Majority Muslim Nations Where Homosexuality Is Legal

I wrote this to respond to a facebook comment that read in part;

Homosexualiy is not legal in the Muslim world. I don't know where you make this stuff up. Ask ISIS about it.

Well, I found 20 majority Muslim countries, out of 51[1], where homosexuality is legal.

1. Albania, Europe

Not only are same-sex relationships legal in Albania, they amended their constitution to strictly punish a crime when it is “related to gender, race, colour, ethnicity, language, gender identity, sexual orientation, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, health status, genetic predisposition, or disability.” In addition to this hate crimes legislation, they have hate speech legislation as well. The Albanian parliament amended its Criminal Code: “Providing to the public or distribution of deliberate materials containing racist, homophobic or xenophobic content, through the communication and information technology, is punishable by a fine or imprisonment up to two years.”[2][3]

2. Azerbaijan, Europe

Same-sex relationships are legal in Azerbaijan with no separate age of consent.[3]

3. Bahrain, Asia

Same-sex relationships were legalized in Bahrain in 1976 though the age of consent for such acts is still 21.[3]

4. Burkina Faso, Africa

Same-sex relationships were never criminalized in Burkina Faso. However there is a separate age of consent.[3]

5. Chad, Africa

Same-sex relationships were definitely legal in Chad until 2014. However they attempted to pass new legislation. Huffpost has homosexuality as illegal[4]. However the 2015 reports from ilga and Amnesty International have it as legal.[3][5]

6. Djibouti, Africa

In Djibouti same-sex relationships are legal.[3]

7. Guinea-Bissau, Africa

In Guinea-Bissau same-sex relationships are legal.[3]

8. Indonesia

Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country, has given two provinces the right to govern by Sharia law as long as the law only applies to Muslims. However homosexuality is legal throughout the rest of the nation and if you are not a Muslim in those two provinces.[3]

9. Iraq, Asia

ILGA previously listed Iraq as unclear, but have since changed it to illegal. After the 2003 US invasion the 1969 penal code was implemented. This code did not outlaw homosexuality. However ILGA says it is illegal for three reasons.

1. Even though Iraqi law does not allow for a civil judge to refer to a sharia court, some do. 
2. They do not view ISIS as a separate state. 
3. Also police regularly target homosexuals.

Still, it is on this list, because technically throughout non-ISIS controlled Iraq, homosexuality is legal.[3]

10. Jordan, Asia

When Jordan abandoned the British penal code in 1951, it adopted its own code which does not outlaw homosexuality.[3]

11. Kazakhstan, Asia

Homosexuality is legal in Kazakhstan, however their close relationship with Russia has brought forth anti-homosexual propaganda laws. Still none have passed.[3]

12. Kosovo, Europe

Homosexual acts are legal in Kosovo and they forbid employer discrimination based on sexual orientation. Still the age of consent is different.[3]

13. Kyrgyzstan, Asia

Like with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan also has calls for anti-homosexual propaganda laws, but homosexuality is still legal there.[3]

14. Lebanon, Asia

In Lebanon, lesbianism is legal, but possibly not male same-sex behavior (punishable by one year in prison). Outlawed by the French penal code since 1943, in recent times, there were seldom arrests made for male same-sex behavior. In 2012, the police started to clamp down. In 2014, a judge seemed to overturn the law by allowing a transwoman to marry a cisman. However later that year, 27 men were arrested for homosexual behavior in a Turkish bath. Still they were never formally charged. ILGA says that it is illegal, but not everyone interprets the judge’s ruling that way.[3][6]

15. Mali, Africa

Homosexuality has never been illegal in Mali.[3]

16. Niger, Africa

Homosexuality has never been illegal in Niger.[3]

17. Palestine

In 1858, the Ottomans legalized homosexuality, but when the British took over after World War I, they enforced a penal code where male homosexuality was illegal. When Israel declared their independence in 1948, the British Penal Code that outlawed male homosexuality was still in place. Gaza was seized by Egypt which left the British code in place. The West Bank was seized by Jordan which changed its penal code to allow for all homosexuality in 1951.


