Breathing While Christian

A while back Dymphna wrote about a syndrome she dubbed “Breathing While White” — the fact that any trouble that occurs in the world can be blamed on white people (usually white men), that non-whites are held to a much lower standard than white people, and that when any friction occurs between people of European background and other ethnic groups, the Europeans are automatically assumed to be at fault.

Now we’ve got a parallel process at work in Somalia: simply being Christian is enough to warrant beheading. The executed people are also asserted to have been spies, because, after all, who else but a spy would dare to be a Christian in Somalia?

According to Al-Arabiya:

Somali Islamist hardliners behead 7 ‘Christians’

Victims executed for being ‘Christian followers’ and ‘spies’

Somalia’s hard-line Islamist rebels beheaded seven people on Friday for being “Christians” and “spies” in the latest implementation of strict Sharia law by the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab movement, witnesses said.

Notice that “strict sharia” is being applied here. That is, a literal and fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic scripture mandates the beheading of Christians.

A Christian fundamentalist believes the world was created in seven days and that Moses parted the Red Sea. H e insists that his children study the Bible as part of their education. He may well consider dancing, alcohol consumption, and pre-marital sex to be sinful.

A Muslim fundamentalist beheads Christians.

Christian fundamentalists, Muslim fundamentalists — same thing, right?

The article has more:
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Though al-Shabaab has carried out such punishments before in regions it controlled, the beheadings on Friday were thought to be their largest number of executions at one time, Somalis said.

“Al-Shabaab told us that they were beheaded for reasons they described as being Christian followers and spies,” said one relative, who gave his name only as Aden, after the executions in the south-central town of Baidoa.

The group beheaded three people in the region last month.

Al-Shabaab, which means “Youth” in Arabic, have vowed to rule the majority Muslim nation by a hardline interpretation of Islamic law. The group has dug up Sufi graves, forced women to wear veils and amputated limbs for theft.

Somalia’s government has been unable to wrest control of large tracts of the Horn of Africa nation and the capital from Shabaab militants who continue to wage guerrilla-style attacks on Somali troops and an African Union force there.

Last month the speaker of Somalia’s parliament asked neighboring countries to deploy foreign troops to help the embattled six-month-old government fight rising attacks by hardline Islamist rebels following the killing of high-profile Somali officials.

Rumor has it that the U.S. military prefers sharia-based governments in Muslim countries, because their harsh methods can guarantee stability and order.

They must be pleased with Somalia, then. Let’s hear it for law and order, Somali style.


Hat tip: TB.