Yet Another Example of Religion as a Perverse Evil

While I still believe in a creator of the universe and see merit in the Gospel message of love of neighbor, I increasingly view most religions as an evil. Over the centuries, religion has caused - and continues to cause - so many countless needless deaths. Indeed, despite whatever good may spring from religion derived charities, in aggregate the evil seems to outweigh the good. Via Bob Felton's blog, Civil Commotion, I came across a truly disturbing story of a Muslim father who ran over his 20 year old daughter (pictured above) and killed her because he believed "she'd become too Americanized." Perhaps I found the story so upsetting because I have a daughter of my own who is 21 -and another who will soon be 28. Not in my wildest dreams can I imagine harming either of them because they may not accept me and/or my religious beliefs in every way. While this particular story involve murder and a Muslim parent, far too many self-professed Christian parents are only marginally better as they disown their own children because they are gay or they deprive them of life saving medical treatment all in the name of religion. Words do not adequately describe the prolonged and horrific torture that I believe this Muslim father should suffer for his sin against he deceased daughter and his sin against all that is decent and good. Here are brief highlights from the Phoenix New Times:
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Noor was thoroughly assimilated into American culture but kept in touch with her Iraqi roots (she was fluent in Arabic) and considered herself a Muslim, the same religion as her parents. But she had moved away from her parents in early 2009 (not for the first time) after another blowup over how she was living her life — tight jeans, makeup, boyfriends, modeling photos, and an attitude that screamed independence and self-determination. The clashes escalated in 2008 after Noor, then 18, left her marriage to an older cousin in Iraq — her father had "arranged" it — and returned to the Phoenix area.
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Riffat Hassan, a retired University of Louisville professor and expert on the Koran, writes, "Muslim culture has reduced many, if not most, women to the position of puppets on a string, to slave-like creatures whose only purpose in life is to cater to the needs and pleasures of men." The Almalekis were proud members of that "Muslim culture." By moving in with Marwan and Amal, Noor Almaleki had made it clear that she would not be her father's puppet, his "slave-like" creature. She was determined to live how, and with whom, she wished.
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No one can say exactly how many "honor killings" occur, but anecdotal evidence (from media accounts and government data) suggests that hundreds of Muslim women and girls die this way every year.
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Seemingly out of nowhere, Amal saw a vehicle coming right at them. She lifted her hands in defense, as if to stop the inevitable. In that moment, she could see Faleh Almaleki behind the wheel. The Jeep smashed into the women. It dragged Noor across a curbed median and left her splayed on the pavement, unconscious and bleeding. The impact hurled Amal Khalaf about 27 feet. She suffered a broken pelvis, broken femur, and myriad cuts and bruises, but she remained conscious.
Peoria police later estimated that the SUV was moving as fast as 30 miles per hour. Noor was barely alive, having suffered massive brain and spinal injuries, as well as many broken bones.
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Whether Faleh assaulted the women on the spur of the moment or premeditated his action, he had time to reflect on what he did: run over two defenseless women, one of whom was his firstborn child.
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Honestly, I could not read the entire story. If the child killing father gets a long prison sentence, it's difficult for me not to hope that he's sodomized and ultimately killed in prison. The man is a monster.
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Yes, this was a Muslim honor killing, but the difference between this sad story and Christianist mistreatment of their children is one of degree. The underlying religious based hate and insanity remains much the same.

Turkey's First Gay Honour Killing?

That's the question being asked by the Independent and others in the wake of the murder of Ahmet Yildiz, 26, a physics student who represented his country at an international gay gathering in San Francisco last year. Sadly, the reactionary power of religion - in this case Islam - and the slavish adherence to beliefs increasingly out of step with science and modern knowledge is most likely the motivation behind Yildiz's death. What is even more distressing is that some believe that Yildiz's family may be behind his murder. Now the question is whether or not any meaningful investigation of his death will actually occur and - if it was a so-called honor killing - will those responsible be properly prosecuted and punished. As a parent, I cannot conceive having one of my children killed - that mindset is so far beyond fucked up that I cannot even begin to understand it - and to be candid, I believe religious views that would cause such an act clearly need to be stamped out. One can only hope some in the European Union will keep up the pressure on Turkey and other reactionary member countries to either get with the 21st century and stop persecuting gays NOW or be expelled from the EU. Here are highlights from the Independent's story:

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In a corner of Istanbul today, the man who might be described as Turkey's gay poster boy will be buried – a victim, his friends believe, of the country's deepening friction between an increasingly liberal society and its entrenched conservative traditions. Ahmet Yildiz, 26, a physics student who represented his country at an international gay gathering in San Francisco last year, was shot leaving a cafe near the Bosphorus strait this week.

