Tuesday, February 28, 2006
Innumerable Christian Treasures lost in Kosovo (not to mention lives)
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 1:38 PM [+]
Many more will likely be lost forever if independence is granted to the now nearly completely Albanian dominated region. The historic Christian presence in the region will no doubt continue to dwindle even more dramatically than it has in recent years while under the "protection" of international organizations (UN, NATO, et al). Meanwhile, under that "protection" we see this (click for slideshow and details):
Serbian Orthodox Bishop Artemije of the Diocese of Kosovo and Metohija has been in the US recently trying to raise awareness of the troubles in Kosovo. Stories HERE and HERE.
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Monsters and Saints
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 11:24 AM [+]
I must admit to being - perhaps naively - intrigued by stories such as those of Bigfoot, Champ, and Loch Ness. Not sure why...but I just think they are cool...always have.
So imagine my surprise when I came accross this portion of the "Life of Saint Columba" according to the Abbot Adamnan:
CHAPTER XXVIII.
How an Aquatic Monster was driven off by virtue of the blessed man's prayer.
ON another occasion also, when the blessed man was living for some days in the province of the Picts, he was obliged to cross the river Nesa (the Ness); and when he reached the bank of the river, he saw some of the inhabitants burying an unfortunate man, who, according to the account of those who were burying him, was a short time before seized, as he was swimming, and bitten most severely by a monster that lived in the water; his wretched body was, though too late, taken out with a hook, by those who came to his assistance in a boat. The blessed man, on hearing this, was so far from being dismayed, that he directed one of his companions to swim over and row across the coble that was moored at the farther bank. And Lugne Mocumin hearing the command of the excellent man, obeyed without the least delay, taking off all his clothes, except his tunic, and leaping into the water. But the monster, which, so far from being satiated, was only roused for more prey, was lying at the bottom of the stream, and when it felt the water disturbed above by the man swimming, suddenly rushed out, and, giving an awful roar, darted after him, with its mouth wide open, as the man swam in the middle of the stream. Then the blessed man observing this, raised his holy hand, while all the rest, brethren as well as strangers, were stupefied with terror, and, invoking the name of God, formed the saving sign of the cross in the air, and commanded the ferocious monster, saying, "Thou shalt go no further, nor touch the man; go back with all speed." Then at the voice of the saint, the monster was terrified, and fled more quickly than if it had been pulled back with ropes, though it had just got so near to Lugne, as he swam, that there was not more than the length of a spear-staff between the man and the beast. Then the brethren seeing that the monster had gone back, and that their comrade Lugne returned to them in the boat safe and sound, were struck with admiration, and gave glory to God in the blessed man. And even the barbarous heathens, who were present, were forced by the greatness of this miracle, which they themselves had seen, to magnify the God of the Christians.
In doing a little extra searching, I found THIS Church History website which talks about St. Columba's meeting with Nessie. And when I reached the end of this article I had to laugh abit as I read:
Did the event really take place? A church historian may be permitted a few doubts...this is only one of many extraordinary events in Adamnan's account...Adamnan's account has so many incredible tales that it is unbelievable.
Ummm...need I remind these hsitorians of the extraordinary events in Scripture? What's the neccesary difference?
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4 comments
Monday, February 27, 2006
I Repent
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 12:47 PM [+]
There really are no words that could be offered to a father whose 6 year old daughter suddenly dies. But somehow this father is speaking to us.
Here, he literally slays me:
Driving home from the cemetery this afternoon, Kim and I passed by a father holding hands with the cutest little toddler. The child was over dressed in a snow suit and was walking, occasionally stopping to tip his whole body back in the way that children do to look up at a parent. The father stopped each time the young one stopped to look back at his child.
How often have you been with your child and not been with them. You’ve taken the time to be at a kid’s soccer game but been on your cell phone. You’ve left work to pick your kid up from school but your mind isn’t there on your son or daughter and the day they’ve just had at school - your mind is already back at your desk on the next thing you have to do.
How can I offer him gratitude for his bravery? His strength in the midst of unthinkable pain?
If you are home now, go and grab your kids and love them. More than that, NEVER have unfinished business with them and always be present with them. Tearfully, I admit, if I were to lose one of mine I would have many regrets. How sad...pathetic even...is that?
I repent.
Memory Eternal Elena.
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We ain't had nuthin' but magotty soy for 54 days
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 10:58 AM [+]
And so it begins...I'm looking around for the person in control of the ride to ask them to stop it, because to be completely honest, I feel like I am not ready.
Someone once told me that if Orthodoxy doesn't bind and pinch you - at least once in awhile - you probably ain't doing it right. But the last few prepatory Sundays leading up to Forgiveness Sunday (marking the starting line of Lent) have flooded over me like a Tsunami and I have to admit to largely trying to ignore the waters I am forced to tread.
Last Judgement Sunday, for those who are perhaps not Orthodox) was yesterday and we spent some time focusing on judgment. One of our deacons gave a very thoughtful sermon in which he partly reminded us how we as a society are moving further and further away from "judgement", often for fear of making people feel bad. He reminded us that on that REAL Sunday of the Last Judgement, we are promised there will be a fair number of people who end up feeling bad. But, thankfully, we are granted an opportunity to feel bad now, rather than later when what is at stake becomes more and more grave.
The legal analogies such as we hear on days like this, when taken literally (as the West is often accused of doing by the East), can become very problematic. Yes, Lent is about taking the time to feel bad about our sins...to repent. But, we do not seek to change our legal status with God, we seek to change WHAT WE ARE. We seek to change the direction we are going, to alter the course of WHO WE ARE BECOMING. So that on that day of judgement, we see and experience God's love for what it really is - as opposed to a condemning and consuming fire.
I need to see and learn that everyday is an opportunity to be Lenten, every moment is an opportunity to change the direction I am growing in. Not a nanosecond passes that I cannot "come to myself" and head home.
Thank God the Church calls us to corporately engage in this Holy venture. Would I think to make this journey on my own, of my own volition? "Sure" I say, lying to myself.
No, I know better...the Orthodox Church has taught me better. I cannot rely on myself and to insert God into that formula ( ie. Me and Jesus on our own will be just fine) is really no different than relying on myself. I cannot be trusted...say it with me...really, I cannot be trusted. (If you've not proved that to yourself a hundred times over and over again...well...then I'd say you just did.)
Whether I am ready to set sail or not, it is time to climb aboard and cast off the lines. The Church tells me the tides and winds are favorable and I delay at my peril.
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Friday, February 24, 2006
How to start a Riot (Part II)
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 1:49 PM [+]
This was printed in the Portland State University newspaper called "The Daily Vanguard."
Cute.
Not sure what the artist's point is, though...efforts to find the stinging bite of contextual humor end in failure - not sure why.
And so now we anxiously await the riots...here they come....any minute now...PSU should be up in flames anytime now...tick tick tick...any moment now, the Christians will rise and threaten beheadings...tick tick...I can smell the violent backlash in the air after the BRAVE and BOLD artist and editor dared draw and print it...surely we ought to be calling out the riot police and have the artist put under the watchful protection of campus security...yes, any minute now the riots will come...
