"It's Man's World And These Things Will Never Stop"

"It's Man's World And These Things Will Never Stop" 

So goes the chilling quote by an elderly lady as she responds to an "honor" killing in her village:

In a tangle of bushes and trees outside a remote village in southwest Pakistan, six close male relatives of three teenage girls dug a 4-foot wide by 6-foot deep ditch, on a sweltering night in mid-July, and allegedly buried the girls alive.

The girls' crime: they dared to defy the will of their fathers and the customs of their tribe and choose their own husbands. The mother of one of the girls and the aunt of another were shot and killed while begging for the girls' lives, according to local media reports.

This is a despicable act was "carried out according to tribal traditions," said Israrullah Zehri, a senator representing Balochistan in the upper house of Pakistan's parliament in the capital Islamabad. "These are centuries-old traditions and I will continue to defend them," he said.

These are poor, uneducated people who have followed a set of traditions laid down by old men who wanted to control their tribes, especially their women. It is hard to imagine a life such as this in the United States, but looking into the third world reveals horrors and atrocities committed solely on the basis of ancient superstitions and religious texts. 

This event is something to think about the next time you read in the Old Testament (Torah) about how it was okay for parents to stone their children outside the city gates if they rebelled. Rebellion. You know, like wanting to marry somebody you love as opposed to somebody your dad or religion says.