Pakistani Boy "Blasphemes" Muhammad by Mistake; Mortified, He Cuts Off Own Hand and Gives it to Imam; Parents, Neighbors and Villagers Celebrate

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Modern civilization textbook 

This charming story was just reported by Agency France Press:

LAHORE (PAKISTAN) (AFP) -

A 15-year-old Pakistani boy cut off his own hand believing he had committed blasphemy, only to be celebrated by his parents and neighbours for the act, police told AFP Friday. 

Local police chief Nausher Ahmed described how an imam told a gathering at a village mosque that those who love the Prophet Mohammad always say their prayers, then asked who among the crowd had stopped praying. 

Mohammad Anwar, 15, raised his hand by mistake after apparently mishearing the question.

The crowd swiftly accused him of blasphemy so he went to his house and cut off the hand he had raised, put it on a plate, and presented it to the cleric, the police chief said. 

The incident took place at a village in Hujra Shah Muqeem district, some 125 kilometres (77 miles) south of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, about four days ago, according to the policeman. 

Ahmed said that he has seen a video in which the boy is greeted by villagers in the street as his parents proclaim their pride. 

No complaint has been made, he said, so no police report has been filed and there will be no investigation.

Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, an Islamic republic of some 200 million, where even unproven allegations frequently stir mob violence and lynchings. 

Critics including European governments say the country's blasphemy laws are often misused to settle personal scores.

Vatican Insider Mistakenly Uses Hitler Metaphor to Describe Evo's Sick Pope Gift

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"The Pope Wears the Decorative Honors Received From the President"

Were they communist symbols, swastikas or laughing Satan bas reliefs? Oh, at this point who really cares? 

We all know what the Pope was given by his close friend, Bolivian President  Evo Morales on Friday--a hammer and sickle "crucifix" with Jesus affixed to it. Early reports say the Pope criticized or rejected it. But that turned out to be a lie.

A few hours later he apparently re-gifted it to Mary.

Holy Mother of God, please accept this vile icon with my compliments.

Francis.

Here's the current Vatican Insider story on it. But also note the Freudian slip:

Pope leaves decorative honours with the hammer and anvil in Bolivia 

This morning Francis lay the two presidential honours he received Wednesday from President Evo Morales in La Paz, at the feet of Our Lady of Copacabana. One of these featured the hammer and anvil with a carving of a crucifix. 

Before leaving Bolivia, Francis placed two gifts he received on Wednesday from President Evo Morales at the foot of a statue of Mary. One of these, a chain with a chunky medallion, had the figure of the crucified Christ carved into a wooden hammer and anvil. This image had been drawn by Fr. Luis Espinal, the Jesuit priest who was assassinated in Bolivia in March 1980... 

Francis accompanied this gesture with the following words: “The President of the nation was kind enough to offer me two decorative honours on behalf of the Bolivian people. I thank the Bolivian people for their affection and the President for this courteous gesture. I would like to dedicate these two decorations to the patron saint of Bolivia, the Mother of this noble nation...”

Did you get it? It wasn't a hammer and anvil. It was a hammer and sickle. The hammer and anvil metaphor was made famous in a speech by Hitler, who in turn lifted it from Goethe.

One is either the hammer or the anvil. We confess that it is our purpose to prepare the German people again for the role of the hammer.

And so on and so forth. Cue World War Two and the Holocaust.

What an odd mistake.

Then again, Che Guevara, whose now too familiar mug graced the jacket of the Pope's most recent warmup act, was the moral equivalent of any concentration camp guard sadistic psychopath, as a number of his Cuban victims have testified. More on that in another post. But until then, as they say...

The crisis continues.