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A Cause for Unity...a step in the right direction
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 1:17 PM [+]
Orthodox ties to Catholics Seen as Vital
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Let's hear some of this from Orthodox Hierarchs
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 9:07 AM [+]
I know in places like Serbia we are treated to some semblance of anti-dhimmitude, but why nothing (that I know of) from Antioch or Jerusalem? (Wanna guess?) I've heard criticism about the cartoons and all the usual flap about not criticizing any religion etc etc.
This article is very good, I especially like this quote from Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican's Secretary of State: If we tell our people they have no right to offend, we have to tell the others they have no right to destroy us
Hats off to the Vatican.
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Thursday, February 23, 2006
It's been a long time
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 7:37 PM [+]
For those who may not have noticed, Confessio is seeing new posts and To the Brink is no more, replaced with Humilis.
Keep it up gentlemen, help me not to feel like such a blabber mouth!
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Ahem...a little help?
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 1:10 PM [+]
Can someone explain to me why I so easily know and hear so much about Bush's "spying/wiretapping program", but I never even heard about Bill Clinton's spying program to root out Pro-life Christian Terrorist conspiracies against Abortion clinics code named VAAPCON?
I mean, gee, I know I'm slow and perhaps missed it, but where was the ACLU to protect my privacy as one possibly connected with some of the "targeted" groups? And they say Cheney can't aim well? What the heck was Bill thinking looking for Christian terrorists????? Talk about an intelligence failure!
And did Clinton find his WMD's amongst the pro-life groups? The best the FBI can offer is that their findings were "inconclusive." Conclusive enough for me.
Don't get me wrong, I've nothing to hide and I am not one to go huffing and puffing about my rights...if anyone truly believes we are facing an epidemic of Christian Terrorism I give them permission to open my mail and listen to my wife and I on the phone form strategies to be better parents...heck, they can even read my blog.
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Enlightened Pacifists
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 7:59 AM [+]
An anonymous commentator on that crowded post about Pappy Boyington said the following:
Sounds like these students follow the teachings of enlightened pacifists--Jesus, Gandhi, Dr King, Einstein-- who taught us that war is neither heroic nor necessary.
The pioneers of a warlees world are the men and women who refuse military service.Albert Einstein
Blessed are the peacemakers. Jesus of Nazareth
I could complain about the lumping of Jesus into this group - [straining] if I could just find an embassy to burn [/straining] - since none of the others were actually God incarnate and neither were they the ultimate source of ALL enlightenment, but I will refrain. Though I cannot believe anonymous left out Buddha and, even moreso, Muhammed (hmmm....)!
Jesus definately teaches peace, but that does not neccesarily make Him a pacifist. If He were, and if He deemed avoiding war as an ultimate good, then why on earth did he NOT tell the centurian to lay down his sword. An officer in what was arguably the world's most domineering, imperialistic, colonizing army ever to walk the planet! Worse yet, a representavie of a pagan and brutal ccupier of His own holy land! Rather he upholds the man as an example of faith to his co-religionists, heals his servant, and says nothing about abandoning the corrupt, violent, and warring Roman Legions. Rather odd for an "enligthened pacifist", no?
The Orthodox Church has no official "Just War Theory", and has certainly had amongst her communicants and saints many pacifists, but by the same token She has certainly also had her share of wars and warrior saints. I cannot presume to speak for the Church on this matter and leave the point as it presently stands.
I contend that war is indeed neccesary when one party says so - whether I happen to like it or not. Pacifism is good and fine, as long as both parties involved in a dispute actually consider it a virtue. Good luck with that.
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Wednesday, February 22, 2006
Headlines
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 3:46 PM [+]
So while cruising through the news at Yahoo, amongst the daily foray of baghdad bombings, vice presedential shooting conspiracies, and Ports operated by the UAE, I see this interesting headline: "Gladiators fought with strict code of conduct"
Make sure to look at the picture:
and the caption from Yahoo: "File photo of two men dressed as Roman gladiators..."
Okay, now I know that I have been playing THIS AWESOME game a lot, but am I the only guy that knows that these men are decidedly NOT dressed as gladiators, but as Roman soldiers? The one on the left is either a Praetorian Cohort or an Urban Cohort, and the guy on the right is probably a legionary cohort...but regardless, you might as well have pasted an image of a US Marine in dress clothes and labelled him a professional wrestler! Geez, people, c'mon!
SPQR!
:)
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Running afoul of...doctrine
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 12:53 PM [+]
This bit of news from my wife's paternal neck o' the woods. No, not San Francisco or New York...but the home of Lutheranism in America (hehehe), the heartland, the MidWest, yes, the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul (they might consider a name change in the near future on that last one).
Now, I confess to not knowing what exactly is involved in being a "charter" school in Minnesota, but I have a hard time imaginging a public school (chartered or otherwise) doing such a contortionist act for anything "running afoul of...[Christian] doctrine." I mean, c'mon now, isn't this going over the top? What about the 30% of students - say like perhaps my children for whom the image of God is a very holy and sacred thing? How would they reconcile THAT? If I wanted to be a troublemaker (and yes I generally do) I could argue for MY RIGHTS and say that the LACK of images of the Human Form fundamentally runs afoul of the our sacred doctrine regarding the Incarnation. Blah blah blah.
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Brave...even scary words, from an Anglican?
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 10:12 AM [+]
The situation in Nigeria is growing worse, and read this statement from the Christian Association of Nigeria, headed by an Anglican Archbishop.
A couple of things to note: the statement implies that the violence and persecution has been on ongoing problem and has only intensified over the cartoon incident. It is also profoundly brave for this Archbishop and his organization to point out the notion that there is an organized effort to Islamicize Nigeria and that the government is not doing anything about previous and ongoing persecution of Christians. Also note the not terribly veiled threat for a violent backlash that has been brewing for sometime. (And has apparently now come to roost).
Of course, the media will cover this as your run of the mill everyday sectarian violence in which religion in general is to blame for people's inability to live together while ignorantly ignoring (hehehe) what has happend in preceeding months, years, decades, or centuries.
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The Da Vinci Code of Global Warming
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 8:17 AM [+]
Paint me giddy, albeit a bit behind the times. But Michael Crichton's 2004 novel State of Fear is a "fictional" account of some grand conspiracy regarding global warming.
Don't get me wrong, I have no passionate position on either side of the global warming debate, but gee it's nice to see something very much analogous to "The Da Vinci Code", but writing instead about an issue usually held near and dear to those who ravenously devour Dan Brown and harold him as an authority on Christian History - primarily because it just makes them feel better about Jesus and his purportedly ignorant followers.
I don't really care to read the book, but just ask me how tempted I am to be seen carrying it? (Yeah I know, I am a rotten stinker!)
