What is particularly troubling about the Muslim violence to date is this: we Americans believe that man, in fact all mankind, has an expectation, a right, to life. In fact, we have a right to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Our Declaration of Independence separates us from terrorists.
We believe these rights to be "unalienable," in fact sacred rights not granted by man but by a higher power, our Creator; and incapable of repudiation. The right to life cannot be taken by another man.The terrorists don't believe we, or any man, apparently, has an expectation to life. The terrorists have shown that they can commit, intend to commit and are committed to intentional, indiscriminate killing of innocent strangers.What greater disparity could there be in the beliefs between the terrorists and ourselves?Americans see themselves as men with rights "endowed by their Creator."
Terrorists see America as "the Great Satan." They feel fully justified when they commit murder after being offended by cartoons ridiculing their beliefs.
Muslim terrorists, when serving as suicide bombers bound for a certain death (a dubious career choice for most Westerners), take solace in knowing they will be greeted in heaven by a bevy of virgins.
I wish some wise leader of Islam would explain this all to me because I think a once great religion has been hijacked by criminals. And no one has come forward to clarify or justify what is happening around the world.
Of course, same could also be said of Christians and Jews
I was reluctant to publish this, but there is some truth to it. Still, there is the matter of the huge number of hostilities that have been initiated by other faiths too.
by
Rob Kall (858 articles, 3987 quicklinks, 343 diaries, 1821 comments)
on Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 1:35:42 PM
You do not hestitate to publish anything that is anti-Israel or anti-Christian. I thought this blog was about fairness. For every article like this one I read on Robednews, I must read twenty or more articles with a take on the opposite position. Are we turning this into a pro-Muslim site? I see the vulgarisms in some articles and you showed nude picture of the naked Miss USA and the last roboped had the gory pictures of Saddam's murder, and you hesitate to publish John E. Carey's article. Why because you disagree with it? Excuse me.
Phil.
by
pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 969 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 1:55:58 PM
it is as if there is no end to this nightmare all over again: a person belonging to the country- the primary instigator of violence, the country which since the Y2001 is resposible for at least about 650000 dead only in Iraq, the country which attacked without provocation (and on the basis of lies) and destroyed so far two countries, the country which trampled on any possible rights or freedoms inside and abroad- that person accuses others of violent extremism and even does more than that- he says that 'religion is hijacked'. That is after all those things I have mentioned. It is like a vicious circle of hypocrisy all over again.
There is nothing to argue here about. I can only leave an author alone with his consciousness. I am tired.
by
Mark Sashine (53 articles, 19 quicklinks, 250 diaries, 3574 comments)
on Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 2:05:31 PM
I know, they are all going to get in their battleships and come over here and kill my family in their sleep. I guess I should be glad we have Bush to defend us. Why don't you write him a thank you note John Carey?
by
Timothy V. Gatto (348 articles, 177 quicklinks, 38 diaries, 574 comments)
on Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 2:24:56 PM
John, The First World War produced thirty seven millions in causality; the Second World War contributed sixty-two million victims. The most horrific act of genocide in modern history is the Holocaust; the scandal of pedophilia rocked the Catholic Church. All these events took place within the last hundred years; believers of the Christian faith committed all these events. Did we ever debate if Christianity is an evil religion? We did not and we should not.
I rest my case!
by
sameh abdelaziz (38 articles, 6 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 30 comments)
on Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 8:59:10 PM
You made me laugh out loud. You're really THIS naive?
Madam;
I am so glad your wrote a comment.
I have no idea your experience with Arab and Muslim people so I will stick to what I know.
After living in Pakistan for a time (which, at the end of my tenure, my boss said exceeded 700 days) and living in an Arab-American community for going upon three years, here is another point of view for you and other readers.
Muslims are not tolerant. They do not believe in freedom of religion. They believe they have the ONLY RIGHT religion; thus you are an infidel unless you are a Muslim.
