Gods Ire of a Saint

(Q)

Encephaloid Martini
Valued Senior Member
Saudi Arabia Says Valentine's Day Incurs God's Ire

RIYADH (Reuters) "There are only two holidays in Islam -- Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha -- and any other holidays, whether to celebrate an individual, group or event, are inventions which Muslims are banned from," said the committee, headed by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh.

The kingdom, which implements a strict version of Islamic law, bans non-Muslim holidays and its morality police usually conduct raids to ensure shops do not sell gifts or ornaments on New Year, Christmas or Valentine's Day, which is named after a Christian saint.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/20040213/wl_nm/saudi_valentine_dc_1

Touche! :D
 
Questions for Christians

Are you outraged at this intolerance and banning of your religious holiday?

If you lived in Saudi Arabia along with the other 7 million foreigners, would you ignore this ban, move away or protest and try to change the ban?

Do you feel that Muslim holidays should be equally banned in the country you reside?

Questions for Muslims

Do you agree that all religious holidays aside from Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha be banned in the country you reside?

Do you already participate in other non-Muslim religious holidays as suggested in the article, even if just to celebrate another individual?

Do you actively protest similar banning, like the headscarves in France for example? Do you also agree that Christians should actively protest the Saudi ban?
 
"Are you outraged at this intolerance and banning of your religious holiday?"

Outraged? Not exactly. But if I lived in that country, I might be. And if I was outraged, it would not be for religious reasons.

"If you lived in Saudi Arabia along with the other 7 million foreigners, would you ignore this ban, move away or protest and try to change the ban?"

Would probably ignore it. There are two things in the universe (and outside of the universe) that simply cannot be refuted, and each are often confused with one another: Truth, and Nonsense.

"Do you feel that Muslim holidays should be equally banned in the country you reside?"

Absolutely not. One of the principle endeavors of democracy is to eliminate such trends. It would be one thing if there were an annual feast of Islamic terrorism; such a holiday--which does not deserve the title--should, and must, be banned. But any holiday that does not interfere with the regular social order should not be banned by a government. The problem of course is theocracy, and, within this kind of theocracy, fundamentalism. Yet I think that such antics do a grave disservice even to the word "fundamental."
 
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