One nation under God

A word of warning to liberals and conservatives alike, courtesy of our friends in the War on Terror, via The Boston Globe:

An Afghan man is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death on a charge of converting from Islam to Christianity, a crime under this country's Islamic laws, a judge said yesterday. ...

... ''He would have been forgiven if he changed back. But he said he was a Christian and would always remain one," [prosecutor Abdul] Wasi told the Associated Press. ''We are Muslims and becoming a Christian is against our laws. He must get the death penalty."

This should scare the hell out of the liberals who believe in cultural or moral relativism, for it shows religious freedoms may be governed by the state.

This should also scare the hell out of conservatives who believe the United States has a free hand to choose allies of convenience to persecute the war on terror. More directly, it should also frighten away those people that think the nation needs to embrace Christianity as a state religion, maybe starting with placing a version of "In God We Trust," already the national motto, onto the national flag, joining the phrase on our currency.

Ironically, The Boston Globe's story on the Afghan man facing execution for exercising his religious freedom came inside the same paper that points out the political problems it could cause Massachusetts' governor in his run for president. Yes, folks, even as the nation has spent three and a half years fighting a war largely on religious grounds, the next president could be a state governor evaluted for his ability to get federal money for religious projects.