The Muslims I have observed over many years, many of them at least, have a hard time adjusting to the American way of life, including our belief in tolerance, even though they live in America. Where I live, all the children attend a Muslim school: none go to the public schools. And they go to the Muslim school for free: the Saudi Prince who has his name on the school pays for everything with the profit he makes from you when you fill up your gas tank.
The Christians I know are not separatists and in fact are quite tolerant of other faiths, other lifestyles (including members of the community who are gay or choose other walks of life which are all labeled "deviant behavior by my Muslim neighbors), and etc. The Christians I know seem to have gotten over their separatist tendencies sometime after the crusades and before now.
Hitler and the Nazis were not trying to foprce a religion upon everyone else: their belief was different and they called it the "Master Race." And they killed jews indiscriminately. Some Muslims think it is O.K. to kill anyone indiscriminately. Anyone who is a non-Muslim.
Why do I say this? Well, because, if you read what Muslims are writing about the "separatist" uprisings in, oh, say Thailand (we have some very good human resources within Thai society), one who isn't very smart can quickly see that the intended end state is a "separate" nation made up of all Muslims. Christians, Jews and Buddhists need not apply. In fact, some, at least some, of the separatists want to kill Christians, Jews, Buddhists and others who will not voluntarily leave the area the Muslims covet.
The same was true in Bosnia, is true now in Somalia (but the Ethiopians took exception recently), and Mr. Putin is dealing with this in his former Soviet republics.
And the Muslim community, at least some members, view their own religion as so sacred that offensive cartoons are a viable rationale for murder. And they don't bother to murder the cartoonist: any non-Muslim can pay the price for the perceived insult to all Muslims caused by the cartoon.
And many muslims believe in suicide bombing: they think it is O.K. to destroy mankind indiscriminately....and that means EVEN THEMSELVES. They believe they get a reward in heaven.
Last I checked, a Catholic who commits suicide is denied Christian services and Christian burial.
Now, before you accuse me of being a racist, know that I am married to a non-white person.....and much of my work is with and for people from all races, all walks of life and from all nations. In fact, I like to tell people I am the only "white guy" where I live....I tell people "the people let me stay because I get along with all of them, I show no animosity to any of them, and my bride is not white!"
The company that I built over more than ten years is still called International, etc. Not "Separatist anything."
So believe what you will.
But next time you read that some cartoonist made a drawing offensive to Muslims, you better stay out of my neighborhood. Because they have a way of spotting people like you. They can see your naivety a mile away.
Have a great day!
John E. Carey
by
John E. Carey (207 articles, 0 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 106 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 8:39:55 AM
...to point fingers and call names. It is also really easy to fall in lockstep behind those who regurgitate the words and thoughts of paranoia that were fueled by DUBYA and his regime after 9/11. It's a lot harder to look at the real world as it exists outside the mind of DUBYA and the garden variety neo-con
It's a lot harder to face the cold reality of which world religion clearly has centuries worth of blood on their hands. Christianity has existed centuries longer than Islam, and therefore has had a lot more years to amass a huge pile of bloody corpses. Since a part of christianity is carrying the "good news" to others, and attempting to "convert" the "godless", it is only natural that they would employ the sword.
From about the time that Constantine officially sanctioned christianity as the only religion of Rome in the second century, their history has been soaked in blood. The blood spilled in the name of the christian gods could easily fill all of the Great Lakes. From the crusades to the Inquisitions to the Holocaust, and everything in between, christians are closer to the definition of religious terrorists than Muslims.
I don't buy into this clearly paranoid and patently racist condemnation of Muslims. Even if they are pissed off at the present time, it's not like they don't have just cause. Imagine it was them invading us instead of the other way around. How many of us would be strapping on sticks of dynamite to sacrifice ourselves? I'd probably consider it.
Beyond that, the history of the Middle East has been one of bloody conquest from pretty much the time that people settled there.
Since passing from Europe to Asia and Africa on the so-called southern trade route requires one to pass through the Middle East, people have been fighting since time immemorial to control that small strip of real estate. There is no bit of land in that area that hasn't been contested in a most hostile fashion from the beginning of mankind. The only country in the area that still exists from ancient times is Egypt.
