Posted on 03/26/2006 6:37:06 AM PST by SirLinksalot
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From Monsters and Critics.com
South Asia News Mar 26, 2006, 19:00 GMT
Rome/Kabul - An Afghan man at the centre of an international outcry because he risks being sentenced to death for converting to Christianity has said he is ready to die for his faith. In an interview published on Sunday by Italian daily La Repubblica, Abdul Rahman said: \'I do not want to die. But if God will decide this way, I am ready to confront my choices, until the end.\' Rahman, who is 40 and has two teenage daughters, could be sentenced to death under Afghanistan\'s strict Islamic code after admitting that he converted from Islam to Christianity. According to the country\'s constitution, minority religious rights are protected, but Muslims have to follow the strict tenets of Islam. In a court appearance March 16, Rahman admitted that he is a Christian. The case has sparked concern worldwide, including official government reactions from, among others, the United States, Italy and Germany, where he once lived for some time. Speaking to La Repubblica, Rahman said his conscience was clean. \'I know I am in the right. I have no regrets. I respect Afghan law as I respect Islam. But I chose to become a Christian, for myself, for my soul. It is not an offence,\' said Rahman, who was answering questions put to him by La Repubblica via a human rights worker who visited him in jail, some 40 kilometres south of the capital Kabul.
Rahman said he had converted to Christianity after visiting Europe and working for a Catholic humanitarian agency in Peshawar. In the latest development in the case, an Afghan judge said Sunday he was referring the case to the prosecutor, directing him to investigate further the defendant\'s psychological state. Speaking to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa, Judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada said that the case cannot proceed further until all the technical investigations are complete. \'Even Rahman\'s family members including his daughters and his cousin in their testimony before the court held that he was mentally sick and was under treatment at Peshawar in Pakistan,\' Mawlavizada said. Mawlavizada said that Rahman in his testimony said he was facing psychological problems, including hearing \'some voices.\' Judges could decide to spare his life if he is shown to be suffering from serious psychological problems. But in his interview to La Repubblica, Rahman sought to defend his decision to convert to Christianity and denied being insane, saying: \'I am not mad and I am no hero. I was born and grew up in a very poor family. But my experience abroad enriched me and made me understand many things.\' Speaking in a Rome parish on Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI referred to the case by calling on the faithful to be \'close to all those Christians who suffer persecutions because of their faith.\' Though he did not specifically mention Afghanistan, Benedict denounced countries in which \'religious freedom is absent or, despite its presence on paper, suffers from numerous restrictions.\' The pope had previously written to Afghan President Hamid Karzai calling for the respect of human rights in Afghanistan and for the charges to be dropped.
Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to Karzai and urged him to find a \'favourable resolution\' to the case. The case has put the Bush administration in the tricky position of trying to respect Afghan sovereignty while promoting religious freedom - a key part of President George W Bush\'s agenda to spread democracy. Karzai, whose government was established after US-led forces toppled the Taliban in 2001, is a close US ally. Rahman was arrested in early February in Kabul after family members filed a complaint with the government, accusing him of rejecting Islam. © 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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There is one meiator between God and men and women.That is Jesus christ.Jesus said,I am the way, the truth, and the life.No one comes to the Father except through me.
I said what I had to say about this in an earlier post, to the effect that this is what we are supposed to be at war against.
I pray for him and I salute his courage. A brave man.
Seems to me he is slightly off a bit. Every image shows somebody waiting/wanting to die. His eyes are glazed over with a wild look. I think he is just a nut case.
Abdul Rahman is a very brave man. Islam would prove itself more worthy of being a true religion if it could rely on the strength of its ideals rather than threats of death against those who are considering conversion to other beliefs.
All I want to know about Muslims I learned on 9/11.
This is not a war of Religion it is a war of civilizations. Muslims want us to live 500 years in the past. The only way for the Muslim religion to succeed is to keep the masses in poverty, and promise their rewards in the next life. ( true of most major religions also ) Prosperous people don't need religion as a crutch.
This is the problem we face in Iraq. Democracy and free enterprise are not synonymous but you can't have a prosperous economy without both. Iraq as a prosperous self sufficient nation would destabilize the entire Muslim culture.
It almost makes you wonder if he wasn't given a glimpse of the true. He is either getting help from above to maintain his strength or he is one of those people that possess a steel will.
I think that it's more disappointing that this thread would get more hits if it had concerned people's worldly concerns.
Yeah too bad the man doesn't cower for his faith and have a good make up and fashion consultant in prison....
That is clearly not the case. From the article:
In an interview published on Sunday by Italian daily La Repubblica, Abdul Rahman said: 'I do not want to die. But if God will decide this way, I am ready to confront my choices, until the end.'
Remember, we only have the photographic images which the Afghan government has permitted to be disseminated. If they want to make sure he looks crazy, they certainly have the power to tweak the images.
Sadly, this mans days are numbered over there if he doesn't get a bodyguard. Mental or no he's amazingly brave to stand up against those freaks..what do they have to fear from a man who loves Jesus? Oh, you can answer that question.
What is odd to me is the left wing nutballs actually continuously saying Muslims, Christians/Jews have the same God,G!D and Allah the moon god?....hmmmm, now that's either mental or just very theologically challenged.
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