Atheist sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia

[trotsky]

http://religionnews.com/2017/04/26/atheist-sentenced-to-death-in-saudi-arabia/

...The man, Ahmad Al-Shamri, lost two appeals before the ruling by the Saudi Supreme Court earlier this week. He was initially arrested in 2014 and charged with atheism and blasphemy, both punishable by execution, after denouncing the Prophet Muhammad in videos he uploaded to social media, according to the Independent newspaper, which cited local media reports.

Al-Shamri is only the latest atheist condemned by the Saudi government. In 2013, blogger Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1,000 lashes, 10 years in prison and a fine for “insulting Islam.” His lawyer was also jailed for what the Saudi government called “making international organizations hostile to the kingdom.”

...

Other cases in the kingdom include a Turkish man sentenced to death for “swearing at God,” a high school teacher sentenced to prison and 750 lashes for discussing Christianity and Judaism with students, and a Yemeni man who was sentenced to 21 years in prison for insulting Islam on Facebook.

Saudi Arabia, where the official religion is Sunni Islam, has some of the harshest blasphemy laws in the world, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. It lists Saudi Arabia as a “country of particular concern,” its highest ranking for transgressors of religious freedom, which the country has held since 2006.

[trotsky]

1. If you want to be disgusted and appalled even more...

Jerry Coyne has posted translations of tweets from conservative Muslims regarding this judgment.

https://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2017/04/27/saudi-arabia-sentences-man-to-death-for-apostasy/



(For the record, I don't think killing someone because they criticized my family is justified, either. I hope not many of us do.)

[Binkie The Clown]

2. There's no hope for the human race until this idiocy called religion is put behind us for good. n/t

[mr_liberal]

3. "Religion of Peace" strikes again. nm

[trotsky]

4. I'm an equal opportunity religion basher.

They've all done shit like this. Christianity proclaims itself to be a religion of love, yet we see what so many of its followers do.

[mr_liberal]

5. I am too.

That shouldn't be necessary though, you should be able to criticise Islam without having to drag christianity into it. We bash the christian right all the time.

All religion is irrational and a threat to our rights, I agree. Although I do see a difference between jesus and mohammed. And although christianity is still a problem, Islam seems to be much worse right now.

[trotsky]

6. That is true.

Islam needs an enlightenment. Seems the longer these Abrahamic religions are around, the more they mellow out. (For the most part.)

[Iggo]

7. That's our friends, right?

[progressoid]

8. Yeah, with friends like these...

[edhopper]

9. Let's sell them some more

figjter jets.
And ignore the terrorist they produce.