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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Brumar89 who wrote (95121)	4/20/2003 1:09:57 AM
From: Sun Tzu	Respond to of 281500

That is possible but not necessarily so. Here's a little story for you to put this in perspective. I met an Iranian Baha'i once who had converted from Islam to Baha'i. In every interpretation of Islam that I know of this is punishable by death, though the rules can be interpreted otherwise if you really wanted to. Anyway, Baha'is believe that before you can marry someone, you need the parental consent from all sides. So this guys goes to his father to get his consent who being a devout Muslim is very much upset about his son's conversion. In the end the father says that he is a devotee of Ayatollah X (can't remember his name) and if the son wants his consent he should go and get it from the Ayatollah. Now this is only a few years after the revolution and at the height of fundamentalism in Iran. This guy enters the office of the Ayatollah and says he has a request. He writes a letter explaining his situation and sits in the waiting room. I can't begin to tell you how dangerous his action was given all that was happening at the time. He says that the Ayatollah's assistant delivered the letter and came back very angry at him telling him what kind of crap he is trying to pull? He went on to say, his excellency has decreed that you are insane and therefore are not responsible for your actions. So grab your letter and get lost and do not discuss this with others or they may [religiously] feel compelled to kill you. In other words, even converting to a hated religious group and declaring it to an Ayatollah in fundamentalist Iran did not get the guy killed. Even though according to Islam they should have issued his death sentence. So it is possible that Franklin Graham would pay the ultimate price for the courage of his conviction, but it is not a guarantee. I have little respect for those who order others into harms way but do not assume the risks themselves. ST