So the people there who are presently pissed off in the Middle East have more than enough reason to be pissed. If they have become terrorists, it's not without good reason. Strife has been the way there for millennia, and there is nothing that we, the world's self-centered upstarts, are going to do to change that reality.
So, the next time you want to stir shit and call names, you might do well to check your history. Just because DUBYA and Swill OhReally say it's true doesn't make it so.
Blessed be!
Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 1:56:58 AM
There is a divide, in fact an abyss, on how Americans see Muslims. Some see a large mob of terrorists. Some see one of the world's oldest religions with some bad actors like every other group.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Bob Maginnis, a Pentagon advisor and national defense expert, believes U.S. military officials are making a radical mistake by trying to make America's armed services more attractive to Muslims.
The Pentagon has lately gone out of its way to attract Muslims into the U.S. military, citing the need for officers and troops who can speak Arabic and understand Islamic culture. And recently, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England said that Muslims and the Islamic religion are totally compatible with Western values.
However, Maginnis disagrees with that assessment. In fact, he contends, "Someone who's an adherent to the teaching of the Koran and then abides by what it says, that person -- as far as I can understand -- is incompatible with Western culture."
The retired Army officer says U.S. military leaders may well agree with his concerns, but they will not go against the policy of the Bush administration or even their commander-in-chief himself. "The President says Islam is a respectable faith, that it's a great faith," Maginnis notes. "If President Bush says there is not a problem, then you can't expect that his subordinates are going to come out with a contrary view."
by
John E. Carey (207 articles, 0 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 106 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 4:11:15 AM
It seems sometimes that I hit the pillow or something. Americans are 300 million people, a huge amount of which are Hispanic or Black or of Arab descent or of Indian or Hindu or Jewish descent. What ' western culture'? Mr. Carey not only lives in a dreamworld- he imposes it on others. It is exactly what the Bush and Co are doing- they sit on the heap of shit and promote the ' American values'. I beg to differ- I think that that Bush and Co are incompatible with the American values. How about them apples?
Islam has nothing to do with all these stupid abominations. Those people in the Middle East did not attack the US; the US attacked them, their homes, their sustenance, their place of living, their very existence. Again, if the US had done the same thing to Ireland, I assure you, folks, that Irish would be up in arms there and we here will have Careys whining that 'Irish Catholicism is hijacked by extremists'. The extremism is here. It is based on racist, stupid, demeaning perception that some mythic Americans (not real ones) have a mission to make all the people in the world to worship the Almighty dollar. That is what it is- racist, stupid and bizarre thinking, promoted by greed and malice. And when the harm is done and we go there and destroy the tender, nurtured and developed through centuries ties and connections of the people and they, obviously go nuts, we ...blame them and hide behind 'our western culture'. There is none. No such thing.
This is a very important thing. Unless we here abandon this bizarre idea once and for all and forever adopt the proper thing that we all are equal, blood and milk and the bell tolls for thee- we might as well abandon all the efforts and agree that we are doomed. There is no such thing as American mission in the world. Everyone of us has his/her own mission, that is true. But it is also true for all people. Humility is timely. Very timely indeed if we do not want to die.
by
Mark Sashine (53 articles, 19 quicklinks, 250 diaries, 3574 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 8:08:14 AM
'However, Maginnis disagrees with that assessment. In fact, he contends, "Someone who's an adherent to the teaching of the Koran and then abides by what it says, that person -- as far as I can understand -- is incompatible with Western culture."
The retired Army officer says U.S. military leaders may well agree with his concerns, but they will not go against the policy of the Bush administration or even their commander-in-chief himself. "The President says Islam is a respectable faith, that it's a great faith," Maginnis notes. "If President Bush says there is not a problem, then you can't expect that his subordinates are going to come out with a contrary view."'
Folks, the above is an excerpt from the Mr. Carey's comment. Just read that attentively. First, what if I or you or Carey decide to convert into Islam? That would mean according to the colonel above that we all would be 'incompatible' with all the consequences above. I wonder if the Colonel thinks the same about Saudi Royal family.
