Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forumSaudi Arabia Doubles Down on Atheism; New Laws Declares It Equivalent to Terrorism
Weve seen before how Saudi pundits find it easy to conflate atheism and terrorism, but now its official: Saudi Arabias new terrorism laws say outright that nonbelievers and others who commit thought crime are the same as violent terrorists.
According to Human Rights Watch:
Article 1: Calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based.
In Saudi Arabia, youre asking for severe punishment even if youre not an atheist or a dissident, but merely think that people must be allowed to state their piece. In fact, expressing any sympathy or support for freethinkers is now a crime in the kingdom:
more
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2014/03/31/saudi-arabia-doubles-down-on-atheism-new-laws-declares-it-equivalent-to-terrorism/
Warpy
(111,339 posts)I'd already turned them down for making a ridiculous amount of money as a nurse there.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)I was offered $100k a year, tax free, to work on flight simulators there. Hmmmm, no bacon or beer? A country that makes our religious nutcases seem sane? No thank you.
onager
(9,356 posts)We made our own beer, wine, bourbon and even a pretty decent cognac.
There was a butcher shop in the neighborhood where we could ask for "white steak" and get beautiful thick pork chops.
Funny story I heard about the booze, which may even be true. The Saudi govt. figured out why the infidels bought so much yeast in grocery stores. So the govt. decreed that henceforth, yeast would only be sold in small packs suitable for cooking and sales would be monitored.
Then they took tons of yeast out into the desert and buried it. But the infidels knew where it was buried, and just went out and dug it up. So now it was not only available, but free!
Religious nutcases - they never came onto the foreign living compounds. So we only had to put up with the Religious Police and their bullshit when we went out in town. And they usually didn't mess with Americans much. Too many of us worked on projects tied directly to the govt., which in that country means the royal family. They would occasionally harass us a little, but in general screwing with us could cause them a lot more trouble than it was worth.
I should also note that I worked in Jeddah, right on the Red Sea. I don't think I would have taken a job in Riyadh.
Once I went roaming around Jeddah looking for a house formerly occupied by T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia!). Finally found it, but I had to slog thru some mud flats, and the place was being used as a municipal bus park. The house itself looked on the verge of collapse. Lawrence is not a hero to the al-Saud gang. As far as they're concerned, he backed the wrong tribe.
Iggo
(47,565 posts)Last edited Tue Apr 1, 2014, 01:24 AM - Edit history (1)
And I heard that one or two 9/11 terrorist weren't even from there!
TxDemChem
(1,918 posts)To be an atheist in the Bible Belt, it is nothing when compared to Islamic nations. Xtians here talk about their faux-persecution, but they have no idea.
edhopper
(33,615 posts)It's just social and cultural factors and the abuse of power by rulers.
Or so i have been told in "another forum".
AngryDem001
(684 posts)Remind me again why our government is such buddy-buddies with them?
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)oil
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)It's a family owned business.
(What a certain family would like the USA to be!)