Religion the cause of endless misery 195

The article we quote here, by James Heiser at The New American, is about Christian women in Islamic states being raped by Muslim men who all too easily get away with it. The rapists’ motive, in addition to lust, is often (the writer says ) to force the victim to convert to Islam.

We post this information not because we are in the least bit sympathetic to Christianity (though generally these days Christianity is not a violent or persecuting religion like Islam), but because we want to show how harm and misery is caused by the existence of religion as such. 

We do not imagine that if religion died out  there would be no more wars, massacres, oppression, persecution. We do not allege that religion is the cause of evil in human nature, but that historically religion has most persistently given rise to, and used to justify, wars, massacres, oppression, persecution.

It has also been, and continues to be, the cause of blighting unhappiness in the private lives of uncountable millions of individuals.

For Zubaida Bibi, a Christian woman working in a garment factory in the Korangi Industrial Area of Karachi, Pakistan, the workday on October 12 at Crescent Enterprises probably began like most. Her job as a custodian helped make it possible for her to care for her children. But before her shift was over, a Muslim worker at the factory attempted to rape her, and then slit her throat, leaving four orphans without a mother to care for them. And the case of Zubaida Bibi is far from unique: In Pakistan, the phenomena of Islamic men raping Christian women is becoming more common. …

On October 12, 2011, during duty hours, Zubaida Bibi entered to clean factory bathrooms when one Muslim employee named Mohammad Asif followed her and locked door behind him.

When Mohammad Asif attempted to sexually assault Zubaida Bibi, she cried for help [upon] which Mohammad Asif took out a dagger and slit [her] throat.

The factory management called [for] police help and Mohammad Asif was arrested …

One might want to imagine that the case of Zubaida Bibi was isolated, or that the assault and murder of this woman had nothing to do with the religious beliefs of the alleged murderer and his victim. However, the truth is that in Islamic societies such as Pakistan, it is not at all uncommon for Muslims to get away without punishment for raping Christian women.

Many Christian girls are raped … in Pakistan. … [They] are particularly vulnerable to these types of crimes because Muslim authorities are reluctant to protect them when their rights are violated by Muslims. …

The president of the Pakistan Christian Congress, Dr. Nazir Bhatti, told us, “The incidents of rape and enforced conversion of Christian women to Islam is rising every year. 99.9% of rape cases go unreported in Pakistan… If a Muslim man rapes a Christian girl, then he easily forces her to convert to Islam, marries her and covers up his heinous crime of rape under Islamic law. Some cases of rapes of Christian women are reported, but the majority of such rapes are never reported.” …

There are rising incidents of sexual harassment against Christian women workers on workplaces in Pakistan which go unreported due to cultural and social values. The influential Muslims feel free to kidnap and rape Christian women in Pakistan where Islamic laws protect culprits. In kidnap and rape cases against Christian women, the Muslim culprits walk free from [the] courts …

A report from the Barnabas Fund was released in September, detailing the widespread problem in Pakistani society of Muslim men kidnapping Christian girls and forcing them to marry the very men who abducted them. According to the report, the horrifying tragedy of such a crime is played out hundreds of times every year in Pakistan:

“The abduction and forced conversion to Islam of Christian girls who are then married against their will to their captors is a disturbing and growing trend in Pakistan; it is estimated that there are over 700 cases every year.” …

The forced conversions and marriages are often carried out by influential Muslim families who threaten and severely beat the young girls to frighten them into compliance …

One father was told by police to “forget his daughters” after the two Christian sisters were abducted, raped and forcibly converted in Faisalabad in May.

Even when a captive does manage to escape, it is by no means the end of her suffering. If a woman leaves her new Muslim family and Islam to return to her Christian background, she is considered an apostate — even though she was forcibly converted — and is therefore liable to be killed.

The horrifying case of the murder of Zubaida Bibi is made all the more terrifying by the commonality of the crime which motivated it. Foreign intervention cannot bring about a change in a society which is so fundamentally influenced by a religion which justifies such crimes; but for those who do not yet live under Islam, Bibi’s death is a powerful reminder that the religion embraced by an individual — or a society — shapes the entire lives of those who adhere to that religion.

Yes, unless the individual walks away from it, which is a very difficult thing to do in countries where the majority and the ruling power are Muslim. We know of a few who have done it. Ayaan Hirsi Ali is one: with extraordinary intellect, courage, and pertinacity she escaped from Islam and became a star in the West. But perhaps she is too exceptional to be an example for many others to follow.

Please read here the amazing story of this great atheist and free marketeer – and then read her books.