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Tuesday If we rely only on religious texts I suppose the great response to Ms. Sabety's article ["The first stone"], is indicative as to why the punishment of stoning still exists and seems to be growing in many areas of the world. I did not realize the "official" governments of some Islamic countries view it is an acceptable punishment that is endorsed/sanctioned by the Koran. I assumed previously that it was only a group of religious zealots or renegade government 'un-officials' who were promoting stoning as an appropriate punishment for adultery. I did not realize that as pointed out by Farzad's letter, ["People voted for Islam"] that they were actually voting to endorse such practices. I received a lot of email feedback regarding my previous letter about stoning. While many people may differ from my viewpoint, all of the feedback I received is helpful toward me learning about Iran, or Islamic issues, or my fascination with Persian/Iranian culture/heritage. None of my comments were intended to be offensive or insulting and I offer my apologies if indeed I offended any readers with my ignorance about the practice of stoning in the Islamic Republic of Iran. I am not Muslim and therefore do not in any way pretend to have expert knowledge of the matter. I am Christian and can respond to some questions regarding Christianity. To my limited understanding, stoning is mainly an "Islamic" issue as I am uninformed of any Christian or Jewish governments that endorse the act. Perhaps it is also practiced in countries where they have a predominate religion other than the ones mentioned here. I do not know if stoning is actually endorsed by the teachings of the Islamic holy book(s) I do not mean to imply that only Islamic countries have controversial "punishment" laws or controversial "religious" interpretations. America definitely has its share of vigilantes, and hate-groups that take justice into their own hands. Sometimes these individuals even find their way into "authority" positions very scaryor worse yet, you'll find them in Church! America also has its share of individuals who would discredit the "religious codes/doctrines/basis" the country was founded upon. America is predominately a Christian nation and therefore was founded upon Biblical doctrines. Many Christians believe in the 'perfection' of the Bible & that all verses are there according to God's authority and protection including the passage about Jesus forgiving the woman caught in adultery. Many Christians (but, not all) seek to protect life and do not agree with the death penalty, abortion, or euthanasia. Many (not all) believe in showing mercy to the 'undesirables', the 'criminals', the 'unloved', or the 'hopeless' ones of societymany go to prisons to tell inmates that as long as they are living, it is never too late to receive God's forgiveness and loveeven for the most horrible crimes they may have committed. It is true that many, many Americans and Christians are worldly, materialistic and self-indulgent while claiming to be Godly people. They turn a blind eye to crime and injustices of their fellow man at home and in other places/countries likewisethey justify their attitude of indifference with flimsy excuses, or plead ignorance. The Bible tells there were people like this even during 'Biblical' times. But these are actions contrary to the teachings of the Bible. Many twist verses to prove their point saying: "Well God expects me to take care of my family so I can't be giving money away to a bunch of people who won't even help themselvesThey can just get a better paying job and work like me, nobody ever gave me anything.If you can't do the time then don't do the crime.or, 'an eye for an eye' (probably the most often misquoted Bible verse). These statements are made hoping the Bible will validate their attitudenot because they practice what the Bible teaches but so they will be held in high esteem. Adding to or taking away from the Bible is a big-time "no-no" for Christians (Revelation 22:18-20) 'I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.' So if one wanted to lessen the validity of the Bible, it seems it would make more sense to have omitted, instead of including, the passage about Jesus offering 'mercy' and 'forgiveness' to the adulteress instead of stoning her? (Perhaps I misunderstood or missed CC's point that stoning is "Neither inhumane nor unjust". CC stated that the passage about Jesus forgiving instead of stoning one who had committed adultery was from a forged addition. For a Christian to add verses to the Bible (even if they were positive and seemed to be an improvement) would be like a Muslim adding that another prophet came after Mohammad and improved upon his teachingsboth 'assertions' would nullify one's claim to being a Christian or a Muslimboth would be viewed as a "big-time no-no" as trying to improve upon the texts.). Again, from my limited knowledge of 'stoning' in our world today, I am not aware of any Christian or Jewish endorsements of the practice. I do not mean to imply that Americans or Christians are perfectvery far from it! However, I don't think anything will be accomplished if we try to validate our laws with our religious texts if we are not willing to accept the "total" teachings of the holy book we follownot just to pick and chose some verses that we 'like' and then to take others out of context and twist them to say what we want. A smorgasbord method may be great for trying different foods but it never really works for religion and only serves to confuse people. Just about all religions have both good and bad representatives of the faith so maybe we should evaluate the teachings of these religious texts and not the followerswhether that be Confucius' Analects/Five Classics, the Hindus Veda, the Muslim's Koran, the Christian's Bible, the Jewish Talmud & Hebrew Bible.... Again, my religion of choice is Christianity. I went against some of my family's history and decided differently about religion. I do not think it wise to debate religion when I know very little about any other religion other than Christianity so I do not offer any ideas that any portion of the Koran/Hadith is accurate/inaccurate or if it is authentic or forged.... Since I am not an expert on religion, I suppose it was only my curiosity (albeit morbid) to learn more about the topic of stoning in the Islamic Republic of Iran (or any other country where stoning is practiced).
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