I am so upset over this event. This is the face of Islam. [/URL]

Correction: It's the face of radical fundamentalism.

 

[Bks Finest]

rest in peace
nick berg
god bless you.............

 

[foxy2]

Correction: It's the face of radical fundamentalism.

 

[HeatherJay]

Correction: It's the face of radical fundamentalism.

Agreed. But, my heart breaks for the family of Nick Burg. It's a tragedy.

 

[Existential1]

It's the face of radical [Islamic] fundamentalism.

Could we run the rest of this thread with that focus: of exploring, and perhaps criticising this radical Islamic fundamentalism; and with regard to this atrocity of beheading, and any Islamic response to it?

Or, is that a forlorn hope today, even in a Christian forum?

my heart breaks for the family of Nick

Amen.
..

 

[Jeremiah the Bullfrog]

Correction: It's the face of radical fundamentalism.

Then why is condemnation not widespread? Are a large number of Muslims radical fundimentalists?

 

[Existential1]

Then why is condemnation not widespread? Are a large number of Muslims radical fundimentalists?

Probably all the answers would also explain why were so slow to register and condemn the detainee abuses.
Probably as many radical fundamentalists in Islam, as there are in Chritianity: I would be surprised if it were fewer.

..

 

[gybefan]

Then why is condemnation not widespread?

Do you know that it's not?

Thought experiment: what would the media gain by showing properly outraged reactions, as opposed to reactions of glee?

Even so, the article quoted in the opening post has several paragraphs about how "Some opinion-makers condemned the killing."

(And no, this is not "the face of Islam" any more than abortion clinic bombers are "the face of Christianity". And it's bigotry like that which ignites tensions between the Arab world and the West.)

 

[BarbB]

(And no, this is not "the face of Islam" any more than abortion clinic bombers are "the face of Christianity". And it's bigotry like that which ignites tensions between the Arab world and the West.)

Ok, so I was speaking in grief and anger at the barbarism of the killing. I'm thinking about apologizing.

But, does not Islam condone removal of heads, hands, etc. as punishments for various crimes?

 

[Existential1]

Ok, so I was speaking in grief and anger at the barbarism of the killing. I'm thinking about apologizing.

Good man.

But, does not Islam condone removal of heads, hands, etc. as punishments for various crimes?

Yes.
And even though I think as a cultural relativist, and abhor the coalition determination fro Islamic makeover: this really concerns me too.
I've entertained the idea of having legal and cultural mechanisms, whereby somone could declare apostasy to escape from such sanction: although there remains the immediate problem of apostasy itself being a capital offence under Sharia law, as i understand that.

 

[HeatherJay]

Ok, so I was speaking in grief and anger at the barbarism of the killing. I'm thinking about apologizing.

But, does not Islam condone removal of heads, hands, etc. as punishments for various crimes?

Christianity once condoned the same punishments. It's not condoned by non-extremist Muslims any more than it's condoned by non-extremist Christians.

 

[JPPT1974]

Let's pause and remember and pray for Nick Berg and his family.[/COLOR[

 

[JPPT1974]

Let's pause and remember and pray for Nick Berg and his family.

 

[stray bullet]

I am so upset over this event. This is the face of Islam. Removal of hands, feet, ears, and heads. Please forgive me if I offend anyone, but this family is near where I grew up. I'm also including a link to the AP story about Nick Berg - he wasn't a fortune hunter; he was a young man out to make a difference in this world!

Unlike the Crusades where knights took men, women and children out of their homes and murdered them in sight of their enemies to provoke them to attack.

 

[BarbB]

Unlike the Crusades where knights took men, women and children out of their homes to murderer them in sight of their enemies to provoke them to attack.

800 years ago, stray!

 

[UberLutheran]

Ok, so I was speaking in grief and anger at the barbarism of the killing. I'm thinking about apologizing.

But, does not Islam condone removal of heads, hands, etc. as punishments for various crimes?

Oh, yes. And Christianity condones the stoning to death of disobedient children, the ritual poisoning of wives whom the husband suspects of being unfaithful, the banishment of lepers, and the death of people who withhold part of their tithes (assuming that we take the Bible literally, at face value -- and don't bother to read it in the cultural, political, social, linguistic, and religious context of the period in which it was written).

Fortunately, MOST Christians don't do these things, even though they are condoned within Scripture. Just as most Muslims don't go around removing people's limbs as punishment for crimes.

 

[gybefan]

But, does not Islam condone removal of heads, hands, etc. as punishments for various crimes?

Under fundamentalist interpretations, I suppose so. In kinda the same way that fundamentalist Christianity condones similarly dire punishments for various crimes.

(Good on you, though, for reconsidering.)

 

[marshlewis]

But, does not Islam condone removal of heads, hands, etc. as punishments for various crimes?

The bible has many similer suggestions. Obviously they are ignored as outdated by the mainstream Christianity as they are in mainstream Islam.
This I think is how Extreamists differ from the mainstream.

 

[BarbB]

Oh, yes. And Christianity condones the stoning to death of disobedient children, the ritual poisoning of wives whom the husband suspects of being unfaithful, the banishment of lepers, and the death of people who withhold part of their tithes (assuming that we take the Bible literally, at face value -- and don't bother to read it in the cultural, political, social, linguistic, and religious context of the period in which it was written).

Fortunately, MOST Christians don't do these things, even though they are condoned within Scripture. Just as most Muslims don't go around removing people's limbs as punishment for crimes.

Agreed that letter of the OT law seems to condone these punishments. But our great and good friend (please note the sarcasm here) Saudi Arabia still beheads (mostly women) for adultery! This is fact and is done by the government, not vigilantes!