So in 1967 when Israel acquired Gaza and the West Bank; they acquire one territory that banned male homosexuality and one that did not. In 1977, Israel replaced the British code with their own, but they still outlawed male homosexual acts. They later legalized them in 1988, three decades after the West Bank.


Gaza still operates under the British code where male homosexuality is punishable by 10 years. However Hamas is writing a harsher law that might go into effect in 2016 where male homosexuality is punishable by "100 lashes and up to five (5) years in prison, and execution if such behaviour happens three times."[3]

18. Tajikistan, Asia

Homosexual acts have been legal in Tajikistan since 1998.[3]

19. Turkey

As the former head of the last major caliphate, the Ottoman Empire, in 1858, Turkey legalized same-sex behavior throughout the empire. Homosexuality has been legal in Turkey longer than slavery has been outlawed in the USA.[3]

20. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus

In 2014, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus voted to legalize homosexuality.[3]

Hashtags have done better than anything so far

I do not understand why we need to tell these parents that "hashtags will not bring back your girls". They tried everything they could and resorted to hashtags as a last resort to shame Nigeria into getting their daughters back. So far, this hashtag by a Nigerian lawyer has done more than anything else they tried. You are right, these fathers and this lawyer are not warriors, but they needed to shame the warriors into doing something.

Bundy, Fischer, Jeffress, Islam, Christianity

In the comment section on someone's fan page I made the following comment about this image.

Like Christianity, Islam is a spectrum. There are still Christians who argue that the 1st Amendment only applies to Christians, that women should stay home/submit to their husbands, and that homosexuality should be illegal. How few of these Christians condemned Cliven Bundy's call to arms.

There were two replies.

I have ministered to and have met many, many Christians from various denominations, and have never met one who said the 1st Amendment applies only to Christians. Do they teach that at Kent State or what? Cliven Bundy did not call anyone to arms. Quite the opposite. Hope you get an "A: in PolySci for that liberal whopper.

And this one.

Hi, [my name]. An essential difference between Christianity and Islam is found in the two Basic Manuals; the Bible makes it clear that noone must be coerced into believing in Christ; the Koran makes it very clear that people must be coerced into believing in Islam. Examples of coercion in the history of Christianity were carried out by people who knew their position was not supported by the Bible. Note too that the greatest freedoms, starting with freedom of conscience, religion and expression, happened first in Christian countries. There too you find the greatest and longest sustainable development in culture, arts, sciences, philosophy, economy and government. As people uncritically accept secular humanism (atheism by another name), these things erode quickly, as noted by 20th Century atheistic movements of fascism, communism and nazism--not to mention Vorwoerd's most virulent Apartheid. I expect our American political leaders to know history, philosophy (especially ethics, moral philosophy) backwards and forwards. We unfortunately have not always elected the best in this regard. Best regards.

I made the following reply.

One, I am not a liberal. Two, Fischer, radio host for the AFA and Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Dallas both argue that the word "religion" in the First Amendment only applies to Christianity. I doubt they teach it at Kent State, but it is taught on Christian radio and in a pulpit at Dallas. Bundy never condemned the idea of these militia preparing to kill police officers. Hundreds of armed people gathered to stop officers from enforcing the law. American Islam has never done such a thing.

[His name omitted], I said that Christianity is a spectrum. Yes there were deists arguing the Renaissance and Baptists arguing for separation of church and state. One of the reasons that we needed separation of church and state was forced conversion. Children were required to be baptized by law in many places. Fascism and Nazism were not necessarily Atheistic.

 I would like to also note that no one challenged that there are still Christians who argue "women should stay home/submit to their husbands, and that homosexuality should be illegal."  I am more worried about these Christians, because there are more of them in the states.

