Kuwait's New Blasphemy Law

http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2...es-death-penalty-for-cursing-god-and-prophets

Kuwaiti MPs this week approved a law with a death penalty for Muslims who curse God, the Koran, all prophets and the wives of Islam's Prophet Mohammed. Non-Muslims who commit the same offence face a jail term of not less than 10 years, according to the bill.
Defendants who repent in court will be spared capital punishment but will get a jail sentence for five years and a fine of $36,000 or one of them, while repentance by those who repeat the crime is not acceptable, the bill says.
"We do not want to execute people with opinions or thought because Islam respects these people... But we need this legislation because incidents of cursing God have increased. We need to deter them," opposition MP Ali al-Deqbasi said during the debate.
Shiite MPs also demanded that the bill impose the death penalty on anyone who curses their sect's 12 revered Imams, but the Sunni-dominated parliament rejected their request.
The bill becomes effective after the government accepts it, the emir signs it and it is published in the official gazette within one month.
Shiite MP Abdulhameed Dashti said the bill was unconstitutional and against the principles of Islam. "Why are we trying to show Islam as a religion of death and blood when it is actually the opposite of that," he asked.
In March authorities arrested a Shiite man for allegedly cursing the Prophet Mohammed, his wife and some companions in a tweet. The suspect, Hamad al-Naqi, is being detained pending trial later this month.
Kuwaiti courts have in the past several months jailed activists from both sects over religious offences.

Apparently, Kuwait is just as backwards as Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Maybe we should reconsider our alliance with them.

 

This isn't an American commenting on something in another country, is it?

OMG...this must end, it must it must, it must...nah, go on, carry on, it's fine..

 

To be fair, I'm not one of those people that suggests people in other countries shouldn't comment on our affairs.

 

True.

Bash ahead then, I am personally thinking of picking on Belgium, this week.

Just because.

 

Kuwait has about 350,000 Christians .. I don't know how many churches.

In Arab society they don't curse, God, Jesus, Moses or any of the patriarchs. Of course here in the US nothing is sacred... but to them it is.

 

It's too bad they don't view freedom of speech as sacred.

 

Actually they are quite free to speak their minds.. just not to curse God or the patriarchs. Its a matter of culture and tradition.. Like modesty and public decorum. Its conservative.

 

ya that’s the problem there magic sky daddy is more important to them than freedom

 

You have free speech so long as you don’t say what i forbid you to

 

I liked Kuwait...

But, its not everyone's cup of tea.

 

Well, if cursing God and the patriarchs is important to you.. don't go to Kuwait.

 

And you think this only applies in Kuwait?

 

Well, free to speak their minds unless they believe religion is a crock of $#*t.

 

There is absolutely nothing that can possibly defend such a barbaric and medieval punishment for what is at the very worst an insult. It doesn't matter how many christians there are in kuwait since that has nothing to do with this law.

Whilst this kind of outrageous orthodoxy holds sway over entire populations, the Islamic world will NEVER achieve its potential. If it wasn't for the trust fund oil revenues of many arab countries, theyd still be living in tents with 70+ illiteracy rates.

What was that about tolerance?

 

True, much of Europe unfortunately has blasphemy laws. They tend to be less blatant than this one, but it's the same lack of freedom nonetheless.

 

They probably don't though, so it is moot, I would imagine.

Just taking a punt.

 

Well take into account that there are different cultures and different traditions.. The whole world isn't the US.

 

She defends public lashings as well....

 

Of course, but this is part of why some cultures are more advanced than others. Kuwait apparently has more catching up to do than I originally thought.

 

Well, in Germany, you can go to prison for writing a book that upsets the holocost religion, but it is entirely legal to shag a goat.

Make of that what you will...http://www.politicalforum.com/lates...s-final-vote-bestiality-ban-held-germany.html

 

Is it illegal to shag goats and pigs there?

 

Jonsa.. much of the Arab world is doing quite well... and they are reinvesting in healthcare, education, infrastructure, diversifying their economies... and so forth.

Literacy was nowhere near 70% 50 years ago.

 

Is it illegal to shag goats and pigs there?

 

Well, the ones who do think it definitely have to be quiet about it. If it wasn't an issue to begin with, they wouldn't have laws regarding it.

 

Perhaps the principle escapes you.

When draconian laws are required to stop what is in essense a harmless and victimless crime in order to protect medeival religious concepts, indicates that the society is rotting from the inside. When religious principles are so fragile as to require extreme punishments for minor offenses, there can be no evolution of religious thought, there can be no adaptation to contemporary values and the religion moves farther and farther away from its real purpose.