BYU students investigated by school after reporting rape

[smilesammich 10,727]

OR that its an organized world wide network supported by millions

OR that its an organized world wide network supported by millions

That story would be relevent if the church members had gotten together to lash or stone the victims

you guys posting in relation to the OP or what? had no idea you were so weary of mormons.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

you guys posting in relation to the OP or what? had no idea you were so weary of mormons.

White shirts and bicycles scare me

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

OR that its an organized world wide network supported by millions

OR that its an organized world wide network supported by millions

You mean like the Vatican? Who basically turned a blind eye and protected child molesters for decades while priests under their charge tortured and raped thousands of children?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/07/for-the-first-time-the-vatican-unveils-how-it-punished-thousands-of-pedophile-priests/

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

You mean like the Vatican? Who basically turned a blind eye and protected child molesters for decades while priests under their charge tortured and raped thousands of children?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/07/for-the-first-time-the-vatican-unveils-how-it-punished-thousands-of-pedophile-priests/

Something like that but think millions not hundreds

[smilesammich 10,727]

Something like that but think millions not hundreds

1.2 billion

There are an estimated 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world, according to Vatican figures. More than 40% of the world's Catholics live in Latin America - but Africa has seen the biggest growth in Catholic congregations in recent years.

[We Keep Receipts 9,238]

Something like that but think millions not hundreds

I think Val said 1.2 billion, so we were both wrong.

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

I think Val said 1.2 billion, so we were both wrong.

I have her blocked so I don't know what she says.

1.2 billion

There are an estimated 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in the world, according to Vatican figures. More than 40% of the world's Catholics live in Latin America - but Africa has seen the biggest growth in Catholic congregations in recent years.

You totally missed the point

[smilesammich 10,727]

I have her blocked so I don't know what she says.

You totally missed the point

what's that point again?

[The Nature Boy 7,659]

what's that point again?

Who knows we are too far into the thread to care. ?

[smilesammich 10,727]

mmmk. this is only page 3

[JayJayH 546]

Yes it took you months to respond to me. No worries. ;-)

I'm going to leave this right here for you

[...]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/2-church-pastors-among-32-192400986.html

Guess we'll pin this on Allah too

I'm not sure we're speaking the same language. You're saying bad [edited - VJ Moderation] things happens in every religion, and are committed by people who proclaim every religion. I agree 100%.

I'm talking about scope. Size of problem.

Show me an actual governmental body anywhere that implements Biblical law. Show me a Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Baha'i, Jain, etc. society where (1) strict adherence to scripture is law, and (2) the punishment for leaving said society is death.

I am absolutely certain that there exists a crazy cult of Christians somewhere in Kansas - Westboro Baptist Church for example - Who think Biblical law should be the law of the land. The difference is, they're fringe groups. Usually laughed at by greater society, and when they do do something crazy, they are generally arrested and go to prison. This is true whether we're talking about Kansas, Ireland or the Philippines.

But I am not talking about fringe groups. In northern Nigeria, Mauretania, Yemen, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, UAE, Qatar, Bahrain and Brunei you are put to death for blasphemy. In Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Malaysia, the Maldives, Morocco, Oman, Sudan and Turkey, the punishment is usually lengthy prison sentences. Meanwhile, the last person who was hung for blasphemy in the UK for example, was in 1697.

Apostasy. The act of leaving a religion. Considered a right in virtually every country in the world. Except, in Mauretania, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, Saudi Arabia. Iran, Afghanistan. Pakistan, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE it is punishable by death, while in northern Nigeria, Egypt, Oman, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Malaysia and Indonesia, you are thrown in prison. It remains a crime in Morocco, Algeria, Libya and all Muslim-majority former Soviet Republics as well. In Bangladesh, Turkey, Tunisia, Albania and Bosnia it isn't a crime, but severe social pressure exists. I've heard people tout Bangladesh for its secular penal code before for example. Yet atheists are frequently hacked to death by machetes there, while the government really doesn't care.

If a Christian group in Colorado for example subjected its members to death threats for insulting Jesus that's one thing. If it threatened death upon members for leaving, that's another. We'd call it a cult. If the State of Colorado and a majority or significant plurality of Colorado's population supported this cult, what would we call it?

There is no Muslim-majority society on this planet where some form of religious law isn't enforced. Actually, you could argue Albania and Bosnia as exceptions to this, while Kazakhstan seems pretty lax in enforcing its more outlandish religious laws. What do they all have in common? They are former Soviet or Yugoslav Republics where religion was severely discouraged (if not de facto banned) for most of the 20th century. Likewise, some African countries like Senegal and Guinea are Muslim-majority and secular. What do they generally have in common? Islam is watered down and indigenous African beliefs tend to replace Islamism.

Catholicism has 1.2 billion adherents worldwide, the majority of whom live in secular societies, and where scriptures have been watered down and mostly cherry picked to fit into secular society. Where some religiously inspired laws do exist, they pertain mostly to issues of abortion, divorce or same-sex marriage. Extreme groups exist, and are usually considered "crazy" fringe elements.

Islam has 1.4 billion adherents worldwide, the majority of whom live under some form of Sharia law. Where secular laws exist, they are generally either secondary to religious laws, or exist alongside severe social pressure to conform to religiosity. Extreme groups are not just ISIS or Al Qaida, but the governments of most of the countries.

Do we have this problem in the U.S.? No. Muslims here make up less than 1% of the population, are generally spread very thin, and have traditionally had high levels of education and income. The U.S. has never had mass immigration of uneducated and low-skilled workers from the Muslim world. Mass immigration to the U.S. has historically been from Europe, Latin America and East Asia.

France and the U.K. have both had decades of mass immigration from all over the world. But how many problems have France really had with integrating its quarter million Vietnamese immigrants? None. How many Brits ever really complain about the Indians? None. Meanwhile, the U.K. now openly have sharia tribunals existing alongside British courts.

Do I 'hate Muslims?' No. Absolutely not. I support actual secular Muslims like Maajid Nawaz in everything that they do. I want to see Islam get rid of its stigma and its crazies relegated to the fringes. I'd love to see the day when Muslim women aren't forced, pressured or brainwashed into covering up, when imams discuss whether to ordain gay marriages rather then whether or not to kill them, when drawings of Mohammed are just as offensive and normal as drawings of Jesus, and when the far left stops treating conservative Muslims any different than they treat evangelical Christians, Mormons and southern Baptists.

What is so scary to me about the left these days. And I mean the far left. Is that whenever you offend Islam or Muslims, they scream "racism!" and "Islamophobia!"

Yet, if you had drawn incendiary pictures of Jesus in the Middle Ages, would the far left be shouting "Christianophobe!" or "Racist!" at people while the church burned them at the stake for heresy?

I say let's offend Islam and Muslims even more. Let's push Islam's boundaries to the brink. After all, we live in a secular society today because of people who challenged the Vatican, pushed boundaries and offended the church as it was into ridicule.

Edited May 31, 2016 by TBoneTX
to remove scatological term

[JayJayH 546]

Meanwhile, the last person who was hung for blasphemy in the UK for example, was in 1697.

Actually, let me correct myself. The last person who was murdered for blasphemy in the UK was in 2016.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/29/man-from-bradford-charged-with-murder-of-glasgow-shopkeeper-asad/