The Little Soul and The Sun
by Neale Donald Walsch
Once upon no time, there was a little Soul who said to God, "I know who I am."
And God said, "That's wonderful! Who are you?"
And the Little Soul shouted, "I'm the Light!"
God smiled a big smile. "That's right!" God exclaimed. "You are the Light."
The Little Soul was so happy, for it had figured out what all the souls in the Kingdom were there to figure out.
"Wow," said the Little Soul, "this is really cool!"
But soon, knowing who it was was not enough. The Little Soul felt stirrings inside, and now wanted to be who it was. And so the Little Soul went back to God (which is not a bad idea for all souls who want to be Who They Really Are) and said,
"Hi, God! Now that I know Who I am, is it okay for me to be it?"
And God said, "You mean you want to be Who You Already Are?"
"Well," replied the Little Soul," it's one thing to know Who I Am, and another thing altogether to actually be it. I want to feel what it's like to be the Light!"
"But you already are the Light," God repeated, smiling again.
"Yes, but I want to see what that feels like!" cried the Little Soul.
"Well," said God with a chuckle, "I suppose I should have known. You always were the adventuresome one."
Then God's expression changed. "There's only one thing..."
"What?" asked the Little Soul.
"Well, there is nothing else but the Light. You see, I created nothing but what you are; and so, there is no easy way for you to experience yourself as Who You Are, since there is nothing that you are not."
"Huh?" said the Little Soul, who was now a little confused.
"Think of it this way," said God. "You are like a candle in the Sun. Oh, you're there all right. Along with a million, gazillion other candles who make up the Sun. And the sun would not be the Sun without you. Nay, it would be a sun without one of its candles...and that would not be the Sun at all; for it would not shine as brightly. Yet, how to know yourself as the Light when you are amidst the Light -that is the question."
"Well," the Little Soul perked up, "you're God. Think of something!"
Once more God smiled. "I already have," God said. "Since you cannot see yourself as the Light when you are in the Light, we'll surround you with darkness."
"What's darkness?" the Little Soul asked.
God replied, "It is that which you are not."
"Will I be afraid of the dark?" cried the Little Soul.
"Only if you choose to be," God answered. "There is nothing, really, to be afraid of, unless you decide that there is. You see, we are making it all up. We are pretending."
"Oh," said the Little Soul, and felt better already.
Then God explained that, in order to experience anything at all, the exact opposite of it will appear. "It is a great gift," God said, "because without it, you could not know what anything is like. You could not know Warm without Cold, Up without Down, Fast without Slow. You could not know Left without Right, Here without There, Now without Then."
"And so," God concluded, "when you are surrounded with darkness, do not shake your fist and raise your voice and curse the darkness. Rather be a Light unto the darkness, and don't be mad about it. Then you will know Who You Really Are, and all others will know, too. Let your Light shine so that everyone will know how special you are!"
"You mean it's okay to let others see how special I am?" asked the Little Soul.
"Of course!" God chuckled. "It's very okay! But remember,'special' does not mean 'better.' Everybody is special, each in their own way! Yet many others have forgotten that. They will see that it is okay for them to be special only when you see that it is okay for you to be special."
"Wow," said the Little Soul, dancing and skipping and laughing and jumping with joy. "I can be as special as I want to be!"
"Yes, and you can start right now," said God, who was dancing and skipping and laughing right along with the Little Soul.
"What part of special do you want to be?"
"What part of special?" the Little Soul repeated. "I don't understand."
"Well," God explained, "being the Light is being special, and being special has a lot of parts to it. It is special to be kind. It is special to be gentle. It is special to be creative. It is special to be patient. Can you think of any other ways it is special to be?"
The Little Soul sat quietly for a moment. "I can think of lots of ways to be special!" the Little Soul then exclaimed. "It is special to be helpful. It is special to be sharing. It is special to be friendly. It is special to be considerate of others!"
"Yes!" God agreed, "and you can be all of those things, or any part of special you wish to be, at any moment. That's what it means to be the Light."
"I know what I want to be, I know what I want to be!" the Little Soul announced with great excitement. "I want to be the part of special called 'forgiving'. Isn't it special to be forgiving?"
"Oh, yes," God assured the Little Soul. "That is very special."
"Okay," said the Little Soul. "That's what I want to be. I want to be forgiving. I want to experience myself as that."
"Good," said God, "but there's one thing you should know."
The Little Soul was becoming a bit impatient now. It always seemed as though there were some complication.
"What is it?" the Little Soul sighed.
"There is no one to forgive."
"No one?" The Little Soul could hardly believe what had been said.
"No one!" God repeated. "Everything I have made is perfect. There is not a single soul in all creation less perfect than you. Look around you."
It was then that the Little Soul realized a large crowd had gathered. Souls had come from far and wide ~ from all over the Kingdom ~ for the word had gone forth that the Little Soul was having this extraordinary conversation with God, and everyone wanted to hear what they were saying. Looking at the countless other souls gathered there, the Little Soul had to agree. None appeared less wonderful, less magnificent, or less perfect than the Little Soul itself. Such was the wonder of the souls gathered around, and so bright was their Light, that the Little Soul could scarcely gaze upon them.
"Who, then, to forgive?" asked God.
"Boy, this is going to be no fun at all!" grumbled the Little Soul. "I wanted to experience myself as One Who Forgives. I wanted to know what that part of special felt like."
And the Little Soul learned what it must feel like to be sad. But just then a Friendly Soul stepped forward from the crowd.
"Not to worry, Little Soul," the Friendly Soul said, "I will help you."
"You will?" the Little Soul brightened. "But what can you do?"
"Why, I can give you someone to forgive!"
"You can?"
"Certainly!" chirped the Friendly Soul. "I can come into your next lifetime and do something for you to forgive."
"But why? Why would you do that?" the Little Soul asked. "You, who are a Being of such utter perfection! You, who vibrate with such a speed that it creates a Light so bright that I can hardly gaze upon you! What could cause you to want to slow down your vibration to such a speed that your bright Light would become dark and dense? What could cause you ~ who are so light that you dance upon the stars and move through the Kingdom with the speed of your thought--to come into my life and make yourself so heavy that you could do this bad thing?"
"Simple," the Friendly Soul said. "I would do it because I love you."
The Little Soul seemed surprised at the answer.
"Don't be so amazed," said the Friendly Soul, "you have done the same thing for me. Don't you remember? Oh, we have danced together, you and I, many times. Through the eons and across all the ages have we danced. Across all time and in many places have we played together. You just don't remember."
"We have both been All Of It. We have been the Up and the Down of it, the Left and the Right of it. We have been the Here and the There of it, the Now and the Then of it. We have been the male and the female, the good and the bad; we have both been the victim and the villain of it."
"Thus have we come together, you and I, many times before; each bringing to the other the exact and perfect opportunity to Express and to Experience Who We Really Are. And so," the Friendly Soul explained further, "I will come into your next lifetime and be the 'bad one' this time. I will do something really terrible, and then you can experience yourself as the One Who Forgives.
"But what will you do?" the Little Soul asked, just a little nervously, "that will be so terrible?"
"Oh," replied the Friendly Soul with a twinkle, "we'll think of something."
Then the Friendly Soul seemed to turn serious, and said in a quiet voice, "You are right about one thing, you know."
"What is that?" the Little Soul wanted to know.
"I will have to slow down my vibration and become very heavy to do this not-so-nice thing. I will have to pretend to be something very unlike myself. And so, I have but one favour to ask of you in return."
"Oh, anything, anything!" cried the Little Soul, and began to dance and sing, "I get to be forgiving, I get to be forgiving!"
