Kind of jarring news, given that President Trump (geez, I hate to write those two words) just returned from his visit to Saudi Arabia, all enthused about how great his talks with Saudi officials/royalty were.
So today I come across a 2014 story in the Independent, "Saudi Arabia declares all atheists are terrorists in new law to crack down on political dissidents."
In a string of royal decrees and an overarching new piece of legislation to deal with terrorism generally, the Saudi King Abdullah has clamped down on all forms of political dissent and protests that could "harm public order".
The new laws have largely been brought in to combat the growing number of Saudis travelling to take part in the civil war in Syria, who have previously returned with newfound training and ideas about overthrowing the monarchy.
To that end, King Abdullah issued Royal Decree 44, which criminalises "participating in hostilities outside the kingdom" with prison sentences of between three and 20 years, Human Rights Watch said.
Yet last month further regulations were issued by the Saudi interior ministry, identifying a broad list of groups which the government considers to be terrorist organisations - including the Muslim Brotherhood.
Article one of the new provisions defines terrorism as "calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based".
Well, I guess I'm a terrorist in Saudi eyes, since I embrace atheist thought and call into question the fundamentals of Islamic religion.
Which doesn't bother me, given that I don't live in Saudi Arabia.
What's disturbing, though, is knowing that quite a few religious zealots here in the United States mistakenly view Christianity as the foundation of our county. They probably wish American atheists could be singled out just as the Saudis have done -- though I doubt they'd go as far as to call us "terrorists."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciYPWQMzwR4
Posted by: Jim | May 30, 2017 at 11:07 AM
Apropos of Trump's recent visits to Saudi Arabia and to the Vatican, someone was telling me the other day that the Donald is, apparently, actually an atheist himself!
That sounded so improbable, and since I myself have zero idea about that either way, I tried a quick check via Google, but found nothing definitive.
It does appear, though, that -- whether actually atheist or not -- the man isn't by any means a raging fundamental Christian, or even a particularly devout Christian, or anything like that. Merely an opportunistic person not averse to using the Christian voter base.
Posted by: Appreciative Reader | June 06, 2017 at 07:38 AM
A.R., Donald Trump said he is a Presbyterian. They are not Evangelical , and they are Calvinists. They believe that, they can never loose their Salvation, once they have received it. I happen to also be a Calvinist. Trump is not an Atheist. But, he is also not an Evangelical in your face Fundamentalist, either.
Posted by: Jim Sutherland | June 06, 2017 at 12:24 PM
Quite a good discussion is it true but i believe one can loose salvation what if you deviate from the norms of christianity i think the problem is concentrating on evangelism, calvinist its all about personal relationship with God
Posted by: fridah.kivuli | July 02, 2017 at 01:59 AM