I have to admit to smiling and giggling outloud some as I read the reviews at Amazon which criticize Crichton's book, citing all the newest evidence to support global warming. [sarcasm] Come on guys, it's fiction...no one is going to believe this stuff, it's all in good fun! And now you'll excuse me while I run down to the Ford dealer and buy the biggest SUV I can find - something that gets the same gas mileage as the Queen Mary and releases more greenhouse gasses than all the cows in Wisconsin.[/sarcasm]
We can only hope they come out with a movie to further annoy people.
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Tuesday, February 21, 2006
The Targets
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 9:57 AM [+]
Going widely unreported is the fact that MANY of the targets of violence over the Muhammed cartoons have been "innocent" (who the heck is really guilty?) minority Christians.
And meanwhile the tally for for the last two days from the most recent bombings perpetrated by the glorious Iraqi freedom fighters include 3 liquor stores, 8 hair salons, and this very morning a market. Alluha Akbar indeed.
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Saved by Insult
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 7:57 AM [+]
Someone passed this article along to me. The author is a practicing Orthodox Christian and the story illustrates the hypocrisy of those members of the media who have a sudden and inexplicable (well, maybe it is explicable given the recent bounties placed on the heads of cartoonists) sympathy for not wishing to offend religious (in truth, read: Muslim) people.
The author makes some great points in the last few paragraphs, points that I myself have made nunmerous times both here and in personal dialogues with friends and family. Particularly amongst family members and friends who are either not christians at all or are nominal "deists" of somesort. There is an underlying belief that all forms of "fundamentalism" are equally abhorrent and that in the "grand scheme" of things all religions basically teach and espouse the same that and that any dichotomy we see today is simply because Christianity has been tamed by secularization.
Never a bigger steaming pile has been stepped in than to believe such nonsense. Christians do not refuse to riot and kill people over insults to Christ (of which we have had many many many many opportunities) because we've been tamed by lack of belief...rather it is a stronger belief in the reality of Christ that tames us.
Our salvation is dependent on the greatest insult, the greatest travesty of justice that has ever been and ever could be known. Hard to imagine that our creator should join us and then be rejected by us, despised by us, slapped by us, insulted by us, mocked by us, beaten by us, whipped by us, and then nailed to a cross by us...killed by us. And then He rose from the dead, not to show off His power to us, rather He rose from the dead so that we - despite ourselves - could participate in His Life-giving Resurrection.
Instead of burning with rage, He saves us through this world's greatest act of blasphemy. No, people, try as you might, you cannot insult our God any worse than we already have.
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Monday, February 20, 2006
Extremist Humility
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 7:46 AM [+]
Yesterday was the sunday of the Prodigal Son, another preparatory step toward setting sail on the sea of the Great Lenten Fast. It is a call for us all to come to ourselves.
Coming to ourselves requires that we escape our self deluded state, our falses images and impressions about ourselves. Often, as was the case in our Lord's Parable, we must watch the stilts upon which we have built our altar of idolatry collapse before we can begin to see the reality.
The Pharisee of the previous sunday's parable had a huge problem. Not unlike mine, perhaps not unlike yours. He believed he had the game DOWN. He was following the rules, he was doing all the right things. But, as we all know, he openly showed us the error of his way in the words of his prayer. The error of OUR way is likely much more effectively hidden and subversive.
Usually we asscoate the pharisee with extreme conservatives who love to shove their morality down the throats of others, all the while being completely devoide of love. But, we might be comfortably deluding ourselves in thinking this.
Mother Theresa might have been a Pharisee. Bono might be Pharisee. Billy Grahm might be a Pharisee. Surely Pat Robertson might be a Pharisee. The Ecumenical Patriarch might be a Pharisee. Ron Sider might be a pharisee. Thomas Merton might have been a pharisee. Your priest or pastor or "whoever feels led to speak a particularly good word of encouragement on any given tuesday eveing" might be a pharisee. The gay alcoholic epsicopal bishop might be a pharisee. Truth be told, while we love to pick out pharisees - oh what fun it is to pick on TV evangelists, the "religious right", the "left-wing socialist christians", or _____________ (fill in the blank) - how much harder is it to root out the pharisee in your own heart.
I think we begin to come to ourselves when we truly seek the pharisee in ourselves rather than in others. You wanna see a whitewashed tomb full of dead men's bones? Start looking within.
It takes humility to come home. But far less humility than it took for God to rescue us - given all that that entails (see icon above). I write all of this, knowing full well, that I need to hear it as much , if not more, than all others.
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A Nice Little Tribute
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 7:34 AM [+]
A friend directed me to this nice tribute (from a somewhat unlikely source) to the Byzantine Empire.
I might make one historic technical note: The Byzantine Empire really did not know itself as such, but rather the people considered themselves - rightly so - as Eastern Roman Empire. So, their history certainly goes back further than the founding of Constantinople...even thought that is where their history technically ended.
The author of the article notes the gains the west "earned" via the Byzantine Empire after its collapse (not to mention the material gains stolen by Crusaders after they sacked the great capital in 1204), but the article made me stop and think for a while.
As a westerner living in what is arguably the pinnacle of westernism (for better or for worse and whatever it may be), I have indeed reaped many things from the Byzantines, but most significantly, I have seen fit to adopt myself into their beautiful faith. Thus in my home, in my office, and in my Church are found many of the revered and venerated Icons of that ancient Empire and that ancient Church, the Hagia Sophia.
And I kiss them too.
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Thursday, February 16, 2006
The Greatest Mission Field...at your feet
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 8:38 AM [+]
My wife and I had our now routine nightly "Parenting Conference" a couple of nights ago, during which my wife mentioned the oft quoted Prayer Breakfast homily of St. BONO, Bishop and Melodist of PoMo and all Blogodom. His Revered Eminence spoke eloquently about the need for Americans (in particular) to do more to help the suffering in the world today.
No doubt, His Grace is right. And my wife lamented for our lack of giving, our seeming inability to do more profound things for the world's suffering. I have shared this sentiment myself and if you have read this blog regularly then you likely know what direction I headed in our conversation.
I would like to do more too. As many of you know, with Ron Sider's book under my arm, I once had grand plans of taking off to the third world and doing some grand work to perhaps provide clean water for a remote village, or perhaps giving lectures on better hygeine to help reduce the spread of disease, or perhaps just serving in a food line handing out bowls of oatmeal. I'm not entirely sure what became of that "vision" but I do know that I now have something more immediate that demands more effort, more attention, and more self-sacrifice than I imagine digging wells in Nigeria could ever be. Now, I am a father.
Don't get me wrong, I still desire to help - in someway - to alleviate suffering throughout the world, but for now that is going to have to be primarily expressed in my willingess to give away cash and prayers. No, wait, that's not entirely true. There is something GREATER still that I can do to help the suffering of the world and it is found in my duties (which I personally - admittedly because of my sins - find to be profoundly challenging) as a father.
