THERE is a story told by St. John in the New Testament of the Holy Bible about a group of Scribes and Pharisees who sought out Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem. They brought to him a woman found in adultery, and said she should be stoned to death according to the Law of Moses. What do you say, they asked Jesus.
For a while He ignored them, but they persisted in asking him. Finally He said: “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.” One by one, they left him, convicted by their own conscience. Then Jesus told the woman He would not condemn her, but “Go and sin no more.”
This story is recalled in the wake of the ongoing worldwide criticism of new sharia laws that took effect on Wednesday last week in Brunei Darussalam. The new laws stipulate death by stoning as punishment for sex between men.
A human rights group, The Brunei Project, said one theory that seeks to explain Brunei’s new law is that Brunei’s economy is declining and Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah seeks to attract more investments from the Muslim world along with more Islamic tourists.
But United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres assailed the new law as a violation of human rights. International celebrities such as George Clooney and Ellen Degeneres led calls to boycott hotels run by Sultan Bolkiah’s Brunei Investment Agency.
The new law is bitterly opposed on two counts – its punishment of gay sex and the harsh penalty of death for men. The penalty for lesbian sex is 40 strokes of the cane and/or 10 years in jail for women. The punishment for theft is amputation of the hand.
Brunei Darussalam is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), whose members do not seek to intervene in the internal affairs of other members. Thus the Philippines is not expected to get directly involved in the worldwide reaction to Brunei’s new Islamic laws, especially that on stoning to death for anal sex.
But our people, we are sure, can understand UN Secretary General Guteress’ statement on human rights. And we share in the humanity embodied in Jesus’ statement: “He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone….”