Then the Little Soul saw that the Friendly Soul was remaining very quiet.
"What is it?" the Little Soul asked. "What can I do for you? You are such an angel to be willing to do this for me!"
"Of course this Friendly Soul is an angel!" God interrupted. "Everyone is! Always remember: I have sent you nothing but angels."
And so the Little Soul wanted more than ever to grant the Friendly Soul's request. "What can I do for you?" the Little Soul asked again.
"In the moment that I strike you and smite you," the Friendly Soul replied, "in the moment that I do the worst to you that you could possible imagine ~ in that very moment..."
"Yes?" the Little Soul interrupted, "yes...?""Remember Who I Really Am."
"Oh, I will!" cried the Little Soul, "I promise! I will always remember you as I see you right here, right now!"
"Good," said the Friendly Soul, "because, you see, I will have been pretending so hard, I will have forgotten myself. And if you do not remember me as I really am, I may not be able to remember for a very long time. And if I forget Who I Am, you may even forget Who You Are, and we will both be lost. Then we will need another soul to come along and remind us both of Who We Are."
"No, we won't!" the Little Soul promised again. "I will remember you! And I will thank you for bringing me this gift ~ the chance to experience myself as Who I Am.
" And so, the agreement was made. And the Little Soul went forth into a new lifetime, excited to be the Light, which was very special, and excited to be that part of special called Forgiveness.
And the Little Soul waited anxiously to be able to experience itself as Forgiveness, and to thank whatever other soul made it possible. And at all the moments in that new lifetime, whenever a new soul appeared on the scene, whether that new soul brought joy or sadness--and especially if it brought sadness--the Little Soul thought of what God had said.
"Always remember," God had smiled, "I have sent you nothing but angels."
Thursday, 24 March 2011
The Touch Of The Master's Hand
The Touch Of The Master's Hand
written by Myra B. Welch (1877-1959)
Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar, then, two! Only two?
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?
Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three . . ."
But no,
From the room, far back, a grey-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low, said:
"What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
"Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
"Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice;
And going and gone."said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand, what changed its worth?"
Swift came the reply:
"The Touch Of The Master's Hand."
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A 'mess of potage,' a glass of wine;
A game - and he travels on.
He is 'going' once, and 'going' twice,
He's 'going' and almost 'gone'.
But the Master comes and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought
By the touch of the Master's Hand.
written by Myra B. Welch (1877-1959)
Twas battered and scarred, and the auctioneer
thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start the bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar, then, two! Only two?
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?
Three dollars, once; three dollars, twice;
Going for three . . ."
But no,
From the room, far back, a grey-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then, wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening the loose strings,
He played a melody pure and sweet
As a caroling angel sings.
The music ceased, and the auctioneer,
With a voice that was quiet and low, said:
"What am I bid for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow.
"A thousand dollars, and who'll make it two?
"Two thousand! And who'll make it three?
"Three thousand, once; three thousand, twice;
And going and gone."said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand, what changed its worth?"
Swift came the reply:
"The Touch Of The Master's Hand."
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and scarred with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd,
Much like the old violin.
A 'mess of potage,' a glass of wine;
A game - and he travels on.
He is 'going' once, and 'going' twice,
He's 'going' and almost 'gone'.
But the Master comes and the foolish crowd
Never can quite understand
The worth of a soul and the change that's wrought
By the touch of the Master's Hand.
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Alternatives to Conditioning, Indoctrination, Brainwashing and Interpretation
Alternatives to Conditioning, Indoctrination, Brainwashing and Interpretation
Seeking unifying Ultimate SPIRITUAL Truth, which includes believing that if there is a God who created us, we are all equal in the eyes of God, which is independent of whether we believe any specific religious doctrine.
Questioning the pre-modern and absurd conjectures that proclaim "unquestionable" Absolute RELIGIOUS Truths about the mystery of life and of our existence, about what constitutes acceptable morality, and about the mystery of God. Many of these pre-modern writings are really a blend of hero stories, myths, and superstitions.
Being dedicated to unifying, Ultimate Spiritual Truth; acceptance of one's own personal responsibility; delay of gratification; saying and doing the right thing; humility; compassion; sincerity.
The world really needs to wake up from its perennial nightmare of religion and all of its divisive, insane and invidious teachings of Absolute Religious Truth if the world is going to survive. It appears to me the world and its people are on the brink of self-destruction due to the prevalence of religion and insane traditions that goes unchallenged.
Does this concern you?
It is now time to end the silence about the insanity of religion, insane religious teachings and insane religious people due to dangerous political correctness and not wanting to hurt feelings or ruffle anyone’s feathers.
It is time to stand up and speak out. If not you, who? If not now, when?
Seeking unifying Ultimate SPIRITUAL Truth, which includes believing that if there is a God who created us, we are all equal in the eyes of God, which is independent of whether we believe any specific religious doctrine.
Questioning the pre-modern and absurd conjectures that proclaim "unquestionable" Absolute RELIGIOUS Truths about the mystery of life and of our existence, about what constitutes acceptable morality, and about the mystery of God. Many of these pre-modern writings are really a blend of hero stories, myths, and superstitions.
Being dedicated to unifying, Ultimate Spiritual Truth; acceptance of one's own personal responsibility; delay of gratification; saying and doing the right thing; humility; compassion; sincerity.
The world really needs to wake up from its perennial nightmare of religion and all of its divisive, insane and invidious teachings of Absolute Religious Truth if the world is going to survive. It appears to me the world and its people are on the brink of self-destruction due to the prevalence of religion and insane traditions that goes unchallenged.
Does this concern you?
It is now time to end the silence about the insanity of religion, insane religious teachings and insane religious people due to dangerous political correctness and not wanting to hurt feelings or ruffle anyone’s feathers.
It is time to stand up and speak out. If not you, who? If not now, when?
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
BEING CONSCIOUS means...
In my opinion, being conscious means being awake and aware of many things about ourselves, each other and our world and universe. Especially, being conscious means being aware of the contents of our mind, which are the beliefs we hold about what is true and not true, what is right and not right, what is good and what is bad, and especially aware of where these beliefs came from. And these beliefs do come from somewhere!
When we are born, we enter this world with none of these beliefs, knowledge, information or misinformation we possess as adults. So along the way from birth to childhood to adulthood we either 1. acquire or 2. create all of our beliefs along the way.
There are many sources for these beliefs that we hold, including our parents and other family relatives. Also authority figures, real or imagined experts or people we pay attention to in society, especially those we idolize, whether in the wider cultural milieu or from our own culture or sub-culture, these people all influence and teach us, to varying degrees.
When we are born, we enter this world with none of these beliefs, knowledge, information or misinformation we possess as adults. So along the way from birth to childhood to adulthood we either 1. acquire or 2. create all of our beliefs along the way.
There are many sources for these beliefs that we hold, including our parents and other family relatives. Also authority figures, real or imagined experts or people we pay attention to in society, especially those we idolize, whether in the wider cultural milieu or from our own culture or sub-culture, these people all influence and teach us, to varying degrees.
Religious texts and cultural traditions that have been passed down for generations or millennia are taught and assumed to be correct. There are many teachings and schools of thought on many subjects that influence us. This type of transmittal of beliefs from one individual or group to another is called Conditioning, Programming, Indoctrination or Brainwashing.
In addition to accepting the beliefs transmitted to us from these and other sources, we also form our own beliefs and reach our own conclusions about ourselves, each other and the world. We have many different experiences and we interpret those experiences and what happens to us by attributing meaning. As a result of our interpretations, we attribute to ourselves, each other and the world certain characteristics that we hold to be true, such as “I am a good/bad person” or “People are dangerous and can’t be trusted” or “all taxi drivers are inconsiderate”. This type of learning can be called Interpretation or Generalization.
