December 13, 2008
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared in the sight of every people:
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.
During my seminary days, I had multiple opportunities to read the work of a great American theologian -- Avery Cardinal Dulles. Word has come today that he has passed from this life into the next, at the age of 90.
Cardinal Avery Dulles, a convert to Roman Catholicism from a prominent American family who was the only U.S. theologian named a cardinal without first becoming a bishop, died Friday. He was 90.Dulles, a Jesuit, died in an infirmary at Fordham University, where he was a professor for two decades, according to the Rev. Jim Martin of America, a Jesuit magazine that regularly published Dulles' articles.
Pope John Paul II appointed Dulles in 2001 to the College of Cardinals, making him the first American Jesuit and the first U.S. theologian outside of a diocese to be named a cardinal. He was considered the dean of American Catholic theologians.
Indeed, Pope Benedict XVI considered Dulles to be so important that the pontiff made a personal visit to the cardinal while in the United States this spring. There are few who have had such an honor -- but Dulles was an extraordinary man.
When I read Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain, I noted a passage regarding the large number of veterans attracted to the priesthood and/or monastic life following the end of the Second World War. Like Merton, Dulles was one of them, converting to Catholicism in 1946 and eventually being ordained a priest in 1956.
During Vatican II he was seen as one of the great progressives, but in his later years he was often counted among the traditionalists (quite similar to the paths taken by Bishop Karol Wotyla and Father Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI) -- an example, as one of my seminary professors pointed out, that the purpose of the Council may have been to modernize the Church, but not to change it in its essentials.
Dulles was often noted for his great intellect as well as his great personal holiness. Perhaps the best tribute I can give is to quote from his last lecture, one which he was too weak to deliver himself but for which he was present this past April.
"The most important thing about my career, and many of yours, is the discovery of the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field -- the Lord Jesus himself."
And to that I add a hearty "AMEN".
Posted by: Greg at
05:00 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 495 words, total size 3 kb.
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared in the sight of every people:
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.
During my seminary days, I had multiple opportunities to read the work of a great American theologian -- Avery Cardinal Dulles. Word has come today that he has passed from this life into the next, at the age of 90.
Cardinal Avery Dulles, a convert to Roman Catholicism from a prominent American family who was the only U.S. theologian named a cardinal without first becoming a bishop, died Friday. He was 90.Dulles, a Jesuit, died in an infirmary at Fordham University, where he was a professor for two decades, according to the Rev. Jim Martin of America, a Jesuit magazine that regularly published Dulles' articles.
Pope John Paul II appointed Dulles in 2001 to the College of Cardinals, making him the first American Jesuit and the first U.S. theologian outside of a diocese to be named a cardinal. He was considered the dean of American Catholic theologians.
Indeed, Pope Benedict XVI considered Dulles to be so important that the pontiff made a personal visit to the cardinal while in the United States this spring. There are few who have had such an honor -- but Dulles was an extraordinary man.
When I read Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain, I noted a passage regarding the large number of veterans attracted to the priesthood and/or monastic life following the end of the Second World War. Like Merton, Dulles was one of them, converting to Catholicism in 1946 and eventually being ordained a priest in 1956.
During Vatican II he was seen as one of the great progressives, but in his later years he was often counted among the traditionalists (quite similar to the paths taken by Bishop Karol Wotyla and Father Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI) -- an example, as one of my seminary professors pointed out, that the purpose of the Council may have been to modernize the Church, but not to change it in its essentials.
Dulles was often noted for his great intellect as well as his great personal holiness. Perhaps the best tribute I can give is to quote from his last lecture, one which he was too weak to deliver himself but for which he was present this past April.
"The most important thing about my career, and many of yours, is the discovery of the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field -- the Lord Jesus himself."
And to that I add a hearty "AMEN".
Posted by: Greg at
05:00 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 495 words, total size 3 kb.
December 19, 2008
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared in the sight of every people:
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.
During my seminary days, I had multiple opportunities to read the work of a great American theologian -- Avery Cardinal Dulles. Word has come today that he has passed from this life into the next, at the age of 90.
Cardinal Avery Dulles, a convert to Roman Catholicism from a prominent American family who was the only U.S. theologian named a cardinal without first becoming a bishop, died Friday. He was 90.Dulles, a Jesuit, died in an infirmary at Fordham University, where he was a professor for two decades, according to the Rev. Jim Martin of America, a Jesuit magazine that regularly published Dulles' articles.
Pope John Paul II appointed Dulles in 2001 to the College of Cardinals, making him the first American Jesuit and the first U.S. theologian outside of a diocese to be named a cardinal. He was considered the dean of American Catholic theologians.
Indeed, Pope Benedict XVI considered Dulles to be so important that the pontiff made a personal visit to the cardinal while in the United States this spring. There are few who have had such an honor -- but Dulles was an extraordinary man.
When I read Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain, I noted a passage regarding the large number of veterans attracted to the priesthood and/or monastic life following the end of the Second World War. Like Merton, Dulles was one of them, converting to Catholicism in 1946 and eventually being ordained a priest in 1956.
During Vatican II he was seen as one of the great progressives, but in his later years he was often counted among the traditionalists (quite similar to the paths taken by Bishop Karol Wotyla and Father Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI) -- an example, as one of my seminary professors pointed out, that the purpose of the Council may have been to modernize the Church, but not to change it in its essentials.
Dulles was often noted for his great intellect as well as his great personal holiness. Perhaps the best tribute I can give is to quote from his last lecture, one which he was too weak to deliver himself but for which he was present this past April.
"The most important thing about my career, and many of yours, is the discovery of the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field -- the Lord Jesus himself."
And to that I add a hearty "AMEN".
UPDATE: The New York Times provides this beautiful coverage of the funeral of Avery Cardinal Dulles.
Posted by: Greg at
07:00 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 514 words, total size 3 kb.
December 13, 2008
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared in the sight of every people:
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.
During my seminary days, I had multiple opportunities to read the work of a great American theologian -- Avery Cardinal Dulles. Word has come today that he has passed from this life into the next, at the age of 90.
Cardinal Avery Dulles, a convert to Roman Catholicism from a prominent American family who was the only U.S. theologian named a cardinal without first becoming a bishop, died Friday. He was 90.Dulles, a Jesuit, died in an infirmary at Fordham University, where he was a professor for two decades, according to the Rev. Jim Martin of America, a Jesuit magazine that regularly published Dulles' articles.
Pope John Paul II appointed Dulles in 2001 to the College of Cardinals, making him the first American Jesuit and the first U.S. theologian outside of a diocese to be named a cardinal. He was considered the dean of American Catholic theologians.
Indeed, Pope Benedict XVI considered Dulles to be so important that the pontiff made a personal visit to the cardinal while in the United States this spring. There are few who have had such an honor -- but Dulles was an extraordinary man.
When I read Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain, I noted a passage regarding the large number of veterans attracted to the priesthood and/or monastic life following the end of the Second World War. Like Merton, Dulles was one of them, converting to Catholicism in 1946 and eventually being ordained a priest in 1956.
During Vatican II he was seen as one of the great progressives, but in his later years he was often counted among the traditionalists (quite similar to the paths taken by Bishop Karol Wotyla and Father Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI) -- an example, as one of my seminary professors pointed out, that the purpose of the Council may have been to modernize the Church, but not to change it in its essentials.
Dulles was often noted for his great intellect as well as his great personal holiness. Perhaps the best tribute I can give is to quote from his last lecture, one which he was too weak to deliver himself but for which he was present this past April.
"The most important thing about my career, and many of yours, is the discovery of the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field -- the Lord Jesus himself."
And to that I add a hearty "AMEN".
Posted by: Greg at
05:00 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 495 words, total size 3 kb.
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared in the sight of every people:
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.
During my seminary days, I had multiple opportunities to read the work of a great American theologian -- Avery Cardinal Dulles. Word has come today that he has passed from this life into the next, at the age of 90.
Cardinal Avery Dulles, a convert to Roman Catholicism from a prominent American family who was the only U.S. theologian named a cardinal without first becoming a bishop, died Friday. He was 90.Dulles, a Jesuit, died in an infirmary at Fordham University, where he was a professor for two decades, according to the Rev. Jim Martin of America, a Jesuit magazine that regularly published Dulles' articles.
Pope John Paul II appointed Dulles in 2001 to the College of Cardinals, making him the first American Jesuit and the first U.S. theologian outside of a diocese to be named a cardinal. He was considered the dean of American Catholic theologians.
Indeed, Pope Benedict XVI considered Dulles to be so important that the pontiff made a personal visit to the cardinal while in the United States this spring. There are few who have had such an honor -- but Dulles was an extraordinary man.
When I read Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain, I noted a passage regarding the large number of veterans attracted to the priesthood and/or monastic life following the end of the Second World War. Like Merton, Dulles was one of them, converting to Catholicism in 1946 and eventually being ordained a priest in 1956.
During Vatican II he was seen as one of the great progressives, but in his later years he was often counted among the traditionalists (quite similar to the paths taken by Bishop Karol Wotyla and Father Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI) -- an example, as one of my seminary professors pointed out, that the purpose of the Council may have been to modernize the Church, but not to change it in its essentials.
