Breaking News
It is no accident that on Christmas Day, a militant Islamist group based in Russia, chose to admit that they are responsible for the “killing last month of an Orthodox priest who was an outspoken critic of Islam.” A prominent Islamist website called the priest , Daniil Sysoyev, who was only 35 years old, “the damned Sysovev.” On November 20, 2009, he was killed in his own church in Moscow by masked gunmen.”
The mindset involved is one that sends a killer to blow people up–and then a second killer to blow up the first responders. Of course, they would announce this on Christmas Day to cause further anguish to infidel mourners.
Father Sysoyev’s crime? The Islamists “accused Sysoyev of writing several pamphlets insulting Islam.” The website warned that “those in the future who defame Islam and insult the religion of Allah will suffer the fate as Sysoyev.”
Yes, Sysoyev, had contacted Russian security services several times over the threats.”
Rest in Peace, Father Sysosyev.”
Original Story Starts Here
It is Christmas 2009, and instead of peace on earth and good will towards all, Muslims are busily blowing up churches and Christians all over the Islamic world.
This is an awful reality but it is neither recent nor unexpected. Perhaps what is even more awful is the world’s silence and seeming passivity. We in the West who believe in religious tolerance have not stopped the persecution of Christians in Muslim countries. In the name of political correctness, we have also “tolerated” the often aggressive demands for mosques, public prayer, minarets, and loudspeakers on our own soil even though there is absolutely no reciprocity towards Christianity (or any other non-Muslim religion) in most Arab and Muslim countries.
For example, this year, in a church in Bellinzona (Ticino), in Switzerland, a Nativity scene displays Jesus surrounded by minarets! “The unusual scene is supposed to make people reflect about brotherhood and human rights, after 57% of the Swiss (and 68% in Ticino) recently voted against minarets on mosques. On the crib are verses from the Bible and the Koran on the topic of water.”
First they came for the Jews … and indeed, most Jews, all 800,000 of us, fled the Arab and Muslim world in the 1940s and 1950s. No one stopped this “silent exodus” or really cared that it had happened. Individual Muslims and the Muslim governments happily, greedily, confiscated Jewish homes, factories, and farms; those Jews who were not slaughtered were allowed to leave with ten dollars in their pocket. Unlike the Palestinian refugees, the Jews and Israel took care of their own. Unfortunately, the Muslim world turned parasitically to the United Nations and to the world to fund the very Palestinians whom they would not allow to remain in their countries as refugees or citizens.
As to our Christian brothers and sisters:
Two days ago, in Mosul, Iraq, the Syrian Orthodox Church of St. Thomas, founded in 770 AD, was bombed — killing two civilians and wounding five others. This was the “sixth attack on Christians there in less than a month.” Ironically, according to their identity cards, the two murder victims were actually Muslims. However, according to Father Abdul Massih Dalmay of this church, “Christians are being targeted during Christmas time.” Father Dalmay feels that the government has not provided enough security for churches at this time and views this as “negligence on their part.”
The Syrian Orthodox Parish of the Immaculate Virgin was attacked a week ago. An infant girl was killed and forty people were wounded. Father Faez Wadiha, of this church, says, with irony: “This is certainly a Christmas present for Mosul, a message of congratulations why we are celebrating a feast of love and peace. But we will pray in the streets, in homes, in shops. God is everywhere, not just in churches.” The Syrian Catholic Church of the Annunciation , the (Chaldean) Church of St Ephrem, and the St. Theresa Church were all bombed in Mosul in the last month. According to another Christian Father: “These attacks are aimed at forcing Christians to leave the country.”
Some might say: There is an unwanted (and perceived as) Christian-American military presence in Iraq and Afghanistan. These bombings are in retaliation …well, not so fast. There are other Muslim countries where there is no (unwanted) American military presence and where both Jews and Christians have lived long before Islam even came into being — countries in which Christians are now under siege. Let’s look at what’s happening to Christians who live in some Muslim countries today.
Egypt
For years now, Islamist “gangs” have been forcibly converting Christian children to Islam by drugging, kidnapping, gang-raping, photographing the rapes, blackmailing, and “marrying” the female child, as young as twelve, to Muslim men. The Egyptian police have been unwilling to stop this criminal activity. Recently, a Christian television channel broadcast a program about this in Arabic. Many Egyptians were shocked. Here is one of the kidnappers’ tactics:
“The latest fraud mentioned on the TV program is that Muslim gangs who dress as Coptic priests, offer a car lift to Christian girls and then abduct them. ‘The Coptic Church has warned its congregation against letting any unknown person dressed as a priest into their homes or accepting a lift.’” (My thanks to John Peter Maher for this information).
A substantial Christian population has always lived in Egypt. They have increasingly been bombed, tortured and murdered. For example, the Monastery of Abu Fana in Upper Egypt has existed since the 5th century — which clearly predates Islam by two centuries. Last year, Bedouin Muslims attacked the monastery, “destroying a small church and burning the monastery’s farm. Nine monks and monastery employees were wounded and four others were abducted.” Jeff Jacoby writes:
“One of the [abducted] monks had his arm and legs broken,” the Egyptian lawyer and human-rights activist Nagib Gabriel later testified. “The other two were tied together with ropes, suspended from a tree, and severely beaten with hoses and sticks. Afterwards, they were placed — upside down and still tied together — on the back of a donkey and shoved off. The monks were further commanded to spit on the cross and proclaim the shahada [the Muslim credo that "there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet"], beaten every time they refused, and even threatened with death.”
Pakistan
For a long time now, Christians have been persecuted in Pakistan. Their female children have been kidnapped, forced to convert and forcibly married to Muslims; both priests and believers have been attacked, and often murdered. Earlier this month, in Sargodha, Pakistan (in or near the Punjab), a mob of Muslim villagers, armed with clubs, spades, and axes attacked a showing of a film on Jesus, injuring three part-time evangelists very seriously as well as four Christians in attendance. The mob destroyed their appliances and absconded with funds. The mob also turned on Christian villagers who tried to intervene. Apparently, the mob climbed “trees to get a clearer view of the screen. The eyewitnesses said that as soon as the Muslim attackers watched the resurrection and ascension of Christ, they became enraged because their version of Islam forbids portraying an image of a living thing and especially that of a prophet. ” As usual, the police refused to register a complaint.
If you take a look at the web extra features associated with the 60 minutes piece on Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/video/?pid=Rb7cJIVS3IGN4xizq2knKKKRyCdzG8OQ&vs=Clips&play=true and http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/video/?pid=7iHtytZlMKgvPvtTMEtqqBInKXEphxCF&vs=Clips&play=true and http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/video/?pid=UoijYmfkpvopw86twK9TAqocyJiu8Xky&vs=Clips&play=true and http://www.cbs.com/primetime/60_minutes/video/?pid=LN4JlZxFeY2fydBSKHZuPbB82oWdpSdk&vs=Clips&play=true
There is plenty to arrive at the conclusion that the powers that be in the Arab world are more interested in treading the path trod by Yassir Arafat’s uncle who was the Mufti of Jerusalem during World War 2, and plenty of
other deformed souls, rather than the path trod by Anwar Sadat, Wasfi Tal, and the path tread by Nonie Darwish,
Bat Yeor, Walid Shoebat, et al.
All of these appalling human rights violations underscore the need to support universal human rights, as codified in the UN Declaration of Human Rights that is so sadly ignored and violated by so many UN members.
I honor the memory of Eleanor Roosevelt who worked so hard to bring this Declaration into existence.
Excellent piece and round-up of these hair-raising stories — all the more horrifying because almost none of them appeared in mainstream media. As your taxi driver epitomizes, there is no expectation of Muslims to “do something.” Western infantalization of them will be our ruin.
Keep up the good work!
Thank you for speaking the truth, Phyllis.
All of these appalling human rights violations underscore the need to support an ethic ofuniversal human rights. I’m thankful for the work of organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch; whose diligent work brings hope that one day such atrocities will be a thing of the past.
Phyllis, perhaps we should ask a slightly different question.
Would Jesus be slandered by the BBC daily?
Would much of Europe spit on him, if he were to visit?
Would nearly the whole of Hollywood think he was a laughable fool, and lampoon him?
Would our own leaders label him a “bitter clinger”?
Would he be scorned and ridiculed by academics?
Would over a billion people stand behind a Jewish peasant, preaching not to bear false witness…or would they think him “not nuanced”…and not “street wise”?
If our Judeo-Christian heritage, the teachings of right and wrong are so easily “peer pressured” out of our lives, if we shake and tremble at the slightest insult or cower at the slings and arrows of the “elites” that tear at our paper thin faith and adherence to its moral guidance, why should we be surprised that enemies of truth and justice would not find us easy to bully?
We are bullied every day by those who arrogate to themselves the mantle of Supreme Authority over us.
Our own countrymen, our own “people” tell the world that we are worthless fools. They portray us in the most vile light to the world, each and every day. They apologize for our very existence.
What is an enemy to think of us then?
Phyllis, slapping the face of Christ is not confined to our sworn enemies. It is a parlor game here at home.
And following this humble Jewish peasant, is a mark of shame for our elites. His mother Mary was a poor Jewish girl. His brothers and cousins were all Jewish. Who would follow him today, if he were to arise out of Israel and talk about God’s kingdom?
Ask the BBC. The sound you here, is a cheek being slapped yet again.
While I agree with everything you say in your posting I have to take issue with the title. If you read the Gospels you will find that Jesus could not live safely in Bethlehem at his birth either. In fact, the whole family had to flee for fear of having the first-born massacred by Herod’s soldiers.
Marion L., Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are, for the most part – especially regarding Israel and the mideast – corrupt and biased. There are few, if any, objective reporting coming out of either of those organizations, I’m sad to say. Do a little homework on them, you might be surprised.
