Recently I did a minor good deed for a complete stranger, and after thanking me he said, "You must be a Christian." I’ve been told that before, and it always irritates me. The next time I’m going to say that no, I’m actually Jewish/Hindu/Buddhist/Muslim/Atheist. I’d like a reaction to that. Would you still invite me to the church you created in your basement? Would you throw my five dollars back at me? Were you mistaken?

Technically, I am "Christian." But that’s not what makes me a good person (at least I try). You’d think the world could tally up the pedophile priests and figure that out for themselves. You’d think we could look back on the Nazis, the witch-burners, and the Spanish Inquisition, which basically introduced systematic torture and fascism to the world, and come to the conclusion that Christianity does not equal goodness, kindness, giving, or peace on Earth.

My brief Sunday school education did teach me that the basis of Christianity is good deeds, charity. A collection plate to benefit the leaky church roof means nothing to me. Preaching charity once a week does not erase the history, the past two millennia, of Christianity’s flaws, and actions speak louder than words. No one and nothing is perfect. And the next person out there to give their time or money really will be a non-Christian. And what will you say then?

Jennifer Leblanc

"My client is the victim of this abhorrent crime. I believe her sentence contravenes the Islamic Sharia law and violates the pertinent international convention… The judicial bodies should have dealt with this girl as the victim rather than the culprit." —Lawyer Abdel Rahman al-Lahem, speaking about the sentence handed down to his client, who was the victim of a gang rape in Saudi Arabia.  She is sentenced to 200 lashes and 6 months in jail.  From the Shia minority in Saudi Arabia, the woman, who is now 19, was gang-raped 14 times a year and a half ago in an eastern province of the kingdom.  Despite the brutal rape, the woman was punished for violating laws on segregation of the sexes, as she was in the car of an unrelated man when she was raped, and unrelated men and women are forbidden from congregating.  When she appealed her original sentence of 90 lashes, her sentence was more than doubled, as the judges accused her of trying to manipulate the media.  Seven men were sentenced to prison for the rape, the least sentence being less than one year, and the heaviest sentence being five years.  The rapists could have received the death penalty.  
 

Mimi Hanaoka