Some other beliefs we might hold include “honesty is the best policy” or “it’s OK to lie or cheat sometimes” or “it’s never OK to be unkind” or “sometimes you gotta be cruel to be kind” or “there is no doubt that Jesus is the son of God” or “Jesus died for your sins” or “Allah really said 'kill and terrorize your enemies’ there is no doubt about that” or “I am, or we are ___________ (insert whatever label or identity you want here, such as: a man, a woman, a Canadian, an American, French, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, a lawyer, a teacher, a doctor, a construction worker, etc.) I am right, we are right, we are superior to others, you are wrong, they are wrong” etc.
These beliefs that are the contents of our minds are frequently not even noticed by the individuals that hold them, but when they are noticed these beliefs are usually just accepted as being true, good and right. Our beliefs are rarely, if ever, questioned by ourselves or by each other. We hold our beliefs to be sacred and unchallengeable.
Challenge to our beliefs is seen as a threat to our identity and to our very existence. And even this belief that challenge is threat is often not even noticed, it is only reacted to—or overreacted to.
Whatever we are taught by others, whatever beliefs they have passed onto us and instilled in our minds, or whatever conclusions we reach on our own, becomes our operating system for seeing and acting in the world. Knowing this is the first step to liberation from conditioning, programming, indoctrination, brainwashing and interpretation. It is the first step towards awakening, consciousness and spiritual and psychological maturity.
Being conscious is being aware of what we believe to be true, good and right, and aware of where or who those beliefs came from, that is, the origin of those beliefs, whether it be family, tribe, nation, religion or whatever source.
Being conscious also is questioning and challenging the validity of those beliefs and putting those beliefs to strict tests to see if they are really true, good and right---or not. And if not, then admitting and speaking out about that discovery.
There are many religious teachings, religious people and their actions, for example, that I find quite troubling, dangerous and even insane. There was a Muslim man on TV recently who outside a mosque quoting the Koran saying “Allah said terrorize them.” The Koran and other older religious texts also state that God said “Kill your enemies”.
In addition to accepting the beliefs transmitted to us from these and other sources, we also form our own beliefs and reach our own conclusions about ourselves, each other and the world. We have many different experiences and we interpret those experiences and what happens to us by attributing meaning. As a result of our interpretations, we attribute to ourselves, each other and the world certain characteristics that we hold to be true, such as “I am a good/bad person” or “People are dangerous and can’t be trusted” or “all taxi drivers are inconsiderate”. This type of learning can be called Interpretation or Generalization.
Some other beliefs we might hold include “honesty is the best policy” or “it’s OK to lie or cheat sometimes” or “it’s never OK to be unkind” or “sometimes you gotta be cruel to be kind” or “there is no doubt that Jesus is the son of God” or “Jesus died for your sins” or “Allah really said 'kill and terrorize your enemies’ there is no doubt about that” or “I am, or we are ___________ (insert whatever label or identity you want here, such as: a man, a woman, a Canadian, an American, French, Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Hindu, a lawyer, a teacher, a doctor, a construction worker, etc.) I am right, we are right, we are superior to others, you are wrong, they are wrong” etc.
These beliefs that are the contents of our minds are frequently not even noticed by the individuals that hold them, but when they are noticed these beliefs are usually just accepted as being true, good and right. Our beliefs are rarely, if ever, questioned by ourselves or by each other. We hold our beliefs to be sacred and unchallengeable.
Challenge to our beliefs is seen as a threat to our identity and to our very existence. And even this belief that challenge is threat is often not even noticed, it is only reacted to—or overreacted to.
Whatever we are taught by others, whatever beliefs they have passed onto us and instilled in our minds, or whatever conclusions we reach on our own, becomes our operating system for seeing and acting in the world. Knowing this is the first step to liberation from conditioning, programming, indoctrination, brainwashing and interpretation. It is the first step towards awakening, consciousness and spiritual and psychological maturity.
Being conscious is being aware of what we believe to be true, good and right, and aware of where or who those beliefs came from, that is, the origin of those beliefs, whether it be family, tribe, nation, religion or whatever source.
Being conscious also is questioning and challenging the validity of those beliefs and putting those beliefs to strict tests to see if they are really true, good and right---or not. And if not, then admitting and speaking out about that discovery.
There are many religious teachings, religious people and their actions, for example, that I find quite troubling, dangerous and even insane. There was a Muslim man on TV recently who outside a mosque quoting the Koran saying “Allah said terrorize them.” The Koran and other older religious texts also state that God said “Kill your enemies”.
There are at least 17 passages of vengeance in the Koran.
It is extremely doubtful that God really said that, which should be obvious to any sane, rational and mature person. Yet the brainwashed, psychologically immature, spiritually blind and extremely unconscious religious people disagree—they are right and those who disagree or disobey their doctrine are wrong!
Another example is from the recent trial of the “Toronto 18” Islamist terrorists who were on trial for the planned bombing of downtown Toronto. The court heard that one of the Islamic terrorists of this group received religious approval for the bombing from his father, who is a so-called cleric and is the head of an Islamic “school” in Mississauga.
Many religions state either overtly or covertly that those who adhere to and believe the religious doctrine enjoy special relationship and special favor with God. Many religious people view themselves as superior to those who do not believe as they do, and see themselves as separate from other non-believers.
If there is a God, how could he play favourites like that with his creations? That is extreme pettiness that is way beyond the mind of God, in my view.
Being conscious also is questioning and challenging the function of those beliefs. What functions in the self, in others and in society are served or fulfilled by our believing what we believe?
Others who instill their beliefs in us do so because that is what they were taught, that is what they believe, and they think their beliefs are true, good and right and they believe that others should believe as they do, too.
What do those who teach us what we believe want or need or get in return for us believing exactly as they believe, for us believing what they want us to believe? What rewards or payoffs do they get from getting others to believe as they do? What are their motives for indoctrinating us?
Another example is from the recent trial of the “Toronto 18” Islamist terrorists who were on trial for the planned bombing of downtown Toronto. The court heard that one of the Islamic terrorists of this group received religious approval for the bombing from his father, who is a so-called cleric and is the head of an Islamic “school” in Mississauga.
Many religions state either overtly or covertly that those who adhere to and believe the religious doctrine enjoy special relationship and special favor with God. Many religious people view themselves as superior to those who do not believe as they do, and see themselves as separate from other non-believers.
If there is a God, how could he play favourites like that with his creations? That is extreme pettiness that is way beyond the mind of God, in my view.
Being conscious also is questioning and challenging the function of those beliefs. What functions in the self, in others and in society are served or fulfilled by our believing what we believe?
Others who instill their beliefs in us do so because that is what they were taught, that is what they believe, and they think their beliefs are true, good and right and they believe that others should believe as they do, too.
What do those who teach us what we believe want or need or get in return for us believing exactly as they believe, for us believing what they want us to believe? What rewards or payoffs do they get from getting others to believe as they do? What are their motives for indoctrinating us?
When those who are able to convince others to believe as they do and that they are right, they get a payoff of approval which rewards and reinforces their sense of rightness, and reinforces their sense of identity which is based on their doctrine, such as those religious people who identify themselves with their particular creed or sect.
Those who are able to convince others to believe as they do also get the payoff of controlling others' minds and behaviour via their indoctrination. With control of others’ thoughts and behaviours, they can allay the threat to their own insecurities and threat to their identity that free people with free and mature minds pose to them.
Your ideas and feedback is welcome.
