In Afghanistan, and I would guess other countries, it is illegal to abandon your religion. So we have an Afghan who has abandoned Islam, claiming asylum on the grounds that he will be criminalised if he returns to his own country.
Imagine if we insisted on our children believing in santa claus and fairies and then in later life criminalised them for having rational thoughts and rejecting that belief. Some may think that this is not a fair comparison, or that I am being flippant, but the point is a serious one.
Most muslims have no choice about being a muslim. It is the way that they are brought up and the way that their parents and those before them are raised. Indoctrination from birth has powerful influence, and of course most muslims remain as muslims so that they can pass it on to their children. The same is to a lesser extent true of other religions, though apostasy in Catholicism is not normally punishable by death.
Surely, any club worth joining, can retain its membership without the threat of persecution from within.
Imagine if we insisted on our children believing in santa claus and fairies and then in later life criminalised them for having rational thoughts and rejecting that belief. Some may think that this is not a fair comparison, or that I am being flippant, but the point is a serious one.
Most muslims have no choice about being a muslim. It is the way that they are brought up and the way that their parents and those before them are raised. Indoctrination from birth has powerful influence, and of course most muslims remain as muslims so that they can pass it on to their children. The same is to a lesser extent true of other religions, though apostasy in Catholicism is not normally punishable by death.
Surely, any club worth joining, can retain its membership without the threat of persecution from within.
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