Furthermore, oh goody, we find out that Bush is the primary authority on what religion is to be labeled as ' great' and what not. The President.. not the clergy, not even Pope, only Bush Almighty defines ( just think about it) the level of HATE the army officers are to exhibit towards.. religion of some people.
That is exactly an example of bizarre, racist and disturbing way of thinking we have in this country, especially among the people in power. It has nothing to do with 'western culture'. It has everything to do with extremley low level of personalities above. I would not allow that colonel to run even a platoon and as for Bush...
We have a problem, not them. Religions, all of those are tools. People use them. But all of those are also glorious achievements of the mankind and it is not for Bush, Carey or whoever to smear those or to 'ask for the proof that you are good' or whatever. Religions as well as atheism are available for everyone- it is called 'freedom of conscience'. As such I am an atheist and I consider that I am 'compatible' with any values as soon as I decide to respect those on the free will of my own. I may not decide to respect them too. That would be my decision. But I consider that it is a duty of the human to work very hard in understanding and respecting the values of all people, so that all of us are compatible.
Greed, malice, ignorance, cruelty, stupidity, deceipt and shallowness are not values though and are not compatible with Humanity. I am not compatible with Bush and the colonel above. That's true.
by
Mark Sashine (53 articles, 19 quicklinks, 250 diaries, 3574 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 8:48:37 AM
Panurg, do you really think the United States is heap of "shit"? I hope you do not live in this awful country. Try Saudi Arabia. Now that is a society. Seventy-five lashes for a young woman who sat in the front seat of a man's car with her husband permission, and Saudi's are moderate? What a laugh.
by
pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 969 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 7:16:05 PM
SUICIDE BOMBERS blowing up children, women and the aged? It is all right. These SUICIDE BOMBERS are so mistreated and so misunderstood. They have the right to blow up whom they will at any time they want to blow them up. Please make sure that no civilians are killed when someone tries to destroy them while they are attacking from the middle of their wives and children and their neighbors wives and children. Only they can kill at will. No one else. Everyone else has to play by the rules. They are different. Poor guys and gals.
It is right for that these SUICIDE BOMBERS to walk on to school buses and blow themselves up in the name of Allah. After all the SUICIDE BOMBERS are really martyrs that are guaranteed immediate access to Paradise. He or she does not have to go to jail, they get to pass "go" and collect two hundred dollars. He will get seventy-two twelve year old cow-eyed virgins to rape for eternity no matter what the virgins think about it. We really do not know about the female martyrs. Mohammed did not tell us what they would get.
John, shame on you. These Islamic martyrs are great heroes. They must be! After all other little future SUICIDE BOMBERS need role models so they can be taught to wear explosive vests as they sit on Papa's shoulder as he waives his brave assault rifle. That child must be taught to kill innocent civilians, too.
The Christian martyrs were so stupid. They did not get a promise of an immediate heaven and they did not get to enjoy the pure lust of just taking out thirty little boys and girls in one big bang. The Christian martyrs always allowed someone else to take them out. How stupid to be burned at the stake or be stoned to death or have your head cut off. Much, much better to do it to someone else. Lotta love going on here. There is some universal principal behind it all. It is decided. Nothing can change it.
Let's give three cheers for these wonderful, wonderful, wonderful SUICIDE BOMBERS. May they be successful in their tremendous sacrifices. They are true heroes.
The children blown up? What about the children they blow up? Who cares? They are only Jews. The world has been blowing up Jews for two thousand years and blaming the Jews for causing us so much trouble to do it.
Go! Go! Go! SUICIDE BOMBERS.
PS. Keep writing, John. You are doing a good job in spite of the illogical attacks on you. I just had to write this above one comment to join all those attacking you. It is so logical.
Phil.
by
pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 969 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 1:38:14 PM
it surely much more honorable to kill other people from afar. Like throwing two atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, for instance. Or use 'carpet bombing' and napalm in Vietnam. Or 'shock and awe' with those pesky depleted Uranium bullets. Or bomb the unfortunate Belgrade ( only children killed- about 700). Or, what is even better- deny food through sanctions and then let millions of children die. Or promote, help and guide the bloody coup like in Chile. Or.. whatever, I can find soo many examples that we all can bury ourselves.
