Irene of Athens: the Christian Byzantine Empress who gouged her own son's eyes.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

And yet you support punitive maiming. 

I suspect that the only reason you find eye gouging to be ‘disgusting and repulsing’ is that Mohammad didn’t authorize it. If he had, you’d heartily approve.

Boru

Edit: sorry, Helios - that was for Winter.

No, I find it disgusting because it is hellish, inhumane punishment only a backward fiend would think about it.
Islam did the world a favour by ending the heathen Christians of Turkey once and for all.

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Or maybe the Regent refused to cede power to her son and eye-gouging was merely the means to that end.

Not even close; Irene was a heathen Christian and had fanatic reasons to treat her son that way.
She wanted to make an example out of him.

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Soooooo…..did you ever end up figuring out why east and west got separated?  Seems like it might be instructive for you.

Yes?
Obviously the heathens "started to take over the Western Church", and civil wars started in the "Eastern Church" between heathen enthusiasts -like Irene- against non-heathens like her son "Constantine"; thus she made an example out of him by blinding him and turn Christianity in the East to a heathen faith.

But you seem perfectly OK with hellish, inhumane punishments meted out in Muslim cultures. Why is that?

Boru