Pastor Yousef: Convert or Die – Tehran delays execution to try to force Christians to apostalize
Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, the Iranian Christian cleric facing death for the crime of apostasy against an Islamic faith he never held, has been given a temporary stay of execution. Iran’s top judge, Ayatollah Sadegh Larijani, instructed presiding Judge Ghazi Kashani to delay carrying out capital punishment for a year in order to give time for Mr. Nadarkhani to recant Christianity and become a Muslim.
The Iranian regime may be responding to international pressure. Mr. Nadarkhani’s case has become a prominent cause for the religious-rights community. His story was first reported by Christian and Iranian dissident websites, then by Western media outlets. On International Human Rights Day, Dec. 9, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called on “every government to release all prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally, including Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, Father Thadeus Nguyen Van Ly [a Vietnamese Catholic priest], and the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo [dissident writer in prison in China].† Continue reading by clicking source link…
Source: Washington Times
My Comments:
Again, I am blown away by this all or nothing approach of religion. Â A few days ago, it was the terribly upsetting act by the “central” Sunni Islamic state of Saudi Arabia, in the execution of one of its citizen for the practice of witchcraft… Â Can you believe that witchcraft. Â At the very least ex-communicate her, send her away, but killing her. Â Now here we go again with the “central” Shia state of Iran, getting ready to execute a man because he professes Christianity. Â Aren’t Christians, like Jews people of the book, according to Islamic scriptures? Â Then what is this all about. Â Again, why not excommunicate him and send him away? Â Why would God or any god for that matter require such a sacrifice? Â This is disturbing. Â This is not to say that this blatant and callous approach to humanity is limited to the Islamic faith; it is no secret that is can be found well beyond the borders of these two countries. Â My heart breaks with these stories…