> 1. Afghanistan. The big news has been how the Taliban gov't destroyed the Buddha statues at Bamiyan. They say that idol worship violates Islam, and that the only way to ensure the statues are not worshiped is to destroy them. There has been plenty of world backlash, including the gov't of Iran (known for fundmentalism) saying they went too far.
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> Well, how far is too far? Independent of the freedom of religion issue, does a person or group have the right to destroy that which is sacred to others? And how about the sanctity of religious belief? If my religion says I can't eat meat on Fridays during Lent (it does), I don't. But that doesn't affect anyone else. If my religion says I should destroy statues, does that make it OK? There seems to be a world consensus (sort of) that it's wrong to violate certain human rights. But this is different... there aren't any people being physically injured. To preserve cultural heritage is all well and good, but what if someone feels it goes against their religios beliefs?
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The big problem here is what the Taliban says its religious beliefs are. They claim to be Islamic - but their version of Islam includes the murder of women who accidentally show an ankle in the street. I'm not going to let myself get off onto this topic - I did a huge project on it last year - but many of the things the Taliban does are NOT part of Islamic law. If you want a more in-depth look.... well, link below. but I'm warning you, it's disturbing, and some of the pictures will make you cry, and some things will make you sick. Just so you know...

Kiki