Re: Sodom and Gomorrah & Iraqi PrisonerAbuse

salaam Elsiha, this was excellent and thoughtful. We had discussed this in
the past, the nature of Sodom andGomorrah as not homosexual but perverted
and violent sex and thinking of the pictures and comparing it , is very
convincing and a good comparison. Eileen
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Elisha" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]>
Sent: Friday, May 07, 2004 4:52 PM
Subject: [Progressivemuslimsnetwork] Sodom and Gomorrah & Iraqi
PrisonerAbuse


> With the photographs of American soldiers using their
> power to subject men whom they conquered to sexual
> humiliation, before our eyes we see an example of what
> Sodom and Gomorrah was like.
>
> When any sane person irrespective of sexual
> orientation views those acts they are repulsed, it was
> indeed an abomination - THEN and NOW.  Most religious
> scholars get hung up on homosexuality in Sodom &
> Gomorrah, as though it was a central them.  Just
> because homosexual acts were involved doesn't mean the
> actors were homosexual.  Any objective person must
> admit that the character and the nature of what is
> described in Sodom and Gomorrah doesn't accurately fit
> two persons seeking marriage or even just having sex
> in today's world.  The public nature of what went on
> in Sodom and Gomorrah does not even resemble a typical
> gay relationship.  Male aggression, violence, public
> humiliation are central themes in the Iraqi prisoner
> abuse scandal and in the ancient story of Sodom and
> Gomorrah.
>
> I want to make a final point, to drive this issue
> home.  The tone of the scriptures regarding Sodom and
> Gomorrah also involve the theme of uncleanliness.  And
> therefore homosexuality has been smeared with this
> similar charge as unclean, nasty and thus an
> abomination.  Murder and rape do not even carry this
> same association.  Well, what was captured by those
> photographs of American GIs abusing prisoners was
> unclean, nasty and thus an abomination.
>
> Public molestation and rape, fit right in with
> bestiality, and incest - not just because they are
> unhealthy; but because they were the practice of the
> people to whom the scriptures were revealed.  The
> Torah and the Qur'an gives law to address the specific
> behaviors of the people contemporary with their
> revelations.  The Quran's condemnation and repeated
> references to female infanticide is virtually not
> applicable to the modern world.  And it would be
> foolish to look for a modern expression of that act to
> apply the Qur'an's legal code to; it was an artifact
> of the time.  So it is with Sodom & Gomorrah there is
> no modern equivalent of that cultural practice,
> although there are some that are similar - homosexual
> rape in prison, etc.  The Iraqi prisoner abuse mimics
> Sodom & Gomorrah but even those events are not
> congruent.  The practice itself, as well as the
> scriptures that address them are artifacts of their
> time.  This is why one most be careful when looking
> for analogous situations in the present to equate them
> with.  But in this case I think I found one - the
> Iraqi prisoner abuse.  Search your heart and your mind
> and ask yourself which situation most resembles Sodom
> and Gomorrah; a same sex couple or the photographs
> we've seen regarding the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.  If
> all of the homosexuals on the planet were removed, the
> sexual abuse of those prisoners would have occurred.
>
> Salaam,
>
> Elisha
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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