Abdul Rahman in Perspective

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, writing in the Weekly Standard (HT: The Counterterrorism Blog), puts in broad perspective Abdul Rahman's story. He points out that the official, or unofficial (by family members or the community), slaying of former Muslim converts to Christianity is commonplace in Islamic societies. What garnered media attention and international outrage (albeit belated, nearly tragically so) at Abdul Rahman's plight was the fact that the nation preparing to execute the man is one where the Western democratic values of human life and freedom of expression are supposed to be implicit in institutional decisions (Or else for what are our soldiers dying there?).

Gartenstein-Ross makes a cogent big-picture point, though:

THE ABDUL RAHMAN CASE presents an opportunity for the West, but only if we refuse to view this as an isolated incident. When Abdul Rahman awaited trial, Representative Tom Lantos wrote a letter to Hamid Karzai stating: "In a country where soldiers from all faiths, including Christianity, are dying in defense of your government, I find it outrageous that Mr. Rahman is being prosecuted and facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity." Lantos was correct, but he did not go far enough. This is not only an outrage in countries being defended by Western soldiers. The unjustifiable punishment of apostates from Islam is an outrage wherever it occurs.

Read the whole article here.