Marital Rape Still Legal in Nigeria

Just researching a little extra context on the Nigerian girls abduction. While child marriage and unconsensual marriage have been illegal in Nigeria for years, it still happens for cultural reasons.[1] Marital rape however is still legal in Nigeria. Specifically in the Northern states, it is still legal to use pain and threats of death to obtain sex from your wife. Still the girls were ages 12-15 and it is always considered rape in the Northern States to have sex with a girl who is not your wife or is under the age of 14 unless she is your wife. Let us pray for their quick return. [2]

I have written quite a bit about marital rape and you can read more by clicking here.

So who is real?

Looking for xmpls of devout Muslims converting to Christianity. Problem is so many are fake (or exaggerated) ex-Muslims. So, who is real?
— Ed Stetzer (@edstetzer) August 11, 2013

Iraqi woman dies after being beaten in her California home

CNN) -- An Iraqi woman who was left brutally beaten in her Southern California home with an apparently xenophobic note beside her has died.

Shaima Alawadi, a 32-year-old mother of five, was taken off life support Saturday, said the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization that advocates for Muslim civil liberties.

She had been on life support since Wednesday when her teenage daughter found her unconscious in the living room of their home in El Cajon in San Diego County.

"During the initial stages of this investigation, a threatening note was discovered very close to where the victim was found," Lt. Mark Coit of the El Cajon police said.

Authorities would not specify what the note said. But Alawadi's daughter said it threatened the family to go back to Iraq and called them "terrorists."

Police said a similar note was left outside the family home earlier in the month, but the family did not report it.

"A week ago they left a letter saying, 'This is our country, not yours, you terrorists,'" the daughter, Fatima Al Himidi told CNN affiliate KGTV. "So my mom ignored that, thinking (it was) kids playing around, pranking. And so the day they hurt her, they left it again and it said the same thing."

Hanif Mohebi, executive director of CAIR's San Diego chapter, said the family came to the United States from Iraq in the mid-1990s. He did not know when they moved to El Cajon, which has one of the nation's largest Iraqi community... [1]

67% of Alabama voters and 54% of Mississippi voters think interracial marriage should be legal

In addition to asking about the Presidential race in Alabama and Mississippi we also touched on some other issues in those states:

-There's considerable skepticism about Barack Obama's religion with Republican voters in them. In Mississippi only 12% of voters think Obama's a Christian to 52% who think he's a Muslim and 36% who are not sure. In Alabama just 14% think Obama's a Christian to 45% who think he's a Muslim and 41% who aren't sure.

Mitt Romney dominates the 'Obama's a Christian' vote in both states. He leads Santorum 42-28 with those folks in Mississippi and has a 38-21 lead over him with them in Alabama. In Mississippi Newt's winning the 'Obama's a Muslim' vote 39-28, but in Alabama it's a three way tie with all of the leading candidates at 31%.

-We continue to see evidence that Rush Limbaugh's damaged his brand over the last few weeks. His favorability is only slightly over 50% in these two states where the Republican electorate is incredibly conservative- he's at 53/33 in Alabama and 51/30 in Mississippi. Given that our last national survey on Limbaugh, taken a few years ago, found him at 80/12 with Republicans it's safe to say he's fallen a long way in these states.

-Alabama's pretty much on board with interracial marriage, with 67% of voters thinking it should be legal to 21% who think it should not be. There's still some skepticism in Mississippi though- only 54% of voters think it should be legal, while 29% believe it should be illegal. Newt cleans up with the 'interracial marriage should be illegal' crowd in both states. He's up 40-27 on Romney with them in Mississippi and 37-28 with them in Alabama.

-There's evidence that Haley Barbour's pardons on his way out the door as Governor of Mississippi hurt his standing in the state. 64% of Republican primary voters say they have a favorable opinion of him now to 27% with a negative one. Those numbers aren't bad, but they're a far cry from November when he had an 86/7 approval spread with GOP partisans in the state. Only 24% of Republicans say they approve of his pardons, while 62% disapprove.