Those who are able to convince others to believe as they do also get the payoff of controlling others' minds and behaviour via their indoctrination. With control of others’ thoughts and behaviours, they can allay the threat to their own insecurities and threat to their identity that free people with free and mature minds pose to them.
Your ideas and feedback is welcome.
Monday, 14 March 2011
Dr. Khalid Sohail--Islam or Secular Humanism - which makes more sense?
Hey everyone
this is a great video, featuring Dr. Khalid Sohail -- Islam or Secular Humanism - which makes more sense?
In the debate Dr. Sohail outlines his awareness of the social, cultural and religious conditioning--also known as programming or brainwashing--that limits our understanding of ourselves and each other, that is the source of so much tension, conflict and hatred and the root of much violence.
Very enlightening--I hope you will take a few minutes to check it out--comments welcome.
Hope you pass it on!
http://www.youtube.co...
Chris
this is a great video, featuring Dr. Khalid Sohail -- Islam or Secular Humanism - which makes more sense?
In the debate Dr. Sohail outlines his awareness of the social, cultural and religious conditioning--also known as programming or brainwashing--that limits our understanding of ourselves and each other, that is the source of so much tension, conflict and hatred and the root of much violence.
Very enlightening--I hope you will take a few minutes to check it out--comments welcome.
Hope you pass it on!
http://www.youtube.co...
Chris
Thursday, 10 March 2011
I Know Something Good About You by Louis C. Shymon
I Know Something Good About You
by Louis C. Shymon
Wouldn't this old world be better
If the folks we meet would say -
"I know something good about you !"
And treat us just that way ?
Wouldn't it be fine and dandy
If each handclasp, fond and true,
Carried with it this assurance -
"I know something good about you !"
Wouldn't life be lots more happy
If the good that's in us all
Were the only thing about us
That folks bothered to recall ?
Wouldn't life be lots more happy
If we praised the good we see ?
For there's such a lot of goodness
In the worst of you and me !
Wouldn't it be nice to practice
That fine way of thinking, too ?
You know something good about me;
I know something good about you.
by Louis C. Shymon
Wouldn't this old world be better
If the folks we meet would say -
"I know something good about you !"
And treat us just that way ?
Wouldn't it be fine and dandy
If each handclasp, fond and true,
Carried with it this assurance -
"I know something good about you !"
Wouldn't life be lots more happy
If the good that's in us all
Were the only thing about us
That folks bothered to recall ?
Wouldn't life be lots more happy
If we praised the good we see ?
For there's such a lot of goodness
In the worst of you and me !
Wouldn't it be nice to practice
That fine way of thinking, too ?
You know something good about me;
I know something good about you.
“A Virus Called Shariah”
An article from ACT for America
“A Virus Called Shariah”
Law enforcement authorities and many in the news media are going to great lengths to assert that there is no “connection” between the three recent terrorist plots uncovered in New York, Dallas and Springfield, Illinois.
This, once again, reveals how unprepared America’s political, law enforcement, and media leadership is to combat the threat of jihadist, radical Islam. As the number of homegrown terrorist plots increase, the work of ACT! for America has never been more important!
Our friend and esteemed colleague, Frank Gaffney, joins us in connecting the dots in his commentary below. Gaffney will also be one of the presenters at the webcast conference “Radical Islam’s Threat to America,” sponsored by our sister organization, American Congress for Truth, on November 7th.
A virus called 'Shariah'
Center for Security Policy | Sep 28, 2009, By Frank Gaffney, Jr.
http://www.centerfors...
A Denver airport shuttle driver from Afghanistan who plotted to blow up subway trains in New York City. A Jordanian who tried to destroy one of Dallas' tallest skyscrapers. An American who thought he was detonating a truck bomb aimed at a federal courthouse in Springfield, Illinois.
Law enforcement authorities who successfully stymied these alleged attacks have been at pains to emphasize that there are no connections between the three.
Of course there are.
Maybe it will prove to be the case that the three men at the heart of these interrupted plots - Najibullah Zazi, Hosam Maher Husein Smadi and Michael Finton (also known as Talib Islam) - had no connection in a tactical or operational sense.
Still, it is absurd, and extremely dangerous, to insist that they are not connected in at least one way: What apparently animated all three of these suspects (and perhaps a number of others believed to have been involved in the New York plot who are still at large) is the seditious, supremacist theo-political-legal program authoritative Islam calls "Shariah."
Shariah requires its adherents to engage in jihad - the struggle to bring about the triumph of Islam worldwide through whatever means are available. Shariah explicitly calls for the use of violent techniques designed to instill terror in those who stand in the way of a global Muslim theocracy.
Lethal truck-bombs, pellet-laced explosive vests and backpacks and bombs or hijackers aboard aircraft have already been used for this purpose. It is a matter of time before vastly more destructive weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear) become available to jihadists who believe that, pursuant to Shariah, they are fulfilling Allah's will when they kill "infidels" or otherwise force them to submit to Islam.
Even more insidious, though, is what Robert Spencer calls "Stealth Jihad." This practice involves using myriad non-violent measures to insinuate Shariah into non-Muslim societies. Adherents demand such concessions as special treatment for them and their faith in public spaces, private corporations, schools, communities and government at every level.
The prime-mover behind these demands is the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that shares the violent jihadists' commitment to advance Shariah's end-state of a global caliphate, but seek (for the moment, at least) to do so non-violently. The successful prosecution last year of one Brotherhood front, the Holy Land Foundation, established that the organization's mission is "to destroy Western civilization from within...by its own miserable hand." (In the course of the trial, the government also identified virtually every prominent Muslim-American group as Brotherhood affiliates or "friendly" to its purposes.)
What happens as tolerant democratic societies try to accommodate themselves to the stealthy form of jihad, backed by the persistent threat of the violent form - if not its actual occurrence, can be seen in much of Western Europe. For example, France now has 751 zones urbaines sensibles - Muslim-only areas that amount to "no-go" zones for French authorities. In these zones, Shariah rules instead of the laws of the host government, at the expense most notably of women's rights, due process and public order (especially for Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims).
To be sure, accommodations to date to Shariah have not metastasized in the United States to nearly this extent. There are, however, numerous worrisome examples of concessions that have been made here, too. To cite a few: taxpayer-financed footbaths for Muslims installed at state universities; corporations providing Muslim-only prayer rooms and time off for prayers; government-sanctioned discrimination by taxi drivers against passengers deemed "impure" (haram) because they have alcohol or dogs; unhygenic practices in food plants to accommodate the preferences of Muslim workers; government-offered Shariah-compliant mortgages; Islamic proselytizing in public school curricula; etc.
The failure by U.S. and other governments' officials to recognize the connection between Shariah and jihad (of either the violent or stealthy kind) is like refusing to acknowledge that there is a common virus causing an outbreak of swine flu. How could the medical community hope to identify appropriate prophylactic measures (for instance: Keep kids in school or shut the schools down? Take antibiotics or not?) if it were not permitted to understand the nature of the virus. There would certainly be little chance of developing effective vaccines under those circumstances.
We face approximately the same problem if we require our law enforcement, intelligence, homeland security and military personnel to behave as though there is no toxic virus - think of it as the "anti-swine flu," since pork is the ultimate in haram under Shariah - animating those seeking to destroy us, our government and our freedom-loving way of life. At best, we will be able to stop some of the attacks the jihadists are plotting against us. We certainly will not be able to defeat the disease and thereby protect Western civilization from its potential for truly pandemic virulence.