We have a problem in country. This problem seems to reflect itself on our site too as this site is a part of life. The problem seems to be in the view at the world. It is a very old problem and every time it 'flares' people die. Lots of people die.
In my previous comments I stated the way to solve this problem but I do not have high hopes, judging from even the experience on this site. Sad, really.
by
Mark Sashine (53 articles, 19 quicklinks, 250 diaries, 3574 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 1:54:25 PM
Get this once and for all: The US is a Christian Nation.
Of course, Panurg,
You're great contention that America is not a Christian nation, and I agree, and it has never been, contradicts everything you cast at Christianity. Just remember this, wherever Christianity has gone the standard of that people has been elevated, especially Protestant Christianity with all its faults. It makes no difference whether it is India, Africa or Europe or the Americas.
America is a secular nation. What the United States does she does in her own name. Some of her founders were Christian and some such as Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin were not anything close to being Christians. Panurg, you cannot have it both ways. If we are a Christian nation, let us do as Islam does and outlaw every other religion but my brand of Christianity. If we are not a Christian nation, let us quit blaming Christianity for what the United States has done and is doing. Which is it? Are we a Christian nation or not? I think you just love to slam Christianity. Are you not glad Christians turn the cheek and do not cut off heads as Islam does or you would be in big trouble?
The United States is not perfect, but we have not become so depraved that we teach children to be suicide bombers. One has to drag the very bottom of the gutter to do what they do. I do have a suggestion for the satanic men such as Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri. Why do they not be the first in line to give us a roll model of how a good suicide bomber should do his duty? They haven't the guts. They incite some poor imbecile to do their dirty work for them with nary a word of protest from those on this blog. Like Jackals they are hiding in some dark cave. They love the poverty of the Palestinians and the Somali for that gives them a reason to do what they do best, spread pure hatred.
Phil
by
pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 969 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 7:03:41 PM
I posted a comment on your article. Rob may not allow the posting. I think he will. It seems there are more anti-Israeli articles than there are anti-Bush articles, lately. In any case here is my comment on your article:
John,
Well let's see.
SUICIDE BOMBERS blowing up children, women and the aged? It is all right. These SUICIDE BOMBERS are so mistreated and so misunderstood. They have the right to blow up whom they will at any time they want to blow them up. Please make sure that no civilians are killed when someone tries to destroy them while they are attacking from the middle of their wives and children and their neighbors wives and children. Only they can kill at will. No one else. Everyone else has to play by the rules. They are different. Poor guys and gals.
It is right for that these SUICIDE BOMBERS to walk on to school buses and blow themselves up in the name of Allah. After all the SUICIDE BOMBERS are really martyrs that are guaranteed immediate access to Paradise. He or she does not have to go to jail, they get to pass "go" and collect two hundred dollars. He will get seventy-two twelve year old cow-eyed virgins to rape for eternity no matter what the virgins think about it. We really do not know about the female martyrs. Mohammed did not tell us what they would get.
John, shame on you. These Islamic martyrs are great heroes. They must be! After all other little future SUICIDE BOMBERS need role models so they can be taught to wear explosive vests as they sit on Papa's shoulder as he waives his brave assault rifle. That child must be taught to kill innocent civilians, too.
The Christian martyrs were so stupid. They did not get a promise of an immediate heaven and they did not get to enjoy the pure lust of just taking out thirty little boys and girls in one big bang. The Christian martyrs always allowed someone else to take them out. How stupid to be burned at the stake or be stoned to death or have your head cut off. Much, much better to do it to someone else. Lotta love going on here. There is some universal principal behind it all. It is decided. Nothing can change it.
Let's give three cheers for these wonderful, wonderful, wonderful SUICIDE BOMBERS. May they be successful in their tremendous sacrifices. They are true heroes.