Dulles was often noted for his great intellect as well as his great personal holiness. Perhaps the best tribute I can give is to quote from his last lecture, one which he was too weak to deliver himself but for which he was present this past April.
"The most important thing about my career, and many of yours, is the discovery of the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field -- the Lord Jesus himself."
And to that I add a hearty "AMEN".
Posted by: Greg at
05:00 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 495 words, total size 3 kb.
Quia viderunt oculi mei salutare tuum
Quod parasti ante faciem omnium populorum:
Lumen ad revelationem gentium, et gloriam plebis tuae Israel.
Lord, now you let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared in the sight of every people:
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.
During my seminary days, I had multiple opportunities to read the work of a great American theologian -- Avery Cardinal Dulles. Word has come today that he has passed from this life into the next, at the age of 90.
Cardinal Avery Dulles, a convert to Roman Catholicism from a prominent American family who was the only U.S. theologian named a cardinal without first becoming a bishop, died Friday. He was 90.Dulles, a Jesuit, died in an infirmary at Fordham University, where he was a professor for two decades, according to the Rev. Jim Martin of America, a Jesuit magazine that regularly published Dulles' articles.
Pope John Paul II appointed Dulles in 2001 to the College of Cardinals, making him the first American Jesuit and the first U.S. theologian outside of a diocese to be named a cardinal. He was considered the dean of American Catholic theologians.
Indeed, Pope Benedict XVI considered Dulles to be so important that the pontiff made a personal visit to the cardinal while in the United States this spring. There are few who have had such an honor -- but Dulles was an extraordinary man.
When I read Thomas Merton's The Seven Storey Mountain, I noted a passage regarding the large number of veterans attracted to the priesthood and/or monastic life following the end of the Second World War. Like Merton, Dulles was one of them, converting to Catholicism in 1946 and eventually being ordained a priest in 1956.
During Vatican II he was seen as one of the great progressives, but in his later years he was often counted among the traditionalists (quite similar to the paths taken by Bishop Karol Wotyla and Father Joseph Ratzinger, better known as Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI) -- an example, as one of my seminary professors pointed out, that the purpose of the Council may have been to modernize the Church, but not to change it in its essentials.
Dulles was often noted for his great intellect as well as his great personal holiness. Perhaps the best tribute I can give is to quote from his last lecture, one which he was too weak to deliver himself but for which he was present this past April.
"The most important thing about my career, and many of yours, is the discovery of the pearl of great price, the treasure hidden in the field -- the Lord Jesus himself."
And to that I add a hearty "AMEN".
Posted by: Greg at
05:00 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 495 words, total size 3 kb.
December 04, 2008
An atheist group has unveiled an anti-religion placard in the state Capitol, joining a Christian Nativity scene and “holiday” tree on display during December.The atheists' sign was installed yesterday by Washington members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national group based in Madison, Wis.
With a nod to the winter solstice — the year's shortest day, occurring on Dec. 21 this year — the placard reads, in part, "There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds."
![solstice_front[1].jpg](http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/images/solstice_front[1].jpg)
Mind you, this is from an organization whose leader claims that a Nativity scene is “hate speech” and openly boasts that his sign is intended as an attack on religion.
I trust that, in a similar spirit of tolerance, the state of Washington (and the state of Wisconsin, where a similar plaque has appeared for over a decade), will abide by the same principle and solicit a similarly contemptuous point of view from the KKK for display along with material honoring Martin Luther King, Jr. in January.
Posted by: Greg at
02:21 PM
| Comments (10)
| Add Comment
Post contains 222 words, total size 2 kb.
November 17, 2008
WeÂ’ve seen that paradigm play out again and again over the last couple of weeks, as churches have been targeted, old ladies have been assaulted, and businesses threatened over the Prop 8 victory in California that overturned a rogue decision by the California Supreme court and reestablished nothing more than a status quo ante which included granting gay couples every single element of marriage without the name. But that is not good enough for the radical homosexualists, who now dare to brag that they are driving from the streets their fellow citizens whose views are with the majority of Californians (and, according to electoral outcome in 30 states, a majority of all Americans).
At first, they just shouted at us, using crude, rude, and foul language and calling us names like "haters" and "bigots". Since it was a long night, I can't even begin to remember all of the things that were shouted and/or chanted at us. Then, they started throwing hot coffee, soda and alcohol on us and spitting (and maybe even peeing) on us. Then, a group of guys surrounded us with whistles, and blasted them inches away from our ears continually. Then, they started getting violent and started shoving us.At one point a man tried to steal one of our Bibles. Chrisdene noticed, so she walked up to him and said "Hey, that's not yours, can you please give it back?". He responded by hitting her on the head with the Bible, shoving her to the ground, and kicking her. I called the cops, and when they got there, they pulled her out of the circle and asked her if she wanted to press charges. She said "No, tell him I forgive him." Afterwards, she didn't rejoin us in the circle, but she made friends with one of the people in the crowd, and really connected heart to heart.
Roger got death threats. As the leader of our group, people looked him in the eyes and said "I am going to kill you.", and they were serious. A cop heard one of them, and confronted him. (This part is kinda graphic, so you should skip the paragraph if you don't want to be offended.) It wasn't long before the violence turned to perversion. They were touching and grabbing me, and trying to shove things in my butt, and even trying to take off my pants - basically trying to molest me. I used one hand to hold my pants up, while I used the other arm to hold one of the girls. The guys huddled around all the girls, and protected them.
* * * Eventually, as the crowd was getting more and more uncontrollable, the cops were afraid for our lives, so they escorted us to our van. (The cops were very nice to us from start to finish.) Our van was parked pretty far because it was hard to find parking that day. As the cops escorted us, the mob followed us, until the cops formed a line, and held off the people so we could drive away. We took the long way home, just in case anyone tried to follow us.
Note the pride at the end of the entry that violence and threats of violence were directed against individuals because of their religion – a recurrent theme on the hateful blog from which the excerpt above was taken.
Some responsible gay leaders have taken issue with the radical homosexualists, condemning the violence and extremist rhetoric. Even such irresponsible voices as homosexualist writer Andrew Sullivan (who is still flogging his ludicrous “Trig isn’t Sarah Palin’s baby” meme) are now recognizing that the Gay Gestapo are doing the cause of gay rights no good and much harm. Could it be a sign that the brush fires of homo-terrorism and homo-fascism we have seen over the last two weeks will soon burn itself out?
Posted by: Greg at
01:08 PM
| Comments (2)
| Add Comment
Post contains 693 words, total size 5 kb.
November 12, 2008
Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich Islamic kingdom that forbids the public practice of other religious faiths, will preside Wednesday over a two-day U.N. conference on religious tolerance that will draw more than a dozen world leaders, including President Bush, Israeli President Shimon Peres and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.The event is part of a personal initiative by Saudi King Abdullah to promote an interfaith dialogue among the world's major religions.
IÂ’m sorry, but for the head of a nation with an established religion that not only forbids religious freedom but also prescribes (and imposes) death as a penalty for conversion to host such an event is offensive. There really isnÂ’t anything to talk about with Islam until the adherents of that faith are prepared to come out of the sixth century and allow all believers the rights that they demand for themselves. IÂ’m ashamed of President Bush for having participated in this farce.
Posted by: Greg at
09:33 AM
| Comments (58)
| Add Comment
Post contains 186 words, total size 1 kb.
October 18, 2008
A Muslim student who said a masked gunman assaulted her after he wrote anti-Islamic slurs in a women's restroom at Elmhurst College was arrested Friday after an investigation concluded the attack never happened.A week after the case roiled the small college, Elmhurst Police Chief Steven Neubauer said Safia Jilani, 19, of Oak Brook had been booked on a felony charge of filing a false police report, which is punishable by 1 to 3 years in prison.
Jilani reported Oct. 9 that the man beat her with the gun in the college's science center, authorities said. Anti-Muslim graffiti was written on the wall, similar to a threat written on the same student's locker the previous week.
Authorities have now confirmed that there is no evidence supporting Jilani's claims. It appears that she was simply trying to delegitimize those who reject Islamist terrorism, as a small group of students did some weeks previous when they shouted at the perp and her friends while they protested against the US government and in support of al-Qaeda terrorists imprisoned at Guantanamo.
Which leads me to ask a question. Jilani created a climate of hate based upon ethnicity and religion with this false report. There were two groups of victims. The first were the white male (presumably Christian) students who were all tarred by her description of her assailant. But the second were all of her fellow Muslim students at Elmhurst College, who were equally targeted by her false report. Why can't these indisputable facts be used to raise the ante a bit, and charge her with a bias crime against both groups?
Posted by: Greg at
05:20 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 317 words, total size 2 kb.
October 14, 2008
Sarah Said, 17, and her sister Amina, 18, were killed on New Year's Day, but for nine months authorities deflected questions about whether their father — the prime suspect and the subject of a nationwide manhunt — may have targeted them because of a perceived slight upon his honor.The girls' great-aunt, Gail Gartrell, says the girls' Egyptian-born father killed them both because he felt they disgraced the family by dating non-Muslims and acting too Western, and she called the girls' murders an honor killing from the start.
But the FBI held off on calling it an honor killing until just recently, when it made Yaser Abdel Said the "featured fugitive" on its Web site.