Our natural allies in taking such a stance against Shariah are the many millions of Muslims around the world whose practice of their faith does not involve adherence to this medieval, barbaric and totalitarian program. Indeed, most Muslim immigrants in America came here to get away from Shariah in their native lands. Only by differentiating such Muslims from the carriers of this lethal virus can we hope to inoculate them against the spread of the disease - and enlist their help in protecting the rest of us by keeping American Shariah-free.
ACT for America
P.O. Box 12765
Pensacola, FL 32591
www.actforamerica.org
“A Virus Called Shariah”
Law enforcement authorities and many in the news media are going to great lengths to assert that there is no “connection” between the three recent terrorist plots uncovered in New York, Dallas and Springfield, Illinois.
This, once again, reveals how unprepared America’s political, law enforcement, and media leadership is to combat the threat of jihadist, radical Islam. As the number of homegrown terrorist plots increase, the work of ACT! for America has never been more important!
Our friend and esteemed colleague, Frank Gaffney, joins us in connecting the dots in his commentary below. Gaffney will also be one of the presenters at the webcast conference “Radical Islam’s Threat to America,” sponsored by our sister organization, American Congress for Truth, on November 7th.
A virus called 'Shariah'
Center for Security Policy | Sep 28, 2009, By Frank Gaffney, Jr.
http://www.centerfors...
A Denver airport shuttle driver from Afghanistan who plotted to blow up subway trains in New York City. A Jordanian who tried to destroy one of Dallas' tallest skyscrapers. An American who thought he was detonating a truck bomb aimed at a federal courthouse in Springfield, Illinois.
Law enforcement authorities who successfully stymied these alleged attacks have been at pains to emphasize that there are no connections between the three.
Of course there are.
Maybe it will prove to be the case that the three men at the heart of these interrupted plots - Najibullah Zazi, Hosam Maher Husein Smadi and Michael Finton (also known as Talib Islam) - had no connection in a tactical or operational sense.
Still, it is absurd, and extremely dangerous, to insist that they are not connected in at least one way: What apparently animated all three of these suspects (and perhaps a number of others believed to have been involved in the New York plot who are still at large) is the seditious, supremacist theo-political-legal program authoritative Islam calls "Shariah."
Shariah requires its adherents to engage in jihad - the struggle to bring about the triumph of Islam worldwide through whatever means are available. Shariah explicitly calls for the use of violent techniques designed to instill terror in those who stand in the way of a global Muslim theocracy.
Lethal truck-bombs, pellet-laced explosive vests and backpacks and bombs or hijackers aboard aircraft have already been used for this purpose. It is a matter of time before vastly more destructive weapons of mass destruction (chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear) become available to jihadists who believe that, pursuant to Shariah, they are fulfilling Allah's will when they kill "infidels" or otherwise force them to submit to Islam.
Even more insidious, though, is what Robert Spencer calls "Stealth Jihad." This practice involves using myriad non-violent measures to insinuate Shariah into non-Muslim societies. Adherents demand such concessions as special treatment for them and their faith in public spaces, private corporations, schools, communities and government at every level.
The prime-mover behind these demands is the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization that shares the violent jihadists' commitment to advance Shariah's end-state of a global caliphate, but seek (for the moment, at least) to do so non-violently. The successful prosecution last year of one Brotherhood front, the Holy Land Foundation, established that the organization's mission is "to destroy Western civilization from within...by its own miserable hand." (In the course of the trial, the government also identified virtually every prominent Muslim-American group as Brotherhood affiliates or "friendly" to its purposes.)
What happens as tolerant democratic societies try to accommodate themselves to the stealthy form of jihad, backed by the persistent threat of the violent form - if not its actual occurrence, can be seen in much of Western Europe. For example, France now has 751 zones urbaines sensibles - Muslim-only areas that amount to "no-go" zones for French authorities. In these zones, Shariah rules instead of the laws of the host government, at the expense most notably of women's rights, due process and public order (especially for Jews, Christians and other non-Muslims).
To be sure, accommodations to date to Shariah have not metastasized in the United States to nearly this extent. There are, however, numerous worrisome examples of concessions that have been made here, too. To cite a few: taxpayer-financed footbaths for Muslims installed at state universities; corporations providing Muslim-only prayer rooms and time off for prayers; government-sanctioned discrimination by taxi drivers against passengers deemed "impure" (haram) because they have alcohol or dogs; unhygenic practices in food plants to accommodate the preferences of Muslim workers; government-offered Shariah-compliant mortgages; Islamic proselytizing in public school curricula; etc.
The failure by U.S. and other governments' officials to recognize the connection between Shariah and jihad (of either the violent or stealthy kind) is like refusing to acknowledge that there is a common virus causing an outbreak of swine flu. How could the medical community hope to identify appropriate prophylactic measures (for instance: Keep kids in school or shut the schools down? Take antibiotics or not?) if it were not permitted to understand the nature of the virus. There would certainly be little chance of developing effective vaccines under those circumstances.
We face approximately the same problem if we require our law enforcement, intelligence, homeland security and military personnel to behave as though there is no toxic virus - think of it as the "anti-swine flu," since pork is the ultimate in haram under Shariah - animating those seeking to destroy us, our government and our freedom-loving way of life. At best, we will be able to stop some of the attacks the jihadists are plotting against us. We certainly will not be able to defeat the disease and thereby protect Western civilization from its potential for truly pandemic virulence.
Our natural allies in taking such a stance against Shariah are the many millions of Muslims around the world whose practice of their faith does not involve adherence to this medieval, barbaric and totalitarian program. Indeed, most Muslim immigrants in America came here to get away from Shariah in their native lands. Only by differentiating such Muslims from the carriers of this lethal virus can we hope to inoculate them against the spread of the disease - and enlist their help in protecting the rest of us by keeping American Shariah-free.
ACT for America
P.O. Box 12765
Pensacola, FL 32591
www.actforamerica.org
The Brazen Double Standard
From ACT! for America:
The Brazen Double Standard
Today we have juxtaposed two short articles to clearly illustrate the brazen double standard that exists with respect to free speech and Islam.
The first is about Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist supremacist organization that is allowed to hold conferences in America—the latest in a government building—because our government has not deemed fit to classify the organization as a terrorist organization. (Other nations have done so).
The second is about the upcoming trial of Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, who is being prosecuted for speech that “offends” Muslims. The backdrop for this trial is the UN’s approval, just last Friday, of a resolution urging governments to criminalize speech that defames religion.
Given that the 57 member Organization of the Islamic Conference has been working feverishly to get such a resolution passed by the General Assembly, it’s not hard to guess what kind of speech they want banned.
Isn’t it amazing? An imam in America can call for “uzi jihad” against this country; Hizb ut-Tahrir can call for the victory of Islam over all other religions; the Qur’an can defame Jews by calling them apes and pigs…
…but don’t dare point out these facts, or else you might be guilty of “defaming” Islam!
In the forefront of this free speech double-standard in America is the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). For years CAIR has tarred critics of radical Islam as “Islamophobes,” “bigots,” and the like—simply for pointing out the truth about radical Islam.
Now CAIR is in hot water, thanks to information entered into the record at the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial and new revelations contained in the book Muslim Mafia.
Chicago: Supremacist Group Conspires Against Rights
December 15, 2009
by Jeffrey Imm, email: usa@realcourage.org
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), http://www.realcourag...
http://www.realcourag...
In the Chicago suburbs on December 20, 2009, a group that has conspired to deny Americans their Constitutional and civil rights will be using a government-managed facility to recruit new members to their supremacist cause. In this case it will be the Islamic supremacist Hizb ut-Tahrir America organization, which will be using the Lombard Park District community building in the Village of Lombard.