-Alabama Republican voters skew heavily toward the Crimson Tide, with 58% identifying as Alabama fans to 28% who are Auburn fans. Santorum leads the way among Tiger fans with 35% to 30% for Gingrich and 26% for Romney. Romney's up 32-31 on Gingrich with 'Bama fans to Santorum's 27%. And among football agnostics Romney leads with 34% to 28% for Gingrich and 24% for Santorum.

-Finally there's considerable skepticism about evolution among GOP voters in both Alabama and Mississippi. In Alabama only 26% of voters believe in it, while 60% do not. In Mississippi just 22% believe in it, while 66% do not. Romney wins the 'voters who believe in evolution' vote (33-27 over Gingrich in Alabama, 38-32 over Gingrich in Mississippi.) Santorum wins the 'voters who don't believe in evolution' vote (34-33 over Gingrich in both Alabama and Mississippi with Romney at 26%) [1]

Saudi Arabia may execute a Muslim for his tweets

All this happened mid-February, but I had not been able to post about it.
Saudi Writer Hamza Kashgari Detained in Malaysia Over Muhammad Tweets
After his arrest in Malaysia he was deported to Saudi Arabia.
The bloodlust faced by the 'blaspheming' Saudi journalist
The take away quote:

One has to wonder whether a man who weeps at comments on the internet has the toughness required to survive in democratic politics, but of course Saudi is not a democracy. It is a despotism, made worse by streaks of populism.

The most horrible thing that dictatorships teach us about human nature is that their worst crimes are often the most popular parts of their programmes.

White House statement about Youcef Nadarkhani

Statement by the Press Secretary on the Case of Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani

The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms reports that Iranian authorities’ reaffirmed a death sentence for Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani for the sole reason of his refusal to recant his Christian faith. This action is yet another shocking breach of Iran’s international obligations, its own constitution, and stated religious values. The United States stands in solidarity with Pastor Nadarkhani, his family, and all those who seek to practice their religion without fear of persecution—a fundamental and universal human right. The trial and sentencing process for Pastor Nadarkhani demonstrates the Iranian government’s total disregard for religious freedom, and further demonstrates Iran's continuing violation of the universal rights of its citizens. The United States calls upon the Iranian authorities to immediately lift the sentence, release Pastor Nadarkhani, and demonstrate a commitment to basic, universal human rights, including freedom of religion. The United States renews its calls for people of conscience and governments around the world to reach out to Iranian authorities and demand Pastor Nadarkhani's immediate release. [1]

How to dispose of the Quran correctly

...It is important to give a Quran a proper burial, says Omid Safi, professor of Islamic studies at the University of North Carolina and author of “Memories of Muhammad.” Any text containing the name of God is sacred in Islam. God is revealed through scripture, and anything associated with writing it has a religious significance, Mr. Safi says.

One could literally bury the Quran, ideally in a place with little foot traffic. Another option is to put the book in a flowing body of water, either letting it sink or be carried away. Regardless of the method, treating the book’s destruction with respect is paramount. Safi likens it to a poor man’s funeral, where the book might be wrapped in a shroud before being placed in the ground and mourned.

Burning the Quran, however, is also an accepted practice.

“People often ask, ‘if it’s OK for Muslims to burn the Quran, then why isn’t it OK for the US military to do it?’” Safi says. “That’s where the question of symbolism is important.”

Some say erasing the names of God and his messengers prior to burning the Quran makes it acceptable, but Safi says it’s even simpler than that. It comes down to context: Burning the text in a dumpster with trash on a US military base feels less respectful than treating the disposal with reverence in a burial or sacred burning.

Safi finds one analogy particularly helpful: The Quran is to Islam as Jesus is to Christianity. “In an Islamic universe ... the word becomes not a person, but a book,” he says. “For a Muslim to see the Quran burnt not as a way of burial, it would look and feel like someone burning Jesus, or a crucifix.”

But contextualizing today’s protests goes beyond simple reverence for the Quran, Safi says. “Bagram airbase is one of the central places of US military presence in Afghanistan ... [and] between 600 and 700 Afghans have been detained or are being detained there for years and years.”