The apologists for Islamist extremism at CAIR, however, attempt to whitewash the religiously based murder that follow a pattern noted around the Muslim world.
"As far as we're concerned, until the motive is proven in a court of law, this is [just] a homicide," Mustafaa Carroll, the executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations in Dallas, told FOXNews.com.
Frankly, IÂ’m surprised that Carroll is even willing to acknowledge that the two innocent victims are dead until that is proven in a court of law. After all, these folks have never encountered a violent act in the name of Islam that they are willing to whole-heartedly condemn. Why would they now come out and denounce as an honor killing the murder of two American teenagers for behaving like American teenagers, simply because being American teenagers offended the religious sensibilities and manhood of their Muslim father?
Posted by: Greg at
10:52 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 286 words, total size 2 kb.
October 13, 2008
This weekend, Pope Benedict XVI canonized an Indian woman whose life was noted for its holiness.
Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday gave the Roman Catholic church four new saints, including an Indian woman whose canonization is seen as a morale boost to Christians in India who have suffered Hindu violence.Thousands of faithful from the homelands of the new saints, including a delegation from India, where Catholics are a tiny minority, turned out for the ceremony in St. Peter's Square.
The honor for Sister Alphonsa of the Immaculate Conception, the first Indian woman to become a saint, comes as Christians increasingly have been the object of attacks from Hindu mobs in eastern and southern India.
Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, had beatified Alphonsa during a pilgrimage to India in 1986. Beatification is the last formal step before sainthood, the Church's highest honor for its faithful. Alphonsa, a nun from southern India, was 35 when she died in 1946.
Now this canonization should surprise no one with a knowledge of the religious history of India. Christianity spread to the region as early as the first and second centuries, and missionaries found a vibrant Christian minority in the region when modern Catholic missionary activity began there over five centuries ago. Even so, Christians account for only two percent of IndiaÂ’s population.
Which is part of why this next story is so disturbing.
India, the worldÂ’s most populous democracy and officially a secular nation, is today haunted by a stark assault on one of its fundamental freedoms. Here in eastern Orissa State, riven by six weeks of religious clashes, Christian families like the Digals say they are being forced to abandon their faith in exchange for their safety.The forced conversions come amid widening attacks on Christians here and in at least five other states across the country, as India prepares for national elections next spring.
The clash of faiths has cut a wide swath of panic and destruction through these once quiet hamlets fed by paddy fields and jackfruit trees. Here in Kandhamal, the district that has seen the greatest violence, more than 30 people have been killed, 3,000 homes burned and over 130 churches destroyed, including the tin-roofed Baptist prayer hall where the Digals worshiped. Today it is a heap of rubble on an empty field, where cows blithely graze.Across this ghastly terrain lie the singed remains of mud-and-thatch homes. Christian-owned businesses have been systematically attacked. Orange flags (orange is the sacred color of Hinduism) flutter triumphantly above the rooftops of houses and storefronts.
Interestingly enough, the Indian government seems impotent in the face of these attacks. Why? Perhaps because of the political power that fundamentalist Hindu parties hold in the Indian political system – and because there is no political price to pay for protecting the human rights of Indian Christians.
Posted by: Greg at
11:03 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 490 words, total size 3 kb.
October 02, 2008
That is why I find this effort troubling.
Maybe she'll knock on her neighbors' doors and introduce herself, Dina Abdulkarim said. She could try to talk to them about Islam and what Muslims are really like."I have to prove my good intentions," she said. It's not fair, she said, but it's a reality of life as an American Muslim: Too many people think Muslims are radical and violent.
Well, Dina, let’s be honest here – it isn’t a case of Americans being ignorant and bigoted in this case. It is that too many of your co-religionists are radical and violent. We Americans remember 9/11. We are aware of the terrorism regularly committed in the name of your faith by “good Muslims”. You need to clean up your faith before most Americans will stop looking at you with a jaundiced eye. It may not be fair to you as an individual, but it is not an unreasonable response to the deeds committed in the name of Islam.
And before folks accuse me of calling all Muslims terrorists, please know that I am not taking that position. I know too many good and decent Muslims (folks probably much like Dina Abdulkarim) who I respect and hold in high esteem. But the reality is that the words and conduct of a significant segment of the Muslim community around the world have caused me to look askance at Islam and its followers.
Posted by: Greg at
12:58 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 315 words, total size 2 kb.
September 30, 2008
The Pope rejects the new Sarkozy-appointed French ambassador to the Vatican because he's gay and married to a man. These facts in no way impede the man's ability to do his job, just as being gay does not in any way impede a seminarian's ability to be a great priest (as so many gay men have been through the centuries). But this Pope is a bigot, as we now know - and will discriminate against people just for who they are, rather than what they can professionally do.
Excuse me, Andy, but Sarkozy appointed an individual to be ambassador to the Holly See whose lifestyle he knew would be repugnant to Catholic teaching and practice. The leadership of the Vatican made a decision to uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church by rejecting this intentional affront to Catholicism. To have made this appointment is no different than if he had appointed an abortionist to the position.
I’d like to ask – would Sarkozy have appointed this individual as ambassador to Saudi Arabia or Iran? Remember, please, that the Vatican simply refused to accept the diplomatic credentials of the individual in question – in the Islamic world, they would have likely been executed for the crime of sodomy. So before you start demanding that the rest of the world start bowing down before the demands of your Homosexualist agenda, consider that there is no requirement that the rest of the world follow your extreme fundamentalist religious/philosophical/sexual beliefs rather than their own consciences.
Posted by: Greg at
02:40 PM
| Comments (5)
| Add Comment
Post contains 277 words, total size 2 kb.
September 01, 2008
A Pakistani lawmaker defended a decision by northwestern tribesmen to bury five women alive because they wanted to choose their own husbands, telling stunned members of Parliament to spare him their outrage."These are centuries-old traditions, and I will continue to defend them," Israr Ullah Zehri, who represents Baluchistan province, told The Associated Press Saturday.
"Only those who indulge in immoral acts should be afraid."
The women, three of whom were teenagers, were first shot and then thrown into a ditch.
They were still breathing as mud was shoveled over their bodies, according to media reports, which said their only "crime" was that they wished to marry men of their own choosing.
Such honor killings are common in all Islamic societies -- and regularly take place in western countries (including the US) in order to uphold Islamic teachings on the submissiveness of women.
Of course, it isn't just women they want to submit to be submissive. We non-Muslims are supposed to submit to Islam, too.
Councillors have been ordered not to eat during town hall meetings while Muslim colleagues fast during the holy month of Ramadan.All elected members at Left-wing Tower Hamlets Council in East London have been sent an email asking them to follow strict Islamic fasting during September no matter what their faith.
As well as restricting food and drink until after sunset, the authority's leaders have decided to reduce the number of meetings throughout the month so they do not clash with the requirements of Ramadan.
Here's hoping that the non-Muslim councilors show up with ham and bacon sandwiches as a pointed reminder that non-Muslims are not bound by the requirements of Islam.
Posted by: Greg at
03:12 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 302 words, total size 2 kb.
August 28, 2008
An Italian museum on Thursday defied Pope Benedict and refused to remove a modern art sculpture portraying a crucified green frog holding a beer mug and an egg that the Vatican had condemned as blasphemous.The board of the Museion museum in the northern city of Bolzano decided by a majority vote that the frog was a work of art and would stay in place for the remainder of an exhibition.
The wooden sculpture by the late German artist Martin Kippenberger depicts a frog about 1 metre 30 cm (4 feet) high nailed to brown cross and holding a beer mug in one outstretched hand and an egg in another.
Called "Zuerst die Fuesse," (Feet First), it wears a green loin cloth and is nailed through the hands and the feet in the manner of Jesus Christ. Its green tongue hangs out of its mouth.
I find the work to be both offensive and blasphemous. But I'm not going to embark on a campaign of senseless violence over it. neither are other followers of Christ.
After all, we are not Muslims.
I'm curious, though -- would the artist as readily depict Muhammad holding a beer and a bacon sandwich, perhaps while molesting his child-bride Aisha? If not, why not?
Would it be because they have greater respect for the faith of the false prophet?
Or just that they recognize that involvement with such an artistic project would significantly shorten their life expectancy?
Posted by: Greg at
10:48 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 266 words, total size 2 kb.
August 17, 2008
A young girl in Saudi Arabia was brutally executed by her Muslim father this week after he learned his daughter had converted to Christianity.Middle East business news website Zawya.com reported that the man, who is a prominent member of a "virtue committee," first cut out his daughter's tongue and held a one-sided religious debate with her. He then burned his daughter alive.
While the father is "in custody", the fact that there are no charges and the speedy Saudi "justice" system hasn't dealt with the case leads me to suspect that the "virtuous" Muslim father is going to walk. After all, he just followed the teachings of Islam's false prophet.
Posted by: Greg at
10:57 PM
| Comments (5)
| Add Comment
Post contains 140 words, total size 1 kb.
August 05, 2008
The city has stuck to their guns and said "no" to a Muslim request for "private time" at a city pool:
A group of Somali women have asked Portland Parks and Recreation to accommodate their Muslim faith by allowing an after-hours, women-only swim time at a city pool to be staffed only by female lifeguards.The cityÂ’s response?
