11 year old held on blasphemy charge

[copzgirl1171]

(CNN) -- An 11-year-old Christian girl has been arrested and detained on charges of blasphemy for allegedly desecrating pages from the Quran in the Pakistan capital Islamabad.
According to a statement released by the President's office on Sunday, the girl, identified as Ramsha, was accused by a local resident of burning pages of the Muslim holy text after she gathered paper as fuel for cooking.
Local media reports said the girl has Down syndrome. CNN was unable to confirm these reports, however Qasim Niazi, the police officer in charge of the police station near where the incident took place, said the girl did not have a mental disorder but was illiterate and had not attended school.
The accused girl had told him she had no idea there were pages of the Quran inside the documents she burnt, he added.
Niazi said that 150 people had gathered on Friday where the neighborhood's Christian population lived and threatened to burn down their houses.
"The mob wanted to burn the girl to give her a lesson," he told CNN.
Other Christian families living in the area have fled fearing a backlash, he added.
Petition: Free Pakistani Christian woman set for execution
The statement from President Asif Ali Zardari called for an urgent report into the incident and said that vulnerable sections of society must be protected "from any misuse of the blasphemy law."
"Blasphemy by anyone cannot be condoned but no one will be allowed to misuse blasphemy law for settling personal scores," the president's spokesperson Farhatullah Babar said.
Critics of Pakistan's controversial blasphemy laws say they are being used to persecute religious minorities.
Leader of political party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and former international cricketer, Imran Khan, tweeted: "Shameful! Sending an 11yr old girl to prison is against the very spirit of Islam which is all about being Just and Compassionate.
"Poor child is already suffering from Down Syndrome. State should care for its children not torment them. We demand her immed release."
The legislation makes it a crime punishable by death to insult Islam, the Quran or the Prophet Mohammed.
Pakistan is home to about 2 million Christians, who make up more than 1% of Islamic nation's population, according to government statistics.

[copzgirl1171]

And with this I am checking out of the human race.

[pixy0stix]

This is awful.

[Deleted]

I was just about to post this story. Unfucking believable. Their laws would allow for her execution over this.

And this is also why I can't be a true Libertarian. I don't think we can just watch people pull this crap. The first to be systematically killed in the Holocaust were disabled children.

[pamela]

Religion of peace, what? Again, without some major denoucing by other leaders of the religion, it makes it hard to believe otherwise.

And I don't think you can be guilty of blasphemy if havent ever believed in the religion. Otherwise most everything non-believer does is blasphemy.

[Deleted]

Aug 20, 2012 9:13:09 GMT -5 pamela said:

Religion of peace, what? Again, without some major denoucing by other leaders of the religion, it makes it hard to believe otherwise.

And I don't think you can be guilty of blasphemy if havent ever believed in the religion. Otherwise most everything non-believer does is blasphemy.

Let's not throw all of Islam under the bus. Only the extremists, who, unfortunately, got their way in 2009. Is this in the Swat region?

www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/14/sharia-law-in-pakistans-swat-valley

[EloiseWeenie]

:-| :-|

[Deleted]

This is horrible and disgusting. However, I get frustrated with this "religion of peace, please" nonsense. It's as though we're incapable of reading history and realizing how many other religions, older than Islam, were equally brutal throughout history. Islam has been on our American cultural radar for forty years or so, so we're hyper-focused on the atrocities committed by extremists and singling out the religion as special. Frankly, any religion that has ever brutalized people in the name of God cannot call itself a religion of peace, period.

[pamela]

There is a difference between ever and on-going. Learning from past and moving on is a plus. The entire world was much more brutal in history and most of the world is trying to change that. Certain segments are not. This being one of them.

[llama]

Aug 20, 2012 9:30:34 GMT -5 pamela said:

There is a difference between ever and on-going. Learning from past and moving on is a plus. The entire world was much more brutal in history and most of the world is trying to change that. Certain segments are not. This being one of them.

You know another segment that's not trying to change it? Christian extremists in Uganda who are pushing for the passage of legislation that would execute gay and transgender people. Christian extremists in the United States who funded and supported their efforts.

Come on. Simple awareness of current events will tell you that (extremists in) religions other than Islam are still at it around the globe.

[Deleted]

Aug 20, 2012 9:30:34 GMT -5 pamela said:

There is a difference between ever and on-going. Learning from past and moving on is a plus. The entire world was much more brutal in history and most of the world is trying to change that. Certain segments are not. This being one of them.

