10 June 2010 In the name of

10 June 2010 In the name of


Taliban executes boy, 7, for spying

By Matiullah Mati, CNN

June 10, 2010 -- Updated 1506 GMT (2306 HKT)

http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/06/10/officials-taliban-executes-boy-7-for-spying/?hpt=T2



Fundamentalism rears its ugly head once more. Although Islam is said to proscribe killing the innocent, somehow this innocent slipped through the cracks. Is he now a martyr for losing his life accused of a crime he was likely unable to fully comprehend? If he is a martyr, does he receive the full benefits of martyrdom, the 72 houris to entertain him? What good are 72 houris to a 7 year old’s soul? Does he get only a percentage of the 72 to acknowledge his death before maturity?

Children are all too often the targets of the religious fundamentalists. They are indoctrinated at the earliest opportunity. This same child might have been convinced by a Mullah that only he can carry the suicide vest close enough to an enemy unit to make it a true martyrdom. Or he might have been convinced that surrendering his body to the predations of a priest or minister was approved by heaven. Perhaps he could have been indoctrinated into becoming a child soldier in the name of some deity.

The children are the same, only the uniform and the sacred text of the predator varies. We have children starving to death while they beg for money to be handed over to religious authorities for their purposes. We have children going door to door selling over-priced gift wrap and snack foods to fund missionaries who will spend the money in another nation, feeding someone else’s children just enough to keep them alive and singing the songs the missionaries want them to sing. If they stop singing they stop eating but the collection process continues here. On both ends of the game, the children pay the cost, do the labor, and please the adults.

We’ve stopped throwing children into the fire in order to placate stone deities and therefore keep the city safe. But we’ve not stopped using and abusing children to placate the men and women who keep the myths alive as a means to their own power. The fire may have been the better option for many of these children.

Every time I see or hear “Save the children,” “think of the children,” “do it for the children,” bring a child to ----,” or “save a child’s soul,” I think of Dickensian orphanages, missionary schools, children bent slavishly over religious texts memorizing but not learning to read anything else. And I refuse the request. Keep all children religion free until they are adults, have learned to read, and can refuse the predation of fundamentalists.