No way. Anti-discrimination employment law wonÂ’t allow it, Deputy City Attorney Lory Kraut wrote in an 11-page memo to the parks bureau June 23.
Ah, but the executive director of the local Center for Intercultural Organizing says "Portland should be flexible" and that it will "exclude" the Muslim community if it doesn't accommodate it.
Y'know what? Too bad. The Muslim community has to be accommodating too -- to their (in this case) new adopted homeland (the women are Somali). And this means recognizing that public facilities have to be religiously neutral.
One of the Somali women suggested renting the pool after hours as an accommodation. (It isn't clear from the article if this was the initial suggestion -- renting the pool -- or not.) The city still has said "no;" however, I don't see a problem with this. Where I live, religious groups (usually Christian) routinely rent [public] school auditoriums for services and other events on weekends, which, like the Portland pool situation, is after normal operating hours (obviously).
For traditionally liberal enclaves like Portland, situations like this must really pose a conundrum. They're reflexively hostile to religion, but at the same time, they're ridiculously PC when it comes to religious (and other) minorities.
Stay tuned.
Posted by: Hube at
06:35 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 274 words, total size 2 kb.
July 21, 2008
Indeed, he noted that placing the spiritual before the material was the key to bringing about the renewal of our modern society.
"In so many of our societies, side by side with material prosperity, a spiritual desert is spreading: an interior emptiness, an unnamed fear, a quiet sense of despair," the pontiff said.
Quite true -- indeed, we see the results of that emptiness every day in news reports and popular entertainment that rejects the values of God.
Sadly, the need to focus on the sensational over the spiritual was demonstrated by AP and CNN, when they recast their article to focus not on the message but on a meeting with a small group of victims of clergy abuse and the complaints by Church critics that they were not included. Perhaps the most obvious sign of this was CNN's change of headline -- from
Pope: 'Spiritual Desert' Growing Across World
to
Pope meets abuse victims in Australia
After all, it would never do to focus on the Good News when the salacious is available.
Posted by: Greg at
01:37 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 244 words, total size 2 kb.
July 18, 2008
What is included in these books?
They assert that unbelievers, such as Christians, Jews, and Muslims who do not share Wahhabi beliefs and practices, are hated "enemies." Global jihad as an "effort to wage war against the unbelievers" is also promoted in the Ministry's textbooks: "In its general usage, 'jihad' is divided into the following categories: ...Wrestling with the infidels by calling them to the faith and battling against them." No argument is made here that such references to jihad mean only spiritual and defensive struggles.Lessons remain that Jews and Christians are apes and swine, Jews conspire to "gain sole control over the world," the Christian Crusades never ended, the American universities of Cairo and Beirut are part of the continuing Crusades, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are historical fact, and on Judgment Day "the rocks or the trees" will call out to Muslims to kill the Jews.
They teach that it is permissible for a Muslim to kill an "apostate," an "adulterer," and those practicing "major polytheism." Shiites are among those identified as "polytheists." One lesson states that "it is not permissible to violate the blood, property, or honor of the unbeliever who makes a compact with the Muslims," but is pointedly silent on whether security guarantees are extended to non-Muslims without such a compact. Other lessons demonize members of the Baha'i and Ahmadiyya groups.
A lesson from a tenth grade text now posted on the Saudi Ministry's website sanctions the killing of homosexuals and discusses methods for doing so.
In the lessons examined in this report, the Saudi government discounts or ignores passages in the Qur'an to support tolerance.
Yeah, that's right -- "queer killing" is a part of the official curriculum of Saudi schools, including the one operating in Fairfax County, Virginia! And the Saudis must be proud of that fact, since they highlight that lesson on their Education Ministry's official website.
Now just imagine the howls or outrage if there were a Christian school operating with a curriculum even half that outrageous. The school would quickly lose its accreditation, the relevant state and local governments would step in to close the place down, and the children would be taken into state custody because of their parents' educational neglect. But nothing even close to that has happened with regards to The Islamic Saudi Academy. While there have been requests for a State Department investigation, those have come only after those who questioned the schools operation have been accused of slander and labeled as bigots and hatemongers by those requesting the investigation -- even as the school's director is arrested for covering up the abuse of a student!
And remember -- this school provides the same fine education received in, and is subsidized by, our friends in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia!
UPDATE: Debbie Schlussel notes this bit of information from Radar magazine -- some of the official parts of the Saudi curriculum.
What follows are excerpts from textbooks used by Saudi children during the 2007-2008 school year, which really illustrate the House of Saud's devotion to tolerance, peace, and interfaith understanding. It'll also help explain why a Saudi conference is being held in Spain.1st Grade
"Fill in the blanks with the appropriate words—(Islam, hellfire)
'Every religion other than ____ is false. Whoever dies outside of Islam enters ____.'"5th Grade
"A Muslim is forbidden to love and aid the unbelieving enemies of God....""Which of the following should you love in God, and which of them should you hate in God?
Example: One of your relatives who does not pray, does not fast, and does not worship God.
Answer: I hate him in God.""Just as Muslims were successful in the past when they came together in a sincere effort to evict the Christian crusaders from Palestine, so will Muslims and Arabs emerge victorious, God willing, against the Jews and their allies if they stand together and fight a true jihad for God...."
8th Grade
"Lesson Goals: 1) The student notes some of the Jews condemnable qualities....""God told his Prophet, Mohammed, about the Jews, who learned from part of God's book that God alone is worthy of worship. Despite this, they espouse falsehood through idol worship, soothsaying and sorcery. In doing so, they obey the devil..."
"God told his Prophet Mohammed: say to those who cast aspersions on your religion: has anyone told you who will receive the harshest punishment from God on the Day of Resurrection? They are the Jews, whom God has cursed and with whom he is so angry that he will never again be satisfied. Some of the people of the Sabbath were punished by being turned into apes and swine. Some of them were made to worship the devil..."
"God punished the Jews in several ways for their unbelief and error. Explain the ways...."
9th Grade
"The prophet said, 'The hour [of judgment] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, until the Jew hides behind rocks and trees, until the rocks or the trees say, 'O Muslim! O servant of God! There is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him'....""(1) It is part of God's wisdom that the struggle between the Muslims and the Jews should continue until the hour of judgment. (2) The good news for Muslims is that God will help them against the Jews in the end, which is one of the signs of the hour of judgment...."
10th Grade
"Basic Elements of Zionist Faith:
The Jews are God's chosen people and the souls of the tribe of Israel are a part of God. Other souls are Satanic souls that are like the souls of animals.
The world belongs to the Israeli. It is his right to rule and he has sovereignty over the world in his capacity as God's chosen people above all humankind....""How the Zionists Achieve their Goals:
Sedition, ruses, and conspiracy theories throughout history.... The First World War: the Jews played a role in starting it....
Attempting to inundate peoples with vice and rampant prostitution.... They manage bars in Europe and America, as well as in Israel itself.
Gaining control over literature and the arts; spreading degenerate pornographic literature, and encouraging perverted trends in literature, thought and art.
Gaining control over the film industry in the Western world and elsewhere.
Fraud, bribery, theft, and swindles.""Homosexuality is one of the most disgusting sins and greatest crimes.... It is a vile perversion that goes against sound nature, and is one of the most corrupting and hideous sins.... The punishment for homosexuality is death. Both the active and passive participants are to be killed whether or not they have previously had sexual intercourse in the context of a legal marriage.... Some of the companions of the Prophet stated that [the perpetrator] is to be burned with fire. It has also been said that he should be stoned, or thrown from a high place."
11th Grade
"The Prophet said, 'Do not greet Jews and Christians with the words 'Peace be upon you.' If you come upon one of them on the road, force him to the narrower part.'"
Taught in Saudi Arabia -- and, courtesy of the Saudi Embassy, in America. Not to mention around the world.
OPEN TRACKBACKING AT The Virtuous Republic, Perri Nelson's Website, Right Truth, DragonLady's World, Shadowscope, Leaning Straight Up, Cao's Blog, , Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, Allie is Wired, Faultline USA, third world county, McCain Blogs, Woman Honor Thyself, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, , Dumb Ox Daily News, , Right Voices, and Gone Hollywood, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Posted by: Greg at
10:24 AM
| Comments (3)
| Add Comment
Post contains 1322 words, total size 11 kb.
July 09, 2008
Christian publisher Zondervan is facing a $60 million federal lawsuit filed by a man who claims he and other homosexuals have suffered based on what the suit claims is a misinterpretation of the Bible.But a company spokeswoman says Zondervan doesn't translate the Bible or own the copyright for any of the translations. Instead, she said in a statement, the company relies on the "scholarly judgment of credible translation committees."
That is to say, setting aside whether the federal civil rights lawsuit is credible, the company says Bradley Fowler sued the wrong group.
His suit centers on one passage in scripture -- 1 Corinthians 6:9 -- and how it reads in Bibles published by Zondervan.
Fowler says Zondervan Bibles published in 1982 and 1987 use the word homosexuals among a list of those who are "wicked" or "unrighteous" and won't inherit the kingdom of heaven.
Fowler says his family's pastor used that Zondervan Bible, and because of it his family considered him a sinner and he suffered.