The children blown up? What about the children they blow up? Who cares? They are only Jews. The world has been blowing up Jews for two thousand years and blaming the Jews for causing us so much trouble to do it.
Go! Go! Go! SUICIDE BOMBERS.
PS. Keep writing, John. You are doing a good job in spite of the illogical attacks on you. I just had to write this above one comment to join all those attacking you. It is so logical.
Phil.
by
pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 969 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 1:44:09 PM
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP)- Assailants gunned down a Muslim preacher known for his anti-Hamas views on Friday, witnesses said, moments after he exited a mosque where he delivered a sermon criticizing the Islamic group's role in a wave of Palestinian violence.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP)- Islamic fighters hiding in Mogadishu since their movement's main force was driven from the Somali capital say they will heed al-Qaida's call for guerrilla attacks and suicide bombings against Ethiopian troops whose intervention was key to the Islamists' defeat.
"I am committed to die for the sake of my religion and the al-Qaida deputy's speech only encourages me to go ahead with my holy war," 18-year-old Sahal Abdi told The Associated Press, referring to an audio message posted on the Internet on Friday.
Troops of Somalia's transitional government, backed by the Ethiopian military, routed the Islamic militia from much of southern Somalia, ending their six months in power. The group had brought a semblance of stability here but terrified residents with a version of Quranic rule that included public executions and floggings of criminals.
Suicide bombing? Flogging? Most civilized people gave up on this kind of thing between 100 and 200 years ago.....
by
John E. Carey (207 articles, 0 quicklinks, 10 diaries, 106 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 3:37:30 PM
I just read this from another blog about five minutes ago. It is taken from the Compass Direct News. Can you imagine the furor if this happened in the US or any western country to Muslim clerics? Notice it is yesterdays date. Talk about hypocrisy and the practice of "Kithman" or "al-Taqiyya."
Phil
Islamic Conversion Law
ISTANBUL, January 4 (Compass Direct News) – All but one Iranian house church leader arrested for "evangelization" in a coordinated sweep of four cities last month were released by last week. Behrouz Sadegh-Khandjani is in police custody in Tehran, where officials are holding him on the pretext that he must pay an outstanding debt, one source said. Iranian police had begun arresting the house church leaders from their homes in the early morning hours of December 10, accusing them of evangelization and actions against the national security of Iran. Tehran leader Hamid Reza Toluinia was reportedly freed on Christmas Day after his father presented officials with the title deed to a house. While several of the group's leaders were still in jail, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a rare acknowledgement of Iran's Christian community on Christmas Eve, wishing them "joy, health and a year full of blessings and love."
2007 Compass Direct
by
pratliff94 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 969 comments)
on Friday, January 5, 2007 at 9:14:48 PM
We recommmend reader see the essay by Jack Kelly at the link which reads in part:
"All Islamic extremists are unlovely, but the Islamic Courts Union are a particularly nasty bunch. They modeled themselves on the (now deposed) Taliban in Afghanistan, and imposed their harsh version of Sharia (Islamic law) on the territory they controlled."
I would like all of the above posters to envision a maternity ward with young women from homes and communities where the vast majority of the citizens joyfully adhere to a specific religious concept. All of the young women are admired in their communities for their innate goodness and were raised by pious loving families. All the young women are married to honorable, loving young men who are ecstatic that they are about to become fathers.
This part will be a stretch, but bare with me.
All the young women give birth to healthy vibrant babies with no complications at the same time. Nurses take the babies to a large sterile counter and gently and lovingly clean the babies and wrap them in swaddling and return the babies to the new mothers embrace. Shortly after, the new parents bring their babies home. Home to their respective wholesome communities. None of the married couples know the other couples, they all live in different communities. They are all practitioners of different religions and live comfortably in different social structures.
The couples comprise pious representatives of different religions, they are Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhist. With absolutely no doubt, each set of parents accepted a baby that was not theirs. All the families returned to the community of their birth and raised their babies among the family and community they themselves were raised in.
Fast Forward 25 years. All the couples from the hospital are respected in their respective communities for the fine children they raised to adulthood. All the children love the parents that raised them with nurturing love and guidance.
