Blasphemy, apostasy murders in Islamic countries clash with Western law

Pakistan’s only Christian government minister was murdered by perpetrators described by Reuters as ‘Taliban militants’ on Wednesday. His crime? Speaking out against a law sentencing to death those who insult Islam.  Shortly after Christmas, a governor was murdered. Reuters said the governor’s bodyguard did the deed. The governor committed the same ‘crime’ as the Christian minister.

What very few political analysts—conservative or liberal—acknowledge is the clash between Western law and laws legalizing murder in Islamic countries over a matter Westerners regard as a fundamental human right—the right to choose one’s faith regardless of circumstance of birth or to leave one’s faith for another.

The United Nations can do little—as a matter of fact, some UN policy makers have made matters worse.

The US Report published a column in 2009 after President Barack Obama sought a seat on the UN Human Rights Council. Days before mass media praised Obama’s plan, the HRC passed Resolution 7/19 (March 27, 2009)—‘Combating Defamation of Religion.’ The resolution specifically condemned the ‘growing trend of Islamophobia.’ The resolution listed terms like ‘Islam, Muslim, Arab’ a total of 13 times. There was zero specific mention of Judaism, Christianity or any other faith.

It’s important to point out that the government doesn’t have to enforce the blasphemy or apostasy laws in Islamic communities—vigilantes often do it with pride. In 2006, The Weekly Standard reported, “Vigilantes have killed, beaten, and threatened converts in Pakistan, the Palestinian areas, Turkey, Nigeria, Indonesia, Somalia, and Kenya. In November, Iranian convert Ghorban Dordi Tourani was stabbed to death by a group of fanatical Muslims. In December, Nigerian pastor Zacheous Habu Bu Ngwenche was attacked for allegedly hiding a convert. In January, in Turkey, Kamil Kiroglu was beaten unconscious and threatened with death if he refused to deny his Christian faith and return to Islam.”

To establish a basis for comparison, visit a site that monitors Middle Eastern affairs. Catch some video featuring rabid imams who vilify Christians and Jews with medieval fervor. Then ask yourself why the UN-HRC is intent on protecting only one faith. Then ask yourself why US taxpayer dollars support such a policy.

The greater question of course is how the U.S. can stand in agreement with a resolution that so insults the US Constitution we should all demand our country’s exit from a committee that, in my opinion, has zero impact on real human rights.

Ask yourself about the absence of outrage over laws in Iran where it’s open season on one faith year-round. The Weekly Standard noted, “Iran also regards Baha'is as heretics from Islam and denies them any legal rights, including the right to life: There is no penalty for killing a Baha'i.”

Think you’re immune if you live in the West or even in the U.S.? As the kids say, NOT!

In  Backgrounder 2430 by Michael Nazir Ali, a document that should be required reading for every member of Congress and the Obama administration, the Heritage Foundation explains the situation: “Obviously, apostasy and its penalty are relevant only to those who have been Muslims. The offence of Sabb (insulting the Qur’an or the Prophet of Islam), on the other hand, can also be applied to non-Muslims. Once again, the penalty is death in the case of insulting the Prophet, and in some places, as in Pakistan, it has been deemed mandatory by the Federal Sharī^ca Court.”

None other than Osama bin Laden puts apostasy and blasphemy laws in perspective. In Michael Scheuer’s bio of bin Laden, there’s a passage detailing bin Laden’s grievances against the Saudi government. Bin Laden crits the Saudis for “the scum of human positivist thoughts.” Scheuer writes, “The use of man-made law amounts to the ‘attribution of partners to God’ and results in laws ‘that make forbidden things permissible…’” (pg. 95)

This week I followed a link from a Facebook page to a site featuring what purported to be humorous commentary on the misguided souls opposing the mosque on a site affected by debris and material falling from the Twin Towers’ collapse. The article approached Islam as just another faith in many faiths in our country, ho-hum, and that is, on the surface, a fair approach for the Western mind.

But when it comes to Islamists, there is only one faith that enjoys full rights and total government protection. You may not leave the faith or criticize the faith. If you do either of those, your neighbor can murder you and it is likely that neighbor will earn the esteem of his neighbors.

I’d like a leftwing or rightwing pundit to explain to me how we fit that concept into Western law—apostasy and blasphemy as grounds for a just killing. The silence is overwhelming. Politically correct media depict the act that took a Christian official's life as a "killing." To a Westerner, the act is murder pure and simple.

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(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Mar. 4, 2011)

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