Raif Badawi

I hate to interrupt the obituaries of the Charlie Hebdo martyrs (and I use that term with all reverence). I had promised myself that we would publish nothing else until all 12 were done.

But this story demands that I interrupt. I am sure that all of the Charlie Hebdo 12 would approve.

Raif Badawi is a Saudi Blogger who called for an end to Saudi theocracy. For this “crime” he received a sentence of 10 years in prison, 1,000 lashes, and a fine of 1 million Saudi Arabian riyals (about US$266,600)

The official crime was “Insulting Islam” (source) The lashing began on Friday. (source) He is apparently going to get 50 lashes a week for 20 weeks.

For “insulting Islam.”

I reiterate what I said in my “Nous Sommes Charlie” post.

Is Islam so fragile, so meaningless, so utterly without merit, that it cannot stand in opposition to criticism? Never mind that this does not appear to be what Badawi was up to in the first place. It seems more that he is suffering this torture because he questioned the Saudi Royal family’s stranglehold on power in the Kingdom, for which they use religious oppression to maintain their grip.

If I were a Muslim, I would be more outraged than I am as an Atheist.

I had a conversation with a Mormon friend last week about mocking religion. He laughed, claiming that Mormons are likely the most mocked religion in the world. I don’t know if that is true, but his stance on it was “so what, we embrace it.” The LDS church buys ads in the programs for “The Book of Mormon.”

I repeat. If your supreme being is so weak that it requires you to commit acts of violence against other people because they mock him, then your supreme being is not worthy of any respect at all — let alone immunity from mockery. If your religion can not stand up to “insults,” then your religion is worthless. If your religion needs “respect” at the end of a whip, then it is truly not worthy of being followed.

If your God or your prophet or your religion can not take being mocked, then fuck your god. Fuck your prophet. Fuck your religion.

And… as the Right gets giddy about the idea of a third Bush oligarch… remember how deep they have their noses up the ass of the Saudi royal family.