Now he is asking for an apology and $60 million.
"To compensate for the past 20 years of emotional duress and mental instability," Fowler told 24 Hour News 8 in a phone interview.
Now wait just one minute. Do you mean to tell me that federal courts are now going to rule on the proper translation of biblical passages? That strikes me as a rather grave intrusion into a realm that the First Amendment would seem to bar. Especially when you consider that at least three other translations that I encountered and others refer to men having sex with men or "mankind" -- and therefore clearly refer to homosexual practice -- going back to at least the King James Version in the early 1600s. What's more, the English translation of Calvin's Geneval Bible refers to "buggerers" -- again, something understood at the time as a reference to homosexuality. For that matter, reference back to the book of Genesis makes it clear that the sin of Sodom, from which the term "sodomy" arises, was HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITY (though some contemporary theologians attempt to reinterpret it as failure to give proper protection to guests)!
But in the end, this entire matter comes down to a theological dispute over the proper translation of the Bible and whether dynamic equivalence or formal equivalence is the proper method of translating biblical manuscripts from the ancient dead languages in which they were written in centuries past -- and, implicitly, whether the doctrinal interpretations of scriptural passages which have arisen within Christianity over the last two millennia are correct. And that, my friends, cuts straight to the heart of the First Amendment guarantees of free exercise of religion and non-establishment of religion.
Oh, and why Zondervan as the target in this lawsuit? Because they are the biggest publisher of Bibles in America, and the NIV (in its various forms) are the biggest selling text in America today, usually selling more than the venerable King James Version in any given year. Drive them and their best selling translation out of the market, and the hope would be to silence Christians in this country in the same way that Canada's human rights commissions are being used to silence them in the Formerly-Great White North.
H/T STACLU. Right Pundits
Posted by: Greg at
06:28 AM
| Comments (33)
| Add Comment
Post contains 586 words, total size 4 kb.
July 06, 2008
That is why the discovery -- and subsequent study of -- Gabriel's Revelation is very exciting. It leaves room for a change in the understanding of Judaism at the time of Christ, not t mention revolutionizing our understanding of the origin of early Christian beliefs.
A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.
Here's the interesting part.
The slaying of Simon, or any case of the suffering messiah, is seen as a necessary step toward national salvation, he says, pointing to lines 19 through 21 of the tablet — “In three days you will know that evil will be defeated by justice” — and other lines that speak of blood and slaughter as pathways to justice.To make his case about the importance of the stone, Mr. Knohl focuses especially on line 80, which begins clearly with the words “L’shloshet yamin,” meaning “in three days.” The next word of the line was deemed partially illegible by Ms. Yardeni and Mr. Elitzur, but Mr. Knohl, who is an expert on the language of the Bible and Talmud, says the word is “hayeh,” or “live” in the imperative. It has an unusual spelling, but it is one in keeping with the era.
Two more hard-to-read words come later, and Mr. Knohl said he believed that he had deciphered them as well, so that the line reads, “In three days you shall live, I, Gabriel, command you.”
To whom is the archangel speaking? The next line says “Sar hasarin,” or prince of princes. Since the Book of Daniel, one of the primary sources for the Gabriel text, speaks of Gabriel and of “a prince of princes,” Mr. Knohl contends that the stone’s writings are about the death of a leader of the Jews who will be resurrected in three days.
Now there are two ways of looking at this. One would argue that the ideas contained here constitute evidence that the supposedly unique views about Jesus' death and resurrection were really not so unique after all -- and in the eyes of some this means that we need to reassess the entire understanding of Jesus and the early Christian community. On the other hand, it could be just as easily argued that the Gabriel Revelation is yet one more foreshadowing -- this one extra-biblical -- that the death and resurrection of the Messiah was something foretold and expected by Jews of the period around the time of Jesus, and that said expectation was fulfilled by Jesus.
Frankly, I suspect that this discovery will be fodder for discussion for some time.
Posted by: Greg at
01:40 AM
| Comments (41)
| Add Comment
Post contains 556 words, total size 3 kb.
July 05, 2008
Clashes between guards and prisoners at a jail in Syria have resulted in many deaths, human-rights groups have said.At least 25 people were killed after military police fired live bullets at Islamist inmates, the groups said.
* * * Several prisoners have managed to contact Syrian human rights group, as well as the BBC, by telephone.
They said the guards had also desecrated copies of the Koran.
Come on -- aren't there some Muslims in Syria ready to take to the streets in protest, demanding the death of President Assad? Won't they call out for Allah's divine retribution upon the nation that sponsored this outrage?
And what about Islamists in the rest of the world? Where is Islamic Rage Boy and all those extremists who rioted and burned, and killed over the false reports of Quran desecration at Guantanamo Bay, where the prisoners are housed in much greater comfort than in the Syrian prison?
Could it be that they really don't give a damn about the desecration of a Quran (or depiction of Muhammad) unless it can be used to attack and assault the West?
H/T Gateway Pundit
Posted by: Greg at
12:16 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 215 words, total size 1 kb.
July 02, 2008
At the time, one of my commenters asked if dogs were next, given Muslim objections to dogs for similar reasons.
Guess what -- that scenario is now playing out in the UK.
![policedog[1].jpg](http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/images/policedog%5B1%5D.jpg)
A postcard featuring a cute puppy sitting in a policeman's hat advertising a Scottish police force's new telephone number has sparked outrage from Muslims.Tayside Police's new non-emergency phone number has prompted complaints from members of the Islamic community.
The choice of image on the Tayside Police cards - a black dog sitting in a police officer's hat - has now been raised with Chief Constable John Vine.
And the local constabulary has apologized, expressing regret that they failed to consult with the department's "diversity adviser" over the matter before the card was put out to the public with the picture of Rebel, the force's new police dog.
Now come on. Like we un the US, most folks in the UK have been raised with the mentality that "Happiness is a warm puppy." Like the US, the UK is a country in which dogs are "man's best friend" and a part of the family. Why, then, apologize to the hyper-sensitive for even depicting a dog on the poster? Isn't there an obligation on the part of Muslims to recognize that the British majority does not take offense at the mere mention of the word "dog", and that they will have to deal with the reality that the majority view will be the one catered to?
Oh, yeah. This is the same country that made this decision last week, limiting the use of sniffer dogs near Muslims in London subway stations. Interestingly enough, the use of the dogs began after the 2005 bombings on that subway system -- by a group of Muslims, don't you know.
More at Lionheart, LGF, Gateway Pundit, Hot Air
Posted by: Greg at
02:27 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 415 words, total size 3 kb.
June 11, 2008
![toonaphobia[1].PNG](http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/images/toonaphobia%5B1%5D.PNG)
Last week, Jordan indicted a group of Danish publishers and cartoonists for daring to publish the Muhammad Cartoons -- claiming international jurisdiction over any act of alleged blasphemy against Islam. Now the Jordanians are actively stripping human and civil rights from their own citizens who turn away from Islam and embrace the truth that Jesus is the Savior.
The North Amman Sharia Court in April dissolved the marriage of Mohammad Abbad, on trial for apostasy, or leaving Islam. The 40-year-old convert fled Jordan with his wife and two young children in March after another Christian convert’s relatives attacked Abbad’s family in their home and his father demanded custody of Abbad’s children. “Marriage depends on the creed [religion], and the apostate has no creed,” a May 22 court document stated, detailing reasons for the April 22 annulment. According to the document, Judge Faysal Khreisat had “proven the veracity of [Abbad’s] apostasy.”Jordan’s penal code does not outlaw apostasy, and the country’s constitution guarantees freedom of religion, as does the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that was given force of law in the country in June 2006. But Islam, Jordan’s official religion, forbids conversion to another faith. Jordanian sharia (Islamic law) courts that rule on family law have convicted converts of apostasy, stripping them of all legal rights.
“I can’t win this case as long as I insist that I converted to Christianity,” Abbad wrote after arriving in a European country where he has applied for asylum. Abbad and his 10-year-old son were violently attacked in their home on March 23, when relatives of another convert, staying with Abbad, stormed the house. Abbad suffered injuries to his head and chest and bleeding in his right eye, according to medical reports from Jordan University Hospital. When Abbad went to the police station the same day to file a complaint he found his father there, demanding custody of Abbad’s son and 11-year-old daughter.
By allowing the religious courts to take on civil jurisdiction, Jordan has placed itself in defiance of international human rights norms again, even as Kin Abdullah attempts to present his country as a moderate, modern nation that honors human rights. In the end, however, the reality shows that Jordan is still mired in the seventh century when Abdullah's ancestor, the false prophet Muhammad, first preached Islam.
Posted by: Greg at
12:29 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 404 words, total size 3 kb.
June 09, 2008
![toonaphobia[1].PNG](http://rhymeswithright.mu.nu/archives/images/toonaphobia[1].PNG)
Here's hoping the EU and the rest of the civilized world tell the Pakistanis to bugger off!
Pakistan will ask the European Union countries to amend laws regarding freedom of expression in order to prevent offensive incidents such as the printing of blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and the production of an anti-Islam film by a Dutch legislator, sources in the Interior Ministry told Daily Times on Saturday.They said that a six-member high-level delegation comprising officials from the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Law would leave Islamabad on Sunday (today) for the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium and explain to the EU leadership the backlash against the blasphemous campaign in the name of freedom of expression.