Excellent article.
Sadly, the pro-islam fifth column in the Free World will not allow the Free World itself to fight effectively to stop the worldwide war of islam against Freedom.
Marxists and subversives of any shade are riding the islamic tiger against the West and against Freedom.
For updates, don’t forget to check
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com
In many Muslim majority countries, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, et al experience terrible suffering. The Egyptian government is actively involved in the kidnapping of Christian girls in Egypt.
ASSYRIAN INTERNATIONAL NEWS AGENCY
8-11-2009
Abduction and Forced Islamization of Christian Coptic Girls Continues in Egypt
(AINA) — The systematic abduction and forced Islamization of Coptic minor girls in Egypt is a frequent, dangerous and a rapidly escalating phenomenon…
“there is pressure being practiced to convert Coptic girls to embrace Islam and marry them under terror to Muslim husbands”…
…abductions are done in cooperation between Saudi-funded associations and the Egyptian State Security.
…in the majority of cases, the State Security is the one who masterminds the kidnapping plans.”
http://www.aina.org/news/20090811125748.htm
The U.S. gifts Egypt with 2.2 billion dollars every year. It is apparent, that absolutely nothing is required in return for the billions of tax dollars.
Many Christians believe wrongly, that turning the other cheek is an act of obsequiousness. It is not. Turning the other cheek, or offering the other cheek as it is otherwise put, is an act of defiance. A prizefighter offers the other cheek.
If Muslims want a holy war against Christians, then Christians should stand up and offer them the other cheek and give them their war.
Dr. Chesler, write an article about Sarah Palin and watch the comments fly in. Thisis the 13th comment on this article.
Christians don’t care about other Christians. If they did, they would have attacked the Arab villages where the terrorists who attacked the Church of the Sepulcher and killed off the villagers – to teach them not to mess with Christians. The gutless scum did the opposite – and blamed Israel for the terrorist attack.
Christianity is a dying religion because Christians will not even defend their own holy places, nor their own morals, or sense of morality.
Pay the Jessra tax, or die Infidel!
ROPMA! Just like Mohammed.
Helen-
Your knowledge of the Gospels is just enough to be dangerous. Herod’s massacre of male infants was approximately 2 years later, and yes, while the family fled to Egypt and safety…the analogy with Muslim persecution of Christians is a little far-fetched…and LONG before there was such a thing as Mohammedism.
Surely you would agree that if they had fled to Egypt today, their circumstances (and their safety) would be ALOT different!
Phyllis: This column is a good start on how the world has turned a blind eye, or has become a silent accessory to religious genocide against not only Jews but Christians, the BaHai and others.
You’re on a roll going country by country so don’t stop now. Do them all. In Thailand, Muslim jihadists are killing Buddhists by horrible means, as are they killing Christians in the Philippines.
The same applies to Red China and No. Korea. Judaism is under attack by Comrade Chavez and his Chavezistas. Let’s see what is happening in Marxist-controlled countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Nicaragua and El Salvador against Jews and Christians alike.
How about in Africa? Nigeria is a good place to start. Then go to the Congo, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Egypt, Algeria (where Moslem extremists are killing everyone they don’t like), Morocco, Mauritania, Chad, Rwanda, etc.
Check out India (Moslems versus the world), Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iraq, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Burma (nuts versus the Buddhists), Tibet, etc.
What you will see is a chilling anti-Jewish, anti-Christian jihad in scores of countries around the world, most of them Moslem; others are communist.
Israel fights back most of the time. It is about time that Christians did the same. Tell the National Council of Churches and its larger marxist parent the World Council of Churches to drop dead and quit funding them. They have been riddled with reds and anti-Christian leaders posing as Christians for the past 40 years.
Guys like Rev. Jim Wallis (Soujourner) and Rev. Lucius Walker (IFCO, Cuban Resource Center, Pastors for Peace, CPUSA fronts) are nothing be communists in clergy cloaks and it is time to take off their clothing and expose them for the reds that they are. No more making excuses for their traitorous acts against Christians and Jews.
And we can throw in the so-called Rabbis Michael Lerner (Tikkun, Seattle Liberation Front/Seattle 7) and Arthur Waskow (Reconstructionist movement, Institute for Policy Studies, Mobes)as false prophets too.
The only weapon we have now is exposure and with Fox News leading the way on the cable channels, and Frontpagemagazine, Freerepublic, Institute for Religion & Democracy (IRD) and http://www.newzeal.blogspot.com (the Obama Files), we have begun to hurt the enemies of humanity. We must keep up the attack on them. The best defensive is always a good (or better) offense.
Attack, attack and attack until the enemy is defeated. A new Jewish-Christian and even Buddhist alliance is needed worldwide to strengthen the forces of god-living people (I’m leaving the decent Moslems out of this for the moment as it will get them killed until they can learn to defend themselves).
If we want to keep on celebrating Hanukkah and Christmas, then we had better be willing to defend them and our right to celebrate them, or we will lose it and our lives.
Hanan Ashrawi is a Christian. Edward Said was a Christian. Ashrawi doesn’t care–Said wouldn’t have cared–about the problems of Christians from Bethlehem. For anti-Zionists, practicality doesn’t count.
Sunnis in Iraq hate Jews very much, and so they have to kill. Since there are no Jews available, they kill Shiites. Shiites in Iraq hate Jews very much, and so they have to kill. Since there are no Jews available, they kill Sunnis.
The power and madness of anti-Semitism defies explanation.
But it’s part of their culture, to criticize it would be judgmental– damn straight and about frickin’ time, that sh*t is just wrong! People won’t respect you if you kiss their butt and we’ve done that for too long. Enough! The golden rule and reciprocity apply to muslims too!
“Could Jesus Live Safely In Bethlehem Today?”
He didn’t do too well in that neck of the woods the first time around.
Kol hakavod, Max Friedman for adding all the other places around the world where minorities are violantly attacked by Muslems. As long as I live, I will never forget a Brooklyn cab driver formally of Egypt who was so severly burned by the bombing of his Sunday school classroom, that he only worked at night, and wore a kind of balaklava which covered most of his head. There are many horror stories told by people from Egypt and Nigeria as well.
Phyllis,
Goodness you might begin to think there was a world-wide war not only againbst the Jews but against the Christians, as well, and maybe even Hindhus, Bahai, Buddhists and every other infidel community anywhere and everywhere. But surely if this were true, then not only the BBC and CNN but the New York Times, the Guardian and the Independent would be telling us about it.
Thank goodness we can all sit back, relax, and open the presents that Santa Klaus is bringing to good little boys and girls.
Merry Festimas,
Norman
I agree with 9. Grantman.
These socalled human-rights organizations are quite often self-serving and tend to blame only the West.
Few, with the exeption of Mrs. Phyllis Chester and others, care about Christians’ and Jews’ persecution at the hand of Muslims. “Islam means Peace” (my foot).
The Christian churches do their part, too, by defending Muslims against criticism like there was nothing to critizise. They are a great disappointment to me personally.
“Dialogue”, “bridge Building”, “mosques help integration” — this words have become meaningless. For Muslims, there is only one way–that is Islam should rule the world.
Would Muslims behave if Jesus were alive today? Therein lay the answer to your question..
+ Merry Christmas +
“Hanan Ashrawi is a Christian. Edward Said was a Christian.”
Both of these individuals are likely Christians in name only. I could be wrong, but it always seemed to me that they were committed secularists. Neither could care less if Christians suffered in the Holy Land. The bringing about of a socialist utopia was their first, last, and foremost goal.
Nothing is new. Our outrage has never waned. The only new development would be if we decided to act against this.
If anyone knows a bit of history they will remember the slaugher of the innocents (the murder of infants decreed by King Herod).
Never think this new age or liberal crap is new. It is more ancient than Caesar’s bones.
9.: They claim human Rights just for those who verily deny them (“Cairo Declaration”, 1990).
***
Together with “human Rights” there are “human Duties”: http://www2.units.it/~ichd/ .
***
13. Christians cannot care about other Christians: they should start bombing and killing, and they do not want nor they can (due to the Marxist UNILATERAL “Sense of Guilt”). We Fear that someone could think/say “we are bad!” (and Islamic/-ist people know it very well).
***
The driver is very Islamic/-ist: deceptive (smiling Face and cold Blood – needed for Honor/Horror Murdering, too -).
***
Jesus’ Birthday among Minarets looks like his Funeral(s). Kafiah(s) and Minaret(s) are like hitlerian Swastika(s) to me, and I feel my Rib cage smashed every Time I see them freely around.
I agree that you should continue doing these articles showing how all the religions are being suppressed around the world. I laugh every time someone claims the US of being Racist or Religiously intolerant when we are by far the most tolerant country in those regards.
ABOUT THE BIRT OF THE LIGHT (CHRIST) AND THAT OF THE DARKNESS
In Cuba children are learning to idolize “The Che” (Ernesto Guevara). They are told he was very good, the best. This drives children to love him (same goes for Islamic/-ist children toward Muhammad). Eventually children (then youngs, then adults) are willing to emulate his behaviour; they are indoctrinated to “become like him”.
Attractiveness (Love) and Violence (Hate) become a dangerous Mix, which produces Extremists (so it is for Islamic/-ist people).
***
In Cuba there is a kind of black Magic coming from Africa (Congo) called “Palo”: appearently it is a sort of Satanism (as opposed to Christianity). This has been brought to Haiti through Transatlantic Slavery, then to Cuba.
My question altogether is: HOW DID “BLACK MAGIC” PRACTICES AFFECT ISLAM(IC CIVILIZATION), THROUGH ORIENTAL (TRANS-SAHARIAN, ISLAMIC) SLAVERY? What can we do to counter the evil Energies arisen by these Practices and Pratictioners? [They don't work for Love: they work for Hate and Death - against us -].
