Posted on 03/22/2006 5:04:06 AM PST by Dark Skies
Abdullah said officials of his government "know that it is a very sensitive issue and we know the concerns of the American people." He said the Afghan Embassy in Washington had received hundreds of messages of concern.
The Bush administration went to war four years ago, ousting the Taliban rulers in Afghanistan, and then joined with other countries to help steer the nation to constitutional rule. About 18,000 U.S. troops are on duty there, and more than 200 have died.
"Our government is a great supporter of freedom of religion," Burns said. "As the Afghan constitution affords freedom of religion to all Afghan citizens, we hope very much that those rights, the right of freedom of religion, will be upheld in an Afghan court."
Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., released a letter he said he had sent to Afghan President Hamid Karzai expressing dismay over the case.
"In a country where soldiers from all faiths, including Christianity, are dying in defense of your government, I find it outrageous that Mr. Rahman is being prosecuted and facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity, which he did 16 years ago before your government even existed," Lantos wrote.
German and Italian officials have voiced concern, too.
State Department spokesman McCormack contrasted the government in Kabul with its fundamentalist predecessor.
"Under the Taliban, anybody considered an apostate was subject to torture and death," he said. "Right now, you have a legal proceeding that is under way in Afghanistan."
McCormack said the administration underscored to Abdullah "that we believe tolerance and freedom of worship are important elements of any democracy.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
About time!
Why does Lantos find this "outrageous?"
It doesn't take a genius to understand the nature of the Mohammedan, considering the amount of press they've gotten since 9-11-01.
IMO, if this man is not free to go...this matter will still be a bone of contention. Ultimately, I think he will have to leave Afghanistan or risk being murdered.
Sounds like a line from one of the old westerns, "Give him a fair trial......then hang him!"
Coming to Europe, Australia, and America: THE SHARIAH!
``For 30 years, we have fought religious wars in this country and there is no way we are going to allow an Afghan to insult us by becoming Christian,'' said Mohammed Jan, 38, who lives opposite Rahman's father, Abdul Manan, in Kabul. ``This has brought so much shame.''source: www.guardian.co.uk
I thought we fixed that country by bringing democracy to it, and getting rid of the oppresive government?
Many on FR have repeated asked how democracy can ever change that.
Oh great. No, instead of anyone randomly killing infidels, it officially codified in law. Great. I feel so much better about the sacrifice our solder have made for them.
But the BEST line has to be this one.
"Officials said the Bush administration did not want to interfere with Afghanistan's sovereignty."
We just overthrew their government! And replaced it with one more to our liking. We should have put a stop this sort of thing. Why are we allowing this to happen. We should tell them in no uncertain terms that this WILL NOT be tolerated. Is this what we sacrificed so much for? Is this what our soldiers died for?
Don't give me the "We went there specifically to remove the Taliban, not to free the people or change their society."
The president himself says we are trying to establish outposts of freedom in an area of the word that needs reform. We should have given them a constitution, and said "This is it. Live with it. These are the rules you will now follow." We can't force it on them you say? It worked with Germany AND Japan, it can work now. But we were not as wussified and "Culturally Sensitive" as we are now.
Some people NEED civilization FORCED upon them. For their good, and for ours.
This has shaken my confidence and support for our actions in a serious way. This just tells me we are not serious about bringing freedom and democracy to this part of the world. This is the multicultural sickness rearing it ugly head. If all cultures are equal, then we have no need to change their culture in order for freedom to thrive. The Muslim religion is INCOMPATIBLE with democracy and freedom. We're too PC to admit that to ourselves, and it WILL come back to haunt us.
It can't, it is their religion. Do we have the right, to make people change their religious beliefs? Does anyone?
The sooner people realise this, the better. We are not supposed to be fighting a country or a religion...we are supposed to be taking care of terrorists that happen to be using a religion, in certain countries, to gather recruits.
Allah, God, Yahweh, etc, whatever name one chooses to use, will always be in charge.
Meet the new boss... same as the old boss...
It seems to me, that no where in history, has anyone/country, been able to make the desert peoples, do what they wanted, for any length of time.
Got that right, regardless of the name.
But you raise an interesting question...what is our responsibility to What if the were worshippers of Kali instead of the islamic allah?
God and to our fellow human beings when they are being abused by a dark and insidious force such as islam?
BTW, the islamic faith is very tricky as to who allah is...but they call Jesus a liar and they firmly agree that their allah is not the God of the Jews.
Sorry for the garbled message. Will try again.
I am one of those who doesn't believe the islamic allah is God. I believe he is the anti-God...the destroyer.
But you raise an interesting question...what is our responsibility to God and to our fellow human beings when they are being abused by a dark and insidious force such as islam?
BTW, the islamic faith is very tricky as to who allah is...but they call Jesus a liar and they firmly agree that their allah is not the God of the Jews.
Well, we all have our beliefs.
Don't they also call Jesus a prophet?
I don't believe the Muslims know anymore about God, than any other religion.
But, we didn't make the same mistake in WWII. When we threw out the Nazis and Japanese Emperor we also threw out their old laws and legal systems and started fresh. Most Japanese were royalists and many Germans were Nazi nationalists and no doubt many, probably most, were terribly insulted at American meddling in their internal affairs.
But in today's multicultural world, we no longer do what is right - we do what feels good and doesn't make people mad at us.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.