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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Iranian Moslems Debate With Iranian Christians About Religion |
| 2004-11-17 |
| From Compass Direct Iranian authorities moved Christian prisoner Hamid Pourmand to a military prison last week, deepening fears for the safety of the Protestant pastor jailed nine weeks ago. A former Muslim, Pourmand converted to Christianity nearly 25 years ago and was serving as lay pastor of a congregation in Bandar-i Bushehr when arrested on September 9. Married with two children, Pourmand is a colonel in the Iranian army. In recent months, prominent government officials have repeatedly denounced "foreign religions," which they accuse of threatening Iran's national security. In Iran's Islamic courts, a Muslim convicted of apostasy is subject to the death penalty, and several ex-Muslims who converted to Christianity have been covertly assassinated or executed by court order under the guise of spying for foreign countries. |
| Posted by:Mike Sylwester |
| #6 As a matter of fact Iam LiberalHawk, you cannot honestly draw moral equivelance between the two. As lex noted, Islam is regressing. |
| Posted by: JerseyMIke 2004-11-17 5:34:21 PM |
| #5 Today's X-ity has about as much in common with the X-ity of the middle ages as the web has in common with illuminated manuscripts. But Islam has not progressed, in fact has significantly regressed, since the twelfth century. |
| Posted by: lex 2004-11-17 2:15:59 PM |
| #4 "Some debate. You can always count on Islam to show its true face in the most violent and despicable manner when confronted with another belief system. " Are you familiar with the history of Christian-Jewish disputations in the middle ages? |
| Posted by: Liberalhawk 2004-11-17 2:13:17 PM |
| #3 RKB: That is true, but I don't count the Islamic ones as TRUE "martyrs." They are martyrs in that they are dying for their religion, but it isn't matyrdom (in my book) if you do the job yourself and look to take others with you. |
| Posted by: BA 2004-11-17 2:05:29 PM |
| #2 Christianity produced martyrs (literally "witnesses" in Greek) a good while before Islam arose. He won't be the first Xian martyr and perhaps not the last .... I wish that weren't true, but it is likely to be so. |
| Posted by: rkb 2004-11-17 12:40:37 PM |
| #1 Some debate. You can always count on Islam to show its true face in the most violent and despicable manner when confronted with another belief system. |
| Posted by: JerseyMike 2004-11-17 11:19:11 AM |