Liberal Free Chat Zone

[WTMHouston]

Based on some reading I have done, it is possible (though not certain) that Bibles would not be banned from Christian prisoners in some countries, perhaps UAE, Qatar, and Kuwait. Others, however, like Saudi Arabia and Iran, would clearly not permit it. Some sources for general information about religious freedom in other countries can be found at:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/hruae00.html

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/hrarabtoc.html

We should all be careful about lumping all Arabs or middle easterners into the same generic categories. It is no more appropriate than some in the Arab world blaming all Americans, westerners, or Israelis for the actions of an extreme minority or for isolated, unauthorized, and condemned individual actions. Bigotry does not cease to be bigotry simply because the shoe is on the other foot.

That said, destruction of any religious material by anyone is intolerable. It is one of the core fundamental values our country is based on. Even if all middle eastern countries prohibited prisoners from having Bibles, it would not justify, on moral grounds, any US authority desecrating another's religious symbols -- even if it was justified on national security grounds, and it may very well have been. If it happened, and there is grave doubt that it did, it was wrong. There is also little doubt that had any investigation revealed that it did happen, those responsible would have been punished. But, as wrong as it would have been, it certainly did not justify the extreme reactions and violence exhibited in other countries. Even if it happened, it was certainly not every American who did it and I suspect that the vast majority of Americans would condemn it.

On a personal note, I would not be offended by exclusion of religious material from those detained at Gitmo, and under the latest Supreme Court ruling, exclusion may very well be lawfully justified. But, once we have given them the material, desecration is not tolerable any more than we would sanction the desecration of Bibles. War or not, we are still a nation of laws and are bound to our constitution. If we accept lawlessness, then we have no right to complain about others lawlessness.