***
Merry merry merry CHRIST-mas. (:-*)
Edward Said was a marxist as well as a PLO activist. This fact has been totally missed by most journalists but his list of sponsorship, membership in, or support for various communist parties in the US is well documented. He had to be a secularist if he was a Marxist but he could have acted as a Christian poseur for cover.
The Communist Party used to have a stable of fake clergy who they used to set up various fronts, including the Methodist Federation for Social Action. They included Rev. Melish, Morford, Uphaus et al, plus a few “rabbis” who followed the Party line – Robert Marx, for one. Obama’s neighbor, the recently deceased Rabbi Arnold Jacob Wolf was a supporter of several key CPUSA anti-police fronts in Chicago. There is also a Rabbi Cohen who has a long CP record. Another was a Rabbi Feinberg in Canada. He smelled of KGB odors from his record and associations.
We need to know the background of our enemies in order to deal with them. By mischaracterizing them, we let them off the hook.
Rev. Jeremiah Wright is the strangest of Obama’s religiious friends – he was a Moslem (and pal of Farrakhan and Khaddafi), a black extremist (COBRA/Black Radical Congress), and a communist/marxist (supported Castro, the BRC -which is also part marxist).
Know thy enemy before you confront them.
What a silly question!
At any rate, there are new Christian martyrs being coined by the hour all over the mohammedan zone of influence.
I suppose that to the extent that Bethlehem is under Israeli police protection, Jesus might survive from day to day, if he avoided certain neighborhoods. I wouldn’t stake big money on a long life for such a person.
===========
I occasionally wonder, given the extent of hell mohammedans are raising in the world, and the spirit of fiendish defiance and impertinent arrogance they display constantly … how bad does it have to get before the rest of the world actually pushes back in a serious way?
What would it actually take before nice and thoughtful civilized people — of the sort for example that post here — actually say, what the hell, let’s just bomb ALL the bastards back to the stone age and be done with it.
Mind you, I’m not proposing that course of action.
But I am seriously wondering what it would take to get people there.
The total loss of London? New York?
I doubt that anybody not Jewish would give a damn about the murder of all of Israel. History doesn’t suggest that too many non-Jews would care enough to interrupt desert, much less take up the sword of vengeance.
The young Christian girls of Norway are being attacked and raped on a regular basis, and the Norwegians seem pretty comfortable with that. The French seem to be adjusting nicely to the “no-go zones”.
And need I even mention the way the British are bending over backwards and fowards to accommodate mohammedan likes and dislikes, while the mohammedans themselve are relatively free to do as they like in the British streets.
What would it take for western civilization to get seriously aggressive?
And when I say seriously, I mean in a deliberate, thought-out, goal-oriented fashion. One intended to achieve a long term peace by actually destroying the enemy’s capacity to fight — whatever that might require.
Or have we reached the point where we are so tired of ourselves that our destruction would be a relief?
Perhaps we no longer HAVE a breaking point.
What do you think?
Re: “forced to convert and forcibly married to Muslims”
There is dawa and tiquiya and jizya, but nothing sets Islam on the wrong course more than polygamy.
If in a town of 1000 people, 2 men marry 4 women; 6 men marry 3 women, and 10 men marry two women, this removes 44 additional women from the marriage pool. If there are 500 men and 500 women in the town, then 8.9 percent of the men have no chance of marriage(44/490). Where best to find mates but in the next town. Slaughter the men and marry their women.
However, this is not the end of the story. Polygamous marriages yield more children than monogamous couples. As in all high birthrate communities, there is less for each of the offspring – less money, less education, less land, less “fathering”, thus less progress for members of the most powerful families.
Polygamy must produce relative poverty from generation a to generation a+1, but poverty among those who have experienced relative wealth is particularly distressing. As we will find out in America as the country becomes poorer, a reversal of fortunes in the downward direction causes resentment. Thus, progeny of polygamous unions will supply the leadership for the aggressions of the next generation. Note please the number of Osama bin Laden’s offspring who are engaged in battling the American Satan – three that I know of, but probably more.
One man for one woman will quickly change the nature of Muslim society. This is not speculation, because Muslim societies that practice polygamy less are more peaceful, such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Those who practice polygamy more are less peaceful. Examples include Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
“I am William Wallace. And I see a whole army of my countrymen,
here in defiance of tyranny! You have come to fight as free men. And
free man you are! What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?”
“Two thousand against ten?” – the veteran shouted. “No! We will
run – and live!”
“Yes!” Wallace shouted back. “Fight and you may die. Run and you
will live at least awhile. And dying in your bed many years from now,
would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that for
one chance, just one cahnce, to come back here as young men and tell
our enemies that they may take our lives but they will never take
our freedom!”
This will get worse and worse, as soon as the Americans pull out of Iraq and Af-gone-istan they will murder all the Eastern Christians and other minorities such as the Kurds. There will be no one left to protect them, America tried but as America is divided into half good people and half evil communist abortionists it had to be a half-hearted effort as America is a nation divided which cannot unite in time of war.
Even when America will be attacked directly it can no longer unite, expect more attacks on American soil by the Mohammedan peaceniks.
well… Christians in Lebanon fought back but it didn’t go well after all, they were betrayed by the West (Reagan).
I wonder if USA can start receiving those Christians as refugees, or new inmigrants, why not.
The downward spiral of popular Christianity was ordained since its beginning; it is not true to its core beliefs, the slaughter of millions of indigenous peoples in the name of its Bible, the corruption inherent in its structure, the willingness to look the other way when its leadership abuses its own membership…etc, etc.
These issues catch up in time, it may take hundreds of years, but History is replete with examples of corrupt Organized religions, they all fail eventually.
it is a natural evolution of any organization to dissolve when it is no longer true to itself.
Will Islam replace it..? who knows and it doesn’t really matter. Go back one thousand Years and Christian Beliefs are dominant in the world. Go back another thousand Years and Pagan Beliefs dominate. Go back another thousand years and Multi theism dominates, another thousand and we worship Mother Nature and goddesses. There is only one certainty; Religions come and go.
Fast forward a Thousand Years…maybe Islam, maybe another religion just springing up somewhere in the world that will catch on and replace all Abrahamic religions. Does it really Matter..? Whatever it is i am sure its members will try to butcher each other just as we do today, as we have for recorded History.
33. Jerry:
A hat tip for a trenchant and pragmatic analysis of a pervasive and little considered problem.
I have nothing to add at the moment other than to mention my agreement.
Phyllis suggested: “In these times, Jesus would not be safe in the city where he was born,”
Well, Phyllis, you got that right. Jesus never was safe there and was nailed to a tree in the end. He was sent there for a reason. He was on a mission. There was no other place in the world that needed him as much as Bethlehem.
33. Jerry:
PS
OT, but I’ll add that we face a related challenge with China.
The one child policy inspired a great many traditionally minded Chinese to abort, disown, sell or slaughter their female children.
Which leaves us facing a population with a sizable surplus of horny irritable lonely males.
Of course, the sages we have in DC think nothing counts but deal making.
What, I wonder, do they imagine the fellows on the other side want to do with their profits?
And what do they imagine their less industrious brothers are thinking to do with all that spare energy?
37. I heard such kind of SILLY Justifications other Times. Like “Civilizations overcame other Civilizations in the Past, too. This will happen again”. Question: are we passive Watchers? Are we Stones? Or Mussels? Or Trees? Unable to act, to feel, to think? DIDN’T WE LEARN ANYTHING FROM THE/OUR PAST? Are we as much developed as we were during Stone Age or Middle Age? Please: take the Responsibility of your HUMAN Life. Willing or not, you’re wheter a Stone, nor a Mussel, nor a Tree. Islam – above all – isn’t a matter of Religion: it is Politics, and you are asked to ACTIVELY participate to it.
Another great article by Dr. Chessler.
I’ve been beating this deum for a couple of years: We must face the fact that we are NOT engaged in some kind of “War on Terror”. The harsh reality is that Islam is engaged in a war on us and has been for 1,400 years.
It is nothing less than an ISLAMIC WORLD WAR that rages on every continent except Antarctica, against everyone and everything “non-Islamic”. Let’s look at the facts:
Islam against:
- the Catholics in the Philippines (routine slaughter & beheadings)
- the Christians in Indonesia (routine slaughter & beheadings)
- Australian tourists in Bali (blown up…twice)
- the Buddhists in Thailand (routine slaughter & beheadings)
- the Hindus & Sikhs in India (hundreds of years battling the Islamic Jihad)
- the Jews in Mumbai (slaughtered)
- the Zoroastrians & Baha’i in Iran (virtually exterminated)
- Islamic converts to Christianity in Afghanistan (death fatwa)
- ancient Buddhist statues in Bamiyan, Afghanistan (blown up)
- the Chaldean Christians in Iraq (routine persecution, slaughter & church burnings)
- the Jews in Israel (routine attacks against civilians, threat of 2nd genocide)
- the Jews in Yemen (nearly exterminated)
- S. Korean & German tourists in Yemen (blown up)
- the Coptic Christians in Egypt (routine persecution, slaughter & church attacks)
- the Christians & animists in Sudan (genocide)
- the Christians in Kenya (constant Jihadist threat from Obama’s homies)
- the Christians in Nigeria (routine Jihadist attacks)
- U.S. embassies in Tanzania & Kenya (blown up)
- the athiests in Europe (the prime target)
- the native French in Paris (torched car terrorism)
- Jews in Paris (read the grisly story of Ilan Halimi, a Jewish shop clerk who was kidnapped, tortured and killed in 2006)
- the native Swedes in Malmo (Islamic rape brigades)
- the native Dutch in Amsterdam (routinely terrorized)
- Dutch politicians (Geert Wilders & Ayyan Hirsi Ali – death fatwa)
- Dutch cinematographers (Theo vanGogh savagely murdered by an Islamist in broad daylight)
- Dutch cartoonists (Kurt Westergaard – death fatwa)
- Dutch newspaper editors (Flemming Rose, Jyllands-Posten’s culture editor – death fatwa)
- Train commuters in Spain (blown up)
- Tube commuters in London (blown up)
- Airports in Scotland (blown up)
- Jews in Argentina (blown up)
- Jews in Caracas (blown up)
- Twin Tower office workers in N.Y. (blown up – twice)
- Defense workers in the Pentagon (blown up – airliner jihad)
- Army/Navy military recruiters in Little Rock (gunned down by an Islamist)
- Soldiers in F.t Hood Texas (gunned down by an Islamist)
- Pedestrians at the U. of N. Carolina (run down with an SUV by Islamist)
- Journalists like Daniel Pearl (savagely decapitated by Islamists)
- Nick Berg, Kim Sung-il, Piotr Stanczyk, Jack Hensley, Eugene Armstrong, Paul Johnson (savagely decapitated by Islamists)
- Jewish centers in Seattle (slaughtered by Islamist Jihadist)
- Jewish centers in Toronto (slaughtered by Islamist Jihadist)
And on, and on, and on……….
