perhaps this glorious religion should have its own thread, too.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,329151,00.html

American Woman Jailed in Saudi Arabia for Sitting With Man at Starbucks

A 37-year-old American businesswoman and married mother of three is seeking justice after she was thrown in jail by Saudi Arabia's religious police for sitting with a male colleague at a Starbucks coffee shop in Riyadh, according to a report in The Times of London on Thursday.

Yara, who does not want her last name published for fear of retribution, was bruised and crying when she was freed from a day in prison after she was strip-searched, threatened and forced to sign false confessions by the Kingdom's "Mutaween" police, The Times reported.

"Some men came up to us with very long beards and white dresses. They asked 'Why are you here together?'. I explained about the power being out in our office. They got very angry and told me what I was doing was a great sin," recalled Yara, who wears an abaya and headscarf, like most Saudi women.

The men were from Saudi Arabia's Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, a police force of several thousand men charged with enforcing dress codes, sex segregation and the observance of prayers.

Yara says she was interrogated, strip-searched and forced to sign and fingerprint a series of confessions pleading guilty to her "crime," the Times reported.

Yara was visited this week by officials from the American Embassy, who promised they would file a report.

They didn't jail her for sitting with a man. She was jailed for ordering a large frappuchino.

what the fuck

61% in Turkey vs. 71% in Indonesia? I'm honestly quite shocked.

Religion is scary as fuck.

Especially this one.

Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice....

These guys know Todd Rundgren, huh?

(I know no one gets this)

Are you wanting Jihad to be waged upon RM?

Now now, people, every religion has their extremists, Islam is no exception.

What else...: Lots of bad stuff has been done in the name of Christianity. Stuff like the Holocaust, the Inquisition, the Crusades.

Hmm...oh yeah: Violence among middle-easterns has nothing to do with Islam, it is a result of the poor state of where they live, and them being mistreated for centuries by Christian nations.

Ah, yes, let us not forget: The Koran has lots of good stuff in with the bad. Just like Christianity and Judaism. They are basically the same things. Criticizing any of them is bad and evil.

Did I forget anything? Any excuses I missed?

I completely agree with this. I think all religions are scary. It's just that at this particular period in history I think that Islam is the scariest.

No one is denying any of that, but there's a penchant to defend Islam by saying all of that crap, while ignoring some of its truly horrible aspects. People on this board criticize Christianity all of the time, why not Islam?

I know what you mean. I was waiting for some truly hateful responses to my Muhammad cartoon. I'm kind of disappointed now.

i'm pretty sure Buff's post was made with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

Sam Harris' book The End of Faith has a long section which lists passage after passage from the Koran inciting violence against infidels. Defenders of Islam always love to quote one specific passage that presumably prohibits suicide bombing. The problem, as Harris illustrates, is that this one rather vague statement is awash in a sea of others condoning violence against non-believers.

the violence is a product almost exclusively of the religion. there is simply no denying this.

*tongue planted firmly in cheek*

They are after all, peaceful farmers.

Fucking AWESOME diary at kos about this.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/7/ ... 450/452109

Then why do the vast majority of Muslims ignore those other passages?

And obviously Sam Harris has an agenda. Not that I disagree with it, but his argument is driven by a dislike for religion.

Boy am I glad you asked that question. It is vitally important.

It illustrates exactly how Islam IS the cause of the violence. You said it yourself. Muslims that are not violent are ones that explicitly ignore the holy law of the religion. The farther away one goes from Islam, the more civilized and less violent you are likely to be. And this is one of the things Sam Harris says in his books. Agenda or not, it is the truth.


And I must say I am astonished it took so long to realize I was full of shit in my first post.

Tell me, when did the motives for an argument start having an effect on the validity of the argument itself?