Totally not denying that this shit is completely backward, and I judge the everloving you know what out of beliefs that lead to something like this. I'm not a cultural relativist when it comes to the rights and welfare of people. What I'm taking issue with is the singling out of a specific religion when others have clearly been there. I would say that horrible acts like this aren't specific to THIS repressive religion, but any repressive religion. And yes, both Judaism and Christianity have incredibly repressive pasts.

[ringstrue]

Is someone seriously suggesting that Islam actually teaches to do this to people? FFS!

[NitaX]

Aug 20, 2012 10:46:22 GMT -5 nuggetbrain said:

Aug 20, 2012 9:30:34 GMT -5 pamela said:

There is a difference between ever and on-going. Learning from past and moving on is a plus. The entire world was much more brutal in history and most of the world is trying to change that. Certain segments are not. This being one of them.

Oh, you mean like the churches who aren't comfortable with blacks getting married in their house of worship? Or the idea that you can pray away the gay? Or that having an abortion in the case of rape or incest or serious health issues for the mother is the same as having an abortion because it's a Tuesday? Like those segments? Is that on-going enough for you?

BAM!

[aw]

Yeah. Lumping all Muslims together makes as much sense as lumping all Christians together or all Jews together. There are varying levels of orthodoxy among believers and varying levels of tolerance for other religions.

I think most Christians on this board get upset when we are all lumped together. I even get upset as a "fundie" for being lumped together with all Christian fundamentalists. I think we need to look at Islam the same way.

I also have a problem with this statement - "Frankly, any religion that has ever brutalized people in the name of God cannot call itself a religion of peace, period." People have murdered in Christ's name throughout history - evil, sinful men (and women) have done this. Christianity is still a religion of peace to me. Just because some people like to twist Scripture to defend sin, it doesn't mean they represent Truth. The institutions of man are imperfect and sinful men will always try to gain power through whatever means necessary. I would argue that the "religion" doesn't brutalize people. People brutalize people in the name of the religion, which to bring this back to the OP, is blasphemy. Those people do not represent me or Christ, IMO.

[ttt]

Aug 20, 2012 9:13:09 GMT -5 pamela said:

Religion of peace, what? Again, without some major denoucing by other leaders of the religion, it makes it hard to believe otherwise.

And I don't think you can be guilty of blasphemy if havent ever believed in the religion. Otherwise most everything non-believer does is blasphemy.

Please pamela, name me some major Islamic leaders who you specifically want to hear denouncing from, since you seem to be SO familiar with the religion of Islam and what its leaders are saying. Which leaders are not saying what you think they should be saying?

[pedanticwench]

[iammalcolmx]

Thank you TTT, MX, AW, et al. for calming mw down after I read Pamelas ignorant statements. I was about to be MEAN.

[basilosaurus]

So, the Christian nations with blasphemy laws also mean that Christians are intolerant assholes, too, right? At least Ireland's would have allowed you to live, but you might be 25,000e poorer.

Or should I say that Texas, with its majority Christian population, shows Christians are intolerant asshole killers for putting a retarded man to death?

No, I don't think that gets us anywhere.

What I'd love to see is more attention and focus on the evils of blasphemy laws. Right now a man in India has had to flee the country and go into hiding because he showed that the "miracle" of a weeping saint was merely leaky plumbing. The Catholic church in India is going after him. In Indonesia a man is in person (after being beaten by a mob) for letting it be known on facebook that he's an atheist.

[ttt]

Also, this is why separation of church and state is crucial, folks!

[NitaX]

Aug 20, 2012 15:16:55 GMT -5 ttt said:

Also, this is why separation of church and state is crucial, folks!

Stop persecuting me TTT! I want prayer in schools.

[Deleted]

Blasphemy is a victimless crime.

[pamela]

Aug 20, 2012 15:15:22 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Or should I say that Texas, with its majority Christian population, shows Christians are intolerant asshole killers for putting a retarded man to death?

What I'd love to see is more attention and focus on the evils of blasphemy laws. Right now a man in India has had to flee the country and go into hiding because he showed that the "miracle" of a weeping saint was merely leaky plumbing. The Catholic church in India is going after him. In Indonesia a man is in person (after being beaten by a mob) for letting it be known on facebook that he's an atheist.

A (disputed) retarded man who killed someone, not a child who burned some book pages.

And yes, if the Catholic Church is going after him, definately wrong of them because #1, against church laws that you don't have to believe in such miracles and #2, yeah, just wrong. But whatever this "running him out of the country" is, is far different than the religious run government threatening to KILL this child.

[dylanite]

Aug 20, 2012 9:13:09 GMT -5 pamela said:

Religion, what? Again, without some major denoucing by other leaders of religion, it makes it hard to believe otherwise.

I fixed that for you.