I pray that I have brought four lives into this world who will be raised to love and who will be raised to bring beauty into the world. Who will strive to love God and their neighbor and who will have a heart for the world at large that suffers. It is no easy task (and in no small way are their failures actually MINE!)- frankly digging wells or slopping out oatmeal would be much easier for me! Worse still, I am a horrible example all too often. But I am trying, and more than that, I seek to better recognize my failures and to try with varying levels of success to pin them down and snuff them out.
My kids will have kids, and their kids will have kids. If I do my job properly...or at least, better than I have been doing, then THAT will - I hope - be a much more profound benefit to the world than what little cash I can presently spare. None-the-less I take the Blessed Hierarch of Non-Institutionalized Emergent "Churches" BONO's advice to heart...and more.
The greatest mission field, parents, sits at your feet. There's alot of people to be saved in the world, but don't forget where your time, energy, and finances can make the most difference. God grant that we raise children who will truly love...much better than we (I) do.
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Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Blasphemy Laws
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 8:43 AM [+]
Why not? Well put quite simply: honest dialogue, honest criticism, honest debate.
You see, I agree that non-instructive and vindictive attacks on religious beliefs are in poor taste - as a Christian living in America, I know well what it means to have my faith villified and...well...my God Blasphemed.
But as Mark Galli, managing editor of Christianity Today, notes in the article above: my God is used to being blasphemed. He was betrayed, spat on, insulted to no end, beaten, whipped, condemned, and then crucified as a common criminal. Allah and Muhammed are perhaps less used to allowing such abuse go unpunished.
So, while I decry pointless insulting of another persons religious beliefs, I would not like to see laws made to prevent that from happening. For while it may eliminate childish lashing out against religion that has no redeeming value (a sort of theological-philosophical pornography), it could also be used to prevent me from saying why I am not a Muslim, and why I am not a Jew, and why I am not a Protestant.
The Koran blasphemes - on purpose - the Christian faith when it claims that Jesus was NOT the Son of God, that there is no Trinity, and that Jesus was not tortured and killed on the cross. So Blasphemy laws would neccesarily ban the Koran. By the same token the New Testament claiming all of these things to be true is a blasphemy against Allah...and arguments suggesting that the NT was written 600+ years before anyone knew Muhammed would consider it blasphemy would likely fall on deaf ears.
Sadly, freedom to seriously dialogue and debate affords idiots the ability to do things simply for the sake of offending others. Let them have their fun...as for us Christians, well our God told us to expect persecution so we might as well get used to it. He set for us an example, and for now I'd like to maintain the freedom to be able to say that other religious founders set a rather different example that is playing a profound role in news headlines today.
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"All Commonly Prescribe Medicines"
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 7:19 AM [+]
So says the law with regard to pharmacies and thus, WalMart must carrying the morning after pill. But this occurred to me as I awoke this morning:
Medicine:
1. An agent, such as a drug, used to treat disease or injury.
2. Something that serves as a remedy or corrective
And so we live in an age when pregnancy is a disease or injury that needs to be corrected, remedied.
sigh
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Al's Magical Mystery Tour - Live in Saudi Arabia
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 6:32 AM [+]
My first question: What happened to Al's eyebrows?
My second question: What was he thinking?!?!?
Some of you may praise me, but many more I suspect will chastise me for admitting that I voted for Al. Hearing about his speech makes me realize that Al is a complete ignoramus when it comes to understanding the nature of the jihad we are up against.
This is bigger than US politics and I don't care if you even believe what Al said, the last thing we want to do is confirm all the wild conspiracy theories broadcast at length in the Middle East Media. Believe me, the latest Al Qaeda recruiting video will include excerpts from Al's brilliantly thought out speech.
Gore told the largely Saudi audience, many of them educated at U.S. universities, that Arabs in the United States had been "indiscriminately rounded up, often on minor charges of overstaying a visa or not having a green card in proper order, and held in conditions that were just unforgivable. Unfortunately there have been terrible abuses and it's wrong," Gore said
Doesn't the word "indiscriminately" mean that you ACTUALLY indiscriminatley do something? Heck, to be technical, even if we had just rounded upon Middle Eastern people THAT would have been discriminate, no? As it was we "rounded up" people for whom believed we had a legal reason for doing so, and only in about 13 cases did we find that the government was wrong to do so. (These 13 were of course shot and buried in a mass grave near Arlington.) Al might also need to be reminded that had we taken what little immigration laws we had seriously, people like Muhammed Atta would have been indiscriminately rounded up on "minor charges of overstaying a visa or not having a green card in proper order" PRIOR TO SEPTEMBER 11TH 2001.
"Unforgivable"? Great Al, tell them we cannot be forgiven. Keep in mind your context Al, have you seen Middle East Prisons? Keep in mind, readers, what Gore is telling to a Middle East audience where THIS sort of thing happens. And frankly, would you trade the worse conditions of a US prison for the best in Syria? Human Rights Groups know where the absolute worse abuses take place in the world and here's a news flash: It ain't in the USA...they are rather all places found in the region where Gore spoke. I won't even go into the need for details/proof from Al to be told HERE in the United States, rather let's just focus on the stupidity of saying these things while Osama is listening and taking notes.
I think the big mistake that Al (and perhaps other similarly believing people) makes is that he thinks jihadists give a crud about whether a democract or republican is in office. He seems to forget that plans for the the USS Cole bombing, the African Embassy bombings, the first WTC bombings, and of course 9-11 itself were laid (and/or committed) while Bill Clinton was in office. He forgets seeing (or maybe he never saw it because he was busily inventing the internet in the basement of the white house) the most famous (and perhaps first) Al Qaeda training/recruitment video in which a Muhajadeen was seeing shooting at a projection video target of...you guessed it: Bill Clinton.
Jihadists are not surprised by reports of George Bush indiscriminately rounding up Arabs, and they take nearly as much offense at it as they do Bill Clinton committing adultery in the White House. Don't miss this point, much of Bin Laden's complaints about the west revolve around our immorality and the expectation that we will import that to the Holy Middle East. Have you not seen that in the underlying Mid-east government incitement of the cartoon issue? ("This [blasphemy] is the sort of democracy you wish to import to us?") Imagine how Al Gore and the progressives would respond if George Bush had gone to Saudi and apologized for Gay Rights, Abortion, Women's Rights, and Freedom to commit Blasphemy in America? (All things that Jihadist and most Muslims find repulsive.) Of course, we needn't bother ourselves with noting that at least George's statement would be undeniably TRUE!
Al is laying America's dirty laundry (which I firmly believe he exaggeratedly dirtied himself) in front of people who are ravenous for it. Al is being completely disingenuous, the government and the people of the United States have been profoundly restrained toward our Muslim population after 9-11, there were no massive burning of Mosques, no lynchings, no anti-Muslim propaganda on the TV or from our president's lips...in fact Bush has gone out of his way to speak about the goodness of Islam - to the point where I think he's full of crap. But even if there were a few people mistaken "rounded up", Al's characterization is completely unfair and completely stupid given the audience.