Safi says this isn’t so much a theological debate on how to dispose of the Quran properly, but a charged conversation around a military force “that’s being looked at as an occupying force ... [A]n unlawful, violent force.” [1]

WSJ:Protests Against Quran-Burning Roil Afghanistan

KABUL—Afghanistan's government and religious leaders failed to mollify angry worshippers Friday, as a new wave of protests against the burning of Qurans at a U.S. military base swept across the country.

While most of Friday's demonstrations ended peacefully, several degenerated into turbulent clashes between Afghan police and marchers chanting anti-American slogans.

Afghan demonstrators shout anti-US slogans as they carry a wounded man during a protest in Herat on Friday

Afghan demonstrators shout anti-US slogans as they carry a wounded man during a protest in Herat on Friday.

The deadliest such clash took place in Herat, a normally tranquil city in western Afghanistan, where demonstrators tried to march toward the U.S. consulate compound. At least six people were killed and 65 injured during confrontations with the Afghan security forces protecting the building, according to Mahiddin Noori, a spokesman for the Herat governor. The protesters failed to reach the consulate.

All in all, at least 20 people have been killed, including two U.S. soldiers, in four days of violence that erupted after U.S.-led coalition forces at the Bagram Airfield tried to burn a truckload of Islamic literature, including copies of the Quran, Islam's holy book.

Afghan workers said they rescued the books from the incinerator and then smuggled them off the base to show to local leaders. That ignited an escalating series of violent protests that have targeted coalition military bases, Afghan government buildings, United Nations offices and other symbols of Western presence in the country.

The U.S. has tried to mute the anger by launching an investigation and repeatedly apologizing for the occurrence. On Thursday, President Barack Obama expressed his "deep regret" to President Hamid Karzai in a personal letter to the Afghan president in which he vowed to hold to account those responsible for the Bagram incident.

U.S. military officials have said the books were set aside for destruction because Afghan detainees at the Parwan military detention center at Bagram were using them to trade messages and share extremist writing. But it remains unclear why the soldiers decided to burn copies of the Quran—a particularly incendiary affront to Muslims who view the book as the sacred word of God as relayed to the Prophet Muhammad.

On the eve of Friday's protests, Mr. Karzai and the country's religious leaders tried to limit the violence by urging people to express their anger peacefully. Preachers in mosques across Kabul tried to reinforce that message during Friday's weekly prayers.

"Those who burned the Quran are illiterate," thundered a preacher in Kabul's Khaled Ibn Walid mosque. "They don't know what religion is, but for us the solution is not violent demonstrations that kill our own people."

Similar messages in mosques across Kabul prevented chaotic anti-American marches from sweeping the city center. But elsewhere in the country and in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghan police trying to block the marchers from converging on Western compounds clashed with protesters.

In Herat, shooting erupted as hundreds of protesters, some of them armed, tried to march toward the U.S. consulate, local officials said. Outside the city, demonstrators burned two police stations, Mr. Noori said.

As worshippers gathered for Friday prayers, U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, urged Afghans to be patient and wait for the results of the investigation.

"Working together with the Afghan leadership is the only way for us to correct this major error and ensure that it never happens again," he said in a statement.

On Thursday night, Gen. Allen, accompanied by the Afghan Army Chief of Staff Gen. Sher Karimi, flew to a joint U.S.-Afghan base in eastern Afghanistan where an Afghan soldier opened fire on American forces during a protest earlier that day, killing two.

"Now is not the time for revenge," Gen. Allen told U.S. soldiers gathered at the small base in Nangarhar province. "Now is the time to look deep inside your souls and remember your mission. Now is how we show the Afghan people that, as bad as that action was at Bagram, it was unintentional, and American's and ISAF soldiers do not stand for this." [1]

Also this is from ABC on the timing of the apology.

The White House says the president’s apology was conveyed before the U.S. troops were killed today.