It is Islam against everyone, everything, everywhere that is not Islamic.
It is Dar al-Islam against Dar al-Harb. Them against us, not us against them.
THE ISLAMIC WORLD WAR – mandated by Allah & Muhammed in the Koran & Ahadith: Bukhari (8:387) – Allah’s Apostle Muhammed said, “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah’” CAN THIS PRIME DIRECTIVE OF ISLAM BE ANY MORE CRYSTAL CLEAR??
Let’s face the facts and call it what it is. It is not a ‘War on Terror’ against a few ragtag misunderstanders of Islam. It is nothing less than: THE ISLAMIC WORLD WAR.
THE ISLAMIC WORLD WAR – Muhammed’s legacy – it’s real.
~ The Infidel Alliance
Actually Christians have a hard time living anywhere in the Middle East, even in Jerusalem, particularly in the Old City where they come under routine attack by ultra Orthodox Jews. Mind you, the ultra Orthodox aren’t murdering Christian men, and raping and murdering Christian women as in Beit Lechem, but they are spitting on them, striking them, cursing them, throwing garbage at them, and pretty generally embarrassing the Jewish People while causing these Christians to deeply resent Jews of any persuasion by their cowardly behavior. While I am certain that Jesus wouldn’t last more than a few minutes in modern Beit Lechem, Bethlehem, he might be only slightly better off in modern Jerusalem at the hands of some of the ultra Orthodox bigots here.
Jerry: the Koran is also an important civic instruction.
Polygamy does all you say, but you left out the most important, for Islam, result: it creates a bottom-heavy society of young frustrated men who are denied even masturbation, let alone homosexuality, which produces a testosterone laden source of crazy combatants for their warlords.
The Seventh Century lives today and is spreading. And in the U.S., like charity, persecution of Christians and Jews begins at home.
As the world celebrates the birth of the Prince of Peace — originally a Jewish rabbi from Bethlehem–let’s be clear: In these times, Jesus would not be safe in the city where he was born, neither as a Jew nor as a Christian.
Phyllis – you point out Muslim violence against Christians (thank you), but then completely advocate for reproductive rights for women (no thank you). Far more children are slaughtered by their own mothers within our country (1.25 million annually) and around the world through abortion (50 million annually ) than are killed through Muslim violence (which I also condemn).
In truth, you’re advocating aborting Western Civilization and then complaining when Muslims assist the process.
You need to resolve your hypocrisy.
Peace starts in the womb.
May the God of Israel open your eyes and touch your heart.
And there is also no reason to believe that Jesus could live safely in the United States, either.
It is nothing less than an ISLAMIC WORLD WAR that rages on every continent except Antarctica, against everyone and everything “non-Islamic”.
The same was said in North, Central and South America, when millions of people were slaughtered wholesale, the colonization of Africa, Asia, Philippines, how many millions died so Christians could spread the salvation of the bible..? It was no less than genocide if the indigenous people would not convert to Christianity.
The Islamic movement is one natural backlash against hundreds of years of violent religious outreach by Christians.
Maybe if people actually read the Bible before beating others to death with it, we would be looking at a different landscape.
Hi Phyllis,
I read your piece and I agree that Christians and Jews, much moreso, have been persecuted in the Muslim world. However, the title of you piece, “Could Jesus Live Safely in Bethlehem Today?”, is misleading. I had hoped to read a bit about the situation of Christians living in Bethlehem today. Any frank and honest discussion of that situation would reveal that, perhaps moreso than Muslims, the greatest threat to Christians living in Bethlehem and other areas of the West Bank are Jewish settlements and barriers being erected throughout the West Bank which impede access by Palestinian Christians to basic access to services such as healthcare and education. Journeys which should take a question of 10 or 15 minutes end up taking 3 hours as Palestinians are forced through a myriad of checkpoints and other barriers. Let’s not even touch on the issues involved for a Bethlehem Christian native to actually leave and go to another country.
My point is that it is not true that Muslims are the only threat to Christians in this region. And in the case of Palestinians, Christians are often stuck between a rock and a hard place, occasionally feeling more support from their Muslim brothers, who ethnically are far closer to them then the Ethiopian or Russian Orthodox Jews (many of whom ‘converted’ to get an Israeli passport) who today man many of the checkpoints throughout the West Bank. This is not a vindication of Islamic Fundamentalism, but it is a poke at what I see as pajamasmedia simplistic and naive support of the Israeli government, which also espouses a sort of fundamentalism, zionism.
Saludos,
JR
Such violence is not new. It existed 2,000 years ago when Christ was persecuted on the Cross, and Christians were driven from their homes in the service of Rome.
It didn’t stop Christianity then. In fact, it fostered it. The belief that terror will do anything but strengthen the faith of non-Muslims is a folly. In the end, God, by whatever name, will triumph.
Yep JR, just blame it all on da Jooooos. Those checkpoints didn’t exist for most of the “occupation”, they were installed because the Palestinians chose to use suicide bombing to achieve their goal of wiping out Israel instead of agreeing to a peace settlement in 2000. And whether you like the settlements or not they have nothing to do with this alleged “impeding” of the Palestinians. Your post is just another piece of twisted anti-Zionist, antisemitic garbage.
Actually today Jesus could not have been born in Bethlehem. As Israeli citizens his family would not have been permitted to travel there by Israeli law. Sad but true.
On a more upbeat note security is much improved over a decade ago and non-Israeli Christians can now safely travel to Bethlehem, and many other holy sites within Israel.
I am not Christian however I would encourage those who are to not be worried about travel there. Israel is safe and getting to Bethlehem and other Christian holy sites is no problem. Near everyone speaks at least some english and visitors of all types are well recieved.
For an individual who has lived their life as a Christian to look out from the Mount of Beatitudes at the sunlight on the hills and the water of the Galilee is, I am sure, not an experience to be missed.
Spindok
The so called “The Infidel Alliance”
Well I see you’re still cutting and pasting the same comments. Just out of curiosity, do you have any solutions for dealing with terrorism other than hating Muslims and defending bigotry? In previous articles you’ve disagreed with my solutions, which are to kill the actual terrorists and bring democracy and capitalism to those Muslim countries that don’t have it. So if you have any solutions, what are they?
Dear #49 “Alex”,
Any objective person will acknowledge the historical atrocities committed in the name of Christianity. It is undeniable. But there are several important differences and distinctions:
1) Violence perpetrated in the name of one religion should never justify violence in another, as you insinuate.
2) Islamists are the ones doing the killing here and now, not Christians.
3) Islams ‘holy prophet’ Muhammed demands unending global holy war (Jihad) and global domination by military force.
4) Christianities ‘holy prophet’ Jesus never demanded unending global holy war or global domination by military force.
4) Muhammed himself engaged in Jihad.
5) Jesus himself never engaged in holy war.
6) Muhammed was a murderer, a torturer, a mutilator, a decapitator, a slaver, a rapist, a sex trafficker, a sexual deviant, a child rapist, a looter and a thief, a perfidious liar, a kidnapper, a militant warlord, a genocidist and a self proclaimed terrorist.
7) Jesus never murdered, tortured, mutilated, decapitated, enslaved, raped, engaged in sex trafficking, engaged in sexual deviance, raped children, looted or thieved, lied, kidnapped, engaged in warfare, engaged in genocide, or proclaimed himself a terrorist.
DIRECT ACCORDANCE with the teachings, examples and mandates of Muhammed.
9) When Christians kill, rape, kidnap, rob or enslave, they do so in DIRECT CONTRAVENTION to the teachings, examples and mandates of Jesus.
Best regards,
~ The Infidel Alliance
49. Did you miss to study The Oriental (Islamic) Trade in Slaves? It started on VII century and officially lasted ’till year 2004? Abolitionist Movement has been forced upon the Islamic world. Never heard/read about Simon Deng or Tediane N’Dyaie? Islam represents worst human and religious Qualities.
50. Anti-Israel (and anti-West) Propaganda has to be found everywhere. Why should Views in favour of Israel (and The West) be silenced? Either Israel (there is not another one, and it’s inhabited by its People) or (another) Islamized/-ist Country.
Regarding discussion @6, 9, 22
Call for Review of HRW – Elie Wiesel and Judea Pearl among the signers.
Unfortunately, many organizations of good intentions become hijacked by Leftists.
