Only not really an "edit" per se. More like an addition.
A friend posted a link in the comments of my other post, and after checking it out I wanted to post it here as well. Walid Shoebat is a former PLO terrorist who has since...well...come to his senses and now speaks out against the Muslim extremists/terrorists.
Check it out.
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label religion. Show all posts
19 October 2010
18 October 2010
Islam
DISCLAIMER: I have a ton of reading to do before I can even claim to be decently informed about Islam. This post is just a beginning.
I know that there are Muslim people that were NOT joyful at the sights and sounds of 9/11. I know that there are those who think the extremists are wrong. I know that there are some that do not agree that all infidels must be either converted or killed. Why won't they speak? Because THEY will be killed.
I read this series of books, about a princess in Saudi Arabia, told in her own words to the author. The horrible way that women are treated under Shari'ah (spelling?) Law is criminal, at least to this Semi Privileged White Girl who grew up in America. Men are everything, women are nothing. There is an anecdote in one of the books - Sultana had a couple of friends who were sneaking off to meet men. Not for sex, they didn't go that far, but for the 'sin' of being alone with men they weren't related to, one of the girls was drowned by her own father. The other was bricked into a room and no one was allowed to talk to her ever again.
Christianity has grown and shifted and expanded as the culture has changed. Islam has not changed since the beginning, at least not in any appreciable way - in fact, REFUSES to change. The Koran, which I have not personally read, so see again the disclaimer at the top, tells true believers of Islam that all unbelievers shall be either converted or killed. I found the following quotes here.
"The Prophet said: 'I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and they establish prostration prayer, and pay Zakat. If they do it, their blood and property are protected.'"
"Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war."
"Fight them until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah."
"Our onslaught will not be a weak faltering affair. We shall fight as long as we live. We will fight until you turn to Islam, humbly seeking refuge. We will fight not caring whom we meet. We will fight whether we destroy ancient holdings or newly gotten gains. We have mutilated every opponent. We have driven them violently before us at the command of Allah and Islam. We will fight until our religion is established. And we will plunder them, for they must suffer disgrace."
They obviously haven't gotten the memo regarding the fact that this is the 21st century. Many Muslims, including those in power, have seen and been exposed to Western ways and thoughts, and still return to hardcore Islam. So it can't be said that ignorance of other ways is all it is. Is it fear? Is it determination to stay in charge? Is it simply hate? Lots of people claim that Islam is, in fact, a peaceful religion. I believe that there are those Muslims who ARE peaceful, but they seem to be rather few and far between.
So far, everything I've read and everything I've seen in the news tells me that they are out to take over the world. Not in some goofy "Pinky & The Brain" style insanity, but really and truly take over. Many areas of the world have Muslim "enclaves" where Shari'ah Law rules. They have fought and argued for the right to have these enclaves to themselves, where Western society is expunged, disallowed, and kept out. Here is an article from 2008, which states that it is already happening here in the US. It's also happening in various parts of Europe - the Netherlands have been in the news several times, as has France.
And we have done it to ourselves. Diversity is wonderful and allowing people to live the way they wish is one of the best things about the world now. However, this diversity is also a back door for these Muslims to easily slide through and begin to take over. How do we stop it? And is it already too late to do so?
Gotta hit the library this week to get more info. This isn't the last from me on this subject. Later.
I know that there are Muslim people that were NOT joyful at the sights and sounds of 9/11. I know that there are those who think the extremists are wrong. I know that there are some that do not agree that all infidels must be either converted or killed. Why won't they speak? Because THEY will be killed.
I read this series of books, about a princess in Saudi Arabia, told in her own words to the author. The horrible way that women are treated under Shari'ah (spelling?) Law is criminal, at least to this Semi Privileged White Girl who grew up in America. Men are everything, women are nothing. There is an anecdote in one of the books - Sultana had a couple of friends who were sneaking off to meet men. Not for sex, they didn't go that far, but for the 'sin' of being alone with men they weren't related to, one of the girls was drowned by her own father. The other was bricked into a room and no one was allowed to talk to her ever again.
Christianity has grown and shifted and expanded as the culture has changed. Islam has not changed since the beginning, at least not in any appreciable way - in fact, REFUSES to change. The Koran, which I have not personally read, so see again the disclaimer at the top, tells true believers of Islam that all unbelievers shall be either converted or killed. I found the following quotes here.
"The Prophet said: 'I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and they establish prostration prayer, and pay Zakat. If they do it, their blood and property are protected.'"
"Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war."
"Fight them until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah."
"Our onslaught will not be a weak faltering affair. We shall fight as long as we live. We will fight until you turn to Islam, humbly seeking refuge. We will fight not caring whom we meet. We will fight whether we destroy ancient holdings or newly gotten gains. We have mutilated every opponent. We have driven them violently before us at the command of Allah and Islam. We will fight until our religion is established. And we will plunder them, for they must suffer disgrace."
They obviously haven't gotten the memo regarding the fact that this is the 21st century. Many Muslims, including those in power, have seen and been exposed to Western ways and thoughts, and still return to hardcore Islam. So it can't be said that ignorance of other ways is all it is. Is it fear? Is it determination to stay in charge? Is it simply hate? Lots of people claim that Islam is, in fact, a peaceful religion. I believe that there are those Muslims who ARE peaceful, but they seem to be rather few and far between.
So far, everything I've read and everything I've seen in the news tells me that they are out to take over the world. Not in some goofy "Pinky & The Brain" style insanity, but really and truly take over. Many areas of the world have Muslim "enclaves" where Shari'ah Law rules. They have fought and argued for the right to have these enclaves to themselves, where Western society is expunged, disallowed, and kept out. Here is an article from 2008, which states that it is already happening here in the US. It's also happening in various parts of Europe - the Netherlands have been in the news several times, as has France.