Furthermore, the administration notes that the apology, which was included in a lengthy three-page letter from Obama to Karzai on a range of issues, is not unprecedented. In 2008, President Bush apologized to Iraq’s prime minister for an American sniper’s shooting of a Koran.[2]

Acid Attacks by Asian Muslims

This is Muslim on Muslim violence. It should be noticed that some Muslims are trying to fight this. Also acid attacks are hardly an ancient convention. I just wanted to put this in context.

We typically think of terrorism as a political act.

But sometimes it’s very personal. It wasn’t a government or a guerrilla insurgency that threw acid on this woman’s face in Pakistan. It was a young man whom she had rejected for marriage. As the United States ponders what to do in Afghanistan — and for that matter, in Pakistan — it is wise to understand both the political and the personal, that the very ignorance and illiteracy and misogyny that create the climate for these acid attacks can and does bleed over into the political realm. Nicholas Kristof, the New York Times op-ed columnist who traveled to Pakistan last year to write about acid attacks, put it this way in an essay at the time: “I’ve been investigating such acid attacks, which are commonly used to terrorize and subjugate women and girls in a swath of Asia from Afghanistan through Cambodia (men are almost never attacked with acid). Because women usually don’t matter in this part of the world, their attackers are rarely prosecuted and acid sales are usually not controlled. It’s a kind of terrorism that becomes accepted as part of the background noise in the region. ...

“Bangladesh has imposed controls on acid sales to curb such attacks, but otherwise it is fairly easy in Asia to walk into a shop and buy sulfuric or hydrochloric acid suitable for destroying a human face. Acid attacks and wife burnings are common in parts of Asia because the victims are the most voiceless in these societies: They are poor and female. The first step is simply for the world to take note, to give voice to these women.” Since 1994, a Pakistani activist who founded the Progressive Women’s Association to help such women “has documented 7,800 cases of women who were deliberately burned, scalded or subjected to acid attacks, just in the Islamabad area. In only 2 percent of those cases was anyone convicted.”

The geopolitical question is already hard enough: Should the United States commit more troops to Afghanistan and for what specific purpose? As American policymakers mull the options, here is a frame of reference that puts the tough choices in even starker relief: Are acid attacks a sign of just how little the United States can do to solve intractable problems there — therefore, we should pull out? Or having declared war on terrorism, must the United States stay out of moral duty, to try to protect women such as these — and the schoolgirls whom the Taliban in Afghanistan sprayed with acid simply for going to class — who have suffered a very personal terrorist attack? We offer links to smart essays that come to differing conclusions.

• In August, Perspective published a New York Times Magazine piece that followed up the story of Afghan sisters Shamsia and Atifa Husseini, who were attacked with acid simply for attending school. If you wish to refresh your memory, you may read the original article.

• Two very smart, informed observers come to opposite conclusions on the proper U.S. course of action in Afghanistan:

1. In his “Think Tank” blog at NewYorker.com, Steve Coll argues why we can’t leave — “What If We Fail In Afghanistan?” Read the essay in full.

2. In an essay entitled “The War We Can’t Win” in Commonweal (also reprinted in the November issue of Harper’s), Andrew J. Bacevich makes the case that we are overstating the importance of Afghanistan to U.S. interests. Bacevich is a professor of International Relations at Boston University and the author, most recently, of The Limits of Power. A retired Army lieutenant colonel, he served from 1969 to 1992, in Vietnam and the first Persian Gulf War. He was a conservative critic of the Iraq war. Several of his essays have run before in Perspective. Read his essay in full. [1]

She was locked in a bathroom for the past decade by her father

RAMALLAH, Jan 23 (Reuters) - A 21-year-old Palestinian woman has told authorities she was locked in a bathroom for the past decade by her father, who let her out only in the dead of night so she could clean their house.

"People are monsters," Baraa Melhem said her father would tell her, according to a social worker dealing with the case.

Palestinian police said on Monday they freed Melhem from the small bathroom of a home in the West Bank city of Qalqilya on Saturday after an anonymous tip.