God’s enemies have tried to kill Jesus from the beginning.
Mary and Joseph had to flee Bethlehem for Nazareth. The Government killed all the children in the area under a certain age in a effort to kill the new-born King.
Nothing’s changed.
This just in from WSJ:
Bethlehem’s Persecuted Christians: The Forgotten Palestinian Refugees
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704304504574610022765965390.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Excerpt:
…
…
Emphasis mine.
Jesus is coming back not as a baby of Bethelehem but a reigning King with rewards in his hands to pay every man and woman accordingly. Before he returns the world will be a dangerous place to live, satan will march his forces to destroy if possible anyone and anything that claims the name of Jesus. These are the satanic forces: Islam, liberalism,leftists, aesthism, communism socialism, abortionists, evolutionists etc etc
@49 Alex, the ‘progressive’ outreach performed by your teachers, the msm, the UN etc., has lulled all your common senses and faculties. If you actually switch off CNN, the BBC or NPR for an hour and read about the reformation and enlightened periods you would realize that nothing of the sort or similar is even entertained by Islam. You would quickly stop your ignorant finger waving at Christians and start questioning why Islam forthrightly refuses any reform of its barbaric agendas and oppressive dogmas.
Further investigation at this point will most likely lead you to actually reading a Koran and exploring the hadiths and suras. Upon such inquiry you will regret singling out Christians and start to see real modern day atrocities in the name of Islam for what they are – their purpose, their goals, their frequency and their methods will sicken you.
You might then take up a cause as some commentators here have for the millions persecuted under Islam, and if you’re real brave you might want to organize a face to face discussion with Islamic clerics and their subjects and ask them first hand why they’re so hostile to any reformation of their faith. You could even use Christians as a positive example (wow imagine that?). My only advice before conducting such hands on inquiry is to possess a watertight life insurance policy, the reasons for this will be many and far more obvious to you than they are currently. You might want to better understand what a fatwa is too and consider what a life in hiding might entail also..
OK, so what to do? Judging by the article and the comments, your average Muslim doesn’t understand anything but a good hard kick in the balls. Is that what we do? Or, do we encircle the Muslim world, much as we encircled the Soviet Union back in the day, bottle them up and then let them turn in on themselves and self-destruct?
I’m in favor of the latter. Here in Atlanta, no sooner had a Saudi-funded mosque been opened next to Georgia Tech than the FBI arrested two Muslim GT students for conspiracy to commit violent jihadi acts. If this is how they repay hospitality, then I want none of them here.
Thank you, Doctor Chesler.
But unless and until Mankind identifies, names and surgically eliminates from the Earth the manifestation of Evil that is the rapidly metastasizing carcinoma called Islam — and with and to which every other of Evil’s malignantly-mutating Lefty manifestations: Leninism, Marxism, Modified-Marxism – AKA Fascism – Nazism, “collectivism” socialism, “Democratic” pottyism,” unionism, “Labourism,” Obamaoism etceteras, has allied and/or attached itself, we lose.
And the death cultists win.
Usastan, anyone?
Brian Richard Allen
Lost Angels – Califobambicated 90028
And the Far Abroad
Dear #54 “Mr. Independant”,
You posit: “Well I see you’re still cutting and pasting the same comments. Just out of curiosity, do you have any solutions for dealing with terrorism other than hating Muslims and defending bigotry?”
I admitted that I’ve been writing variations of this same theme for years. They are not simply “cut and pasted”, however, because the list of Islamic Jihad attacks continues to grow daily. We can add another event to the list which occurred this very day: an Islamic Jihadist trying to earn his ‘martydom’ by blowing up innocent infidels on Delta Airlines. These FACTS must be repeated over and over again until people everywhere understand the threat.
I never disagreed with your solutions “which are to kill the actual terrorists and bring democracy and capitalism to those Muslim countries that don’t have it.” I do think that is the proper job for our professional military and politicians.
But I am not in the military or politics, nor are most of us. Thus, my contribution to fighting against the ISLAMIC WORLD WAR is
1) to help educate people about the true threat of Islam and its ideological foundation, and
2) to destroy its ideological foundation by exposing the actual teachings and history of Islam from Islamic sources
There is no single solution, but education is the key.
Regarding “hating Muslims and bigotry”, I never encourage hate, especially of Muslims, because I recognize that Muslims are perhaps the biggest victims of Islam. And the only bigotry you will see in my comments is Islamic bigotry directed against every kind of infidel.
I will admit to considerable contempt for one Muslim in particular, however. That Muslim is the ‘holy prophet’ of Islam, the Alpha Islamic terrorist/jihadist, the inspiration and role model for all Islamic Jihadists and the oppressor of Muslim and infidel alike: Muhammed.
Best regards,
~ The Infidel Alliance
P.S. – apologies for my previous typos
Who is the real terrorist?
The Human Rights Foundation condemns the unjustified war assault upon the poor, innocent and defenceless people in Afghanistan. This is an unjust war being waged by the strongest country in the world against the poorest country in the world. The US has contemptously rejected many appeals to prove their case against Osma Bin Laden in an independant international court. Surely the US has nothing to fear if its case is as watertight as it would lead us to believe? Or are the public concerns expressed by US officials about the “holes” in their evidence the main reason for the US to refuse this request. Is George Bush junior any different from his father who said “I will never apologise for the United States of America. I don’t care what the facts are” (George Bush (snr) ( “The Rogue State”, William Blum)
The entire basis for the war is unproven allegations which rightly should have been submitted to an impartial independent court such as the International Court of Justice ( ICJ). It is interesting that the US and Israel are the two countries which have been most reluctant to give their support to the establishment of the International Criminal Court which could also have had jurisdiction.
The U.S. attack is not war but a reckless, emotional act of revenge under the banner of fighting for freedom and human rights. “US Policy, under the banners of freedom and human rights, has led to barbarous criminal acts” Institute for Policy Studies, Washington.
It must be remembered that the attack on the Twin Towers was not perpetrated by the government of Afghanistan. The attack was by alleged individuals. War is a state of hostilities between two countries. Instead of attacking the perpetrators for an alleged “war” on the U.S. ( which the Twin Towers attack was not ) the U.S. has declared war on the government and people of Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is so hopelessly outmatched by the superior military capability of the US that it is effectively a mass murder and a slaughter of the innocents. George Bush has said that he wants Osma Bin Laden “Dead or Alive”as in the days of the Wild West.
The U.S. attack on Afghanistan is not even a terrorist attack – it is worse. “Terrorist attacks” by ‘freedom fighters’ are attacks by the weak designed to draw attention to a just cause and are usually resorted to by people who have exhausted all other means to draw attention to injustices and oppression. Our own history shows that the US and the apartheid regime in South Africa called the ANC a ‘terrorist organisation’ while we called them ‘freedom fighters’. The US has a perverted sense of values: It was the strongest ally of the former apartheid regime in SA and responsible for the arrest and imprisonment Nelson Mandela for 27 years as a result of the provision of intelligence by the CIA to the former apartheid government. The US voted against many resolutions at the United Nations which sought to impose sanctions against apartheid South Africa. This is the same US which claims to act in the interests of worldwide “freedom and democracy”
We must not lose sight of the important distinction between a “freedom fighter” and a “terrorist” or we will fall into the US propaganda trap of demonizing all people (as well as their “moral supporters” and the countries in which they live in and the religion they happen to follow) who have no other option but to use “terrorist activity” as a political weapon. The US has made it clear that it will not distinguish between the “terrorist” and the country that “harbours” a terrorist. What does this mean? It means that any country in which there are known “terrorists” (by the US definition of terrorist which conveniently excludes itself and its allies ) is a potential target for “anti-terrorist activity” The US conducts its own covert operations ( “US terrorist activity” ? ) by allocating a budget of $30 Billion for this purpose. We need to differentiate between “harbouring” a terrorist and the need to request proof of the guilt of a person before action is taken.
History will record the mass murder and terror in Afghanistan by the U.S. ( which CNN prefers to refer to as the “War on Terror” ) as a shameful event in the history of mankind. The due process of law has not been followed and the US has assigned to itself the role of judge, jury and executioner against an entire country. Once a court has found and convicted the true perpetrators of the attacks than the appropriate punishment should be meted out to the real perpetrators. Prior to this any act of aggression and death caused is illegal and is nothing less than the murder of innocent people.
The US is using sophisticated computer controlled gunships in an international posse of countries involved in a wild-west style manhunt to “smoke out” their prey, such passion unbecoming of a world leader purporting to believe in civilised values. What the US is doing in Afghanistan is a systematic campaign of terror on a far more concerted basis than what it accuses the terrorists of the September 11 attack. The difference is that they do not care if the accused is guilty; nor do they care how many innocent civilians they kill in achievieng their military, economic and strategic objectives in the region. An indication of the continuing callous attitude of the U.S. is the reponse of Colin Powel in respect of question posed to him on the number of Iraqi’s killed in the Gulf War when he said, “Its really not a number I’m terribly interested in” William Blum in “Rogue State” believes that if a list had to be compiled of Amercian leaders guilty of crimes against humanity, Colin Powel may be one of them. The deaths of civilians in this unjust war is referred to as ‘collateral damage” by the US.
According to UN reports the effect of the war has caused a humanitarian crisis potentially affecting between 4-7 million civilians who face not only starvation but the effects of exposure to icy cold weather without any form of heating and medical supplies. The US, in order to mute world condemnation and in an attempt to win over the suffering people resorts to the insulting use of scattering haphazardly food for 37 000 people when those starving are in excess of 4 million. Before the war, aid agencies at least ensured that all those who needed food received it. However the actions of the U.S. has disrupted supply of aid and misinformed the public of the true humanitarian impact of the war reflecting the dishonesty of the U.S. in claiming concern for the Afghanistan people.
