It takes a village...

First, read this piece, then come back.

Now, tell yourself — honestly — that you're not horrified by it.

Sure, there's any enormous number of currently horrifying things available to consider (Iraq, Darfur, tornadoes, cyclones, earthquakes, volcanoes, etc.), but this is the horrifying thing I'm considering here, and I am horrified.

Lives are snuffed out to protect the "honor" of a village? How in the world is this honorable? How can this be justified by anyone? What sort of sick mind(s) thought this one up?

Please, don't argue this savage practice should be safe under the rubric of religious freedom. All manner of religious "freedoms" have gone down under the force of societal scrutiny and pressure. Christianity and other religions have been responsible for all manner of horror, but no matter who carries it out, it's still murder and is never justifiable: not state-sponsored murder (i.e., death penalties) and certainly not religiously-sanctioned murder.

If the belief in karma is to be taken seriously, every member of this village will come back as a pregnant woman who falls in love with a man in her village, or as the man who loves her, or as the innocent baby they share.

These ignorant honor murderers can then be victims of honorable murder and allow this absurdly dishonorable cycle to continue.

I'm well aware this proposed outcome is not at all honorable of me, so I'll go on with my day as a sign of respect for the idea of religious freedom, even though, sadly, I'm moved to thoughts of murder, as we might just need freedom from religion as well.

But it takes a village to commit a murder of morality.