On May 2014, the world was awakened to the news that authorities in North Sudan have condemned 27 year old pregnant woman, Meriam Yehya Ibrahim to death.

This death sentence was not because she stole anything or killed her husband (like Wasila, the 14 year old Kano Nigeria child bride who killed her 34 year old husband with rat poison) or because she committed adultery (an action frowned upon by all known religious and traditional institutions).

Her “crime” was that she allegedly converted from Islam to Christianity. Her marriage to a Christian husband was described as “adultery” because it was unrecognised under Sharia Law.

This death sentence was passed by a scholarly judge of a Sharia Court. She was however given a “lifeline”…to convert back to Islam within two years of childbirth and nursing her baby or be killed. Her response: “I am a Christian and that’s all I can ever be”.

Here is a woman being denied her basic fundamental human right to life for something as flimsy as her set of beliefs being different from mainstream. Her father was a Muslim married to her Christian mother, he however left the home when she was very young, and thus she was raised by her Christian mother.

International outcry compelled the local authorities to free her; she had to leave the country after it was suggested that her life was in danger.

In all honesty, this post is not about one religion versus the other. I’m only here to ask some pertinent questions from a humanist point of view.

1. Why was it okay for Meriam’s Muslim father to marry a Christian wife and the marriage approved by Sharia Law, but her marriage to a Christian man tagged “adultery”?

2. Why will any human in a 21st century world be sentenced to death by another person, group of persons or institution simply because of his or her beliefs, and some people see this as “justice”? Are we progressing in our evolution as humans or are we retrogressing to the dark/stone ages?

3. If God in His infinite wisdom gave man free-will to make choices, why would some individuals/institutions try to prove “wiser” than God and take judgement into their hands and begin passing death sentences in an attempt to “defend God’s interest”.

4. When will some people realize that if God wanted all of us to have one religion, He could do so single-handedly. He is all-powerful and all-knowing; He is not some cripple beggar who needs mere mortals to come to his aid every now and then.

5. Is it possible that a lot of people who may want to change their views in the future in the light of new information will be unable to do so because some established institutions will have them slaughtered with glee, while calling it “justice”.

6. When some people say “there is no compulsion in religion”, do they really mean it or are just paying lip service to appear “good” to the populace.

Parting shot: I believe that at the core of religion is love; no matter what we do, no matter how pious or ‘beautiful on the surface’ such actions are, if it is devoid of love for our fellow humans, religion loses its soul and relevance.

Mature comments welcome.

I.am.Jaydee