[Deleted]

Aug 20, 2012 11:18:45 GMT -5 aw said:

Yeah. Lumping all Muslims together makes as much sense as lumping all Christians together or all Jews together. There are varying levels of orthodoxy among believers and varying levels of tolerance for other religions.

I think most Christians on this board get upset when we are all lumped together. I even get upset as a "fundie" for being lumped together with all Christian fundamentalists. I think we need to look at Islam the same way.

I also have a problem with this statement - "Frankly, any religion that has ever brutalized people in the name of God cannot call itself a religion of peace, period." People have murdered in Christ's name throughout history - evil, sinful men (and women) have done this. Christianity is still a religion of peace to me. Just because some people like to twist Scripture to defend sin, it doesn't mean they represent Truth. The institutions of man are imperfect and sinful men will always try to gain power through whatever means necessary. I would argue that the "religion" doesn't brutalize people. People brutalize people in the name of the religion, which to bring this back to the OP, is blasphemy. Those people do not represent me or Christ, IMO.

AW, my point with that statement to was illustrate how any religion calling itself one of peace is dicey if there is any violent rhetoric at all in its scripture. Some, like you, see Christianity as a religion of peace, but there are plenty in this country who could certainly get behind the idea of holy war, and that's truth for them.

[aw]

Aug 20, 2012 17:04:04 GMT -5 @dontcallmeshirley said:

Aug 20, 2012 11:18:45 GMT -5 aw said:

Yeah. Lumping all Muslims together makes as much sense as lumping all Christians together or all Jews together. There are varying levels of orthodoxy among believers and varying levels of tolerance for other religions.

I think most Christians on this board get upset when we are all lumped together. I even get upset as a "fundie" for being lumped together with all Christian fundamentalists. I think we need to look at Islam the same way.

I also have a problem with this statement - "Frankly, any religion that has ever brutalized people in the name of God cannot call itself a religion of peace, period." People have murdered in Christ's name throughout history - evil, sinful men (and women) have done this. Christianity is still a religion of peace to me. Just because some people like to twist Scripture to defend sin, it doesn't mean they represent Truth. The institutions of man are imperfect and sinful men will always try to gain power through whatever means necessary. I would argue that the "religion" doesn't brutalize people. People brutalize people in the name of the religion, which to bring this back to the OP, is blasphemy. Those people do not represent me or Christ, IMO.

AW, my point with that statement to was illustrate how any religion calling itself one of peace is dicey if there is any violent rhetoric at all in its scripture. Some, like you, see Christianity as a religion of peace, but there are plenty in this country who could certainly get behind the idea of holy war, and that's truth for them.

I get your point if you're talking about violent rhetoric in sacred texts. I thought you were saying that any religion with a violent past can't be considered a peaceful religion at its core. What people do with scripture is something entirely different than what the scripture actually says, at least for me.

But I do agree with you. I look at Westboro Baptist Church and while they think they are acting as Christians, there is nothing peaceful about what they do to me.

[iammalcolmx]

Aug 20, 2012 16:01:52 GMT -5 pamela said:

Aug 20, 2012 15:15:22 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Or should I say that Texas, with its majority Christian population, shows Christians are intolerant asshole killers for putting a retarded man to death?

What I'd love to see is more attention and focus on the evils of blasphemy laws. Right now a man in India has had to flee the country and go into hiding because he showed that the "miracle" of a weeping saint was merely leaky plumbing. The Catholic church in India is going after him. In Indonesia a man is in person (after being beaten by a mob) for letting it be known on facebook that he's an atheist.

A (disputed) retarded man who killed someone, not a child who burned some book pages.

And yes, if the Catholic Church is going after him, definately wrong of them because #1, against church laws that you don't have to believe in such miracles and #2, yeah, just wrong. But whatever this "running him out of the country" is, is far different than the religious run government threatening to KILL this child.

Pamela honestly stick to teaching us about Nuclear disasters because everything else you post is ridiculous. You don't know JACK SHIT about Islam. AW posted a very reasonable response and you post your ig'nant crap acting like the reprehensible actions in the OP represent Islam as a whole. I am going to say it, you are a fucking ignorant bigot who likes to keep her head up her ass. You have been on this board for years and yet you have learned nothing. And yeah this is the reaction you will get when you decide to talk shit about my loved ones.

[doctorwho]

Funny how when you don't teach your daughters to read they can't identify your holy texts.
Assholes.

[Deleted]

Aug 20, 2012 9:30:34 GMT -5 pamela said:

There is a difference between ever and on-going. Learning from past and moving on is a plus. The entire world was much more brutal in history and most of the world is trying to change that. Certain segments are not. This being one of them.

But they're at a different point in their history since the religion is much younger.