The Mute Complicity of the Media
The atrocities committed by certain nations often receive only passing attention. The media attention to the Twin Towers attack was of course necessary. However what is to be condemned and exposed is the lack of any attention by the mainstream media to atrocities of a similar or far greater magnitute in the the past 10 – 20 years, significant of which is the horrendous bombing of Iraq which led to the death of over 1.5 million people over the next 10 years and to this day the strangulating economic sanctions imposed by the US and UN on Iraq are the cause of the painful and excruciating deaths of 5000 children every month. Do you know what the impact is on a mother to watch a child die a long excruciating painful death due to starvation?
Every month 5000 children die in this cruel, inhuman way and the world does not even take notice.
Are they any less worthy of our attention than the 5000 people who died on September the 11th?
Do you know the psychological impact of being in Afghanistan at present when every moment of the day is like playing a game of Russian Roulette? When you have no idea when the next bomb will ‘accidentally’ miss its target and destroy your home? When you have nowhere to run because the borders are sealed? Besides an entire city in Afghanistan has no electricity and water as a result of the destruction of its infrastructure. This alone will cause countless deaths over the coming weeks. The refugee crisis is mounting and there are several hundred thousand refugees who have nowhere to go since all borders have been sealed.
“We will never see the smoke, and the fire, we never smell the blood, we never see the terror in the eyes of children, whose nightmares will now feature screaming missiles from unseen terrorists, known only as Americans” Martin Kelly (see Rogue State)
“It is a scandal in contemporary international law, that while “wanton destruction of towns , cities and villages ” is a war crime of long standing , the bombing of cities from airplanes goes not only unpunished but virtually unaccused.
Air bombardment is state terrorism, the terrorism of the rich. It has burned up and blasted apart more innocents in the past six decades than have all the antistate terrorists who ever lived.
Something has benumbed our consciousness against this reality. In the United States we would not consider for the presidency a man who had once thrown a bomb into a crowded restaurant , but we are happy to elect a man who once dropped bombs from airplanes that destroyed not only restaurants but the buildings that surrounded them. I went to Iraq after the Gulf War and saw for myself what the bombs did ; “wanton destruction” is just the term for it.”
-C.Douglas Lummis, political scientist. ( as quoted in “Rogue State”, William Blum )
WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?
The Human Rights Foundation intends to inform the public about many issues which are not given prominence in the mainstream media. We indend to further inform people of the facts relating to the crisis which will enable people to make an informed decision. We need your support and help in this regard. You can assist in one or more of the following ways:
a) Assist to distribute information, newsletters and pamphlets in your local area to inform people about the true situation. Please call us if you wish to set up a local sub-chapter of an anti-war coalition in your area. ( Act Now to Stop War and End Racism – A.N.S.W.E.R )
b) Assist by supporting the collections for humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
c) Participate in a “National Conference on Human Rights” in which various organizations will be asked to deliberate over a period of 2 days to prepare a comprehensive well formulated plan of action to assist towards ending what amounts to shameful atrocities against the innocent Afghan population.
THE WAR ON ISLAM
The Book entitled “The War on Islam” by Enver Masud is a required read for any person who wishes to obtain facts about US foreign policy and actions of the US which you will not find on CNN or the mainstream news media. The Human Rights Foundation wishes to thank the author of the Book Enver Masud of the Wisdom Fund based in the USA for permission to print a special limited South African version of the latest edition of his book. His earlier version of this book is available in the U.S. for $ 18 plus shipping (Total of R 300 approx). We are pleased to announce that the Human Rights Foundation has secured the rights to publish this book which will be made available FREE in South Africa. We intend to publish 5000 copies of this book. Donations to defray the costs of printing the book and costs for these adverts would assist the Human Rights Foundation in continuing its activities which have until now been funded solely from our own private resources.
This book is also available in electronic format and the electronic version is also available free for non-commercial personal use. The web address at which this book can be downloaded is at http://www.twf.org
In this advert below we have publish key excerpts verbatim from the Book “War on Islam” to give the reader a good idea of the wealth of information contained in the book. The book will give answers to the following questions:
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d) What is the record of Human Rights violations of the United States? Who is in fact the worlds worst violator of Human Rights and who can be called the Super Rogue state?
e) What are the real motives for US foreign policy?
f) What has been the US position on the formation of the International Criminal Court? Why is the US so concerned about the establishment of the ICC? Have any senior US officials ( past and present ) been found guilty of war crimes and who are these people?
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61. Khaled Pencil:
You fail to grasp the foundation of my post. Its not so Much Christian / Islam, as it is any and all religions that become powerful enough to influence politics. Christian religion is a good example, Islam another, Even Buddhist. This is the way it has been for thousands of years. Christian is a good example so people on this site can at least relate to it.
Maybe Islam will replace it…but probably something more along the lines of a Buddhist / Abrahamic Mixture….just like Christianity mixed pagan beliefs and practices so the general pagan cultures would be more accepting. it will take One to Two thousand years, just as with Christianity, but it is already occurring.
This is the manner religion has evolved throughout humanity’s history, it is there for anyone to study, read, research, and analyze critically
When Christians became powerful enough, they slaughtered jews, protestants, Millions that refused to convert. This is Recorded History, maybe you should research religious history, or study comparative religions a bit.
when Islam became powerful enough, they slaughtered Christians, Jews, anyone that refused to convert. This is also recorded History.
And Both go on today in various forms and methods, it has not stopped.
One person is smart, a group of people less so, and a mass of people in religious fervor is nothing more than sheep willing to kill and defy their own beliefs.
People that posters have never met or even understand should be wiped off the face of the earth because they are muslim / Christian / Jew / Buddhist/ fill in the blank..? its pretty sickening.
Fundamentalists should be given their own continent, the middle of Australia perhaps?, and left there. If they cannot settle their own differences then let them kill each other off.
Leave the rest of Humanity alone.
66. Afghanistan had a Civilization, oppressed by Islam, and then Afghanistan has been taken over by Talibans, “whose Policy is the worst that Mankind has ever seen”. Human Rights and Islam are to opposite Concepts.
67. Christianity is filled with Spirituality, and Spirituality is as ancient as the World/Humanity itself – The Infidel Alliance remebered you that there is no Justification for Oppression or Crimes in the New Testament; the Opposite to be said about Islamic Sources.
Hopefully Humanity won’t chose the Islamic harshly regressive backwarded Way – Islam has been regressive and backwarded since its very Beginning.
To #50 JR:
I see you are vehemently opposed to infidel Jewish communities in the Biblical ancestral homeland of Judea and Samaria. I see you are vehemently opposed to infidel checkpoints vitally needed to protect Jewish innocents. Daily, Islamics seek entry into Jewish cities in order to blow up amongst hated non-Muslim infidels and receive their expected reward for barbaric mass murder: 72 virgins in Islamic heaven.
If Jesus was born in our time, from the moment of conception he and his pregnant mother would be in danger of being murdered by Islamics for being Jews living in their homeland of Israel.
You claim that Palestinian Authority Christians feel more support from their Muslim ‘brothers’. What disgusting Islamic taqiyya! You will stand before the G-D of all life and TRUTH on the Day of Judgment!
In the filthy Islamic Invasion of Church of Nativity, Muslims tore up Bibles for toilet paper. Christian majority towns, Bethlehem & Nazareth are now majority Muslim-terrified Christians were driven out by cruel Islamic persecution. Many Bethlehem Christians’ homes and land were stolen by Muslims. The Christians who remain, live in constant fear.
US/EU and the profoundly evil UN are silent about the suffering and terrible persecution of Jews, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists and other non-Muslims, by Islam.
tO #66 AKHTER:
I would say the majority of Americans, British, and others, strongly disagree with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and want the troops brought back home ASAP. I don’t know why we are there. The U.S. took away the guns for self-defense from Iraqi Christians making the Christians defenseless prey to Islamics. There has never been a war on terror. The U.S. finance, arm and continually train the Palestinian Authority security services who have murdered more Jews than Hamas.
On the side of the KLA Muslim terrorist organization, US/NATO conducted cruel war on Kosovo’s Christians on the basis of a phony massacre US/NATO knew NEVER took place.
Islamics regularly blow up mosques and the Muslims inside and outside mosques in Iraq and other places. Do you call them terrorists or freedom fighters? Why do Muslims not demonstrate in the streets against these shocking, barbaric acts? Why? At the same time, Muslims around the world demonstrated in the streets angrily protesting that Israel finally took acts of self defense after suffering years of thousands of rocket attacks.
Regarding the book, ‘The War on Islam’, are statements from the Koran, Hadith, Muslim scholars and imams, etc. included?
Khomeini:
“Islam says: Whatever good there is exists thanks to the sword and in the shadow of the sword! People cannot be made obedient except with the sword! The sword is the key to paradise, which can be opened only for holy warriors!
There are hundreds of other [Koranic] psalms and hadiths urging Muslims to value war and to fight. Does all that mean that Islam is a religion that prevents men from waging war? I spit upon those foolish souls who make such a claim.”
“Islam grew with blood . . . . The great prophet of Islam in one hand carried the Koran and in the other a sword . . . . Islam is a religion of blood for the infidels but a religion of guidance for other people.”
—Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
This is a comment to a posting called “Plight of Palestinian Christians” on http://www.solomonia.com. It gives another point of view. I don’t know if this person gives a more accurate accounting of the situation or not. Perhaps it’s a politicized official version by a dhimmified spokesman.
