Religious Right in Full Froth as Muslims Gather in D.C.
The religious right is in full froth this week as some American
Muslims prepare to gather in prayer in the nation’s capital on Friday.
The stated objective of the “Our Time Has Come”
gathering, according to organizers who hope 50,000 Muslims will take
part, “is to invite the Muslim Communities and friends of Islam to
express and illustrate the wonderful diversity of Islam.”
The event isn’t universally welcome among American Muslims. Some, such as blogger Aziz Poonawalla at Beliefnet.com, worry that the event hasn’t been well thought out, particularly regarding how it will be perceived by non-Muslims in America:
“I certainly understand and appreciate the sentiments
and intentions of this, but it just strikes me as the wrong way to go
about it. It’s unwise to ignore the “optics” of such an event upon the paranoid segment of the American public
– who were out in force at the Tea Party last week on the National Mall
– who will certainly see the event as a threatening gesture which only
validates their racism and Islamophobia.”
Sadly, such fears about reaction from the extremist right in America appear to be well-founded. David Gibson at PoliticsDaily notes some of this:
Indeed, the online publication from David Horowitz, FrontPageMag.com, sounded the alarm in an article Monday titled “Taking Islamism to the Streets,” and the title of the “9/12 Project” post is simply, “OUTRAGED!”“Bare Naked Islam”
are calling the event “disgusting” and “treasonous” and warn that
“50,000 Muslims, terrorists, and terrorist sympathizers” will turn the
Capitol into “a giant outdoor mosque.” And Charisma magazine, a
mainstream Pentecostal publication, quoted Christians in its account saying things like, “It is warfare time.”
The writers at Talk of “warfare” and other violent imagery has become standard fare
for the religious right in America. That has been especially true when
the rhetorical focus is on Islam. An e-mail today about the Washington
event from the extremist group Operation Rescue/Operation Save America
provides another example:
Abortion is Murder
Homosexuality is Sin
Islam is a Lie
The e-mail goes on to quote the group’s director, the Rev. Flip
Benham, a former Garland pastor who ran Operation Rescue chapters in
Dallas and Fort Worth before becoming head of the national
organization. His rhetoric was especially incendiary:
“What do these three [abortion, homosexuality, Islam]
have in common? They are, all three, physical manifestations of the
battle between two seeds — the seed of the serpent and the seed of the
woman. Genesis 3:15. Islam is a visible manifestation of this battle
and has been at war with Christianity for fourteen centuries. There is
no dialogue, no common ground, no reaching across the aisle in this
battle. We are not called to build bridges to Islam. We are called to
storm the gates of hell — to defeat the false god of Islam with the
unsheathed Word of God and to set people free from the monstrous
tyranny and bondage of this religion birthed in the deepest pits of
hell.”
Sadly, this kind of viciousness will only feed the hatred and fear among extremists both in America and in the Islamic world.
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As long as their demonstration
is peaceful they have the
right to do it.
As to the Religious Right---
"People in stained glass houses shouldn't throw stones!"
John Lennon(Singer):
Some years before, during his interview with an�American Magazine, he said: 'Christianity will end, it will disappear.I do not have to argue about that. I am certain.
Jesus was ok, but his subjects were too simple, today we are more famous than Him'.Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, was shot six times. Not by a person of faith!
Tancredo Neves(President of Brazil):
During the Presidential campaign, he said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him fromPresidency. Sure he got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President, then he died.
Cazuza(Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet): During A show in Canecio ( Rio de Janeiro)while smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said:'God, that's for you.'
He died at the age of 32 of LUNG CANCER in a horrible manner.
The man who built the Titanic:
After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be. With an ironic tone he said: 'Not even God can sink it' The result:I think you all know what happened to the Titanic
Marilyn Monroe(Actress)
She was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show.He said theSpirit of Godhad sent him to preach to her. After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said: 'I don't need your Jesus'.
A week later, she was found dead in her apartment. Also not by persons of faith!
Bon Scott(Singer) he ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one of his 1979 songs he sang: 'Don't stop me; I'm going down all the way, down the highway to hell'..On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, he had been choked by his own vomit.
Campinas(IN 2005) In Campinas,Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend..... The mother accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends and she said to the daughter holding her hand, who was already seated in the car: 'My Daughter, Go With God And May He Protect You.' She responded: 'Only If He (God) Travels In The Trunk, Cause Inside Here......It's Already Full ' Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal accident, everyone had died, the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the trunk was intact.. The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact. To their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none was broken.
Christine Hewitt(Jamaican Journalist and entertainer)said the Bible (Word of God) was the worst book ever written. In June 2006 she was found burnt beyond recognition in her motor vehicle.
People condemn themselves, in my opinion, by how they live and what they say about Gd and Jesus. The truth is its Jesus that saves us!
"After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be. With an ironic tone he said: 'Not even God can sink it' The result:I think you all know what happened to the Titanic"
So because the guy that built the Titanic made an arrogant statement God drowned hundreds of people in freezing cold water ? Sounds a bit on the psychopathic side to me...
I once told someone that there is no way that on our first day at dental assistant training they would have us take x-rays alone. Convinced I was right I entered the dentists office and the dental assistant handed me an xray cover and pointed to the xray room and said have at it! I could have fainted on the spot! I just stood there with a deer in the headlights look saying NO WAY!
Such is life...IRONIC as all get out!
So then what is the point? If God is not causing these occurrences... that is they are just happenstance... then why bring them up?
Just as in sarcasm, truth is masked,it becomes an effective way to prove a point and I think that those who wish to mock Gd should know that that path is riddled with tragedy because any path not Gds is just a big pothole. Which leads me to think of California...pots and holes....gotta love the irony.
The godless path is no more riddled with tragedy then the godly one.
I have walked both roads and I disagree with you. The road Im on now the only tragedies I encounter are from those who hate me because Im a Christian who is not silent about the corruption against students in public schools and how the system covers for itself and in doing so creates the perfect medium for predators.
The life i lived outside the Christian community was the most heartwrenching for me. I cried myself to sleep many a night because of what they did to me or on many occassions awoke with tears running down my face but I dont cry anymore like that, I smile and dance and sing and smile and that feels sooo good. Oh I have an occassional bad day and that is usually because one of my enemies is pissed off and gets jollies from kicking me around.Im a survivor and with my faith I feel secure in the future.
I praise Gd for if when we give a glass of water in the Lords name we are given a heavenly reward imagine what kind of heavenly blessing we have in store when we are falsely accused and set up and shamelessly destroyed by the ones who themselves are criminals? That gives me hope and peace and a smile deep in my soul and heart. Have a good night.
An addendum... those who are non-Christian can and do suffer the same treatment from Christians .
Homosexuals suffer such abuse at the hands of many homosexuals... being beaten and otherwise abused, called paedophiles and sexual deviants.
Those who do not follow mainstream Christianity can also suffer abuse.
Christians are now saying they have it worse than Jews?
G-d, I'd laugh if I wasn't so terrified of being beaten to death by wearing my kippah on Yom Kippur.