On July 19, 2009, the Hizb ut-Tahrir America organization held a recruitment meeting in another Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn, Illinois, in the Hilton Hotel. The self-defined supremacist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir America at the July 19 event distributed brochures to the public calling for the "death penalty" for those who committed the "treason" of leaving Islam; this is found on page 62 of Hizb ut-Tahrir's brochure titled "Islamic reformation." An electronic form of such public death threats by Hizb ut-Tahrir against "apostates" is on the "official Hizb ut-Tahrir" web site Khilafah.com, linked to the Hizb ut-Tahrir America web page promoting the Lombard, Illinois event. Hizb ut-Tahrir rejects democracy and rejects secular nations, seeking only to promote an international "Khilafah" of Muslims, with its own set of laws.
Hizb ut-Tahrir America has sought to intimidate those who would exercise their Constitutionally-protected religious freedom by stating that in the global "Khilafah" of Muslims those who "publicly abandon Islam" should know "that they will be killed for it." According to Hizb ut-Tahrir America's handouts in the Chicago suburbs, those who choose such religious freedom are committing "an open attack on the basis of the state which is Islam, essentially it is viewed as treason and a political attack on the Khilafah in order to undermine it"... which according to Hizb ut-Tahrir America deserves "the death penalty." On July 19, 2009, in full view of local law enforcement (and reportedly federal law enforcement) in Oak Lawn, Illinois, Hizb ut-Tahrir handed out this brochure calling for "the death penalty" against "apostates" from Islam to a reported 700 attendees at this conference.
Emboldened, Hizb ut-Tahrir America's latest recruitment activity on December 20 will now be using a government-managed community building in the village of Lombard. There is no public denunciation by government officials. There is no public condemnation of this anti-democracy, supremacist international Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, with a long history of making death threats both in the U.S. and around the world. There is no public call for Hizb ut-Tahrir to retract its continuing promotion in the United States of a document calling for "the death penalty" against "apostates."
Wouldn't we be outraged if white supremacists were using a government-managed community building to hold meetings? Wouldn't we be more than outraged if such a white supremacist group had been calling for the "death penalty" for white Americans who disagreed with their supremacist views? Wouldn't we be demanding legal and law enforcement action to end such a conspiracy to violate others' civil rights through intimidation?
At what point are open and public death threats (in writing no less) by supremacist groups to specific identity groups recognized by our government and law enforcement as nothing less than conspiracies to violate protected American civil rights? At what point is the use of public facilities to call for the "death" of identity groups recognized as a hate crime?
In America and around the world, we have seen the consequences of failing to take action against supremacist groups inciting hatred against others with death threats. Hizb ut-Tahrir and similar supremacist groups' calls for "death" against others is considered a call to action for those who share this philosophy of hate. Just last month, on November 2, in Arizona, a 20 year old girl Noor Almaleki died from an attack by her father for not adhering to what his family told the Arizona Republic were "Muslim values." We are certain that the majority of Muslim Americans would reject such supremacist views, but we have also seen similar killings in Ohio, Indianapolis, Texas, and Georgia. Who is next to die as a result because of such supremacist hate?
Death threats by supremacist organizations have very real, very deadly consequences. It is past time for Illinois and the federal government to act on the conspiracy by Hizb ut-Tahrir America to deny Americans' freedom of religion, by its publicly calling for the death of those who seek such freedoms. It is not only an outrage; it is also a growing conspiracy to use intimidation tactics of death threats to violate our rights as American citizens.
http://frontpagemag.c...
Meanwhile Geert Wilders is being put on trial, read the next article about that and how he is being punished for his free speech while the hateful brainwashed Islamists publicly advocate murder of religious dissenters in USA and get away with it!!!
The Brazen Double Standard
Today we have juxtaposed two short articles to clearly illustrate the brazen double standard that exists with respect to free speech and Islam.
The first is about Hizb ut-Tahrir, an Islamist supremacist organization that is allowed to hold conferences in America—the latest in a government building—because our government has not deemed fit to classify the organization as a terrorist organization. (Other nations have done so).
The second is about the upcoming trial of Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders, who is being prosecuted for speech that “offends” Muslims. The backdrop for this trial is the UN’s approval, just last Friday, of a resolution urging governments to criminalize speech that defames religion.
Given that the 57 member Organization of the Islamic Conference has been working feverishly to get such a resolution passed by the General Assembly, it’s not hard to guess what kind of speech they want banned.
Isn’t it amazing? An imam in America can call for “uzi jihad” against this country; Hizb ut-Tahrir can call for the victory of Islam over all other religions; the Qur’an can defame Jews by calling them apes and pigs…
…but don’t dare point out these facts, or else you might be guilty of “defaming” Islam!
In the forefront of this free speech double-standard in America is the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). For years CAIR has tarred critics of radical Islam as “Islamophobes,” “bigots,” and the like—simply for pointing out the truth about radical Islam.
Now CAIR is in hot water, thanks to information entered into the record at the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing trial and new revelations contained in the book Muslim Mafia.
Chicago: Supremacist Group Conspires Against Rights
December 15, 2009
by Jeffrey Imm, email: usa@realcourage.org
Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.), http://www.realcourag...
http://www.realcourag...
In the Chicago suburbs on December 20, 2009, a group that has conspired to deny Americans their Constitutional and civil rights will be using a government-managed facility to recruit new members to their supremacist cause. In this case it will be the Islamic supremacist Hizb ut-Tahrir America organization, which will be using the Lombard Park District community building in the Village of Lombard.
On July 19, 2009, the Hizb ut-Tahrir America organization held a recruitment meeting in another Chicago suburb of Oak Lawn, Illinois, in the Hilton Hotel. The self-defined supremacist organization Hizb ut-Tahrir America at the July 19 event distributed brochures to the public calling for the "death penalty" for those who committed the "treason" of leaving Islam; this is found on page 62 of Hizb ut-Tahrir's brochure titled "Islamic reformation." An electronic form of such public death threats by Hizb ut-Tahrir against "apostates" is on the "official Hizb ut-Tahrir" web site Khilafah.com, linked to the Hizb ut-Tahrir America web page promoting the Lombard, Illinois event. Hizb ut-Tahrir rejects democracy and rejects secular nations, seeking only to promote an international "Khilafah" of Muslims, with its own set of laws.
Hizb ut-Tahrir America has sought to intimidate those who would exercise their Constitutionally-protected religious freedom by stating that in the global "Khilafah" of Muslims those who "publicly abandon Islam" should know "that they will be killed for it." According to Hizb ut-Tahrir America's handouts in the Chicago suburbs, those who choose such religious freedom are committing "an open attack on the basis of the state which is Islam, essentially it is viewed as treason and a political attack on the Khilafah in order to undermine it"... which according to Hizb ut-Tahrir America deserves "the death penalty." On July 19, 2009, in full view of local law enforcement (and reportedly federal law enforcement) in Oak Lawn, Illinois, Hizb ut-Tahrir handed out this brochure calling for "the death penalty" against "apostates" from Islam to a reported 700 attendees at this conference.
Emboldened, Hizb ut-Tahrir America's latest recruitment activity on December 20 will now be using a government-managed community building in the village of Lombard. There is no public denunciation by government officials. There is no public condemnation of this anti-democracy, supremacist international Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, with a long history of making death threats both in the U.S. and around the world. There is no public call for Hizb ut-Tahrir to retract its continuing promotion in the United States of a document calling for "the death penalty" against "apostates."
Wouldn't we be outraged if white supremacists were using a government-managed community building to hold meetings? Wouldn't we be more than outraged if such a white supremacist group had been calling for the "death penalty" for white Americans who disagreed with their supremacist views? Wouldn't we be demanding legal and law enforcement action to end such a conspiracy to violate others' civil rights through intimidation?