I don’t know. He does seem to set up a lot of straw men, with the most embarrassing kind of quotes (real or fake?) selected from fundamentalists supporters of Israel that are meant to make such supporters look like bigots. Anyway, I apologize for the length:
Abe W Ata | December 25, 2009
“Little Joy on Christmas for Palestinian Christians in Bethlehem
“The Palestinian Christian is an endangered species. When the modern state of Israel was established there were about 400,000 of us. Two years ago the number was down to 80,000. Now it’s down to 60,000. At that rate, in a few years there will be none of us left. When this happens non-Christian groups will move into our churches and claim them forever.
“Palestinian Christians within Israel fare little better. On the face of it, their number has grown by 20,000 since 1991. But this is misleading, for the census classification ‘Christian’ includes some 20,000 recent non-Arab migrants from the former Soviet Union.
“So why are Palestinian Christians abandoning their homeland?
“We have lost hope, that’s why. We are treated as non-people. Few outside the Middle East even know we exist, and those who do, conveniently forget.
I refer, of course, to the American Religious Right. They see modern Israel as a harbinger of the Second Coming, at which time Christians will go to paradise, and all others (presumably including Jews) to hell. To this end they lend military and moral support to Israel.
“Even by the double-dealing standards of international diplomacy this is a breathtakingly cynical bargain. It is hard to know who is using whom more: the Christian Right for offering secular power in the expectation that the Jewish state will be destroyed by a greater spiritual one; or the Israeli Right for accepting their offer. What we do know is that both sides are abusing the Palestinians. Apparently we don’t enter into anyone’s calculations.
The views of the Israeli Right are well known: they want us gone.
“Less well known are the views of the American Religious Right. Strangely, they find the liberation of Iraqis from a vile dictator just, but do not find it unjust for us to be under military occupation for 38 long years.
“Said Senator James Inhofe (Rep.,Oklahoma): ‘God Appeared to Abraham and said: ‘I am giving you this land’, the West Bank. This is not a political battle at all. It is a contest over whether or not the word of God is true.’
“Inhofe must have got it wrong. Promises are being made to earthly Jerusalem that God did not make. The Holy Land was promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants, as stated in the Bible. These are the Palestinian Muslims, Christians and Jews, who have been living in the land for thousands of years. The Bible never mentioned that God promised it solely to Jews. Anyone can be a Jew, but not anyone can be a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants. James Inhofe and followers are unable to tell the difference between Jew, Israelite and Israel.
House Majority Leader Dick Armey (Rep.,Texas) was even more forthright: ‘I’m content to have Israel grab the entire West Bank … I happen to believe that the Palestinians should leave.’
“There is a phrase for this. Ethnic cleansing.
Silencing us, from seeking your support and enlightening you about our suffering, goes counter to what Jesus has mandated us to do. We all know that Muslims and Jews get ceaseless support (political, spiritual and financial) from Saudi Arabia and America respectively, while Palestinian Christians get nothing from Australian and other Western “Christian” governments. (The Pope has been an exception.)
“Prior to the 1967 war, the Christian youth at the Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist and other churches in Bethlehem used to pray and rejoice and have a good chat with hundreds of American Christian pilgrims. In particular Texas and California were two places from where many came to visit the Holy Land. Today only fading memories prevail. Bethlehem has been vacated by Christian families. The remaining Christians are paying the price by experiencing curfews which last for weeks. They remain sandwiched between Muslims and Jews without drawing the slightest concern from the many so-called Western Christians.
“So why do American Christians stand by while their leaders advocate the expulsion of fellow Christians? Could it be that they do not know that the Holy Land has been a home to Christians since, well … since Christ?
“Do not think I am asking for special treatment for Christians. Ethnic cleansing is evil whoever does it and to whomever it is done. Palestinian Christians – Anglican, Maronite Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Armenians, Baptists, Copts and Assyrians – have been rubbing shoulders with each other and with other religions – Muslims, Jews, Druze and (most recently) Baha’is – for centuries. And we want to do so for centuries more. But we can’t if we are driven out by despair.
“We are equally frightened by those who commit suicide bombings. None of us Christians have condoned it or even contemplated the idea. Our commitment to Jesus’ teachings will never shake our resolve in this matter.
“American journalist Anders Strindberg makes a clearer conclusion. He says Palestinians are equated with Islamists, Islamists with terrorists. And presumably because all organised Christian activity among Palestinians is non-political and non-violent, the community hardly ever hits western headlines. Suicide bombers sell more copy than people who congregate for Bible study.
“What we seek is support: material, moral, political and spiritual. As Palestinians we grieve for what we have lost, and few people have lost more than us (the Ashkenazi Jews are one). But grief can be assuaged by the fellowship of friends.”
—————————————————-
Prof Abe W Ata was a temporary delegate to the UN in 1970 and has lived and worked in the Middle East, America and Australia. Dr Ata is a 9th generation Christian Palestinian academic born in Bethlehem, and currently works in Australia
Dear #66 “akhter”,
Please spare us your pathetic Islamo apologetics and terror transferrance. There has always been conflict in the world, but there was never such thing as Islamic terror until the barbarian Muhammed invented Islam and codified terror and Jihad as the moral foundation of Islam.
The hard truth is that Islam is a terrorist religion founded by a barbaric terrorist, muhammed.
The Koran proclaims Muhammed to be an excellent model of conduct, and Islamic tradition upholds him to be “al-insan al-kamil” or the perfect man. But in truth Muhammed was just a sadistic sociopath, a murderer, a mutilator, an amputator, a decapitator, a torturer, a lying looting thief, a kidnapper, a rapist, a slaver, a sex trafficker, a sexual deviant, a child rapist, a genocidist.
Muhammed was one of the most vile, reprehensible, dissgusting, evil men in the pantheon of human history. He was nothing more than a successful Charles Manson with a similar legion of brainwashed, terrorized minions to do his bidding.
Muhammed should be reviled, not revered.
You ask “Who is the real terrorist?” Let’s ask Muhammed and see what he says:
Bukhari (52:220) – Allah’s Apostle Muhammed said… ‘I have been made victorious with terror’
Muhammed. Terrorist. Followers of Muhammed. Terrorists.
~ The Infidel Alliance
Having established the fact that the founder of Islam, Muhammed, was a sadistic sociopath, here’s the simplest way to understand his terrorist ‘religion’ of Islam:
ISLAM’S PRIME DIRECTIVE – THE VIOLENT DOMINATION OF THE ENTIRE WORLD & THE SUBJUGATION OF ALL HUMANITY:
Bukhari (8:387) – Allah’s Apostle Muhammed said, “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah’ ”
ISLAM’S METHOD OF GLOBAL SUBJUGATION – “JIHAD / HOLY WAR”:
Koran (61:4) – “Surely Allah loves those who fight in His way”
Koran (2:216) – “Fighting is prescribed for you & ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you & that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth & ye know not.”
ISLAM’S PREFERRED METHOD OF JIHAD – TERROR:
Koran (8:12) – “I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads & strike off every fingertip of them”
Bukhari (52:220) – Allah’s Apostle Muhammed said… ‘I have been made victorious with terror’
Islam – the terrorist ‘religion’.
~ The Infidel Alliance
akhter,
You know, people like you really make the lives of those of us who are trying to build bridges a lot more difficult. You can’t justify one religion’s terrorism by pointing to another’s. Evil men of almost every faith have twisted religion to justify terrorism. Those evil men do not speak for the faithful. Before you blame all Christians for the actions of terrorist organizations like the KKK, ask yourself if blaming all Muslims for the actions of Al-Qaeda is appropriate. If it’s not, then perhaps your every bit as wrong as many of the posters on this website are.
The so called “The Infidel Alliance”
So I just want to be clear, you have no opinion on how to defeat islamic-terrorism except to denigrated the religion of Islam. Well I suppose that’s an improvement of sorts. Although I recall you stating in a previous article that group hugs and kumbaya will not defeat terrorism. Likewise repeating someone else’s uniformed opinions and denouncing someone else’s interpretation of Islam won’t either. What you’re doing is just a version of that. Islam is a centuries old religion and it’s not going anywhere. Instead of hating someone’s faith I think your energy would be better spent in discussing ways to defeat terrorism.
Now you stated that you’re not cutting and pasting your comments from someone else’s work. So could you explain to me why when you referenced one of the Hadith (which is a compilation of interpretations of the Koran related to jurisprudence) you instead state that you are quoting not a Hadith but Bukhari? In case you didn’t know Muhammad al-Bukhari was an Islamic scholar. And just in case you try and write that you were just using Al-Bukhari’s name to identify a specific version, I’ll point out that you never do that with your references to the Koran. Have you really read the Koran (or any of Islam’s holy texts) or are you just cutting and pasting someone else’s opinion? If you haven’t, that explains why you disagree with my position that the problem with terrorism is NOT religion but terrorists.
From: http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2009/12/23/a-cycle-of-cathay/#comment-60
AN ACLU CHRISTMAS
Asleep in my warm winter bed, I dreamed of an ACLU Christmas. In my dream the American Civil Liberties Union had opened an office in Bethlehem, PA, and immediately sued the town, demanding it change its name. And then, in my dream, on Christmas Eve the ACLU gathered to stamp out any show of the vile and hated Christmas. And were shown why they will never win.
‘Twas the night before the winter holiday,
And all through the town,
Vile creatures had gathered,
Demeanor afrown.
For earlier that day
An email arrived,
That told of a family
Depraved and deprived.
These people, it said,
Had the gall to declare,
They would hang up their stockings
By the chimney with care.
“We cannot permit,”
The ACLU cried,
“This unseemly act
Of bravado and pride!
“For where will it end
If we sanction such acts?
The fat man is dead,
The facts are the facts!”
“And so is the child!”
Yelled a voice from the rear,
“He never was born,
He never was here!”
So crying they ran
Through the streets of the town,
The family to find,
The threat to put down.
