Why does god want to cut off women's hands?

[John V]

There are always motives for wanting to put people in jail, political and financial gain being among the most popular, so yes, that is true in many cases.

I disagree. I don't think that most societies want to put people in jail, but rather they'd prefer their citizens to be law-abiding.

God's law should be held to a higher standard than our imperfect systems, but it is only the atheist who ever does so.

For all you know, the statute in question was completely effective as a preventative, and never needed to be enforced.

Unless the result is ripping the sack clean off, then it remains disproportionate to remove a hand.

If the result is loss of reproductive ability for the man, then loss of a hand is a disproportionately light sentence.

Men are punished only if disfigurement is actually caused. Women are punished if disfigurement is a possibility.

And a woman's maximum punishment is less than that of a man's in this case. It's a compromise.

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Now deep down you must know that if this was a quote from the Quoran as opposed to the Bible you would condemn it as vehemently as we are doing.

It just never ceases to amaze me how religious people leap to the defence of the indefensible.

I find it indefensible to argue that criminals should get off easier than their victims. Go figure.