>>>I really can't understand how can this be happening nowadays, but then I never really understood religion and its effects on common people.
>>
>>Like I say, they're murderous perverts who just use "religion" as an excuse. How could anyone do these things unless they were sick in the head?
>
>And that's the main difference between a democracy and a theocracy, IMO - the former should be able to protect itself from any gang of such loonies who may try to hijack the basic principles and turn them against the will of the majority. Specially would not let them go around running kangaroo courts.
>
>> For instance, if our soc. gave you carte blanche to off your wife if she "transgressed" you still wouldn't do it, cos you're decent and love her, and would miss her, etc. But all socs have their predatory psycho-sadists, rapists and sex killers. Here they're given rein under the guise of righteous indignation.
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>Any society that allows for any kind of a lynch mob is backward and definitely not a democracy... I think the normal Iraqis are caught here between a hammer and an anvil (*) - if they start killing off these sadists, they are infidels and have betrayed their religion; if they let them run wild, they'll become a very queer country.
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>> cf the portrayal of the Witch Finder General by Christopher lee in the Hammer film. He was obviously someone who got his rocks off torturing and killing women, with any excuse, to "try" them as witches, getting his bounty money for each poor soul he dispatched. Give a monster such power and he's going to fill his boots, with impunity
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>Or Ken Russel's "Demons", for that matter... or Witchsmeller Pursuivant.
>
>----
>(*) couldn't find Hard Place on the map, anywhere near anything called Rock, so I translated the Serbian equivalent.

"between the Devil and the deep blue sea" is another expression. "Rock and ... " is a US expression.