A house divided cannot stand, and if we - both the left and the right - don't figure out that we have a common cause (and enemy)in the Middle East, then we might as well convert now or start paying the jizyah. Al paid his in the form of words and I am sure Bin Laden was most grateful.
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Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Don't like Abortions? Don't have one
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 12:21 PM [+]
But, you MUST be willing to provide them.
Call me old fashion, but it seems to me that the government insisting on a private business carrying ANYTHING is absurd. I mean, I guess I could see some drugs being required...but the potentially abortive "morning after" pill? The law states that pharmacies must carry "all commonly prescribed" meds, but how on earth is THAT determined?
Gee, I am beginning to wonder about that whole "Pro-choice" moniker. I'm heading down to my local NAPA Auto Parts to demand that they carry the right rear rotor for my 95 Isuzu Trooper.
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Monday, February 13, 2006
Noe Siattle
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 1:44 PM [+]
My family and I spent the weekend abroad - meaning on the western shores of Puget Sound as hosted by a most gracious and patient host and guide: Dawn.
For me, one of the more interesting things about the visit, revolved around seeing Seattle's namesake's grave. Chief Sealth is buried on the grounds of an old Roman Catholic Parish/Mission in Suquamish. It happens to also be the same place where Dawn's Orthodox Mission meets (It's actually named after St. Elizabeth, but it's Dawn's too).
Chief Sealth is often quoted - usually for his "new age" sounding poetic wisdom with regard to the environment. But what is often disregarded is the fact that he became a Roman Catholic as an adult after seemingly having a profound conversion experience. After which, he gave up his life as a skilled and brutal warrior. As recounted here, the life of an "in harmony with nature" Native American didn't preclude some bloody spectacles.
On his baptismal certificate, his name is listed as Noe [Noah] Siattle. It is a curious thing to see a big cross of Chief Sealth's grave, and I have a sneaky suscpicion that it rubs many people around here the wrong way. Oh well.
Here is the text of Noe Siattle's famed speech as recounted by Dr. Henry A. Smith. No one is really sure if the account is accurate, but it certainly leads to some questions since he does not seem to show his inclination toward Christianity...who knows.
But as you read this particular portion, keep in mind our Orthodox (and Roman Catholic) understanding of the Saints and indeed all of those departed this life and what things that our Paradosis leads us to call Holy and Sacred. I am forced to ask Chief Sealth: Perhaps you knew too many Protestants...for in your words I hear much in common with the Paradosis of our ancestors.
There is little in common between us.
To us the ashes of our ancestors are sacred and their resting place is hallowed ground. You wander far from the graves of your ancestors and seemingly without regret. Your religion was written upon tablets of stone by the iron finger of your God so that you could not forget. The Red Man could never comprehend or remember it. Our religion is the traditions of our ancestors — the dreams of our old men, given them in solemn hours of the night by the Great Spirit; and the visions of our sachems, and is written in the hearts of our people.
Your dead cease to love you and the land of their nativity as soon as they pass the portals of the tomb and wander away beyond the stars. They are soon forgotten and never return. Our dead never forget this beautiful world that gave them being. They still love its verdant valleys, its murmuring rivers, its magnificent mountains, sequestered vales and verdant lined lakes and bays, and ever yearn in tender fond affection over the lonely hearted living, and often return from the happy hunting ground to visit, guide, console, and comfort them.
Day and night cannot dwell together. The Red Man has ever fled the approach of the White Man, as the morning mist flees before the morning sun. However, your proposition seems fair and I think that my people will accept it and will retire to the reservation you offer them. Then we will dwell apart in peace, for the words of the Great White Chief seem to be the words of nature speaking to my people out of dense darkness.
It matters little where we pass the remnant of our days. They will not be many. The Indian’s night promises to be dark. Not a single star of hope hovers above his horizon. Sad-voiced winds moan in the distance. Grim fate seems to be on the Red Man’s trail, and wherever he will hear the approaching footsteps of his fell destroyer and prepare stolidly to meet his doom, as does the wounded doe that hears the approaching footsteps of the hunter.
A few more moon, a few more winters, and not one of the descendants of the mighty hosts that once moved over this broad land or lived in happy homes, protected by the Great Spirit, will remain to mourn over the graves of a people once more powerful and hopeful than yours. But why should I mourn at the untimely fate of my people? Tribe follows tribe, and nation follows nation, like the waves of the sea. It is the order of nature, and regret is useless. Your time of decay may be distant, but it will surely come, for even the White Man whose God walked and talked with him as friend to friend, cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We will see.
We will ponder your proposition and when we decide we will let you know. But should we accept it, I here and now make this condition that we will not be denied the privilege without molestation of visiting at any time the tombs of our ancestors, friends, and children. Ever part of this soil is sacred in the estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days long vanished. Even the rocks, which seem to be dumb and dead as the swelter in the sun along the silent shore, thrill with memories of stirring events connected with the lives of my people, and the very dust upon which you now stand responds more lovingly to their footsteps than yours, because it is rich with the blood of our ancestors, and our bare feet are conscious of the sympathetic touch. Our departed braves, fond mothers, glad, happy hearted maidens, and even the little children who lived here and rejoiced here for a brief season, will love these somber solitudes and at eventide they greet shadowy returning spirits. And when the last Red Man shall have perished, and the memory of my tribe shall have become a myth among the White Men, these shores will swarm with the invisible dead of my tribe, and when your children’s children think themselves alone in the field, the store, the shop, upon the highway, or in the silence of the pathless woods, they will not be alone. In all the earth there is no place dedicated to solitude. At night when the streets of your cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they will throng with the returning hosts that once filled them and still love this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone.
Let him be just and deal kindly with my people, for the dead are not altogether powerless.
Amen. We know...we know.
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Boyington Debate Details
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 10:44 AM [+]
In case you missed it in the comments, Rob posted a link to the actual minutes of the UW Senate. Here is an excerpt from the relevant stupdity:
A senator asked why Andrew Everett was interested in honoring this
particular alumnus.
Andrew Everett said he had read about Colonel Boyington and thought
his achievements warranted recognition.
Tyler Dockins asked why the monument shouldn’t commemorate all the
alumni who fought in the war.
Andrew Everett noted that several statues around campus already serve
such a purpose and that Colonel Boyington had many of the qualities the
University of Washington hoped to produce in its students.
Jill Edwards said she didn’t’ believe a member of the Marine Corps was
an example of the sort of person UW wanted to produce.
Ashley Miller commented that many monuments at UW already
commemorate rich white men.
Karl Smith amended the first ‘whereas’ clause to strike the section “he
was credited with destroying 26 enemy aircraft, tying the record for most
aircraft destroyed by a pilot in American Uniform for which he was” and
leaving the reference to the Navy Cross. Seconded. Objection.
He said the resolution should commend Colonel Boyington’s service, not
his killing of others.
Andrew Everett said a destroyed aircraft was not necessarily indicative
that a pilot had died. He said the statistic on aircraft downed explained
Colonel Boyington’s achievements and why his performance was
noteworthy.
