Thread: Saudi Arabia beheads woman convicted of 'sorcery'

Originally Posted by H-con

Not so sure. Just look at the alternate medicine industry today. The industry is built upon making people believe that they can cure illnesses (when they clearly aren't better than placebo). I can't honestly say the concept behind homeopathy is any less ridiculous than sorcery when you stop and think about it.

Nothing in this article states that the accused was using methods comparable to homoeopathy; you're making a mountain our a mole hill. For all we know, it could have been something like "Give a monetary sacrifice to the Gods and they will hear your prayer" or something like that.

Originally Posted by Joshawott

Nothing in this article states that the accused was using methods comparable to homoeopathy; you're making a mountain our a mole hill. For all we know, it could have been something like "Give a monetary sacrifice to the Gods and they will hear your prayer" or something like that.

No, the method of homeopathy is directly comparable to believing in sorcery! Can you please tell me the difference between believing chanting and "magic" will make you healthy compared to the belief that magic has memory, diluting it on a scale so vast it makes no sense and just ignoring every meta-analysis ever made on the subject.
Give a monetary sacrifice to our production of ... water, and you'll get healthy!

Originally Posted by Mijzelffan

I thought I said that was the issue. They're punishing people for something that's not in the law.

Ok cool.

What you said boiled down to "in the west we use evidence and trials to convict someone, while in the east they convict someone on superstition". That sounds more like a stereotype than a fact. And stereotypes are generally not factual.

But that is exactly what happened here. Someone was sentenced to death based on superstition. I don't really see how there's any room for argument or interpretation here, it's pretty clear.

Ah. Then ignore what I said just above.

Doesn't the US president have a thing called "the football" on him that allows him to destroy the world whenever he wants to? Though I'm sure there is a big difference between those, of course ;P

Yes, the use of nuclear weapons requires the president's authorization, but I'm not really sure what relevance this has to the subject.

Also, just because a dictator is a bit religious doesn't mean he has a theocracy. Heck, I could take over a country and become a ruthless dictator and kill everyone who opposes me. By your logics if I was even the teensiest bit of religious that would immediatly make my country a theoracy of some kind. But as an Atheist I could do exactly the same thing, and the country wouldn't be a theocracy.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt on this one because I didn't explain it very clearly. Let me try again. Hitler's actions were based on a certain set of ideas, namely that the Jews and gypsies were to blame for Germany losing the first world war and going into poverty. This set of views led him to conclude that he was justified in sending jews and gypsies to death camps. The set of ideas that Hitler used to justify killing jews is most definitely subject to scrutiny and criticism, which is demonstrated by the fact that naziism is frowned upon in the vast majority of countries.

Now let's look at a theocratic government, which Saudi Arabia objectively is since the government bases its laws on the teachings of the Muslim faith. This set of ideas leads them to conclude that they are justified in doing things like forcing women to wear full robes and veils in public and execute people for sorcery. Are you trying to tell me that the set of ideas that leads them to justify these actions should not be subject to scrutiny or criticism? If so, then I will have to respectfully disagree with you.

(Hitler being an occultist really had nothing to do with it, there was no reason for me to bring that up, you're right about that.)

Wait what? In the 15th and 16th centuries the Ottoman Empire still was way more civilized than it was in Europe.

My mistake, I was referring specifically to Baghdad. Baghdad was the hub of scientific knowledge as late as the 11th century. Words like "algebra" and "algorithm" were invented there, and they figured out how the human eye works and a bunch of other stuff. Then it all went to shit when religion took over. I dare you to find me one scientific or mathematical advancement that came out of Baghdad after the 12th century.

Turkey was historically much better, and that is reflected today by the fact that Turkey's government is quite secular.