Religious morality

In Saudi Arabia, a 75-year-old woman has been sentenced to 40 lashes for having two unrelated men in her house. Well, as the linked article mentions, two years ago the Saudi king graciously pardoned a rape victim who had been sentenced to 200 lashes, so perhaps this woman, too, may be forgiven for her horrible crime.

I've already linked to these stories about the Brazilian Archbishop who excommunicated everyone involved in an abortion for a 9-year-old rape victim, including the victim's mother. Now we hear that he did not excommunicate the rapist, whose crime, "although deplorable", evidently wasn't bad enough to merit such an action. As Andrew Sullivan says, "I guess the Vatican is used to finding ways to see the lesser evil of raping and molesting children." No doubt the Prophet Muhammad would understand. Of course, if this story had happened in Saudi Arabia, the girl would probably have been flogged.