Posted on 08/25/2013 3:36:42 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A special unit of the religious police pursues magical crime aggressively, and the convicted face death sentences.
The sorceress was naked.
The sight of her bare flesh startled the prudish officers of Saudi Arabia's infamous religious police, the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), which had barged into her room in what was supposed to be a routine raid of a magical hideout in the western desert city of Madinah's Al-Seeh neighborhood. They paused in shock, and to let her dress.
The woman -- still unclothed -- managed to slip out of the window of her apartment and flee. According to the 2006 account of the Saudi Okaz newspaper, which has been described as the Arabic equivalent of the New York Post, she "flew like a bird." A frantic pursuit ensued. The unit found their suspect after she had fallen through the unsturdy roof of an adjacent house and onto the ground next to a bed of dozing children.
They covered her body, arrested her, and claimed to uncover key evidence indicating that witchcraft had indeed been practiced, including incense, talismans, and videos about magic. In the Al Arabiya report, a senior Islamic cleric lamented that the incident had occurred in a city of such sacred history. The prophet Muhammad is buried there, and it is considered the second most holy location in Islam, second to Mecca. The cleric didn't doubt the details of the incident. "Some magicians may ride a broom and fly in the air with the help of the jinn [supernatural beings]," he said.
The fate of this sorceress is not readily apparent, but her plight is common.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Sure, these are backward muslims.
But it raises a question:
(I’m trying to be outside, looking in, for this one.)
Once this nation is taken back, by the conservatives, and the Socialists are taken out of office, and all the speeches, from all corners of the nation, by all sorts of folks, about, as they have said, ‘restoring America to it’s Christian value base’ ....
“What about all those good military folks, in uniform, veterans, and the ones in the military cemeteries, who do not subscribe to any of the Abrahamic faiths? What do we do with them? They gave their life, since this nation is an all volunteer force, for America and it’s Freedom. Might they have earned their own religious freedom, (since The Bill of Rights hasn’t said otherwise, yet)?
I am curious, and this issue brought that to mind.
If they claim to be monotheistic why would they worry about pagan nonsense?
Stupid muslims.
I've been to the Middle East more times than I care to remember, and your comment is 100% accurate. Doesn't matter if you're in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, or UAE. These people are just a stones throw from prehistoric intelligence.
I got better...
However, I'm assuming her being naked made it easier to decide if she was "not guilty."
Thank you for you service, sir.
While there may be a few extreme exceptions, most of the folks who wish to return to the (mainly) Christian values on which this country was founded, have no desire to change the rights of the First Amendment. The Founders were primarily Christians and Deists who fiercely defended a citizen’s right to worship or not as they please.
In general I do not think there is any great movement toward theocracy among FReepers, and the individuals who do support that sort of thing stick out like sore thumbs.
Oops, “you” —> “your”.
Veterans of all faiths, including atheists, are honored at FR, overriding disagreements of religious belief. Those who have risked and sacrificed to defend America have a special place in our hearts and consideration, as well they should.
You may want to read a bit about the fellow who runs this site, if you have not done so.
“It’s not a real nose, it’s a false one, they put it on me, ant the hat...”
But then, Maybe she weighs the Same as a duck, they should use their largests scales and check, they could be right
One of my ancestors was hung at Salem as a witch. She used her power at the last minute, not to save herself, but rather to put a curse on the MA idiots.
Her last words were, "You shall be cursed with generations of Kennedy's."
Witches were hanged. They were never burned.
The frightening thing is that it is WE who are are the odd ones out :)
Dayglored wrote:
“Oops, “you” —> “your”.
Veterans of all faiths, including atheists, are honored at FR, overriding disagreements of religious belief. Those who have risked and sacrificed to defend America have a special place in our hearts and consideration, as well they should.
You may want to read a bit about the fellow who runs this site, if you have not done so.”
If I ‘oops-ed’, I ‘sit’ corrected!
Thank you for your answer ... I can run with that.
I had the question pop up on occasion, so, to ask, watch the ripples, and see the answer. I will inform the Pagan veterans who queried me, of this answer.
> I will inform the Pagan veterans who queried me, of this answer.
By all means do, and thanks. I have a number of good friends in the local Pagan community (I live near Ithaca, NY, where you can find a little of pretty much anything) although I don't know of any who are vets (they're mostly female, which biases the sample).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the majority of posters on FR are (or at least profess to be) Christians, and some of them are wont to express their opinions regarding Pagans and other non-Christians without reserve. Such is the nature of forums on teh intrawebs. It's best to develop a thick skin and good sense of humor with regard to differences of opinion, and especially of religious belief, on FR and elsewhere as well.
But I have also observed, in over 8 years of posting here on FR, that those courageous souls who join our military and lay their safety and lives on the line for our great Nation, who protect and defend the freedoms we enjoy, are respected here regardless of religious belief or affiliation, or lack thereof. Doesn't mean there aren't disagreements on theological points -- of course there are. But that's all part of it too.
It's one of the many things about FR I find attractive, as a place to spend my time reading, learning, posting, arguing, etc.
You might want to check out the Religion Forum, which covers pretty much all the bases (with the expected heavy lean towards Christianity). Generally speaking, religion threads are not for arguing, and certainly not for bashing each other. Those who try that are usually called out on it and there's a Religion Forum Moderator who rides herd pretty well on that stuff. Islam is not currently in favor, no surprise there, but otherwise the religious discussions are relatively tolerant. There are a good number of avowed Pagans on FR, and they don't have to hide it. Also, there are daily threads offering prayers for the troops; you would probably find those interesting as well.
N.B. The occasional "caucus" religious threads are limited to those of the particular belief associated with the thread; others are welcome to read, but posting is limited to the specific believers, by general agreement.
You might find this thread from today interesting, regarding how the religion of a candidate for office might or might not affect one's vote (it's sort of an informal poll). As might be expected, the comments run the gamut: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/3058854/posts
I hope this is in some way helpful...!
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