Choudhary and stoning

NZ MP Ashraf Choudhary has got himself into a stink over some dumb comments on a NZ TV programme:

Here's the story:

Choudhary was asked whether the Muslim holy book, the Koran, is wrong to recommend that gays in certain circumstances be stoned to death.

He replied that "what the Koran says is correct", adding "in those societies, not here in New Zealand."

Well, apart from noting it was a pointless question from a journalist [is Choudhary, a list MP who voted for civil unions and abstained on legalizing prostitution really likely to let this affect his voting patterns, there must be a million more relevant questions to ask], Choudhary could have answered the question a lot more cleverly, by stating - truthfully - that the Quran DOESN'T say this. This has apparently been overlooked in the whole issue, with no-one bothering to say that, while some Muslims believe in stoning and perhaps one or two countries on earth actually practice it, it's NOT PRESCRIBED IN THE QURAN. The same can not be said about the Bible, however.

On another level, is it necessary that every single person in the parliament endorse in their personal beliefs what the majority considers acceptable? I'm sure that there are a lot of extreme personal opinions in there, from both right or left. Representative democracy surely means that all ideas should be represented in proportion. If only 1% of NZ believes smoking Marijuana should be part of their religion, there's nothing wrong with having a single MP who believes this. If 1% of NZ believes that NZ should be a theocratic Christian state, they should have 1% of MPs. Just because a person holds views which are not acceptable to the majority doesn't disqualify his or her right to hold them, or to be an MP. Democracy means that extremist views should not be translated into law because the majority doesn't accept them. I don't think it means that people should be vilified for holding them privately.