I would only add that one cannot win a war against brutal tyranny without the "killing of others." As much as we might have liked, appeasement proved rather problematic with Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
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Saturday, February 11, 2006
News from Indonesia
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 8:43 AM [+]
HERE
This recounts in greater detail the incident that closed Fr. Daniel's church and also lets us know what has been happening since. It is an frightening story and includes an appeal for help for our Indonesian brethren who are under a yoke we cannot - at this time - comprehend.
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Friday, February 10, 2006
Whew!
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 9:58 AM [+]
[sarcasm]Boy we Christians sure dodged a bullet here, I was patently terrified that we could be held legally liable for claiming Jesus existed.
But, don't relax brethren, for this individual now threatens to take his case to the European Court of Human Rights! And make no mistake about it, that court has absolutely NOTHING better to do and we could face serious problems in the future as we Christians (especially [cue ominous music] those of us who organized and institutionalized) violate people's human right for Jesus not to exist. Let's start burning the EU flag and torching european embassies![/sarcasm]
On a serious note...where are we headed?
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Thursday, February 09, 2006
SOP's
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 1:36 PM [+]
In laboratories, much ado is made of SOP's (Standard Operation Procedures). We even write SOP's on how to write SOP's...seriously.
The idea of SOP's is to theoretically make it so that any lab tech could walk in our doors and run, result, and troubleshoot our assays. No one - technically speaking - need be here to inform, educate, or train the individual.
As you might well imagine, these SOP's wipe out significant amounts of rain forest with their paper consumption...and what is quite curious to me is that the vast majority of these binders NEVER see the light of day...except during FDA or CAP inspections.
Rather, we have found that the human touch is not only easier, but more efficient, more educational, more informative, and a better training method overall. In fact, while a new or less experienced tech could likely find the answers to their problems in some dusty old SOP, I more often than not find them standing at my desk and asking for help. And by the same token if I run into a molecular brick wall, I am far more likely to seek out that person who has tread the same ground before me.
It leads me to recall THIS post. The human touch adds something to the experience that is lacking in books, I think the same is all the more true in Christianity. How often have people who decide to "go by the Book" end up off the deep end?
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Time, the Grand Equivocator
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 8:01 AM [+]
Much is being said today about Islam, and indeed religion in general, as we watch the ongoing controversy with regard to the Danish cartoons. But one thing in particular that keeps rubbing me the wrong way is the utilization of time as the primary factor of equivocation between religions. Let me explain.
All over the country (and perhaps the western world) today, many students will take part in a Comparative Religions class at a University or college. Perhaps they are using a Houston Smith text like I did in my Comparative Religions class, and indeed if one believes the overarching theme of Houston Smith, you ought to be attending you local Unitarian Universalist meetings.
Taking the next step, as I did in my humble religious training, by which I mean that you actually study the various world religions in greater depth – even going so far as reading source texts and adherents’ commentary, you learn rather quickly that the world’s religions do NOT teach the same things, do NOT have the same “spirit” in their numerous sage founders. In fact, you begin to learn that in some cases, the religions themselves speak against other religions.
It was curious to me that one point brought up in many of the discussions on the cartoons, is that the creation of an image of Muhammad is an attack on a primary tenet/law of the Islamic faith and that THIS is the crucial catalyst that is fueling the rage we are seeing. But as I studied Islam (and by no means do I claim any grand expertise – I took ONE class), I found that the Koran itself had numerous surrahs that directly criticized and attacked some very primary tenets of Christianity (i.e. the Divinity of Christ, the Death of Christ, the Resurrection of Christ.) So much for equivocation.
Ahem…now back to the issue of time. A popular belief that often arises in conversations regarding the current controversy seems to focus on the idea that Islam needs to “modernize” or that it needs a “reformation” like Christianity has done and had. As if to say that Christianity would be reacting like we’ve seen throughout the Islamic world when “The DaVinci Code” comes out if we had not modernized or had a reformation. What is particularly irritating is the notion that this modernization or “reformation” (for let’s face it, half of those shooting off about the reformation have no idea what it was) took place because of secular enlightenment.
So, were it not for secular enlightenment (and let us go ahead and assume all the worse we are told), Christians would still be persecuting heretics (cutting off body parts, burning them at the stake), slaying Jews and Infidel Muslims wholesale, we’d still be having inquisitions with threats of death, we’d have blasphemy laws punishable by death, we’d subjugate and beat our women, etc etc etc. All but for secular enlightenment, the European west would look…well…would look like most Middle East countries.
Well I say poopie on them. Tell me this: are we more or less in keeping with the teachings of Christ if we torture heretics? Are we more or less in keeping with the teachings of Christ if we slay Jews and Muslims wholesale? Are we more or less in keeping with the teachings of Christ when we threaten death on those who refuse to convert to Christianity? Are we more or less in keeping with the teachings of Christ when make laws to kill those who insult Jesus? And, are we more or less in keeping with the teachings of Christ when we beat our wives into submission?
Maybe I’m wrong and maybe Jesus and other particular sage-like religious founders are the same. Maybe Dan Brown is right and Jesus got married, heck maybe he had numerous wives and a few concubines to boot. Maybe he took up the sword and instead a war of words with Pharisees he slew them for insulting him. And maybe when the soldiers came to arrest him he called upon his disciple to draw their scimitars and ambush the approaching caravan thus preventing his shaming before all of Jerusalem. Or if they failed in this effort, when they led him before Pilate or Herod he might have instigated a riot and overthrown the Jews and Romans to become the true Caliph of Jerusalem. Maybe Jesus instituted peace treaties and made war on neighboring factions and cities. Maybe Jesus was a politician, a ruler, a king, a warrior prophet, and not God come to earth to call us to real holiness.
If so, then I suppose all the commentary I keep hearing is right. Were it not for time, and the influence of secular enlightenment we’d be rioting in the streets and calling for the beheading of Dan Brown. And we needn't make any mention of what Jesus ACTUALLY taught.
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Wednesday, February 08, 2006
We don't need to honor any more rich white males
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 8:52 AM [+]
So says one member of the University of Washington Student Senate. And here is a picture of the rich white male this person was speaking of:
Gregory Pappy Boyington...graduate of the Univeristy of Washington (went to High School in Tacoma), winner of the medal of honor, shot down 28 enemy aircraft, was a prisoner of war for 20 months, and apparently does not - according to the student senate - deserve a memorial on campus. Apparently we are told that he "is not the type of person we want to honor" and some even went so far as to liken his duty in WW2 to murder. One of the biggest antagonists of the proposal was apparently the leader of the student Democratic Party. How sad.
This issue is particularly interesting to me because I personally knew Pappy Boyington, not so much as a friend, but as a regular visitor to the Chino Air Museum and Air Show. I met him on numerous occassions and thoroughly enjoyed his willingness to tell me stories about his experiences - and I must say it was HEAVEN to this young man who'd rather feel his way around a restored Corsair than hang out at the mall with his contemporaries.
