September 14th, 2010, 11:37 pm
QuoteOriginally posted by: HamiltonQuoteThe fact that many people still living in medieval conditions use medieval methods of punishmentCould you please explain what is medieval about the living conditions in Iran and when medieval Christians or Jews stoned women to death for accusationsof adultery under Islamic Law? I've read Harold Berman and can'tseem to locate those instances.Execution (boiling, burning, beheading, disembowelling, etc) were commonplace in medieval Christendom for many trivial offences including adultery. Ann Boleyn and Katherine Howard were two notable English victims.Capital punishment was commonplace in England for many trivial offences well into the 18th century. See Capital_punishment_in_the_United_Kingdom which includes, for example:Sir Samuel Romilly, speaking to the House of Commons on capital punishment in 1810, declared that "...(there is) no country on the face of the earth in which there [have] been so many different offences according to law to be punished with death as in England." Known as the "Bloody Code", at its height the criminal law included some 220 crimes punishable by death, including "being in the company of Gypsies for one month", "strong evidence of malice in a child aged 7?14 years of age" and "blacking the face or using a disguise whilst committing a crime". Many of these offences had been introduced to protect the property of the wealthy classes that emerged during the first half of the 18th century, a notable example being the Black Act of 1723, which created 50 capital offences for various acts of theft and poaching.Whilst executions for murder, burglary and robbery were common, the death sentences for minor offenders were often not carried out. However, children were commonly executed for such minor crimes as stealing.You might also look up execution by crushing which says:The most famous case in the United Kingdom was that of Roman Catholic martyr St Margaret Clitherow, who was pressed to death on March 25, 1586, after refusing to plead to the charge of having harboured Catholic (then outlawed) priests in her house (in order to avoid a trial in which her own children would be obliged to give evidence). She died within fifteen minutes under a weight of at least 700 pounds (320 kg). Several hardened criminals, including William Spigott (1721) and Edward Burnworth, lasted a half hour under 400 pounds (180 kg) before pleading to the indictment. Others, such as Major Strangways (1658) and John Weekes (1731), refused to plead, even under 400 pounds (180 kg), and were killed when bystanders, out of mercy, sat on them.[6]And then there's breaking on the wheel:a torture device used for capital punishment in the Middle Ages and early modern times for public execution by cudgelling to death. It was used during the Middle Ages and was still in use into the 19th century.Breaking on the wheel was a form of torturous execution formerly in use in France, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Romania, Russia, Greece, Spain, Portugal, and other countries. The United States continues the barbaric practice of capital punishment by poisoning, executing many people who might have been exonerated if DNA evidence that was not available at their trial were allowed in a later appeal (but was denied). While Governor of Texas, George W Bush authorized the execution of a person who had committed their crime as a child.You see, unlike you, I have no problem recognizing all barbarism, whereas you seem interested only in that of those you hate. Barbarism by your own kind is apparently ok in your book. And while we're on the subject of barbarism, which religious culture (other than fundamentalist Islamics) commonly kills innocents by remote-controlled bombs delivered from afar by mainstream military personel, dismembering and burning then at the same time on a routine basis (not one-off events like the WTC)? Judeo-Christian culture that's what.
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Fermion on September 14th, 2010, 10:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.