Her father, who holds Israeli citizenship, was arrested and handed over to Israeli authorities. He is due to appear in an Israeli court on Wednesday, an Israeli police spokesman said.

Melhem told Voice of Palestine radio that when she was 11, her father confined her to the toilet and did not allow her to go to school or see her mother, whom he had divorced.

She was beaten with a baton and metal wires and given only one blanket to keep her warm, said the social worker, Hala Shreim.

"The bathroom was only 1-1/2 meters big, it was like a cell," Shreim said.

According to a statement issued by Palestinian police, the father, citing a "family dispute", admitted to locking up his daughter and feeding her mainly bread.

Melhem told Voice of Palestine that her father used to shave her hair and her eyebrows, and allowed her to shower only once a month. He would let her out of the bathroom every night at 1 a.m. to clean the house until 4 a.m., she added.

Melhem's father, the social worker said, often encouraged his daughter to commit suicide.

"Her only consolation was a radio which kept her connected to the world," Shreim said.

The young woman has now been reunited with her mother.

"She told me that she loves life and has to live," Shreim quoted Melhem as saying. [1]

Indonesian man persecuted for atheist statement on facebook

An Indonesian man who said that God did not exist in a posting on a Facebook page for atheists could face jail.

Civil servant Alexander Aan, 31, is now in protective police custody after he was attacked by an angry mob earlier this week.

He may also lose his job over his posting on the social networking site.

Atheism is a violation of Indonesian law under the founding principles of the country.

Indonesia - the world's most populous Muslim nation - recognises the right to practice five other religions aside from Islam, says the BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Jakarta.

Local media said a mob attacked Mr Aan when he arrived for work at a government office on Wednesday.

Police said that according to Indonesian criminal law, anyone who tried to stop others believing in a faith could face up to five years in prison

The Facebook page where he made his comments is now unavailable. Supporters of Mr An have urged police to release him. [1]

The above article is from the BBC English version.  In the Turkish version, the above picture was posted containing this old picture from The Thinking Atheist facebook page.  Though he did not actually post his comments to this page, the picture has led to increased Muslim postings on The Thinking Atheist facebook page.

The six legal religions in Indonesia are "Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Confucianism. Others are officially banned. It also prohibits alternative interpretations of recognized religions, including Islam."[2]

Talk about your ridiculous laws!

Funny take on 72 virgins

Obviously, I do not read Arabic so I cannot speculate on the validity of her exegesis.  Still, this is funny from Muslim who converted to Atheism.

Misconception #5: They’re actually white raisins, not virgins.

This one is has been widely popularized by the less-harsh critics of Islam, notably Irshad Manji. While I respect the work that she does from the inside (reforming Islam is a tough goal), the scholarship that suggests that “virgins” is a mistranslation of “raisins” is shaky at best. Beyond the well-recognizedlinguistic issues with the raisins idea, there is plenty in both the Quran and Hadith to point to the reward in heaven being women, not dried fruit.

Misconception #4: Having to teach all of those virgins would be tedious.

The virgins in Jannah are supposed to be everything that men desire. Furthermore, the ancient Arabs’ conception of the highest in sexual pleasure is penile-vaginal intercourse with a woman who has never had sex, so the idea was the utmost in sexual pleasure, not tedium.

Misconception #3: They wouldn’t be virgins for very long.

The houris’ virginity is described as eternally renewable, similar to that of Aphrodite in ancient mythology.

Misconception #2: Seventy-two is an arbitrary number.

Seventy-two, in classical Arabic, is a number used for exaggeration. It is similar to saying “If I told you once, I told you a thousand times” in English. No one literally means a thousand times; what is intended is countless times. Taking into account the Arab conception of virgins, seventy-two virgins, then, means more sexual pleasure than could be imagined.

Misconception #1: The virgins are from Earth.