Pappy was famous for once saying: "Just name a hero and I'll prove he's a bum." And he knew this from personal experience. Pappy's childhood wasn't easy and he and his mother had to work VERY hard to get him through school - he was no rich boy and neither did he live off government grants...personally I wonder if those students who "shot this memorial down" could remotely say the same? And he was a real human being who did not hide his faults, particularly with alcohol and marital problems. Like all heros, no one is a "super" hero. While Pappy could work hard, he could "play" hard too and landed himself in trouble from time to time. Here is a more detailed story...from the University of Washington oddly enough.
Also, clearly, the student who made the racist statement never met him because I will tell you that you could not mistake the Sioux in him. And while he did write a best-selling book (best selling authors are a dime a dozen), he was never really a rich man...rather he spent most of his last days wandering through Air Shows reliving the glory days, never in any grand luxury that I saw. He seemed a very nice man, who despite his personal problems did some extraordinary things to help defend freedom and defeat tyranny and injustice.
But, have our Washington youth revised history so much as this? To compare Boyington (or for that matter any of our WW2 vets) to murderers? What are these kids being taught today? They don't deserve those 20 months Pappy spent being tortured and beaten in a Japanese prison camp...they don't deserve any of what our grandfathers and grandmothers sacrificed to free Europe and the Pacific. Is it perhaps because those precious people are soon to be gone that we feel free to engage in leftist amnesia? I'm angry about this...how dare these snot nose, hemp-wearing, pot smoking, drum beating, dreadlock wearing, "gee when is the financial aid check going to arrive", brat kids diss Pappy Boyington?
Maybe REAL rich white guys ought to be offended (like Bill Gates and Paul Allen) and stop donating money to the UW and then the Student Senators will find they don't have the time to be in the student senate because they need to get themselves real jobs.
If any WW2 vets read this blog, please accept my apology on behalf of the University of Washington - and particularly thier ignorant student senate. We remember what you all have done. My kids will remember too.
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Tuesday, February 07, 2006
A trip to Jerusalem in proxy
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 10:03 AM [+]
A friend and coworker of mine is going home to Israel in April for the whole month. Yes, she will be there during Pascha! However, she is Jewish and so will likely not be participating in the celebration of the Holy Light...lest I convert her beforehand!(JK!)
She has offered to take with her a note from my family to be placed into the Wailing Wall, and I am deeply honored for this offer. She has also asked if there is anything else she could do or get for me and my family.
So, any suggestions? I thought perhaps I could send with her a small icon of the Resurrection and ask her to lay it briefly within Christ's tomb for us as she said she would be willing to visit the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. (Clearly I will have to warn her about the season!)
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Show me the Fatwa!
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 8:37 AM [+]
A familiar socio-religious-intellectual battle cry to many who know me. I should, however, consider updating it given the ongoing news with regard to the now infamous cartoons. How about: “Show me the Riots!”?
What do I mean? We are told that the Palestinians celebrating which we VERY briefly saw on the news after 9-11, was an anomaly. And we are told that Islam is a religion of peace and that the likes of Bin Laden profane and desecrate that noble faith. We are led to believe that an insignificant minority ascribe to what has come to be known as militant Islam or fundamentalist Islam. And yet, if this is so, amidst the barrage of fatwas calling for the holy war against the west, death of cartoonists, authors, all manner of Danes, French, Americans, and Israelis why have I never seen one that calls for the death of Osama Bin Laden? Why have I not seen one that specifically condemns suicide-bombing attacks against Israel? Or, for that matter, 9-11 itself? Why, when Friedman traveled in search of the “Roots of 9/11” did he find in small rural markets innumerable trinkets and posters celebrating the destruction of the world trade center for sale? Or why did he also see lauding posters of Osama – to such an extent as to make any “American Idol” jealous? Any number of other “anomalies” could be noted here as well, but I will add only one more: slickly produced “martyr” glorification on Palestinian Television. Middle East Media, I might add, has produced thousands of things that would have set off riots in the west if...oh nevermind. Suffice to say, there is a REAL double standard at work here – but this should stop surprising us. It is rather funny that Iran is planning to publish holocaust cartoons now, as if this has never happened. Do you suppose the Islamic world might possibly learn something when after these new Iranian cartoons are published that no embassies are burned and no riots take place? Ummm...news flash Iran...we are more concerned about your insane leader playing with uranium.
A Koran is rumored by Newsweek to have been dumped in a toilet – riots, fires, and killings naturally follow. A number of cartoons are published and the Islamic world arguably goes insane: even becoming an international crisis of sorts – and the death toll continues to rise. You have seen the protestors carrying signs for the death (apparently beheading is favored) of those who insult the prophet. I won’t bore you with more details (or rather I will not bore myself by writing them down), but look around and do some news searches – news photo searches – and see the extent of the violence and anger. It is astounding.
So, which profanes your religion more: An unbeliever who insults your prophet, or someone who hangs bombs in the name of Allah over the heads of little children in Beslan? Which desecrates your faith more: An unbeliever who draws an uncomplimentary picture, or someone who slowly saws the head off of a reporter in the name of Allah? Where are the riots for these offenses? Are they not worse than cartoons? Are they not an abomination of much greater magnitude? Can we not see why someone in the west might be compelled to draw Muhammed with a bomb in his turban? Show me the riots when unspeakable violence is done in the name of Islam, I really really want to see them because I do not enjoy the conclusions I am reaching from the lack thereof.
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Monday, February 06, 2006
More fun over the weekend
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 9:25 AM [+]
Amidst a weekend of downed internet service and the not-so-super bowl (Hawks got beaten by 11 Steelers and their extra players wearing black and white stripes). But while I was insulated in a sort of news blackout, the Islamic cartoon mess continued to get worse. A brief conversation with someone who is still beating the dead horse (i.e. Islam has no inherent problem with violence, terrorism, and literal triumphalism) got me to thinking about the greater ramifications of all of this.
First, some of the news:
In Gaza, protestors call for violence and specifically chant asking for Bin Laden to act.
Calls for Jihad are showing up now, labelling the cartoons as acts of war against Islam.
The Danish Embassy is torched in Beirut
Norwegian and Danish Embassies are torched in Damascus
South African court bans the country's Sunday newspapers from reprinting
Muhammad cartoons.
Anti-blasphemy laws suggested in Norway.
And related to the above laws (which are widespread throughout the middle east - but in such cases are there to protect the strong and not the "weak", for you can readily insult Christianity in the Middle East), Jordanian editors whose paper printed the cartoons are arrested.
The artists of the cartoons are in hiding, many are "very very scared."
Iran to review trade partners after cartoon fury. Not surprising I suppose, being Iran and all, but keep in mind that a number of Middle East countries have removed their ambassadors from countries where newspapers have reprinted the cartoons.
