Pat Condell: How gay is Islam?

0:28 - "Among UK Muslims disapproval is 100%."

"Muslims in Britain have zero tolerance towards homosexual acts. ... None of the 500 British Muslims interviewed believed that homosexual acts were morally acceptable."

Muslims in Britain have zero tolerance of homosexuality, says poll The Guardian, 7 May 2009

2:28 "In Iran, they've settled the matter by hanging them from cranes in public."

Gays should be tortured and hanged, says Iranian minister meeting British MPs Daily Mail, 14 Nov 2007

Execution in Iran

2:32 - "In Mauritania they use the more traditional method, stoning to death."

"Any adult Muslim man who commits an impudent act against nature with an individual of his sex will face the penalty of death by public stoning."

"Deciphering Motive: Establishing Sexual Orientation as the 'One Central Reason' for Persecution in Asylum Claims", Columbia Human Rights Law Review, authored by Ritu Ghai, 43.2:349 (2012), page 522, footnote #4

2:37 - "In Saudi Arabia they prefer beheading, as they do for many things in that country, including witchcraft."

In January 2002, Saudi Arabia executed three men for "sodomy, marriage among themselves, and inciting pedophilia" (Paris Le Monde 4 Jan. 2002). The three men were beheaded by sword in public.

Saudi Arabia: The situation of homosexuals, including treatment by authorities and legal penalties Refworld

2:45 - "In countries that don't include the death penalty for being gay, it's still punishable by flogging and imprisonment."

Maldives (100% Muslim) — House arrest for women; banishment or whippings for men.
Morocco (99.9% Muslim) — Fine and between six month and three years in jail.
Afghanistan (>99% Muslim) — Imprisonment.
Kuwait — (>99% Muslim) Up to seven years in jail.
Somalia (99% Muslim) — Possible death penalty by stoning in southern parts of the country; elsewhere, a jail sentence of up to three years.
Algeria (99% Muslim) — Fines and a jail sentence of up to three years.
Yemen (~99% Muslim) — Imprisonment up to seven years, whipping with 100 lashes, or death by stoning, depending on gender and circumstances.
Tunisia (~98%) — Up to three years in prison; same-sex activity between women is legal.
Sudan (>97% Muslim) — Five years in prison, life imprisonment, flogging, and/or death penalty.
Libya — (97% Muslim) Up to five years of jail time.
Pakistan (96.4%) — Between two and 10 years in prison.
Bangladesh (89% Muslim) — Fine and up to 10 years in prison.
Syria (~87% Muslim) — Up to three years in prison.
Qatar (81% Muslim) — Up to seven years in prison (and for Muslims, corporal punishment or death).
Oman (75% Muslim) — Imprisonment from six months to three years.
Malaysia (61.3% Muslim) — Up to 20 years in prison and possibly whipping.

BuzzFeed: 76 Countries Where Anti-Gay Laws Are As Bad As Or Worse Than Russia’s (% Muslim statistics from Wikipedia)

2:49 - "It was announced recently that several Islamic countries are trying to find a medical test to detect gay people and stop them at the border, so disgusted are they to homosexuality."

Gulf states to introduce medical testing on travelers to 'detect' gay people and stop them from entering the country Mail Online 8 October 2013

3:00 - "They even forced the United Nations to remove sexual orientation from a resolution condemning arbitrary executions, because Islamic countries want the right to arbitrarily execute gay people without being condemned for it."

UN cowardice is a betrayal of its gay citizens Patrick Strudwick: The Guardian, 23 Nov 2013

U.N. panel cuts gay reference from violence measure Reuters, Nov 17, 2010

Drunk With Blood: Audiobook preview

Well, we're finally back from our cross-country road trip. I'll put up a few more pictures (I'll even include one of Steve Weeks!) and tell you about our adventures in a later post. Until then, I thought I'd let you preview the first few chapters of the audiobook, which should be available next week at audible.com and iTunes.

Introduction



Genesis



Exodus

On the road with the SAB: Palmyra, New York -- the birthplace of Mormonism

After Philip subbed for me at the Magnet Theater in New York City, we headed west toward Palmyra, New York -- the birthplace of Mormonism. We started with a guided tour of the Grandin Printing Shop, where the Book of Mormon was first printed in 1830. Then we toured the Smith family log home and visited the "sacred grove" where Jesus and his father first appeared to the 14-year old Joseph Smith. We finished up by climbing Hill Cumorah, where he dug up the golden plates.

Our tour guide was a nice young woman who tried her very best to convert us. She insisted that we give the Moroni challenge a try in the sacred grove. (This challenge is based on Moroni 10:4, which is the John 3:16 equivalent in Mormonism.) We agreed to do so if she would read Deuteronomy 13:6-10 and explain how a kind and loving God could inspire such a passage. She promised to read it and send us her explanation in an email. I'll let you how that turns out.



So Philip and I took the Moroni 10:4 challenge in the sacred grove.



And here's Philip at the Moroni monument on the top of Hill Cumorah.



Next stop: Mundelein, Illinois.

On the road with the SAB: The Magnet Theater in New York City

Steve was sick, so I filled in. The show will be up next week, but an audience member tagged me in this photo:



Here's the link.

On the road with the SAB: Red Top Mountain and A. H. Stephens State Parks

As I mentioned back in August, Skeptic's Annotated Bibles were placed in cottages rented by the Georgia state parks. So since Philip and I were on our way to New York, and since Georgia is (sort of) on the way, we decided to visit the parks that agreed to put SABs next to Gideon Bibles in their cottages.

The first park that we visited was Red Top Mountain. We asked the park ranger if we could view the rooms, and to our surprise, she said OK.

Here is what we found when we opened the drawer next to the bed.

Red Top Mountain state park has eight cottages with an SAB (and a Gideon Bible) in each of the two bedrooms. (We didn't check all of them, but the ranger assured us that there are two in each cottage.)

Our next stop was A. H. Stephens State Historical Park near Crawfordville, Georgia. There are four cottages at the park that were also supplied with SABs. So we stopped at the office and asked the park manager if we could see one of them. He said OK, and, once again, we found an SAB sitting next to a Gideon Bible in each of the two bedroom drawers.

The strangest thing about this very strange affair is that apparently no one has yet commented or complained. I'd have never thought such a thing could happen in Georgia.

---

The second park that we visited, by the way, is named after Alexander H. Stephens who was the Vice President of the Confederacy. Here's what he had to say about slavery:

Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition. (Cornerstone Speech)

Here is his statue by his graveside at the park.

Alexander H. Stephens graveside memorial at A. H. Stephens State Park

Next stop: New York City.