Charles fights death penalty for folks who want to leave izlam

Sunday, December 19, 2004

By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent (Filed: 18/12/2004)

The Prince of Wales is brokering efforts to end the Muslim death penalty on converts to other faiths, The Telegraph has learned.

He held a private summit of Christian and Muslim leaders at Clarence House this month to explore the centuries-old Islamic law under which apostates face persecution and even death.
His intervention follows mounting anger at the treatment of Muslims who haveconverted to Christianity in a number of Islamic states.

As an advocate of inter-faith dialogue, Prince Charles has come underpressure to criticise the religious law that, campaigners say, has resultedin hundreds of executions in countries from Iran to Sudan.

Among the Christians at the confidential meeting was an Anglican archbishopfrom a part of Nigeria where Islamic Sharia law is enforced.
Others included the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, and thePakistani-born Bishop of Rochester, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali.

It is understood that the Muslim group, which included the Islamic scholarZaki Badawi, cautioned the prince and other non-Muslims against speakingpublicly on the issue.

It argued that Islamic moderates could have more influence on thetraditional position if the debate remained largely internal. (yeah...right...)
A member of the Christian group said yesterday that he was "very, very unhappy" about the outcome.
Patrick Sookhdeo, the international director of the Barnabas Fund whichcampaigns on behalf of persecuted Christians abroad, stressed that he wasspeaking on the record only because details of the meeting had alreadyleaked.

He urged the prince and Muslim leaders in Britain to criticise openly the traditional Islamic law on apostasy, calling for it to be abolishedthroughout the world. "My view, and I think the other Christians shared it, is that when something is wrong it must be stated as a wrong."

Of course it's wrong, evil and horrific - but doesn't that define islam in a nutshell?


http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/12/18/npri...