And now we hear that at least two people were killed in protests in Afghanistan. Oddly enough they were protesting outside a US base - representing a country which has NOT had a major newspaper print the cartoons and has also officially denounced them.
Protests around the Muslim world (and as noted in the pics in previous posts in traditionally non-Muslim parts of the world as well). I have to admit, I am still aghast at the phrases I have seen on signs - in LONDON of all places! Clearly there is a wide rift in civilizations. It isn't new, though, it's just so happens that we are beginning to see it more clearly - perhaps a product of how technology is shrinking the world.
How odd it seems to us that Middle East governments would call for sanctions and bans, alter their international policies, and recall their ambassadors from countries whose governments had nothing to do with the publishing of cartoons - other than provide a free society in which they could be published. And most amazing of all is the extent to which governments are apologizing and how editors are being fired and how we in the west are actually stopping to think and mention the potential need to balance free speech with sensitivity for religious people. Wow...don't get me wrong, I'd love a little more sensitivity for my religion, but I'm not holding my breath. Muslims apparently are holding theirs...and they may get it. I'm waiting to hear about the ACLU and CAIR putting together a lawsuit against the first American newspaper to publish the cartoons - insane as it might sound, but we are actually hearing censorship-like voices (wrapped lovingly in the gentle paper of sensitivity) from the most unlikely of sources - sources which would not extend a bowl of fecal matter to christians who felt similarly offended.
It's funny because I suspect if ANYONE gives THIS artist a death threat, it won't be a Christian, but rather a Muslim fan of Osama. Speaking of which, is anyone else just a little concerned about the number of protests in which the protestors were chanting and calling for retribution via Bin Laden??? It wasn't just in Palestine...but also in Syria, Pakistan, and Saudi...who knows where else.
Is there going to be a great clash of civilizations? Well, I would argue: of course. In fact it has already been happening since the 7th century when a new religion called Islam began to expand (ahem...which, if I may translate the history books which use this terminology, means imperialistically conquered new territory previously belonging to someone else). As for America, well, our problems with Islam began no sooner than we became a nation.
Islamic pirates from North Africa had been raiding european shipping and coastal villages for centuries. An action that many muslim contemporaries and participants considered Jihad. Innumerable goods and lives were lost, and the story of european slaves entering the Islamic slave market through this route is virtually untold. These pirate states were extorting tons of money from the european powers (who were terribly busy beating each other up) in order for europe's trading to maintain some semblance of freedom while traveling the seas near North Africa (and beyond).
I quote from the this article:
Take, for example, the 1786 meeting in London of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the Tripolitan ambassador to Britain. As American ambassadors to France and Britain respectively, Jefferson and Adams met with Ambassador Adja to negotiate a peace treaty and protect the United States from the threat of Barbary piracy.
These future United States presidents questioned the ambassador as to why his government was so hostile to the new American republic even though America had done nothing to provoke any such animosity. Ambassador Adja answered them, as they reported to the Continental Congress, “that it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise.”
So clearly Osama and the other terrorists today are not inventing anything terribly new here. One needed only go back to the late 18th century to read such honesty. But, if what Adja says is generally true, one can better understand how horribly irritating these cartoons are...insult to injury. The injury perhaps being that in the great war of civilizations, the muslims have been generally losing ever since the enlightenment - and more specifically, as Osama himself reminded us - since the Ottoman empire was defeated.
I recently read that HAMAS put out a childrens program on Palestinian Authority TV in which they argue that Spain ought to be given back to Muslims. Gee, and I thought they just wanted Israel?
We live in strange times.
Addendum: This story gives a brief synopsis of some of the protests.
And, in a rare spat of sanity, the US gently turns the tables. The Middle Eastern media - you know, the one's whose offensive works may be seen here and actually pales in comparison to the cartoons - might consider a little more sensitivity. Yeah, right, sure.
Addendum 2: Danish Embassy in Tehran is being fire bombed.
And now the London press is beginning to ask serious legal questions about protests that encourage murder and terrorism. Note the protestor's sign which references the London Bombings...would we tolerate Muslims protesting down at Ground Zero with signs that spoke of 9/11 happening again?
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4 comments
Friday, February 03, 2006
The Paradosis Snapshot
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 1:42 PM [+]
Pretty cool, thanks Aaron!
Not a word about beer, whisky, or Islam...clearly this thing is useless.
Try it yourself, here.
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2 comments
Help a kid get away from radiation for awhile
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 12:39 PM [+]
This organization is looking for volunteers to host a Belarussian child for six weeks so that they may get away from the horrible effects of the radiation fallout from Chernobyl.
We have found, through medical testing, that a six week stay in a clean environment with good nutrition can completely recover the children's immune system. It is our hope that you too will take this message to heart and help these children who can not help themselves.
I thought it would be especially great for some Orthodox families to step up since the vast majority of these kids are likely Orthodox. It looks like it is somewhat expensive to participate...perhaps some groups or parishes could organize and help?
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1 comments
More Angry Christians...
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 8:38 AM [+]
...calling for the massacre and extermination of those who show The DaVinci Code
Addendum: This Christian activist was particularly upset:
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7 comments
Thursday, February 02, 2006
Angry Christians...
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 8:54 AM [+]
...protesting at an EU screening of The DaVinci Code.
ahem...or not.
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5 comments
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
The Totalitarian State
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 3:39 PM [+]
I heard one of the anti-State of the Union protestors here in Seattle last night comment that they believed conservatives were leading us toward a totalitarian state and that they were shoving their morality down "our" throats.
Well, kindly tell me what this is, if not shoving morality (twisted though it may be) down the throat of a PRIVATE company?
How long before OB-GYN's MUST offer to perform abortions? "Emergency contraception pills"? What a joke! It's like bungee jumping without a bungee and then expecting to buy a parachute afterwards...claiming: hey it was an emergency!
In time, we shall no longer expect to have to take responsibility for ANYTHING. We see it already:
Hey, I spend hardly ANY time with my kids and they are really screwed up, what drugs should I give them? Hey I had sex and might be pregnant, can't I get a pill from WalMart? I spilled hot coffee on me, should I sue the server's business or the corporation that made the coffee machine?
You'll recall I mentioned the Planned Parenthood poster on Community Transit busses that advertise free birth control with this large fonted phrase "Take Control!" Ummm...outside of rape...uhhhhh...at what point did we NOT have control of birthing babies? As far as I can recollect, we generally expect that people can control their sexual impulses...why else do we make rape a crime - instead of an incident after which a person needs to be mentally healed?
Sigh, I should go to law school.
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1 comments
In the west, we believe in FREE SPEECH
...offered by JamesoftheNorthwest, a sinner and extremist from Dar Al-Harb at 8:48 AM [+]
If Christianity may be freely criticized and even insulted by government dollars, then why can we not poke a little fun at other religions? Are we going to bow down to threats and boycotts from countries where it is ILLEGAL to practice ANY religion other than Islam???
German and French freedom lovers have stood up beside the Danes who have been under the scimitar lately.
I stand up too:
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9 comments
