Let's have some CONTEXT, please!
In the story of Lot, he understood the status of his guests. In the culture in which he lived, he felt a sacred moral and spiritual obligation to protect them against the demands of a wicked mob . . . even above the safety of himself or members of his family. He was trying to appease the crowd, if necessary . . . even by sacrificing the chastity of his daughters . . . in order to fulfill his primary obligation to protect the honor and sanctified beings who were his guests. But of course, it was his guests who protected him.
There is nothing in the scripture to indicate that the God of Abraham TOLD Lot to let his daughters be raped. It was Lot's decision to suggest to the mob that his daughters be taken as a substitute.
I am so sick of hearing the constant whining of Muslims and the apologists for their 7th century Charlatan-created faith. Despite their arrogance, exaggeration and lame boastfulness about a quixotic Islamic "Golden Age" that existed more than a thousand years ago . . . an empire which was started and maintained by naked imperialism and pillage . . . these people have had a collective inferiority complex ever since the beginning of the decline of the Ottoman Empire. They act like vicious petulant children whenever they get "offended". "Allah" does not need these "enfants terrible" to defend him. If they had possessed the vision of a James Madison or Benjamin Franklin hundreds of years ago when they still had some real power, they would have created a free and democratic culture strong enough to prevent European intervention and rule. They would have enjoyed the benefits of their own Industrial Revolution, instead of achieving it in bits and pieces only after Europeans began to introduce it to the Muslim world.
It is absurd for anyone in a democratic society to claim they have a "right" to NOT be offended by the mere expression of opinion in the public sphere. Three cheers for Blasphemy!

Boaz

Some on the left see no problem in lying or misrepresenting. Just like Islam the end (winning flawed arguements) justifies their devious goals. Often their goal is to justify their own lifestyle because they know one day they will face a righteous holy God. They reject His wonderful gift of salvation and put themselves in His place as a god. They then like to pretend that all religions are the same being blinded to their own pathetic dogmas.

Ruby,

As an atheist, you should be able to recognize that applying rigorous scholarship to the Qur’anic passages is not criticism. When the conclusions drawn by Muslim clerics and scholars about said passages are not flattering to Islam or support the “Religion of Peace” propaganda, this is still not criticism. The Qur’an has been given the benefit of the doubt, held up to scrutiny by it’s most qualified observers, and failed the test.

Sonofaire – thank you for summing up Lot. In a wider context, the story of Lot demonstrates God’s righteousness: his indignation over the ungodly, the patient burning of his anger, and ultimately, his judgement brought to bear.

Ruby – Lot’s daughters weren’t raped but lived only to seduce their father (Gen 19:33-38), and from this incest produced the Moabities (see 2 Kings 3:4-5) and the Ammonites (see 1 Samuel 11:1-15) – who became thorns in the side of Israel until the Israelites dealt with them, in each case for the greater glory of God (2 Kings 3:24 and 1 Samuel 11:11).

Misogynistic and barbaric is a rather strange charge to apply to the inhabitants of 2000 + BC. Cultural anthropologists might not quibble with you over this. However, if this is still the landscape in 2000 + AD, something has run amuck. Take a quick glance at the values and politics of the “Christian” countries and then compare that to the Muslim countries.

Other OLO posters have made the assumption that you are Muslim. If you have any integrity as an atheist, you should recognize that staunchly defending one ideology while attacking another, is not fence-sitting.

goodthief – my first and perhaps only call to action here is to pray. For living out my faith, I am guided by the Sermon on the Mount. Inspired by the fate of Lot’s wife, my prayer today will be for obedience and trust

This has come down to nothing more than "my Church/faith/religion is bigger/better/more valid;-than yours".

Pathetic!

PaulL and BOAZ,
Firstly, I never initiated any figure. The number of 600,000 stated was in the original article and my response was to BOAZ’s opinion that the number was “bias” because he swept it aside as if it was of no consequence.

I’m so relieved to find that the true number is “only 227,000”. What a relief! I guess that 227,001 must be your limit of concern.

As for the assertion that just about everything I said was straight out lies, I’m afraid I must concur with articles in such “leftist” publications as the British Medical Journal that describe deteriorating medical conditions due to “shortages in adequate drugs, anaesthetics, insulin, cancer drugs or basic surgical supplies” and “skyrocketing incidence of typhoid and other infection diseases” that led Iraq from having the healthiest population in the region in 1990 to being equivalent to Sudan and Yemen.

The argument that conditions in the North were somehow better (ie not as bad) doesn’t excuse the sanctions themselves.

It’s like taking a fence away from the top of a cliff and parking an ambulance at the bottom instead.

There are numerous undisputed references to the results of banning of chlorine and bombing water treatment and sewage plants as there also are about Saddam’s willingness to exploit the sanctions regime for his own personal gain.

Are you both implying that the sanctions had no discernible effect on the innocent population and were somehow a good thing? They were certainly good for Saddam and good for creating more enemies for the West but they didn’t help the supposed WMD situation much did they? Only politicians have anything positive to say about them now. Politicians and their apologists anyway.

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I also tend to agree with the attitude of Denis Halliday, who was the UN Humanitarian coordinator in Iraq from 1997 to 1998 but who resigned over those “genocidal” (his words) economic sanctions and was later awarded the Gandhi International Peace Award for his efforts in drawing attention to this matter.

Obviously his opinions don’t count for much in your view of the world so shoot this messenger too – what does he know anyway?

Much of my information comes from things called “books” and documented independent eyewitness accounts. You may be shocked to know that all the world’s knowledge isn’t contained in cyberspace generally or even Wikipedia in particular.

Hey, maybe I could start my own site and quote myself from it as required- would that make it more believeable?
Links come and links go but the truth tends to stick around much longer and resurfaces from time-to-time. You've made up your minds on this matter anyway.

I also enjoy it when you try to label people with some sort of “leftist” tag, as though that has any significance. What it really shows is that you have no real opinion of your own other than maintaining some sort of status quo. Just sweep aside anything that doesn’t fit and move on, no matter how significant it is.

If you want to use these forums as some sort of evangelical pulpit to justify your own prejudices by labelling millions of people as misguided child-molesting potential atheistic killers or by simply disputing everything that isn’t the official Red, White and Blue version of history that’s fine by me. Call be a soft lefty but you place yourselves in a special category too.

I suspect that if all those evil people suddenly laid down their AK47s and Korans in favour of Bibles and Big Macs, forgot the recent past, joined hands with us and sang Kumbaya it still wouldn’t be enough to satisfy you.