At what point are open and public death threats (in writing no less) by supremacist groups to specific identity groups recognized by our government and law enforcement as nothing less than conspiracies to violate protected American civil rights? At what point is the use of public facilities to call for the "death" of identity groups recognized as a hate crime?
In America and around the world, we have seen the consequences of failing to take action against supremacist groups inciting hatred against others with death threats. Hizb ut-Tahrir and similar supremacist groups' calls for "death" against others is considered a call to action for those who share this philosophy of hate. Just last month, on November 2, in Arizona, a 20 year old girl Noor Almaleki died from an attack by her father for not adhering to what his family told the Arizona Republic were "Muslim values." We are certain that the majority of Muslim Americans would reject such supremacist views, but we have also seen similar killings in Ohio, Indianapolis, Texas, and Georgia. Who is next to die as a result because of such supremacist hate?
Death threats by supremacist organizations have very real, very deadly consequences. It is past time for Illinois and the federal government to act on the conspiracy by Hizb ut-Tahrir America to deny Americans' freedom of religion, by its publicly calling for the death of those who seek such freedoms. It is not only an outrage; it is also a growing conspiracy to use intimidation tactics of death threats to violate our rights as American citizens.
http://frontpagemag.c...
Meanwhile Geert Wilders is being put on trial, read the next article about that and how he is being punished for his free speech while the hateful brainwashed Islamists publicly advocate murder of religious dissenters in USA and get away with it!!!
"Only Arabs and Muslims can fight the war of ideas within Islam."
Hi everyone
I read a great article in the New York Times about the battles with, and within, elements of Islam.
Here are 2 pithy quotes from it:
"Only Arabs and Muslims can fight the war of ideas within Islam."
"Whatever surge we do in the real Afghanistan has no chance of being a self-sustaining success, unless there is a parallel surge — by Arab and Muslim political and religious leaders — against those who promote violent jihadism on the ground in Muslim lands and online in the Virtual Afghanistan."
You can read the full article at link below: a penny for your thoughts!
http://www.nytimes.co...
Chris
I read a great article in the New York Times about the battles with, and within, elements of Islam.
Here are 2 pithy quotes from it:
"Only Arabs and Muslims can fight the war of ideas within Islam."
"Whatever surge we do in the real Afghanistan has no chance of being a self-sustaining success, unless there is a parallel surge — by Arab and Muslim political and religious leaders — against those who promote violent jihadism on the ground in Muslim lands and online in the Virtual Afghanistan."
You can read the full article at link below: a penny for your thoughts!
http://www.nytimes.co...
Chris
"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
"The Road Not Taken"
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
by Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that, the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
two roads diverged in a wood, and I --
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Taqiyya and Islamic Warfare
This is a MUST-READ document that outlines the essentials of the perpetual warfare worldview that is inherent in the ideology of political Islam, extensively citing the Qur’an and the hadith, as well as Islamic scholars and works from the four schools of Islamic jurisprudence. Those essentials are:
1. Islam is superior to all other religions.
2. Islam is in a perpetual state of war with all non-Muslims.
3. Jihad is central to the prosecution of this war.
4. Taqiyya (dissimilitude or deceit) is not only permitted but sanctioned as a means of practicing this warfare.
5. Subjugating and even killing non-Muslims is actually a benefit to those non-Muslims, because Islam is such a superior way of life.
6. War between Islam and all non-Muslims will only cease when Islam reigns worldwide.
Remarkably, the writer of this commentary, Raymond Ibrahim, carefully, logically and with documentation expounds upon these essentials in fewer than ten pages!
We highly recommend that you:
* Print out the commentary, carefully read it, and file it somewhere for easy future reference.
* Forward it to others you know and encourage them to read it.
* Especially forward it to anyone you know who is in the military, law enforcement, or politics.
Islamists are counting on the West remaining ignorant of the material laid out in this attached commentary. We can and will defeat the radical Islamists bent on destroying and/or subjugating us IF enough Conscious and Courageous People come to understand the basic essentials of the ideology that is driving these brainwashed, unconscious, spiritually blind, psychologically immature, sociopathic, insane and extremely dangerous Islamists.
After reading the article at the link below, consider this: In today's Toronto Star there is a quote from the Islamist "Toronto 18" ring leader Zakaria Amara who almost blew downtown Toronto to smithereens.
At his sentencing Amara stated: "I just want to reassure you that whatever promises I made, I will still try my best." What promises is he referring to? To continue to wage holy war against the Infidel non-Muslims? Are these words of this insane Islamist a prime example of Islam's approved deceit called Taqiyya????????
Earlier at the same trial, the court heard that one of the Islamic terrorists of this group received religious approval for the planned bombing from a so-called cleric who is the head of an Islamic school in Mississauga
Are you concerned about this?
"Battle, animosity and hatred--directed from the Muslim to the infidel-- is the foundation of our religion" so said Bin Laden. It's backed up by verses in the Qu'ran and other Islamic texts, and by many so-called Islamic scholars and leaders.
Are you concerned about this?
see this link, please take the time to read it and PASS IT ON!!
1. Islam is superior to all other religions.
2. Islam is in a perpetual state of war with all non-Muslims.
3. Jihad is central to the prosecution of this war.
4. Taqiyya (dissimilitude or deceit) is not only permitted but sanctioned as a means of practicing this warfare.
5. Subjugating and even killing non-Muslims is actually a benefit to those non-Muslims, because Islam is such a superior way of life.
6. War between Islam and all non-Muslims will only cease when Islam reigns worldwide.
Remarkably, the writer of this commentary, Raymond Ibrahim, carefully, logically and with documentation expounds upon these essentials in fewer than ten pages!
We highly recommend that you:
* Print out the commentary, carefully read it, and file it somewhere for easy future reference.
* Forward it to others you know and encourage them to read it.
* Especially forward it to anyone you know who is in the military, law enforcement, or politics.
Islamists are counting on the West remaining ignorant of the material laid out in this attached commentary. We can and will defeat the radical Islamists bent on destroying and/or subjugating us IF enough Conscious and Courageous People come to understand the basic essentials of the ideology that is driving these brainwashed, unconscious, spiritually blind, psychologically immature, sociopathic, insane and extremely dangerous Islamists.
After reading the article at the link below, consider this: In today's Toronto Star there is a quote from the Islamist "Toronto 18" ring leader Zakaria Amara who almost blew downtown Toronto to smithereens.
At his sentencing Amara stated: "I just want to reassure you that whatever promises I made, I will still try my best." What promises is he referring to? To continue to wage holy war against the Infidel non-Muslims? Are these words of this insane Islamist a prime example of Islam's approved deceit called Taqiyya????????
Earlier at the same trial, the court heard that one of the Islamic terrorists of this group received religious approval for the planned bombing from a so-called cleric who is the head of an Islamic school in Mississauga
Are you concerned about this?
"Battle, animosity and hatred--directed from the Muslim to the infidel-- is the foundation of our religion" so said Bin Laden. It's backed up by verses in the Qu'ran and other Islamic texts, and by many so-called Islamic scholars and leaders.
Are you concerned about this?
see this link, please take the time to read it and PASS IT ON!!
More Muslim insanity
Hey everyone
here is more info on this latest episode of religious (Muslim) insanity
http://news.suite101....
A US-based group called Revolution Muslim recently posted a warning to South Park's creators for depicting Muhammad in a bear suit. The 200th episode, which aired April 14, 2010 began the controversy. The posting on the Web site eluded that Stone and Parker would "probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh."
