I have never been one of little hope. I have been one of little faith though, in all the fictional things people believe in so dearly. At the end of the day though, your business is your business, and what you choose to do on your own time is your absolute right. However, when it starts affecting other people, that’s when it becomes disgusting and when I will never hold back on saying things as they are, regardless of religious sensitivities.

How can a vile, disgusting man like that still be part of the Shiite clergy? How have they not disowned him yet? Why isn’t he on trial? Or is it just showing boxers that gets you in trouble in this crappy judicial system?

The story is of a Shiite woman who was allegedly being abused by her father and sought refuge with Father Walid Gharious, in Baalbeck. Three years later, she decided to convert to Christianity and days later, Father Gharious was kidnapped. The kidnapping was followed by shots fired at a priest’s house and a church in Nabaa [taken from BlogBaladi]

For those who do not understand Arabic, here are some highlights of what the deranged lunatic in robes says on live national TV:

• [00:30] The kidnapping of this girl has to do with the “dignity of the whole Shiite community” to which Marcel reacts to with an incredulous “ouf”
• [00:50] “We condemn the provocation of some security apparatus, and we have tribes that condem what the priests have done” (a clear threat)
• [00:56] “They caused schizophrenia in the girl. She believes she talks to Jesus and Mary”
• [01:35] “She was kidnapped by a group of priests, and we will not shut up on this matter even if it leads to civil war in this country. We have all the tribes in the region, and the security situation could escalate to the highest possible point and neither the president nor anyone else can scare us”
• [02:01] “The girl must be returned. I dare anyone trying to scare me , that the girl must be returned, and treated, and people will see she is not normal and then she will confess her Islam”
• [02:22] “This girl has been programmed, and turned schizophrenic. And there are a lot of muslim children which are being subjected to the same thing in Baalbeck and maybe elsewhere. This needs to be fixed, and I call upon all Shiites to stand with us so this girl is treated and her nature revealed”
• [02:58] “This girl had complete freedom at home, she had her own room. She watched day and night Telmiere (I think he means telelumiere, a Christian Lebanese TV channel) and no one stops her. The girl had crucifixes and religious books in her room, and I hadn’t been in it for a year, and no one stopped her from practicing any ritual.
• [3:48] “So where do these stories of abuse come from? This means that with proper treatment, she will return to her natural state and confess Islam again after cutting the relationship with the priests who are putting curses and spell on her”
• [4:04] When Marcel asks him why he called it “curses and spells/black magic” the reply was “there is a type of magic being used to turn muslim kids into christian ones. And Gharios wasn’t kidnaped for baptizing the girl, he was kidnapped because he is one of those magicians (warlocks?) who uses this magic” (a claim or responsibility, or at least knowledge)
• [05:09] Marcel tells him that only a day earlier, the sheikh had said “thieves” kidnapped the girl, why was he saying it was priests now? He replies “I didn’t say thieves, I said gang, and I meant gang of priests. One priest came into town, the other was waiting for him, and calls were made. there’s a gang of priests who came up with this conspiracy and act. The girl used to threaten us with that gang, she said that a Christian priest would come and save her from the house even if we would get killed”
• [06:12] Marcel asks about the missing girl’s whereabouts. The sheikh replies “She was originally at Pierre Matar and names other people I can’t understand. The priest who came into town to take the girl, waited for several hours and people who saw him didn’t know he was there to take the girl”
• [06:50] Marcel asks is the sheikh has informed the security forces. The sheikh replies “We told everyone what happened 30 minutes after the girl disappeared and no one did anything”
• [7:29] Marcel asks why the threats and challenges to the security forces and even the president, and threatening the use of force and tribes. He asks the sheikh if he thinks the security forces are hiding something from them. The sheikh replies “The security forces are trying to solve part of the problem, not the root of the problem. The root of it is the kidnap of the girl, not Father Gharious”
• [08:06] Will the problem be solved if the church and priests stop their activities in the region? Asks Marcel, the sheikh replies “Only the priests involved, not other priests.

My Two Cents

First, I find it hilarious that he is so absolutely enraged the girl switched imaginary friends she believed in, that he accused her of being schizophrenic. How insecure can you get? A girl converting to Christianity from Islam to him was completely unjustifiable except by schizophrenia.

What’s funnier, is that after citing a mental disorder, he jumps on to say that these are spells and curses and black magic done by warlocks. Seriously? Is he that stupid?

But, where he lacks in brains, he’s made up for in balls, where this little man threatens the whole of Lebanon with civil war with his precious, criminal, backward tribes if the girl is not returned. When in fact, he admits him or at least his goons are the ones that kidnapped the priest.

Granted, the girl might be schizophrenic and the priest might’ve misled her somewhere. But, no matter what, that doesn’t justify attacking homes, churches and kidnapping a priest and threatening with violence and all-out war.

In the meantime, as this vomit-inducing fiasco occurs, Islamist extremists terrorize the Northern city of Tripoli demanding the release of a salafist terror suspect. The resulting in-fighting is so low and despicable, that 5th grade children have become involved in the fight, wielding AK-47s and patrolling alleyways. Where are the KONY 2012 to see this and make a documentary about it? All we get is a clip by LBC though.

Poverty, no education and religion mix together to create this toxic result which is fast on the rise. All I can cling on to, is that next time around, we wil step up and run for elections and get voted on and go into parliament and change all of this. Remove priests and sheikhs from politics and law, make everyone equal under the law and stop the meddling of old men in robes in our personal lives and choices. Who’s with me? Who’d no cast a ballot for Aoun or Geagea in favor of a secular reformist with an agenda to abolish religion from the state?