The delegation, headed by an additional secretary of the Interior Ministry, will meet the leaders of the EU countries in a bid to convince them that the recent attack on the Danish Embassy in Pakistan could be a reaction against the blasphemous campaign, sources said.
They said that the delegation would also tell the EU that if such acts against Islam are not controlled, more attacks on the EU diplomatic missions abroad could not be ruled out.
Notice that little threat at the end -- "Dhimmify or face more terrorism with our approval!"
We in the West cannot accept such demands -- or the threat that goes with them. If I want to mock the false prophet Muhammad (May He Burn In Hell For All Eternity) then I have an absolute right to do so, both based upon freedom of speech and freedom of religion. For a government to seek to restrict that right goes against the entire thrust of Western Civilization since the Enlightenment -- and violates provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
H/T American Thinker, Ezra Levant
Posted by: Greg at
03:00 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 329 words, total size 3 kb.
June 05, 2008
Eleven Danes have been summoned to appear before the Jordanian pubic prosecutor to answer charges of blasphemy and threatening the national peace. They include the cartoonist who drew one of the Mohammed cartoons and editors from 10 of the 17 newspapers that reprinted them.The group behind the announcement is called The Prophet Unites Us, a union of Jordanian media organisations, organisations and private individuals.
'The public prosecutor decided to summon the Danes for a series of criminal offences. Now the Danes have to meet in Jordan,' said Zakaria al-Sheikh, the group's general secretary, to Politiken newspaper.
He explained that the public prosecutor will ask the Danish embassy for help in contacting Danish officials to arrange the meeting of the editors.
Osama al-Bettar, the group's lawyer, said that if the Danes do not appear, the next step will be to inform Interpol and seek their arrest.
The public prosecutor confirmed to Politiken that the editors have been summoned.
The Danish government has made it clear that the actions of the eleven is not criminal in Denmark, and that they will not be deported to the realm of the Islamo-censors as a result.
Somebody needs to inform King Abdullah of Jordan that there is no basis for prosecution for printing the cartoons because doing so is merely the exercise of fundamental human rights recognized by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Also, I have repeatedly published the cartoons on my site and expressed my contemptuous opinion of the 43rd generation ancestor of King Abdullah, the Christ-blaspheming false prophet Muhammad. I therefore demand an indictment by the Jordanian government!
H/T Jawa Report, Edge of Reason
Posted by: Greg at
01:19 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 294 words, total size 3 kb.
June 03, 2008
But one striking point through all of this is the claim made by the FLDS members that no underaged girls were married off as part of the cult's practice of "spiritual marriage". How, then, can they now make this statement?
The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints made the startling announcement Monday that it will no longer allow underage girls to marry adults within their sect.
* * * As the transfers were taking place, Willie Jessop, an FLDS member and the group's Texas spokesman, said: "In the future, the church commits that it will not preside over any marriage of any woman under the age of legal consent in the jurisdiction in which the marriage takes place."
The announcement applies to both the group's "spiritual" unions and legal marriages. The minimum age to marry in Texas is 16, but only with parental permission.
"The church believes in purity, cleanliness and innocence, and our children and families are the cornerstone of our lives and religion," Willie Jessop said. "We hope this modest clarification will alleviate recent concerns and allow this church and its families to reside in peace among its neighbors."
Now hold on -- I thought they already didn't allow such marriages. Doesn't this constitute an admission that they did -- and the initial move to protect young girls from sexual exploitation by older men was, in fact somewhat justified (even if the initial phone call was a hoax)?
Posted by: Greg at
03:01 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 323 words, total size 2 kb.
May 18, 2008
The commander of United States troops in Baghdad asked local leaders and tribal sheiks this weekend for their forgiveness after the discovery that a soldier had used a Koran for target practice at a shooting range.Responding to an episode ripe with the potential to stoke unrest, the commander, Maj. Gen. Jeffery Hammond, held a meeting Saturday with Iraqi leaders.
“I come before you here seeking your forgiveness,” General Hammond said at the meeting, in remarks carried by CNN. “In the most humble manner, I look in your eyes today and I say, please forgive me and my soldiers.”
General Hammond also read a letter of apology from the soldier, who was not identified. “I sincerely hope that my actions have not diminished the partnership that our two nations have developed together,” the general read from the letter.
Another American officer kissed a Koran and gave it to the tribal leaders, according to news agency reports.
So now we've got American military personnel kissing the Koran as a part of their duties? Where's the ACLU and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State? Where are all those mutts who have been complaining that Christians in the military are just too Christian? What is their opinion of this Koran kissing -- and is it the same as it would be if we were talking about a Bible?
UPDATE: 5/19/2008, 18:34 -- Interestingly enough, not one of them has offered a word on the issue, whether to support or condemn this action. Interesting, isn't it, that they just can't muster their standard hostility to official government endorsement of religion.
Posted by: Greg at
10:42 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 299 words, total size 2 kb.
Well, since there seems to be a consensus among the press that the riots over reported Koran desecration were understandable and the fault of the US, I think it is important that we apply the principle to the holy texts of all faiths when they are abused or disrespected as a matter of official government policy.
As such, I am starting the "Slay a Saudi for the Savior" campaign, and expect the support of every liberal and Muslim out there. This is simply a proportional response to this report.
Bibles found in the possession of visitors to Saudi Arabia are routinely confiscated by customs officials, and in some cases copies allegedly have been put through a paper shredder, according to religious rights campaigners.Reports from the Islamic world of the abuse of Bibles and other items important to Christians emerge from time to time, but generally have little impact - in contrast to the wave of Muslim anger sparked by a Newsweek report, since retracted, of Koran desecration by the U.S. military.
"The Muslims respect the Koran far more than Christians respect the Bible," says Danny Nalliah, a Sri Lankan-born evangelical pastor now based in Australia.
During the 1990s, Nalliah spent two years in Saudi Arabia, where he was deeply involved with the underground church.
"It's a very well-known fact that if you have a Bible at customs when you enter the airport, and if they find the Bible, that the Bible is taken and put in the shredder," he said in an interview this week.
"If you have more than one Bible you will be taken into custody, and if you have a quantity of Bibles you will be given 70 lashes for sure - you could even be executed."
And since there are constant complaints about the abuse of Muslim women, how about this Saudi abuse of a nun?
A friend of his, a fellow Christian in Saudi Arabia, told him of witnessing a particularly unpleasant incident involving a Catholic nun.The man had been in the transit lounge at the airport in Jeddah - the gateway to Mecca, used by millions of Hajj pilgrims each year - when a nun arrived at the customs desk.
"Some fool [travel agent] had put her on a transit flight in Jeddah. You don't do that to a Catholic nun, because she's going to be tormented."
"They opened her bag, went through her prayer book, put the prayer book through the shredder ... took the crucifix off her neck and smashed it, tormented her for many minutes."
Eventually another Muslim official objected to their conduct, came across and "rescued" her, pointing out to the customs officials that she was not entering the country but only in transit and would be leaving on the next plane.
I demand that the Muslim pigs involved suffer death by beheading for their abuse of this woman of God – right in the middle of Saint Peter’s Square.
I declare a Crusade against the infidels who would dare defile crucifix or shred a prayer book or Bible. We must avenge these insults to the Christian faith.
Death to the Islam!
Death to Mecca!
Death to Saudi Arabia!
***
Uh -- anyway, now that I've recovered my sense of proportion, I hope folks realize that this is not my actual belief. The above is a satirical piece. Unfortunately, the outrages committed by the Saudis are not something I've made up out of whole cloth. They are real.
That is why I urge the State Department to impose serious sanctions against Saudi Arabia and any other Muslim country that violates the rights of Christians. After all -- Christianity deserves at least as much respect as Islam.
And to the Islamist fifth-columnists working at CAIR --you'll get my support for your resolution when you get Saudi Arabia and the rest of the Muslim world to apply the same standard to Christian practices and beliefs.
UPDATE -- 5/20/05: Just in case folks didn't like my sources, here is a piece from today's Wall Street Journal on the same Saudi policy regarding the Bible -- including this anecdote.
The Bible in Saudi Arabia may get a person killed, arrested, or deported. In September 1993, Sadeq Mallallah, 23, was beheaded in Qateef on a charge of apostasy for owning a Bible.
I wonder what Ms. Azza Basarudin (from the post below) feels about such cases?
More at GOPBloggers.
UPDATE -- 5/23/05 -- More on Saudi Bible desecration here.
UPDATE -- 5/26/05 -- Don't look now, but it isn't just Bibles that the Islamist Horde wants to ban and destroy -- now they want to confiscate Webster's Dictionary for defining anti-Semitism in a way that they don't like.
The latest edition of the dictionary "Webster" identified "anti- Semitism" as opposing Zionism and sympathizing with Israel's enemies, which showed "the racial trend and scientific distortion," officials of the Office of the Arab Boycott of Israel (OABI) were quoted as saying.
Ignorant cretins!
Posted by: Greg at
12:24 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 942 words, total size 7 kb.