And find them they did,
In the poorest of shacks,
On the mean side of town,
And hard by the tracks.
On the front door there hung
A moth-eaten wreath,
The light from the window
Showed the snow underneath.
And peering inside
The vile creatures saw,
A sight that caused trembling
And quaking with awe.
For there round a table
Sat a fat man in red,
And a saintly young woman
Kissing her baby’s head.
Surrounding the tableau
Was a soft golden glow,
That lighted the window
And lighted the snow.
As the vile creatures stood there
They heard voices sing,
From inside the shack
They heard the word King.
The baby then smiled
And the fat man did grin,
And legions of angels
Filled the spaces within.
The CLU members
All groaned with despair,
And looked at the sky
And tore out their hair.
“We never shall win,”
They whispered in dread,
“We shall not prevail,
No matter what’s said.”
They turned on their heels
And slunk slowly away,
While far in the distance
Came the sound of a sleigh.
The door of the shack
Then opened quite wide,
And the fat man in red
Stepped quickly outside.
“Good night, little fella,”
He said with a grin,
He hopped to the sleigh,
And when he was in,
He turned to the crowd
That was slinking away,
“Do you know who that is?
Do you know what’s today?”
And with that he was off,
His night rounds to make,
While inside the shack
The infant did wake.
“Who were those men?”
The boy Jesus said,
“And sour-faced wenches
Who wanted me dead?
“And not only me,
But the fat man in red!
Who are these people
Who want us both dead?”
His mother then smiled
And with wave of her hand,
An archangel knelt
And explained the vile band.
“To some they’re the grinch,”
He said, “Real witches brew,
To others they’re simply
The ACLU.”
“Rest easy,” mom smiled,
“Rest east my son,
They never will win,
They could never have won.
“For thine is the kingdom,
Thy father says so,”
And from off in the distance
Came a hearty Ho Ho.
74. + 75. Islamic/-ist Terror is commanded to Islamic/-ist Fellows by their “holy” Textes, and by their Charismatic Leader Muhammad. Al-Qaida and Muhammad match very well together, while Jesus-Christ’s Teachings and Life’s Example have nothing to do with KKK alike Groups.
“The Infidel Alliance” trys and exposes Islam-ism,
whose (historical, past and present) Reality is otherwise silenced by politically correct or CORRUPT Medias/Politicians/PetroDollars’Lovers/MarxistsAntiChristianity/WhiteWesterners’Haters/BlackOrientals’Lovers/Liberalicides/Totalitarists/….
THE SOLUTION TO ISLAM-ISM IS TO EXPOSE IT, its Barbarity, Cruelty, Unjustice, Disequality, Sadism, Masochism, Illness, Nothingness, Violence, Terror, Manipulation, Indoctination, Subjugation, Totalitarianism, MiddleAgism/StoneAgism, …:
(sane/educated/evolved) people will NATURALLY reject it.
Islam-ism is against Humanity (it wants people to be Machines which blindly obey to Koran+Ahadith), and against human Rights (it has its “Cairo Declaration” which recognize Shari’a only).
Another great article by Phyllis.
I would add the the Egyptian section, they slaughtered a whole group of very poor Christians’ pigs a few months ago in the name of getting rid of swine flu, but it was more like genocide since the pigs really posed no danger according to scientists.
In response to comment 42. The Infidel Alliance:
The Muhammad cartoons that pissed off the Muslim world were from Denmark, not the Netherlands. I simply don’t understand why people seem to keep confusing Amsterdam with Copenhagen! I’ve been to both places and they’re separated by quite a bit of land, different languages, different cultures, etc. Sheesh…
Douglas Johnston,
The reason (I think) that the so called “Infidel Allaince” and others are continuing to repeat those comments is because they are just cutting and pasting their posts from someone else’s comments.
Dear #78 “Douglas Johnston”,
Thanks for the heads up on my error. I stand corrected.
As for our friend “Mr. Independant”, he seems more interested in whether an “I” is dotted and a “T” is crossed, rather than the substance of the commentary. (this in spite of the fact that he doesn’t know how to spell independent).
“Mr. Independ’A'nt”, I’m curious how many hundreds of times you’ve written your inane “the problem with terrorism is NOT religion but terrorists” drivel. Why do you insist on cutting and pasting this stupid proposition?
“Mr. Independ’A'nt”, can’t you understand that in the case of Islam the problem is BOTH the terrorists AND the ‘religion’? Islamic terrorists exist because the founding ‘holy prophet’ of Islam was a terrorist himself, terrorism is the primary foundation of Islamic theology, and terrorism is required of all followers of Islam. Islam cannot exist without Islamic terrorists. They are inseparable elements.
Best regards,
~ The Infidel Alliance
The so called “The Infidel Alliance”
Actually no. I point out your various grammatical mistakes not because my spelling, punctuation, or sentence structure is without flaw, it isn’t; but because the mistakes you make are identical to ones that other posters have made on this and other websites. I don’t believe you know what you writing about. I think you’re just cutting and pasting someone else’s work. For example, I asked you in post #75 “why when you referenced one of the Hadith (which is a compilation of interpretations of the Koran related to jurisprudence) you instead stated that you are quoting not a Hadith but Bukhari? In case you didn’t know Muhammad al-Bukhari was an Islamic scholar. And just in case you try and write that you were just using Al-Bukhari’s name to identify a specific version, I’ll point out that you never do that with your references to the Koran”. So are you going to answer that question? And for the record I know how the word independent is spelt but that is not my handle.
It’s interesting that you now finally except that terrorists are responsible for terrorism. In the past you have made excuse after excuse for refusing to blame terrorists for terrorism in a childish attempt to defend your hatred of Islam. So you’re making progress. Lets see if we can continue that development. If you now (conveniently) accept that islamic-terrorists are (at least partially) responsible for terrorism, what is responsible for christian-terrorists, like members of the KKK? I don’t ask that question as any form of moral equivocation but to demonstrate that if Christianity is not responsible for creating the KKK, how can you believe that Islam is responsible for creating Al-Qaeda?
If you do decide to respond, make sure you have an answer for my question from post #75.
Happy cutting and pasting (er, I mean reading)
It is a good article, but as usual the comment field has been hijacked by a few that have a certain political agenda, and that includes comments about Afghanistan.
We did not go to war with Afghanistan. We went there to remove the Taliban because they were harbouring Osama Bin Laden. The Taliban were also responsible for extremely cruel acts against the Afghan women. We seem to have forgotten about the shocking things that the Taliban have done to their women. We close our minds to the shocking things they continue to do to those brave male teachers who have been teaching young girls. How many who decry the existence of our troops in Afghanistan feel the same way about the acid thrown in the faces of young school girls, of those who were slaughtered inside schools by the Taliban or of those girls who were poisoned when the poison went through the air vents of the schools? Hypocrites!!!!
The question about Jesus has to be rhetorical because when Jesus lived he was constantly persecuted by the Sadducees and the Pharisees, as well as by non-Jews in the same region. Some people in the comments obviously are not students of the Bible, for one stated that Mary and Joseph fled to Nazareth from Bethlehem… well NO… they did as their ancestors had done before them, and they fled to Egypt where they stayed until they heard that Herod was dead, and then they returned to Nazareth. A student of the Gospels would know that they were in Bethlehem because of the census and they stayed for a while (at least until Jesus was around 2 years old). One must wonder how it was that John the Baptist also survived this holocaust of the innocents.
Jesus was on earth for a mission, and until that mission started he was safe in Nazareth, not Bethlehem. Once he began the public preaching he endured a lot of acrimony, as well as encountering the acclamations, and the adulation of a populace that were stunned by his miracles.
Mohammed was never a prophet of God, just as Joseph Smith was never a prophet of God. Mohammed was a murderer, a thief, and a brigand. Jesus was none of those things. Mohammed was married multiple times. Jesus did not marry. A student of the Scripture knows that God did not command people to murder etc. In fact the 10 commands sets out God’s will for us. We are the ones who refuse to follow the will of God.
Now is a dangerous time for Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and others because of the danger of Islam. If Islam means peace, it is not to be understood in terms of God’s peace, but in terms of “man’s peace” because the word “peace” in this case means submission, but not to God, it is submission to the theocracy.
Buddhists, Hindus, Christians, Jews, even atheists all seem to tolerate each others existence and can get along, but all seem to have problems with the Muslims, so with whom do you think the problem lies?
Fundamentalism is the problem, and always will be, in addition to mis using their own books to justify personal feelings. The concept that people must believe as i do or they should die is foreign to everyone except the Fundie.
Maybe it will take another world war, or massive natural catastrophe that wipes another few hundred million / billion from the face of earth to bring Life back into perspective.
The doom of humanity is that we forget.
George Jochnowitz, in regards to your comment numbered 17, I submit that the Patriarch Tikhon would have had a tough time recognizing the Christian credentials of Hannan Ashrawi and Edward Said. I base this upon what was written about him in “A concise history of the Russian Revolution” by Richard Pipes.
There are Christians, and I am one of them, who defend Israel because it is good for a people to have a homeland, and frankly because it is needed because Herzl saw the Dreyfus Affair as something different, that could not be dealt with via the old ways.
Alex, in point 85, you fell into the trap set by the likes of Dewey, and Booth. Take a look
at Krauthammer’s piece “In defense of certainty”
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/krauthammer/article/0,9565,1067816,00.html.
Also, take a look at the Conference on Science, Philosophy and Religion, especially the 1948 meeting. Which went a long way in the Conference being disbanded in the early 1960s.
islam is the most evil religion that exists on this planet.
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com
http://www.faithfreedom.org
http://www.thethirdjihad.com
Just one single thought though. Perhaps you have made writing your blog as your occupation or do you do this within your spare time? Merely curious..