How, Exactly, Can I Help?


From the NY Times: 'With the heading “Wanted Dead,” the message featured a photograph of Mr. Malik and said: “This is the face of the traitorous lawyer to Islam who supports the Lina Joy apostasy case. Distribute to our friends so they can recognize this traitor. If you find him dead by the side of the road, do not help.” '

If the guy is already dead when I find him, am I just supposed to avoid resurrecting him? Is this common in Malaysia? Why haven't we heard more about this?

Apparently in Malaysia one has the constitutional right to choose one's religion, but Malays are also constitutionally defined as being Muslim and so must have permission of an Islamic Shariah court to convert. Not surprisingly, they're pretty loathe to grant this, so Lina Joy is going to their Supreme Court to challenge her right convert to Christianity to marry her Christian fiancee. Of course, she & her lawyer are receiving death threats.

Who has time for this? Is this the psycho-religious equivalent of blogging? Can we stop the death threats with free broadband access? Maybe getting these guys indoctrinated into a nerd cult is the answer -- who has time for death threats when you have to flame someone over which is better: Star Wars or Star Trek? There's the answer for peace in the Middle East: Sunnis get Star Trek, Shiites get Star Wars and give Israelis Lord of the Rings. Instead of bombing, they can all have a big Sci-Fi convention and decide territorial issues through time-honored nerd tests like costume contests.