May 13, 2008
Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican's chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday.The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, was quoted as saying the vastness of the universe means it is possible there could be other forms of life outside Earth, even intelligent ones.
"How can we rule out that life may have developed elsewhere?" Funes said. "Just as we consider earthly creatures as 'a brother,' and 'sister,' why should we not talk about an 'extraterrestrial brother'? It would still be part of creation."
In the interview by the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, Funes said that such a notion "doesn't contradict our faith" because aliens would still be God's creatures. Ruling out the existence of aliens would be like "putting limits" on God's creative freedom, he said.
Now this opens up all sorts of interesting areas for theological speculation.
- Are aliens subject to original sin?
- Did the redemptive sacrifice of Christ in human form apply to aliens as well?
- If not, did Christ have to take on flesh in their form to suffer and die for their redemption?
Just a few little theological musings for you.
Posted by: Greg at
10:53 PM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 221 words, total size 1 kb.
The Rev. John C. Hagee, whose anti-Catholic remarks created a controversy when Senator John McCain received his endorsement for the Republican presidential nomination with fanfare, has issued a letter expressing regret for “any comments that Catholics have found hurtful.”The letter was issued after weeks of conversations between Mr. Hagee and Roman Catholic Republicans about repairing the damage to Mr. McCain’s campaign and the alliance built over many years between conservative Catholics and evangelicals.
Mr. McCain said Tuesday that he had not been involved in brokering the apology letter from Mr. Hagee, a megachurch pastor in San Antonio who broadcasts to 200 countries, but that he found it "a laudable thing."
Mr. McCainÂ’s pursuit of Mr. HageeÂ’s endorsement came under renewed scrutiny recently as the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, was embroiled in controversy over incendiary remarks by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr.
Set aside, of course, that the relationship between McCain and hagee was completely different than that between Obama and Wright. Set aside the fact that the duration of those relationships was completely different. When it comes right down to it, the statements attributed to Hagee -- which were somewhat more nuanced than the media and the Catholic League presented them -- were not all that outrageous when considered in the light of five centuries of post-Reformation Protestant theology. Indeed, they were mainstream theological views only a generation ago among large swathes of American Protestants. Contrast that to the hate-mongering anti-Americanism and outright lies promulgated by Jeremiah Wright.
Does that mean that I think Hagee had nothing to apologize for? Hardly -- even though I left the Catholic Church over some theological differences, I still hold that institution in high esteem and believe that the Hagee's earlier comments were wrong. But then again, anyone who has read this blog already knew that.
But I am struck by another difference between Hagee and Jeremiah Wright in this whole thing -- one is willing to take th time to educate himself, to reconsider his views, and to publicly repudiate statements that were wrong or which could be misconstrued. Wright, on the other hand, simply continued to reaffirm his outrageous comments. In other words, only one of the two men displays any sort of open-mindedness -- and it is not Obama's spritual mentor.
Posted by: Greg at
10:41 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 422 words, total size 3 kb.
May 08, 2008
A Malaysian Islamic court allowed a Muslim convert Thursday to return to her original faith of Buddhism, setting a precedent that could ease religious minorities' worries about their legal rights.Lawyers said the Shariah High Court's verdict in the northern state of Penang was the first time in recent memory that a convert has been permitted to legally renounce Islam in this Muslim-majority nation.
A rising number of disputes about religious conversions has sparked anxiety among minorities _ predominantly Buddhist, Christian and Hindu _ because in the past courts virtually always ruled against people seeking to leave Islam.
Penang's Shariah court, however, granted Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah's request to be declared a non-Muslim. She embraced Islam in 1998 because she wanted to marry an Iranian, but claimed she never truly practiced the religion.
"I am very happy," Siti, a 39-year-old ethnic Chinese cake seller, told The Associated Press by telephone. "I want to go to the temple to pray and give thanks."
The Shariah court, which governs Muslims' personal conduct and religious lives, ruled that Siti's husband and Islamic authorities failed to give her proper religious advice.
"So you can't blame her for her ignorance of the teachings and wanting to convert out," said Ahmad Munawir Abdul Aziz, a lawyer for the Islamic Affairs Council in Penang.
So this means that some members of the Muslim community -- but only those who began their lives in another faith -- will have a right enshrined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Unfortunately, those born and raised as Muslims who recognize the truth of Christianity and therefore reject the false teachings of Muhammad will still be subject to arrest, imprisonment, and death at the hands of sharia courts that operate with government sanction -- meaning that for the majority of Malaysians, true religious freedom is still denied.
Posted by: Greg at
10:20 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 347 words, total size 2 kb.
May 07, 2008
As part of a recent emergency preparedness drill in south-central Illinois, law enforcement personnel stormed a "mosque" where radical gunman were holding hostages.The "gunmen" and hostages were playing a part, and the building wasn't really a mosque. And that bothers an Islamic advocacy group.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) opposes the stereotyping of Muslims as radicals.
"The use of a fake 'mosque' in this type of drill sends the wrong message to law enforcement officials who may now view mainstream institutions, such as Islamic houses of worship, as potential security threats," said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of CAIR's Chicago chapter.
Now letÂ’s set aside the obvious connection between Islam and terrorism -- even though Islam is the leading source of terrorism today, it is unnecessary to even consider that in justifying the use of the mosque scenario.
Police use a number of different scenarios in such training exercises – including some in which the target of the action is a “church” full of “extremist Christians”.
For CAIR to take offense at a scenario that is not unusual except for the use of the word “mosque” is therefore totally unreasonable – but then again, since when have we ever seen terrorist apologists at CAIR act reasonably when an unreasonable response is an option?
Posted by: Greg at
10:24 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 277 words, total size 2 kb.
That said, he hits the nail right on the head in a HuffPo piece on Islam and freedom of expression – and says in a manner more eloquent than I the very thing I have pointed to over the last few years.
The controversy over Fitna, like all such controversies, renders one fact about our world especially salient: Muslims appear to be far more concerned about perceived slights to their religion than about the atrocities committed daily in its name. Our accommodation of this psychopathic skewing of priorities has, more and more, taken the form of craven and blinkered acquiescence.There is an uncanny irony here that many have noticed. The position of the Muslim community in the face of all provocations seems to be: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we will kill you. Of course, the truth is often more nuanced, but this is about as nuanced as it ever gets: Islam is a religion of peace, and if you say that it isn't, we peaceful Muslims cannot be held responsible for what our less peaceful brothers and sisters do. When they burn your embassies or kidnap and slaughter your journalists, know that we will hold you primarily responsible and will spend the bulk of our energies criticizing you for "racism" and "Islamophobia."
And therein lies the problem. I’m all for showing respect for religious belief and sensitivity, but not enforcing it with threats of violence and death. I may disagree with the tenets of a faith, but I won’t intentionally insult its beliefs and the sensitivities of its believers – unless, of course, that faith and it adherents demands I refrain from doing so under penalty of great bodily harm or death. At that point, defense of freedom requires that I speak out – and echo those who have given offense – in order to ensure that I and others retain those rights and do not allow them to atrophy.
And let us not be unobservant of the double standard as it plays out in the press. During his campaign for the GOP nomination, many commentators and reporters wanted to focus on the religious practices of Mitt Romney’s polygamous Mormon ancestors – and had he remained in the race, Romney would no doubt have been expected to comment upon the FDLS child abuse case, despite the fact that the FDLS split from the LDS Church over a century ago over precisely that issue. Unless I missed it in the news, though, Barack Obama has not ever been asked to comment on the FDLS case and the polygamy issue – despite being the son of a polygamous Muslim. The difference? Which “M” religion the two candidates have a familial association with, of course! And we all know the reason why – bad things happen to folks who dare to offend the sensibilities of the Muslim community in this country and around the world.
I think Sam Harris is wrong on a lot of issues – but he really does peg it here. Make sure you read the whole thing.
OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Rosemary's Thoughts, A Blog For All, Right Truth, Kodera's Korner, Big Dog's Weblog, Democrat=Socialist, Conservative Cat, third world county, Faultline USA, Woman Honor Thyself, McCain Blogs, Pirate's Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and The Yankee Sailor, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Posted by: Greg at
10:16 AM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 621 words, total size 7 kb.
April 30, 2008
That said, I've got a problem with this detail released by Texas officials -- I find it unreasonably prejudicial and not particularly illuminating.
Although Cockerell didn’t elaborate on the broken bones, a report by his department’s Child Protective Services division said medical exams and interviews indicated “that at least 41 children have had broken bones in the past.”“We do not have X-rays or complete medical information on many children so it is too early to draw any conclusions based on this information, but it is cause for concern and something we’ll continue to examine,” the CPS report said.
Maybe i'm nuts, but 41 kids out of 464 with broken bones AT SOME POINT in their childhood doesn't seem all that outrageous to me. It is less than 10%, which would probably be about the rate my classmates and I suffered growing up. Heck, I can remember one summer in which one of my closest friends fractured his skull when fell riding up a steep hill on his bicycle and another broke her arm falling out of a tree in her yard -- and there weren't 20 school-aged kids on our street. The raw statistics on the broken bones tell us nothing -- and until we learn more about the types of breaks and possible causes, we can't no that these 41 broken bones really mean anything. CPS should have waited to disclose the information until they could determine more conclusively whether these injuries were from normal childhhood accidents or from abuse.
