paul@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (04/08/91)
In article <1991Apr5.044254.15940@nntp-server.caltech.edu>, whaddara@kean.ucs.mun.ca writes: > > [Note by a moderator: I am posting this submission by Wael again since due > to reasons unknown to me it showed up distorted the first time I > posted it. Hopefully, it'll turn out all right this time. -Behnam ] > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > In a previous article Anoosh Husseini writes regarding > some African societies who have a very lax dress code but who are > also relatively free of 'social crimes'. I would > be indebted to him if he would mention the names of a couple > of those societies, since I seem to recall that the problem > with AIDS in Africa is that people have a very lax moral code. > This is to the extent that *heterosexual* transmission of AIDS > has become much more of a problem than *homosexual* spread. > This would seem to indicate a problem. At least to me . It is sad to see that you are classifying all African cultures as having problems when the problems started in Uganda and Nigeria. Given that there are multiple cultural/ethnic groups within each of those countries even "blaming" the country as a whole would be unjustified. The disease AIDS (HIV or HTLV III) and some other related diseases (HTLVs I-VI) have had precursors in Nigeria since perhaps as early as the mid-1950s. It took about 2 decades for that strain to widely infect Nigeria. So much for the concept of "moral problems" in Nigeria, with regard to disease transmission. These days, especially in Africa, screening the blood supply for HIV is a serious problem. So blaming sexual contact as a the only significant "vector" may no longer be valid. > The issue that I'm trying to adress is that Islam is not an irrational > religion, especially as regards social restrictions. When a ruling has > been made in Islam you could expect that breaking that rule will bring > adverse consequences. This applies to such varied things from 'moral' > behaviour and relations between the sexes to alcohol consumption. Why is it, then, contrary to the Qur'an, some Muslims still want death for apostates? There are adverse consequences, indeed. It makes Islam appear to be a "blood-thirsty"/intolerant religion, when indeed it is a religion of peace and tolerance. Yet some national leaders of some countries professing Islam espouse it!