The Crime They Were Hung For: Maybe They "Disturbed Mental Security"
I just had to pass on this item from Andrew Sullivan's blog in The Atlantic.com:
The latest from the mullahs in Tehran:
On Wednesday, Iranian members of parliament voted to discuss a draft bill that seeks to “toughen punishment for disturbing mental security in society.” The text of the bill would add, “establishing websites and weblogs promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy,” to the list of crimes punishable by death.
A law against "disturbing mental security." It's hard to sum up the core objective of theocrats better.
Also, as one Iranian blogger put it:Am I disturbing people's mental security? If the Religious Right (and especially Christofascists, aka Reconstructionists) had its way, I guess I would be dead right now.if this draft bill becomes law, everything will be based on interpretation and a simple blogger will be considered a center to destroy people’s religion! What can I say? Only people who disturb people’s mental security could support such a thing.
I cannot stress how dangerous the Radical Religious Right is to our freedoms. They preach hatred day and night and not only from pulpits. We MUST BE their kind of Christian. This blog may seem flippant at times, but I don't wish to lessen the message in any way: when it comes to laws engineered by religion, fight back with all your heart and strength. Yes, we're in a culture WAR. And it's just as serious as any other kind of war. And some people are being killed - we just don't hear about the homicides every day. The RRR will never admit to being a party to hate crimes, but it is just as culpable as the ones with the guns or the knives or the baseball bats.
Be alert and beware.