Posted by: Greg at
10:41 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 317 words, total size 2 kb.
April 29, 2008
It is the story of a sexton in the synagogue in the Polish city of Oswiecim who buried most of the sacred scroll before the Germans stormed in and later renamed the city Auschwitz. It is the story of Jewish prisoners who sneaked the rest of it — four carefully chosen panels — into the concentration camp.It is the story of a Polish Catholic priest to whom they entrusted the four panels before their deaths. It is the story of a Maryland rabbi who went looking for it with a metal detector. And it is the story of how a hunch by the rabbi’s 13-year-old son helped lead him to it.
This Torah, more than most, “is such an extraordinary symbol of rebirth,” said Peter J. Rubinstein, the rabbi of Central Synagogue. “As one who has gone to the camps and assimilates into my being the horror of the Holocaust, this gives meaning to Jewish survival.”
If you want a story of faith and devotion in the face of absolute evil, this is it. If you want a story of dedication to the sacred that will put a lump in your throat, here it is. And if you want the story of a mystery solved after decades, this is the story for you.
May it inspire you as the words of the Torah inspired those faithful Jews who were responsible for safeguarding it even when they could not safeguard their own lives.
Posted by: Greg at
10:37 PM
| No Comments
| Add Comment
Post contains 274 words, total size 2 kb.
“Stop being crusader.”
That was the directive of British police to a Christian convert from Islam in the UK. His unacceptable conduct? Seeking police intervention after his life was threatened and a vacant house next to his was burned. Rather than protect his fundamental human rights, the police lamed the victim and suggested that he move to a new neighborhood.
A British citizen who converted to Christianity from Islam and then complained to police when locals threatened to burn his house down was told by officers to “stop being a crusader”, according to a new report.Nissar Hussein, 43, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, who was born and raised in Britain, converted from Islam to Christianity with his wife, Qubra, in 1996. The report says that he was subjected to a number of attacks and, after being told that his house would be burnt down if he did not repent and return to Islam, reported the threat to the police. It says he was told that such threats were rarely carried out and the police officer told him to “stop being a crusader and move to another place”. A few days later the unoccupied house next door was set on fire.
Shocking – but not surprising any more.
Sadly, this happened in the kand that gave birth to any of the concepts that undergird out notion of unalienable rights. Today a higher value is placed upon not offending Muslim sensisbilities than upon the human rights of the rest of society.
And I cannot help but be struck by the word choice of the directive by the police.
"Crusader."
That is the word of choice for Islamists in justifying their attacks upon the civilized world. We are “crusaders” when they fly airplanes into buildings, “crusaders” when they set IEDs to maim and kill our soldiers, “crusaders’ when they behead their hostages in the name of Allah. For the police to dare to use that word to describe a victim of Islamist threats is disgusting.
And let us be clear – now they are threatening us with violence and death in our own cities for the crime of worshipping the one who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life instead of following Muhammad’s path of darkness. But somehow we who acknowledge this conflict is based upon the fundamental incompatibility of Islam with Western Civilization are presented as the bad buys by those who claim to be forces of tolerance.
Posted by: Greg at
08:47 AM
| Comments (30)
| Add Comment
Post contains 438 words, total size 3 kb.
April 28, 2008
Don’t snap a photo of the Masjid At-Taqwa in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn unless you want to be hauled away by a group of angry Muslims in Islamic attire to the basement of the facility where a group of twenty “security guards” in karate suits will interrogate you.
This might sound preposterous.But it happened on Saturday, April 24, at 3:00 in the afternoon.
Ali Kareem, the head of security for Siraj WahajÂ’s mosque, conducted the grilling. A small, muscular man with a wispy black beard that has been dyed red with henna, Kareem demanded to know the reason why a trio of kafirs had dared to photograph the building on a public street without securing his permission.
He further insisted on securing our identities and obtaining our motives for such a violation of Islamic space.
Being surrounded by a group of militant guards in a mosque basement from which there is no means of escape is not a comforting place to be for a Wall Street financier.
We tried to explain that we found the neighborhood with its halal meat vendors and food stores; Islamic dress shops, featuring the latest styles in burqas and hijabs; Muslim souvenir outlets, replete with bumper stickers stating “Don’t Be Caught Dead Without Islam”; and Middle Eastern restaurants offering a variety of goat dishes to be rather quaint and interesting.
This explanation was not sufficient.
Kareem was impatient and did not want a detailed explanation of the reason for our excursion (simple sight-seeing) or a graphic account of the sights we had seen and photographed.
“I ask the questions here,” he said, “and you provide the answers.”
Realizing that we were in a bit of a pickle, my companion explained that we were interested in various religions and knew Siraj Wahaj, the imam of the mosque, was a prominent Muslim figure whom we would like to interview for a news outlet.
This didnÂ’t work too well since we could not produce a business card from a wacko blog, let alone credentials from a national publication.
At last, we blurted out that we were admirers of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings Be Upon Him) and wanted to obtain information about conversion. We were even knowledgeable enough to blurt out “Salaam” and “Allahu akbar.”
The last utterance seemed to be the “Open Sesame” that got us out of the basement and back to Bedford Street, where we managed to take a picture of the mosque before hailing a cab and making a getaway.
The experience was disconcerting. Surely, anyone who takes a picture of St. PatrickÂ’s Cathedral or the Riverside Church is not hauled off to a basement for questioning by a threatening figure in a karate uniform and a band of Ninjas.
What we have here is CRIMINAL ACTIVITY being conducted by representatives/employees of the mosque in question. Being that this is the United States, any person of any religion is permitted to be on a public sidewalk in any neighborhood. They are even permitted to take photographs on a public street under virtually all circumstances.
But apparently the folks of Masjid At-Taqwa don’t think that they are in America – or that the rights of citizens in this country rank somewhere below their Islamic sensibilities. After all, what legal authority did Ali Kareem and his band of 20 kidnappers have to detain Bos Smith and Paul Williams? What legal authority did they have to question them, demanding identification and the justification for their legal actions on a city street? Could you imagine the outrage if a local synagogue or church did this to a group of Muslims or ethnic minorities? The forces of tolerance and multi-culturalism would be waxing hysterical about the hate crime that had been committed!
I appreciate Smith and Williams being willing to document this crime. I’d like to encourage them to report the offenses in question to the New York Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation – and to take their story to the local and national media.
After all, a bias crime is a bias crime, isnÂ’t it?
H/T Jawa Report
Posted by: Greg at
10:37 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 732 words, total size 5 kb.
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright says criticism surrounding his fiery sermons is an attack on the black church.Barack Obama's longtime pastor says he hopes the controversy will have a positive outcome and spark an honest dialogue about race in America. Wright says black church traditions are still "invisible" to many Americans, as they have been throughout the country's history.
Excuse me, but IÂ’d like to take issue with the contention that criticism of Wright constitutes an attack on the African-American religious tradition.
Unless, of course, the African-American religious tradition is built upon lies and hatred.
Like claims that the government invented AIDS to wipe out black people (he implicitly reaffirmed his support for that patently false theory today) and supplied drugs to the ghetto as a means of keeping the black man down.
Like such deep contempt for one’s country that shouts of “God Damn America” are mainstream and claims that America and the Klan are one and the same.
Wright claims to be quoted out of context, and from only one or two sermons. Yet Trinity UCC took down all links to his sermons, and quit selling all of them through their bookstore, as soon as these “out of context” excerpts became controversial. Why? What more is there to hide? Why not make them more widely available. To prove the “attacks” are scurrilous in nature?
And then there is the association with “black liberation theology” (a topic I was introduced to 15-20 years ago during my seminary days), a controversial school of thought that goes beyond merely interpreting the Christian faith from a black perspective and instead teaches something else. Today Wright embraced both the theology and its originator in their entirety.
But what does that theological construct teach? That whites are intrinsically racist and evil and that “whiteness” must be rejected and destroyed. It is, indeed, a separatist creed every bit as much as the racist ideology of Christian Identity – and as such needs to be equally rejected by Christians who accept Paul’s declaration in Galatians 3:28.
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (NKJV)
Now Jeremiah Wright is perfectly welcome to claim to be a Christian while rejecting the clear voice of Scripture by embracing Black Liberation Theology – but those of us who cling to the Bible and our faith are also entitled to critique the theological construct that he preaches from his pulpit. After all, Wright does not have a corner on what it means to be a Christian, nor does he have the exclusive franchise on calling for repentance and returning to fidelity to Christ.
To the degree that our doing so means repeating over and over again that there are elements of Black Liberation Theology that are fundamentally at odds with Scripture, then we must say that and that its purveyors are false teachers who tickle the ears of their hearers with false doctrine – and if saying it constitutes, as Wright claims, an attack on the black church, then such an attack is our duty as Christians. But the reality is that Wright, Cone, and other Black Liberation theologians are not the black church -- and that today's claim by Wright is nothing more than the playing of the race card by one more hate-mongering race-baiter of the Jackson-Sharpton-Farrakhan school orf racial division..
Posted by: Greg at
10:29 AM
| Comments (1)
| Add Comment
Post contains 591 words, total size 4 kb.
74 queries taking 0.4039 seconds, 419 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.