MY QUESTION,
Do you doubt that the baby born to the Jewish parents but raised by the Muslim family in the Muslim community would be less a Muslim than his childhood playmates?
Wouldn't the baby born to Hindu parents but raised by Christian parents in the Christian community fully ascribe to Christian mores of conduct?
If you can agree that these 25 year olds would have turned out to emulate the belief systems of the parents that raised them and interact with others in a way acceptable to the community that they were raised in, you will have to grant me that religion is instilled as surely as the dress and social mores they also learned from the environment that nurtured their development.
I believe all the children born in that maternity ward came with an internal guide. I think every living organism has a built in genetic knowledge of what is beneficial to it's species. A flower turns to the sun, a bear hibernates in cold winter areas, a frog burrows in the lake bottoms mud, a preying mantis female eats her mate, a rabbit in an over populated environment eats it's young.
All living things obey the inner dictates except man. We hire clergy and allow his interpretation of his religion to 'interpret' our inner voice. If we pay our clergy the right amount of the right currency we get to over-ride our internal guide without guilt or admonishment. Other times we put our inner guide aside because our clergy tells us that it is now noble to prepare ourselves for war. We are encouraged to kill other humans and all of those who taught me to be good promise to pray to god for my safety. None that I know are praying for the soldier I'm sent to kill.
If it can't take close investigation, it needs more investigation.
I get the AWE thing, I believe it is with-in us all to feel awe when awed. I see it as a Key Stone of religion creation 101. As animals, nature is close and in harmony with our pulse.
Every intelligent animal would snap it's full attention to a sudden natural occurrence so far out of the resonance normal circumstances predicted. The key survival tool homo-sapien-sapien has to offer is the ability to adapt. To observe the presence of potential danger and remember it's characteristics.
Why would I, a FREE INDIVIDUAL, require an interpreter for not only the language but the nuances that allow the words to become malleable as to intent. 90 % of people probably will always be willing to pay someone else 10% to take the whole sin thing away from their consideration.
I think if religion was not always around, fucking us up, mankind would ALL pay attention to our inner voice an live a more peaceful and intelligent existence. I do not believe man is born evil, give us a chance for 100 years. OUTLAW religion, let it settle in to society for a couple of generations.
We should kick religion like it was a life threatening addiction.
Failing that, we should show the people of Islamic countries by example that all religion is a means of crowd control by exploiters in office of all the world's governments by banning all public displays and dispensations to religion in all Western nations.
Tax them out of existence,confiscate there hoarded wealth and censored knowledge and open it for use towards the public good. Use the proceeds to educate the people. Eliminate the need of them having a stronger GOD than us by eliminating ours. Put the clergy and other parasites to constructive work.
Religion is a tool of controllers, it is an effective tool. Religion allows leaders to recruit their exploited masses to war against another controller's exploited masses. Both leaders gain more control over their masses, and some leaders even get rich in the process. The warriors on both sides have always spared the leaders and clergy. It's a man made racket.
The masses do not need a guide to tell us that it's ok to enjoy good feelings or to avoid bad actions. We were all born with that. Like the flower that closes it's blossom in a down pour or those five babies accepting a mothers love. It is a basic of life.
Religion has usurped it to control the many by the few.
..
.
by
cliff567 (6 articles, 0 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 165 comments)
on Monday, January 8, 2007 at 4:10:13 AM
You Ever research the condition of the Current Muslim World?
We'll roll these into a new article:
Any intelligent person who searched for Muslim news on the internet might faily come to a few conclusions much like my own shown below.
*The segment of the world's population currently most associated with selling children for profit is the Muslim world. (See; Crimes Against Humanity: Selling Children;
click here )
*Muslim insurgents, separatists and terrorists are currently at work in Thailand, Somalia, Iraq, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, the Philippines, Indonesia and elsewhere. (See: Muslim Induced Violence and Extremism: A World-Wide Problem; at
click here )
*Muslim extremist encourage the killing of innocent women and children and place no value on their o