And we have done it to ourselves. Diversity is wonderful and allowing people to live the way they wish is one of the best things about the world now. However, this diversity is also a back door for these Muslims to easily slide through and begin to take over. How do we stop it? And is it already too late to do so?
Gotta hit the library this week to get more info. This isn't the last from me on this subject. Later.
06 October 2010
Alright, damnit.
I'm going to get this to work, this religion/politics intersection. I am. Maybe.
I'm going to try, anyway. And this one is posting, even if it doesn't go exactly like I think. At least I'll have said SOMETHING, and that gives me something to edit or whatever. Right? Right.
There are tendencies that people follow, usually from their religion to their politics, though sometimes the other way around. Hence there are stereotypes that are believed.
Right wing - Catholic, Lutheran, Jew, Baptist, Mormon, most of the other Christian flavors.
Left wing - Buddhist, Hindu, various pagan flavors, agnostics/atheists.
And if you don't fit where you "should"? If you're a conservative pagan or a liberal Mormon? Wow. People kinda flip out.
I'm starting to run into this personally. Like I said at the beginning of this, I was Democrat for a long time and Independent the last 5 or 6 years. And now, with my self-education and actual thinking brain, I'm starting to lean more right of center. Not on everything, but I'm pretty sure a conservative label would stick at this point. As a pagan, this makes other pagans sometimes look at me funny. And there are some that have gotten positively strident - not at me (yet), but at a pagan friend who has been conservative a lot longer than I have. *waves at T*. Which is weird, considering that most pagans (even those strident ones) claim to be exceedingly tolerant. Unless you're right-wing/conservative/whatever label you prefer.
OK, so where am I going with this? Assumptions, stereotypes, tendencies...and sometimes they go haywire. When this happens, you get people wanting to force religion-based rulings down your throat, or people who want religion to be kept far far away and quote the "Constitutional right to a separation of church and state". Which of course makes me laugh, as that is NOT in the Constitution (read it yourself, there's a link at the bottom of this page!). The reference comes from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists Association in 1802.
Both angles are wrong. You don't get to decide my moral values for me. And I promise that a Nativity scene on city property does not mean you are going to be frogmarched to the nearest church and forced to be baptized.
The simple fact that some people miss is that YES, this country was founded on basic Judeo-Christian principles and that J-C still holds a majority of people (I believe). The founders worked very hard, though, to make sure that there would BE no forcing, no state religion. This does NOT mean that politicians are meant to check their religion at the door. You have to expect some sort of crossover. Most Catholics are going to vote against abortion. Most atheists are going to vote for...I don't know...liquor stores to be open on Sunday. Whatever. What we SHOULD expect is for them to be able to keep the Constitutional laws separate from their religion. As long as they can do that, I'm willing to entertain them voting for other things along their moral lines.
I hope that all makes sense. I'm not sure I made a decent point, but my house is chaos at the moment and I can't hammer at it any more. So there.
I'm going to try, anyway. And this one is posting, even if it doesn't go exactly like I think. At least I'll have said SOMETHING, and that gives me something to edit or whatever. Right? Right.
There are tendencies that people follow, usually from their religion to their politics, though sometimes the other way around. Hence there are stereotypes that are believed.
Right wing - Catholic, Lutheran, Jew, Baptist, Mormon, most of the other Christian flavors.
Left wing - Buddhist, Hindu, various pagan flavors, agnostics/atheists.
And if you don't fit where you "should"? If you're a conservative pagan or a liberal Mormon? Wow. People kinda flip out.
I'm starting to run into this personally. Like I said at the beginning of this, I was Democrat for a long time and Independent the last 5 or 6 years. And now, with my self-education and actual thinking brain, I'm starting to lean more right of center. Not on everything, but I'm pretty sure a conservative label would stick at this point. As a pagan, this makes other pagans sometimes look at me funny. And there are some that have gotten positively strident - not at me (yet), but at a pagan friend who has been conservative a lot longer than I have. *waves at T*. Which is weird, considering that most pagans (even those strident ones) claim to be exceedingly tolerant. Unless you're right-wing/conservative/whatever label you prefer.
OK, so where am I going with this? Assumptions, stereotypes, tendencies...and sometimes they go haywire. When this happens, you get people wanting to force religion-based rulings down your throat, or people who want religion to be kept far far away and quote the "Constitutional right to a separation of church and state". Which of course makes me laugh, as that is NOT in the Constitution (read it yourself, there's a link at the bottom of this page!). The reference comes from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists Association in 1802.
Both angles are wrong. You don't get to decide my moral values for me. And I promise that a Nativity scene on city property does not mean you are going to be frogmarched to the nearest church and forced to be baptized.
The simple fact that some people miss is that YES, this country was founded on basic Judeo-Christian principles and that J-C still holds a majority of people (I believe). The founders worked very hard, though, to make sure that there would BE no forcing, no state religion. This does NOT mean that politicians are meant to check their religion at the door. You have to expect some sort of crossover. Most Catholics are going to vote against abortion. Most atheists are going to vote for...I don't know...liquor stores to be open on Sunday. Whatever. What we SHOULD expect is for them to be able to keep the Constitutional laws separate from their religion. As long as they can do that, I'm willing to entertain them voting for other things along their moral lines.
I hope that all makes sense. I'm not sure I made a decent point, but my house is chaos at the moment and I can't hammer at it any more. So there.
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