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Conservative Princeton Professor Robert George, Others Offer to Take 1,000 Lashes for Saudi Blogger
Christian Post ^ | 01/22/2015 | Leonardo Blair

Posted on 01/22/2015 8:47:56 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Conservative Princeton University professor and vice chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom Robert P. George, along with six other advocates, have offered to take 100 lashes each for Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi who was sentenced to 1,000 lashes for insulting his country's clerics.

Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes got his first 50 lashes by cane in a public square just over a week ago. A news release from Amnesty International explained that a second round of flogging for the blogger was postponed last Friday because his wounds from the first flogging hadn't healed.

"Not only does this postponement on health grounds expose the utter brutality of this punishment, it underlines its outrageous inhumanity. The notion that Raif Badawi must be allowed to heal so that he can suffer this cruel punishment again and again is macabre and outrageous. Flogging should not be carried out under any circumstances," said Said Boumedouha, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa Program in the release.

In an email to The Christian Post Wednesday, Professor George confirmed that he and other advocates have offered to take the lashes for Badawi.

"Together with six colleagues on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, I sent a letter to the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. calling on the Saudi government to stop the horrific torture of Raif Badawi — an advocate of religious freedom and freedom of expression in the Saudi Kingdom," wrote George.

"If the Saudi government refuses, we each asked to take 100 of Mr. Badawi's lashes so that we could suffer with him. The seven of us include Republicans and Democrats, liberals and conservatives, Christians, Jews, and a Muslim," he added.

Offering to take Badawi's lashes along with George are: Mary Ann Glendon, member of the Board, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty; M. Zuhdi Jasser, president, American Islamic Forum for Democracy; Daniel Mark assistant professor, Department of Political Science, Villanova University; Hannah Rosenthal, CEO, Milwaukee Jewish Federation; Eric Schwartz, dean, Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota and Katrina Lantos Swett, president of Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice.

"Compassion, a virtue honored in Islam as well as in Christianity, Judaism, and other faiths, is defined as 'suffering with another.' We are persons of different faiths, yet we are united in a sense of obligation to condemn and resist injustice and to suffer with its victims, if need be. We therefore make the following request. If your government will not remit the punishment of Raif Badawi, we respectfully ask that you permit each of us to take 100 of the lashes that would be given to him. We would rather share in his victimization than stand by and watch him being cruelly tortured. If your government does not see fit to stop this from happening, we are prepared to present ourselves to receive our share of Mr. Badawi's unjust punishment," note the group in the letter shared with CP.

According to Amnesty International's Boumedouha: "Flogging is prohibited under international law along with other forms of corporal punishment. His flogging appears to have been postponed for now but there is no way of knowing whether Saudi Arabia's authorities will fully comply with the doctor's advice. Raif Badawi is still at immediate risk."

CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: lashes; princeton; robertgeorge; saudiarabia
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Conservative Princeton University professor and vice chairman of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, Robert P. George (l) and blogger Raif Badawi (r).
1 posted on 01/22/2015 8:47:56 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Somebody explain to me why Saudi Arabia is out ally.


2 posted on 01/22/2015 8:50:20 AM PST by grania
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To: grania

Goes back to the Cold War.


3 posted on 01/22/2015 8:51:58 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Do they realize that 100 lashes can be fatal?


4 posted on 01/22/2015 8:52:43 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.)
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To: grania

But remember, they aren’t “extreme”


5 posted on 01/22/2015 8:53:50 AM PST by punditwannabe
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To: SeekAndFind
"Badawi, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes got his first 50 lashes by cane in a public square just over a week ago. A news release from Amnesty International explained that a second round of flogging for the blogger was postponed last Friday because his wounds from the first flogging hadn't healed."

Another article stated that an additional 50 lashes would probably kill him.

Yet these idiots, including a woman, are asking for 100 each. I say let them.

6 posted on 01/22/2015 8:56:01 AM PST by offwhite
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To: SeekAndFind

Saudi police take turns caning a man convicted under sharia law.

7 posted on 01/22/2015 8:57:20 AM PST by Brother Cracker (You are more likely to find krugerrands in a Cracker Jack box than 22 ammo at Wal-Mart)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’d like to see the Saudi’s accept that proposal!! Let’s see if these peeps would follow through.


8 posted on 01/22/2015 9:02:10 AM PST by SgtHooper (Anyone who remembers the 60's, wasn't there!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Sounds like a plan. Can we set up a fund to pay his airfare to Arabia?


9 posted on 01/22/2015 9:02:23 AM PST by AEMILIUS PAULUS
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To: grania

Somebody explain to me why Saudi Arabia is out ally.

_______________________________________________

And as our ally, why 15 of the 19 9/11 terrorists were Saudis.


10 posted on 01/22/2015 9:05:17 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (See Ya On The Road; Al Baby's Mom!)
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To: grania
OIL!!
11 posted on 01/22/2015 9:05:31 AM PST by SWAMPSNIPER (The Second Amendment, a Matter of Fact, Not A Matter of Opinion)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’m guessing it is an empty gesture, i.e. they know it will not be accepted.


12 posted on 01/22/2015 9:07:18 AM PST by TheDon (The genocide in Iraq is the legacy of Barack Obama.)
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To: offwhite

You are not alone in your dyspepsic notions of justice and honor. Christ stood with the oppressed. As Christians we can do no less. Let 1000 stand in for Raif Badawi so 1000 martyrs take a lash each. Let the madmen have their pound of flesh and let 1000 strong men make a mockery of their justice.


13 posted on 01/22/2015 9:10:21 AM PST by Louis Foxwell (This is a wake up call. Join the Sultan Knish ping list.)
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To: offwhite

He is in ill-health; he is not built like a linebacker.

I actually think those people have some guts. There is real evil in the world, and they are trying to draw off some of it away from a target. They are putting their money where there mouth is.

The Saudis may or may not accept their proposal. There is neither a provision in their law FOR or AGAINST substitutes, so it is not necessarily an empty offer.

And I emailed the professor, to see if I can join them, should the Saudis accept their offer. So I guess I am an idiot, too.


14 posted on 01/22/2015 9:48:14 AM PST by baltimorepoet
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To: TheDon

Exactly. Plus it looks good for the tenure board.


15 posted on 01/22/2015 10:20:09 AM PST by bgill (CDC site, "we still do not know exactly how people are infected with Ebola")
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To: Brother Cracker

ISLAM IS A ROP.

Particularly Islamic governments.


16 posted on 01/22/2015 10:23:42 AM PST by 353FMG
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To: baltimorepoet
"to see if I can join them"

Hmmm. You should watch this first. 20 lashes. Buttocks. Age-restricted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoHoxHD-bNU

17 posted on 01/22/2015 10:30:43 AM PST by offwhite
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To: Brother Cracker

effin’ savages!


18 posted on 01/22/2015 10:36:47 AM PST by rochester_veteran (All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Islam honors compassion? Really? Can someone provide me with a recent example of Islam exercising compassion? Particularly an example of compassion being exercised on an infidel?

I've been told by a few returning Christian missionaries that Muslims have a hard time grasping the concept of mercy which makes it hard for them to understand the Gospel.

19 posted on 01/22/2015 10:44:54 AM PST by CommerceComet (Ignore the GOP-e. Cruz to victory in 2016.)
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To: offwhite

If I was afraid of death or dismemberment, I wouldn’t have joined the military in my 20’s. I am aware of what I’d be getting into.

Worse-case scenario, well... my best days are already behind me.


20 posted on 01/22/2015 10:47:48 AM PST by baltimorepoet
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