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"He fell victim to a war between old mentalities and growing civil liberties," says Sedef Cakmak, a friend and a member of the gay rights lobby group Lambda. "I feel helpless: we are trying to raise awareness of gay rights in this country, but the more visible we become, the more we open ourselves up to this sort of attack." Against this backdrop, the issues of women's rights, sexuality and the place of religion in the public arena have been particularly contentious. Ahmet Yildiz's crime, his friends say, was to admit openly to his family that he was gay.

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The family pressure increased, the friend explained. "They wanted him to go back home, see a doctor who could cure him, and get married." Shortly after coming out this year, Mr Yildiz went to a prosecutor to complain that he was receiving death threats. The case was dropped. Five months later, he was dead. The police are now investigating his murder. For gay rights groups, the student's inability to get protection was a typical by-product of the indifference, if not hostility, with which a broad swathe of Turkish society views homosexuality. The military, for example, sees it as an "illness". Men applying for an exemption to obligatory military service on grounds of homosexuality must provide proof – either in the form of an anal examination, or photographs.

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Turkey has a history of honour killings. A government survey earlier this year estimated that one person every week dies in Istanbul as a result of honour killings. It put the nationwide death toll at 220 in 2007. In the majority of cases, the victims are women, but Mr Yildiz's friends suspect he may be the first recorded victim of a homosexual honour killing. "We've been trying to contact Ahmet's family since Wednesday, to get them to take responsibility for the funeral," one of the victim's friends said yesterday, standing outside the morgue where his body has been for three days. "There's no answer, and I don't think they are going to come." The refusal of families to bury their relatives is common after honour-related murders.

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But according to the former neighbour, the physics student's blank refusal to hide who he was in any way may have been too much for his family. "He could have hidden who he was, but he wanted to live honestly," the neighbour said. "When the death threats started, his boyfriend tried to persuade him to get out of Turkey. But he stayed. He was too brave. He was too open."

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Stories like this one sicken me and reinforce my view that in many ways, religion (or at least some forms of it)is one of the greatest forces of evil on the planet.

Fruits of Religious Fundamentalism

I came across this story which downright sickens me via Civil Commotion (http://www.civilcommotion.com/). It shows yet again the poisonous fruits of fundamentalist religion be it Muslim or Christian. It also demonstrates the problem of foreign fundamentalists who immigrate to western nations such as the USA, Europe, Canada and Australia and bring their f**ked beliefs with them. We have enough religious lunatics already without allowing in more. In addition, while western democracies allow religious freedom, somehow more must be done to make it clear to these immigrants that this type of barbaric behavior will not be tolerated. If they cannot conform to western societal norms against such conduct, then they need not immigrate.

I can only hope that the victims' father is apprehended and - while I have very real reservations about the death penalty as applied in this country - given a death sentence which is promptly carried out. Perhaps having daughters of my own, I simply cannot understand such religious based barbarity. Once again, I find myself thinking that religion harbors and causes so much evil. Here are some highlights from the Dallas Morning News (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/010608dnmetfunerals.216ceab.html):

Sarah and Amina Yaser Said looked luminescent in their pink dresses, a pink flower in each girl's hair. One might have thought the sisters were sleeping were it not for the matching pink-lined caskets that held them. Their Christian funeral service Saturday – followed by a Muslim service later in the day – served as a reminder of the promise their short lives held and the needless tragedy of their deaths. Police believe they were killed by their father, a 50-year-old cabdriver. And the police presence was a reminder that the girls' Egyptian-born father, Yaser Abdel Said, is still on the run.

Gail Gartrell, the sisters' great-aunt, said Saturday that Mr. Said had physically abused the two girls for years. Around Christmas, the girls' mother – Ms. Gartrell's niece – had fled because of Mr. Said's threats to kill the girls after he learned they had boyfriends, she said. "She ran with them because she knew he would carry out the threat," Ms. Gartrell said. "This was an honor killing." She said her niece returned after Mr. Said told her that he would move out so they could reconcile. Within a few days, she said, the girls were dead.