This is, by and large, the most common misconception. Random people on the Internet did it. Family Guy did it. Even The New Yorker did it.The joke is, of course, that the “virgins” are not nubile women, but the types of people on Earth who tend to, at least stereotypically, stay virgins their whole lives, such as World of Warcraft players (that assumption is a fallacy itself, of course). Where the joke falls flat for those in the know, like me (and, soon, you), is that the houris are not human beings from Earth who died without having had sex, but are supposed to be heavenly maidens especially created to sate the lusts of men as understood by Muhammad...

...Oh, and why did the concept of houris make me doubt my faith? Not only did the idea of heavenly sex-bots awaiting my future Muslim husband trigger my insecurities, I was pissed off that I, as a woman, would not get my own sex-bots. [1]

People celebrate Christmas on December 25, January 6, 7, and 18

Iraqi Christian girls attend
Christmas Mass at Chaldean Catholic Church in
Amman, Jordan on December 25, 2011

The Grotto of the Nativity, with the birthplace of Christ on the left and the
Chapel of the Manger on the right

Muslim women visit the Bethlehem Christmas market.

People celebrate Christmas on December 25, January 6, 7, and 18

Christmas Traditions Around the World

Christmas in Bethlehem

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Three Christmases of the Holy Land

Favorite verse in the Quran

Abraham argues with a pagan about the supremacy of God.  Abraham notes that God is so powerful that He causes the sun to rise in the East.  Let us see if you can get it to rise in the West.  

Bethink thee of him who had an argument with Abraham about his Lord, because Allah had given him the kingdom; how, when Abraham said: My Lord is He Who giveth life and causeth death, he answered: I give life and cause death. Abraham said: Lo! Allah causeth the sun to rise in the East, so do thou cause it to come up from the West. Thus was the disbeliever abashed. And Allah guideth not wrongdoing folk. 

~ Surat Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2:258[1]

Of Mosques and Mormons

Mosques are plenty, churches are plenty, graveyards are plenty, but morals and whisky are scarce.  The Koran does not permit Mohammedans to drink.  Their natural instincts do not permit them to be moral.  They say the Sultan has eight hundred wives.  This almost amounts to bigamy.  It makes our cheeks burn with shame to see such a thing permitted here in Turkey.  We do not mind it so much in Salt Lake, however.  

~ Mark Twain The Innocents Abroad Chapter 7 originally published 1869

Note: Mormons had not abandoned polygamy at this point.  Today, they have abandoned polygamy for over a century.  

We have met the enemy and we are it

Is anti-Muslim politics on the rise in Florida?

Saudia Arabia Executes Another "Witch"

A Saudi woman has been executed for practising "witchcraft and sorcery", the country's interior ministry says.

A statement published by the state news agency said Amina bint Abdul Halim bin Salem Nasser was beheaded on Monday in the northern province of Jawf.

The ministry gave no further details of the charges which the woman faced.

The woman was the second person to be executed for witchcraft in Saudi Arabia this year. A Sudanese man was executed in September.'Threat to Islam'

BBC regionalist analyst Sebastian Usher says the interior ministry stated that the verdict against Ms Nasser was upheld by Saudi Arabia's highest courts, but it did not give specific details of the charges.

The London-based newspaper, al-Hayat, quoted a member of the religious police as saying that she was in her 60s and had tricked people into giving her money, claiming that she could cure their illnesses.

Our correspondent said she was arrested in April 2009.

But the human rights group Amnesty International, which has campaigned for Saudis previously sentenced to death on sorcery charges, said it had never heard of her case until now, he adds.

A Sudanese man was executed in September on similar charges, despite calls led by Amnesty for his release.

In 2007, an Egyptian national was beheaded for allegedly casting spells to try to separate a married couple.

Last year, a Lebanese man facing the death penalty on charges of sorcery, relating to a fortune-telling television programme he presented, was freed after the Saudi Supreme Court decreed that his actions had not harmed anyone.

Amnesty says that Saudi Arabia does not actually define sorcery as a capital offence. However, some of its conservative clerics have urged the strongest possible punishments against fortune-tellers and faith healers as a threat to Islam.[1]