Saddam Hussein: Superstitious ghoul

Saddam Hussein, in a bid for piety, gave his own blood for ink to transcribe a Qur'an.  Today, Iraqi leaders don't know what to do with the macabre book.

Perhaps the United States should revisit the policy of supporting twisted superstitious tin-pot dictators.

Muslim apostate hanged after admitting he was atheist

Here's another maddening story of the state of religious tolerance in our world:

A YOUNG Muslim, who had been investigated by his employers at Male International Airport in the Maldives for apostasy, was found hanged from the airport’s control tower yesterday.

The death of Ismail Mohamed Didi, a 25 year-old air traffic controller, prompted deep concern on the Islamic website Raajjeislam which  reported that Ismail “was a person inclined to atheism” and had:

Declared his atheism to his friends.

In two emails sent to an international humanitarian organisation on June 23 and 25, Ismail admitted he was an atheist and desperately requested assistance for a UK asylum application. He claimed to have received several anonymous threats on June  22.

ACLU Defends Christianity

The ACLU is often disparaged by the Religious Right, euphemistically called The 'Anti-Christian Liberties' Union'.  Those who feel the ACLU is bent on stripping Christians of their rights and freedoms for no other reason than because they are Christians should consider this:

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in federal district court Monday on behalf of two families from Dove World Outreach Center whose children were not allowed to wear "Islam is of the Devil" T-shirts to Alachua County public schools.

While I personally disagree with the students' tactic of wearing inflammatory slogans like this in the public square, I support their right to do so, even if they are Christians. The ACLU agrees, which might cause dissonance to those who hate the ACLU because they work to keep Christians from doing whatever they want at any time, sometimes with tax dollars.

Church sign: "Islam is of the Devil"

The members of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida erected a sign on its front lawn last Sunday that reads, "Islam is of the Devil."  The sign was vandalized and torn down that same evening but was re-erected the next day.  Pastor Terry Jones had this to say:

“We think we are losing our heritage as a Christian nation.”

Source: The Independent Florida Alligator

Mr. Jones is mistaken; the United States is not a Christian nation, nor was it ever intended to be, even if Christians comprise the majority of Americans.  By that reasoning, the US is also white nation, and a female nation. 

“To be a Christian, you would have to agree with that sign,” Jones said.

More poor reasoning.  While Christians have long argued with each other over what the requirements of being a Christian actually are, no one until now has declared that Christian membership requires agreeing with anti-Islam sentiments.

Genie sued for theft, harassment

In Saudi Arabia, a family is taking a genie (or 'djinni') to court, claiming the invisible spirit has thrown rocks at them when leaving the house and has stolen cellphones.

Genies are mentioned in the Koran ("I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me." 51:56), so per Islamic tradition they must be real, although the BBC correspondent reports that belief in genies predates Islam.

According to Sheikh Amr Al Salmi who is presiding over the case, "We have to verify the truthfulness of this case despite the difficulty of doing so."

Good luck with that.