new thread
Here's a story of a Sikh boy's hair being cut and those that cut it being held accountable. Finally, justice!
Bruce
Yeah the Sikh boys grow their hair all their life and put it in a turban.. they say that guy that cut it is charged with hate crime
Typical american...
"He faces up to seven years in prison, if convicted"
As an atheist I don't really care about other peoples religious feelings, and after all, his hair will eventually grow again.
Obviously the imprisonment and possible physical and psychological violence shouldn't go through unpunished, but after all, he is a youth, so he shouldn't be convicted to any more than a year.
My opinion.
For a Sikh, their hair is central to their faith. Cutting a Sikh's hair would be like shoving a piece of bacon into a Jew's mouth.
AndrewB
A jew can repent to god and cast out demons out of himself for having bacon.
A sikh can't easily regrow all the hair that they lost.
Growing out your hair is something that undoubtably takes a lot of time, but sending a teen to prison for 7 years for something like this is just irrational. Of course they haven't condemned him yet but it's likely going to happen.
Let's also not forget that if this was say, a Christian with long hair, then the criminal would either not be prosecuted at all, or get away with a few weeks in prison. So to be honest, this has very little to do with the long hair, it's more to do with religious racism. Don't think that this is a precedent that will ensure revenge on any prick who cuts your hair, because it unfortunately won't :/
Now about Jews. First of all, we don't believe in hell. Secondly, though i've never really pondered this, but I assume then that the average Jew as a result doesn't believe in demons either. Especially anything close to Exorcism.
Thirdly, you'll be pleasantly surprised that not many Jews eat kosher or avoid bacon nowadays. These are old traditions that helped prevent disease spreading, etc, and are fairly obsolete to us today. I mean, Jews are allowed to eat Chicken, so it's got nothing to do with meat.
Lastly, there is no easy process to repenting in Judaism. As far as I know, you are held accountable for all of your actions, and saying sorry won't excuse you from what you did, so it's not simple.
I agree. I hope no one thought that I was suggesting that justice is served by a kid going to prison for 7 years for the cutting of hair, regardless of the wearer's religion. Hate crimes are a foggy area, IMO. Did the boy hate the person, or did he hate the person's religion. Did the boy hate the other boy's religious beliefs, or did he hate the boy's hair. I wouldn't hazard a guess. I think the punishment should be measured in days not years, but the recognition of wrongdoing is the important element.
I agree again. I think this is where the justice system has a long way to go.
I can't comment on this since I'm not a Jew but I think respecting religious freedom and rights is the cornerstone of this country.
Bruce
If by this country you mean the USA, then I think as important as respecting other religions is the respect for atheism. And you guys also have to fix the problem with accepted scientific theories...Notably Evolution.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/bigphotos/images/060810-evolution_big.jpg
I know plenty of Christians that are my friends who are religious yet accept Evolution as the most sensible theory. I mean, beaten only by Turkey out of the 34 polled countries, this is bad news for America :/
I agree 110%! In my view, religious freedom is the right to practice or not.
And evolution! Agree, agree, agree! There are many scientists who are religious and believe in evolution. There are some that believe that science is God's best work.
But we digress,
Take care,
Bruce
I agree on evolution
I disagree. i think they should jail them for a month for every half inch, i.e. the theoretical time for the hair to grow back. Cut off three and a half feet of hair and it's a seven year stretch.
Hey, that's a good idea actually.
I don't know if he'll be convicted atall. The perp's sister (or the victim's sister, not sure which) says that this was really because he didn't want to wear a turban, so it was a setup. If that is true, they probably didn't reckon on the full force of the law being brought to bear.
OTOH, otherwise he may go down for quite a long while. I guess this is mostly for the hate crime, but if someone cut off all my hair I would have no problem with them doing hard time. Quite honestly, I probably WOULD NOT be upset if they had to do seven years and they were only a kid. OTOH, in fact they wouldn't get anything like that long a sentence because it wouldn't be a hate crime, so that becomes academic.
There are other criminal charges being brought, including 'aggravated harassment' that would stand up regardless of the identity of the victim, so if hypothetically someone did something like this to one of us they would still be convicted of a crime, albeit what the sentence might be for that I don't know. I don't know what other charges are available in NY state, but it seems to me that there are also other charges that could be brought that haven't been, but it isn't unusual for prosecutors to do that.
By a kid I mean a teenager. If it were really a small child that would be different altogether.
I hope this sends a message this type of assault will not be tolerated by Police.
Sadly I don't get New York 1 anymore because I don't have cable.
Have a look at this:-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/4763151.stm
12 months in the slammer for ABH
It's good to see that the legal system is beginning to recognize a persons right to grow and keep their hair.
Bruce