Kinzi alerted me to this story published in World Magazine tackling the issue of harassment Jordanians face when they convert from Islam to Christianity. Here is an excerpt:
Ask Samer and Abeer. Last September Jordanian security police connected to the country’s Mukhabarat, or intelligence agency, showed up at the couple’s home unannounced. They arrested Samer and detained him overnight. Samer’s crime: coming to faith in Jesus Christ 14 years ago. Originally a Muslim, Samer over the years since his conversion has been questioned several times by security police but never detained.
This time, the police turned him over to the Islamic courts. The judges convicted Samer of apostasy. In a Nov. 23 decision the court decreed that his identification papers must be changed from "Muslim" to "no religion;" that he had forfeited any inheritance; that his marriage to Abeer is now illegal and therefore he is not entitled to custody of his son.
In my humble, unbiased opinion I would say that if Jordan intends to tread on a truly democratic path, then its citizens should be given the basic right of practicing the religion of their choice.
OK, obviously you mean “Islamic identity.” In which case, you need to get your own card rather than using the Jordanian ID card for that.
There is no such thing as “religious nationality.” Nationality is a word that is obviousely related to the word “Nation”, a geographic area that people belong or have roots to regardless of their faith, gender and identity. Islam and Christianity are not nations and are not suppose to be. Freedom of religion is a civil and human right issue that is abused everywhere on earth today. Unfortunately, the Arab and Islamic nations have a to do more work to imporve their religeous records in comparison to other nations. There are mosques in Rome but I am not familiar of any existing churchs in Saudi Arabia!!!
praktike, i dont know the “exact” reason, perhaps the government has its own, but there is such a thing called “Islamic nationality”, the same way people are given passports and citizenship papers that say “you are an american” or “you are a mongolian”.
I have no idea Praktike. I’m all for removing the religion box from the identification card.
Possibly dumb question: what is the purpose of the religious identification on these papers, and what do you use them (the papers) for?
Well, one thing is certain: Don’t think quoting the words of Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell or a whole host of other folks that espouse that kind of commentary illustrates the views of Christianity. They fit just as comfortably in the “extremist” suit as does Mr. Laden or Zarqawi. Extremism in all its forms is a serious problem. But that skirts the larger issue here. This is a true story, BTW, and should be a source of some concern, particularly if the agenda is not so extreme.
Fact of the matter remains that Jordan is an Islamic country and Islam will, as it should, play a role in the country’s laws, some would argue too little a role. I have some doubts about the referenced article, I might be mistaken, but where in Jordan does it say that someone needs to follow a religion to be able to hold a job and buy property? Also, the story mentions that Abeer is Christian, so why would the marriage be deemed illegal? I can see if she was Muslim then by law she cannot marry a non Muslim.
My personal opinion is that people should be able to choose what religion to follow, I don’t see that happening in Jordan. Quite honestly, Jordan’s democracy has far more pressing issues to be addressed before religious freedom.
>i>yawn, if only the article was written from an objective viewpoint instead of a self described “pro-christian perspective”
im constantly suprised how little the christian west knows about Islam yet they call us terrorists; or in the wise words of Pat Robertson: the followers of “a very evil and wicked religion”. u wud think that them being in a war with us would be reason enough to at least a ‘know your enemy’type philosophy.
things that make u go hmmmm
Yeah Sinan, I’m aware of this story. Sadly enough, the basic right of choosing a religion is absent in the Middle East.
Oh that’s actually remind me of a similar case that happened in Egypt too, where a wife of a priest became a Muslim, and went to the police station for protection, but the policemen hand her over to her husband where they abuses her and held her captive till she’ll live Islam. That’s also happened to a couple of girls in the university where they also went to government to seek refuge but the gov. hand them back to their parents and I think there is no need to tell what happened.