APOSTASY AND RELIGION

A Sudanese woman is sentenced to death for apostasy. An 8-months pregnant Sudanese woman is sentenced to 100 lashes and death because they found her guilty for the crime “renunciation of faith”. She was given until last May 15 to renounce her Christianity but she wouldn’t. She claims she was raised Christian by her Ethiopian Christian mom, but the court says otherwise as her father is Muslim (who FYI, left their family when she was 6). She is currently in prison with her 20month old toddler and just so you guys know, her brother was the one who reported her to the officials. Oh, she’s also an adulterer as her marriage is considered void due to it being inter-faith.

Reading this article makes me feel like I’m reading an overly exaggerated satire, but I’m not. This is a legit news report. This is real. This is happening in 2014. I don’t have a problem with exercising religious beliefs but I do have a problem with how people use religious dogma to justify unfair and hateful actions (jihads and crusades included). At the end of the day, correct me if my assumption is wrong, all religions aim for the good. What’s more innately good than pure, unconditional love? When we exclude others who are different from us, doesn’t that veer off the love for others we were taught by our holy books?

I get the importance of respecting traditions. However, the world has changed so much since the time those books were written. I feel that people who are obsessive in following everything word per word end up neglecting the core values those commands were supposed to represent. Prophet Muhammad said that the best of people are those that benefit mankind. Mankind. Not muslim-kind. Not semitic-kind. Mankind. Each and every human being. We have to respect not just traditions but also other individuals and their choices; even if they’re different from us. As Jesus’ commandment goes: Love one another as I have loved you (John 15:12). Coming from the guy who was nailed on the cross for our sins, this is some deep love he’s talking about! Let’s not forget how he made it a point to include the outcasts – the prostitutes, the lepers, the poor, the foreigners – in his church. Who are we to be picky on who to give compassion to?