Freedom and Science
by Bob Clasen Abdul Rahman, raised a Muslim, who converted to Christianity, was released from jail yesterday in Afghanistan. He was branded by his own family as insane, because he had doubted the religion he was brought up in. He wisely disappeared as he had been threatened by death my many local religious authorities. He was offered asylum in Italy. It does seem a little reckless to announce your conversion from Islam in a conservative Islamic culture, since the penalty for conversion under Sharia (Holy Law) is death. Freedom to convert to another religion is apparently not part of Islamic culture. In conservative Islam, the Koran is accepted literally, just as some Christians accept the Bible literally. In many Moslem schools, the main subject taught is the Koran and arabic, the "holy language" of the Koran. Many onservative moslems reject western culture, including science, technology, and western economics, wherever they conflict with the Koran. (just as some conservat