Right. They are atrocities. Done by men who are protected by their theocracy. I’m not saying religion is the cause of the atrocity, but knowing the little girl will be taking the blame for the atrocity may make it a hell of a lot easier to do in the first place.
If the child is exceptionally beautiful, as described, the mother would probably rather her daughter be killed than be raped over and over as she gets older and is exposed to more men who “can’t control themselves.” Not that I share her mindset, but as a woman I *understand *it.
It’s a disgusting tragedy. But unless the women in that culture/religion stage a mass revolt, what hope is there of stopping tragedies like these from happening again and again? We tried to change hearts and minds from the outside and failed horribly.
Some people truly deserve to be very slowly roasted alive. Let’s start with that mullah and his buddies. Simply killing them is not good enough. No bullet, that’s far too easy.
Any religion that tolerates, covers up for, forgives, or provides excuses, is simply fvcked up and needs to be gone.
To hell with unquestionable authority and tradition, when it only enables this sort of thing.
How do you account for the good that is done in the name of religion?
Normal human nature, maybe? At least I’d rather believe that than that it is done out of fear of eternal torment (or fear of being reborn as a cockroach).
I’m not sure that “the good that is done in the name of religion” wouldn’t have been done in any case.
The presence of religion may simply act as a readily identifiable ‘cause’ or ‘force’ to which the good deeds can be ascribed. As Roderick noted, people can do good for reasons other than religion (including for ‘no apparent reason’).
Or, from a more cynical perspective, perhaps religion deliberately but unjustifiably claims ‘the good’.
People’s self interest or concern for others sometimes causes them to do good in spite of their religion; or rarely, religion does good by accident. Since religion is based on fantasy and irrationality its followers really can’t do good on purpose, they are just flailing about randomly in their self-imposed blindness.
And at any rate the evil done by religion massively outweighs the good, and any good that religion does can be done better by other means.
That poor girl. At times like this I wish I had Superman’s powers so I could fly over there and visit a little education and justice on the shithead mulllah. Unbelievable. Except for the fact that it happens in a Muslim culture. You know, there is something we can do. We can point to the barbarism and call it what it is. We should shame every sane Muslim into eradicating incidents like this. I say, “like this”, because there are plenty to point to.
Fact is, we need to accept that we have a clash of civilizations. With only one of them being “civilized”. If thinking like this, and similar atrocities committed under the banner of Sharia law were the product of an alien race from the planet Fuckheaditer, we’d call it for what it is and put an end to it. But we allow it to thrive under the banner of “religion”.
I propose an international coalition of badass SEAL-type guys whose task it is to learn about incidents like this and go deliver retribution in a style that the barbarians will comprehend. The Gates Foundation can finance it, for the betterment of the world. Damn these throwback camel-cock-sucking motherfuckers. I think about the violence this girl was subject to. And then, to make matters worse, how her culture sees fit to rape her again and offer her no justice or solace. I can’t decide if it makes me more sad or angry. I wish I could don my cape and fly over there and hold this animal mullah down while an elephant sodomizes him in front of all who share his warped mind. Power is all they understand, so Power will be thy teacher.
We need to accept that there is a clash of civilizations and address it with force and zero tolerance.
Damn. That poor, poor girl.
Normal human nature is to be selfish, self-interested and fearful. It takes grace to act against that and for the good of others, especially those you will never meet or gain anything from. It’s done out of love, not fear. I can do it because God loved me first, not because I am threatened with hell.
But I guess your answer about goodness in the name of religion is consistent with the idea upthread that evil in the name of religion would be done with or without religion.
As the OP’er, I hope I can hijack my own thread to ask you a question that I’ve long wanted to ask those who seem to believe in god and his love.
If you were going to Hell regardless of how you behaved (or didn’t) during your life, would you still try to act “for the good of others”?
To rephrase slightly, if god had averred or commanded or whatever that everyone was going to Hell no matter what they did or didn’t do during their life on this Earth, would you still “do good”? Would you still worship him?
The fact that you can do it has nothing to do with God. Chimps, with no knowledge of heaven or hell, can (and do) act for the good of others.
In the name of what would that action have been acceptable?
you mean like forcing abortion plus rape?
nm
That’s an impossibility. I can’t answer that!
I don’t know WTF you’re talking about. Gigi made the claim that he could act for the good of others only “because God lived [him] first;” I disputed that claim, citing evidence that animals, with no particular knowledge of God, are nonetheless capable of acting for the good of others. Whatever else animals (or people) may be capable of is irrelevant to that issue.
Mysterious ways. It’s all over y’all’s heads is all.
To my mind, the evil here is imbedded in the culture. There is no guarantee that if they were followers of a different religion, or none, they would behave any differently … and there are plenty of believing Muslims who find such acts just as horrific as we do.
What makes the difference is the existence of a clannish, primitive society in which the desires of adult male authority figures are accepted without question and the rights of women and children count for nothing.
They are, in essence, barbarians, and so behave barbarously. Naturally, their version of whatever religion they have supports said barbarism. Removing it would not make them civilized - that would require an adjustment in social attitudes more generally.
My father, as “devote” Mormon truly enjoyed his position as the unquestioned authority of our family in that highly patriarchal society. In the secret Mormon temple rituals, Mormon wives had to pledge to obey their husbands and there was unbelievable pressure on my mother to submit to everything, including physical, emotional and sexual abuse. He made her get on one her hands and knees and lick his shoes.
Us children were the victims of horrific abuse as well.
While the Mormon church did not actively promote abuse, it supplied an environment which allowed monsters to roam free. My mother was strongly encouraged to keep going back to my father. My sisters were instructed to forgive him for molesting them.
At the LDS Social Services, where my parents were receiving church-approved couples counseling, several of us kids, as teenagers, were brought in on one session. I brought up the terrible pain which we were under, and the only response from the therapists was to congratulate my father on keeping his cool. Our needs were invisible.
Sure, we didn’t stone our sister for “allowing” my father to rape her and my than they didn’t stone me for my brother raping me, but the internet is littered with stories of how victims of sexual abuse are treated as sinners by that church.
In the name of god, indeed.