Police: Taliban executes eloping lovers

In yet another example of religion overpowering basic human rights, a couple has been executed in Afghanistan. Simply because one woman did not want to marry a man that she did not like, she has paid for it with her life.

Yet another crime carried out in the name of religion.

What’s more disturbing is that the Afghanistan Government recently made an agreement with the Taliban to implement Sharia law in the Swat Valley. This is the same harsh, Islamic law that will see females robbed of their chance at an education and the same unjust law that flies in the face of basic human rights.

But the one thing that really makes me angry is that no one seems to question the Koran. It is simply accepted as fact in these regions.

Chances are that this is due in no small part to the extreme lack of secular education. After all, when the only education you can receive is a religious one, what else are you to do?

I can only hope that as technology advances and becomes more widely available that the clawed grasp of religion will weaken as free thinking and intellect breaks through the shrouds of myth, legend and fairytale that make up all of the holy books.

And just to help us sleep easy, let’s assume that this will happen before any of these religious nuts get their hands on nuclear weapons! Those hands driven by that kind of intolerance is a truly scary thought!

UNICEF ‘deeply concerned’ about marriage of 8-year-old

As stated in my “About” section, I strongly believe that children should be able to grow up in an environment free from religion, fear and persecution. Somehow I don’t think I would like to live in Saudi Arabia.

This link details how a Saudi judge has refused to annul the marriage of an 8 year old girl to a 47 year old guy. In my opinion this is legalised abuse.

I do not know if the relationship is sexual in nature, being marriage I assume that it is but have been told by defenders of child Marriage that it is not, so will just throw it out there that Paedophilia should be punished without any leniency what-so-ever.

What I do know is that this is typical of the clash of cultures that the technology age brings to our attention. The defenders of these acts call it a cultural tradition which these people are entitled to.

The western world calls this abuse.

Which is right?

In instances like this we need to look at the facts. UNICEF has documented studies that show that child brides suffer from much higher instances of depression than “normal” children.

Further more, following the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan, it was discovered that Afghan females had a very high rate of depression and exceedingly low levels of education. These statistics having been brought about by the regime and “system” that was in place at the time.

In response to the scientific studies, the response is “this is what the Koran teaches”. This is our culture.

My thoughts? – Crucifixion used to be our culture but then we got civilised. As our technology advanced and our thinking evolved, we have looked at things differently and have the benefit of hindsight to show that the way we do things now is a much better way for society as a whole.

I say this as a citizen of the western world as it would appear that many Muslim countries have not yet made these advancements in social education and development.

I condemn these acts as the barbarous, uncivilised and backward thinking acts that they are.

Females are not “property” and have the natural rights of freedom which they are being deprived of. That is completely unacceptable and more Governments need to acknowledge the elephant in the room and call this for the backward, uneducated thinking that it is!