In 2004, Van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death by an Islamist angered about his film. The film was about Muslim women. Van Gogh was murdered by 26-year-old Muhammad Bouyeri, a Dutch-Moroccan citizen with terrorist ties with the Dutch Hofstad Network.
The posting on the Revolution Muslim Web site about Stone and Parker gave their home address. It also listed the addresses of their production office in California and the New York Office of South Park's broadcaster, Comedy Central.
"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show," warned the posting, written in the name of Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee.
"This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them," it added.
Read more at http://news.suite101....
also
South Park creators warned by Islamic website
http://www.telegraph....
Van Gogh was assassinated in 2004 by a Muslim after making a documentary that was critical of the treatment of women in Islam. The Muslim murderer said he would do it again if he could.
The posting said: "We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."
The site also features a sermon by Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical Yemeni-American preacher, in which he talks about assassinating those who have "defamed" Mohammed.
Contacted by Fox News the author of the post, Abu Talhah al Amrikee, said he wrote the entry to "raise awareness." He told Fox News: "It's not a threat, but it really is a likely outcome.They're going to be basically on a list in the back of the minds of a large number of Muslims. It's just the reality."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In Wednesday’s new episode of South Park, Jesus Christ was depicted watching pornography and Buddha was portrayed snorting cocaine.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I note that Yet no Buddhists or Christians are threatening to kill anyone over these provocative depictions of these religious characters that are considered to be sacred by many.
Only the Muslims are threatening to kill. Why is that?
Here's a quote from an American born Muslim convert jihadist that might explain it:
"Jihad is.....the personal duty of every able-bodied Muslim on the face of this earth."
Why are some primitive, unevolved, unenlightened and uneducated religious people, who also happen to be spiritually retarded and psychologically immature, allowed to threaten and kill others who do not believe as they do?
And why are their dangerous teachings and beliefs about Absolute Religious Truth protected from legitimate criticism and protected from accountability in an evolved, evolving and democratic society such as North America?
Why do they resist evolving beyond the narrow limits of the 7th century conjectures about Absolute Religious Truth?
Why do they resist Ultimate and Universal Spiritual Truths?
These Muslims who threaten and kill every day in other countries want their fanatical, narrow minded, and immature theocratically dominated dictatorship right here in North America, as it currently is in dark ages countries like Iran, Pakistan, Somalia, and others.
Are you OK with such a dictatorship coming right here in our great country?
It is time to put political correctness aside and speak up about this issue.
"If one is not part of the solution, then one is part of the problem"
Please be part of the solution and pass this info on to all others so that we may challenge and awaken the blind religious people from their insane beliefs that threaten the existence of the world.
here are some quotes from readers who responded to the New York Times article today:
"We should marginalize those who would dare make threats as a means to silence others. Stand up for Free Speech, Democracy and civil society!!
Immediately, right now, without further delay, people belonging to the "Revolution Muslim" group should be arrested and charged with harassment, threats of violence, intimidation, and hindering free speech. Where do these punks think they're living? Under a dictatorship? Under a cruel monarchy? In pre-historic times? This deserves the greatest harshness that U.S. law will allow.
If that is true then I am truly sad that this country continues to bow to the "feelings" of the muslim world.
Religious thuggery in all forms (Christianity's history is just as sordid as Islam's) is a vile attack on freedoms that we all enjoy and which have been a long, difficult time in the making.
What religion is so weak that they can not face questioning or criticism. None, its not the religion that is weak is it those who claim to practice that religion who are weak.
moderate Muslims absolutely have the right to boycott and protest depictions that they don't like, but they also need to silence and marginalize the fringe wackos who can't deal with a cartoon.
We can't tolerate these veiled threats from groups like Revolution Muslim and remain a free society. They need to be hit, and hit hard, with massive denial-of-service attacks.
Those fools doom themselves with their rigid, stale logic that a prophet who was human is so holy that we can't disagree with him or poke fun
The sad reality is that muslim extreemists have a history of inflicting violence on artists that they percieve as insulting thier deity
I am so sick and tired of us kowtowing to superstition and "acts of faith." It's the 21st century, let's start acting like it
this is the first step down the slippery slope to Sharia Law
Yes, bow to their threats. Show the extremists that you wouldn't dare offend them because you are afraid. Show them that through threats of violence they can bring shariah to the U.S. one step at a time. I guess terrorism is working.
When will these people figure out that threatening every perceived slight with physical violence, including murder, only makes their religion LESS great.Any religion, political group, or ideal that can't stand up to criticism or parody isn't worth belonging to.
Revolution Muslim has no place in America.
Where are the muslims speaking out against these threats?" End of quotes.
Feedback welcome.
Chris
here is more info on this latest episode of religious (Muslim) insanity
http://news.suite101....
A US-based group called Revolution Muslim recently posted a warning to South Park's creators for depicting Muhammad in a bear suit. The 200th episode, which aired April 14, 2010 began the controversy. The posting on the Web site eluded that Stone and Parker would "probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh."
In 2004, Van Gogh was shot and stabbed to death by an Islamist angered about his film. The film was about Muslim women. Van Gogh was murdered by 26-year-old Muhammad Bouyeri, a Dutch-Moroccan citizen with terrorist ties with the Dutch Hofstad Network.
The posting on the Revolution Muslim Web site about Stone and Parker gave their home address. It also listed the addresses of their production office in California and the New York Office of South Park's broadcaster, Comedy Central.
"We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show," warned the posting, written in the name of Abu Talhah Al-Amrikee.
"This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them," it added.
Read more at http://news.suite101....
also
South Park creators warned by Islamic website
http://www.telegraph....
Van Gogh was assassinated in 2004 by a Muslim after making a documentary that was critical of the treatment of women in Islam. The Muslim murderer said he would do it again if he could.
The posting said: "We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show. This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them."
The site also features a sermon by Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical Yemeni-American preacher, in which he talks about assassinating those who have "defamed" Mohammed.
Contacted by Fox News the author of the post, Abu Talhah al Amrikee, said he wrote the entry to "raise awareness." He told Fox News: "It's not a threat, but it really is a likely outcome.They're going to be basically on a list in the back of the minds of a large number of Muslims. It's just the reality."
--------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In Wednesday’s new episode of South Park, Jesus Christ was depicted watching pornography and Buddha was portrayed snorting cocaine.
--------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I note that Yet no Buddhists or Christians are threatening to kill anyone over these provocative depictions of these religious characters that are considered to be sacred by many.
Only the Muslims are threatening to kill. Why is that?
Here's a quote from an American born Muslim convert jihadist that might explain it:
"Jihad is.....the personal duty of every able-bodied Muslim on the face of this earth."
Why are some primitive, unevolved, unenlightened and uneducated religious people, who also happen to be spiritually retarded and psychologically immature, allowed to threaten and kill others who do not believe as they do?
And why are their dangerous teachings and beliefs about Absolute Religious Truth protected from legitimate criticism and protected from accountability in an evolved, evolving and democratic society such as North America?
Why do they resist evolving beyond the narrow limits of the 7th century conjectures about Absolute Religious Truth?
Why do they resist Ultimate and Universal Spiritual Truths?
These Muslims who threaten and kill every day in other countries want their fanatical, narrow minded, and immature theocratically dominated dictatorship right here in North America, as it currently is in dark ages countries like Iran, Pakistan, Somalia, and others.
Are you OK with such a dictatorship coming right here in our great country?
It is time to put political correctness aside and speak up about this issue.
"If one is not part of the solution, then one is part of the problem"
Please be part of the solution and pass this info on to all others so that we may challenge and awaken the blind religious people from their insane beliefs that threaten the existence of the world.
here are some quotes from readers who responded to the New York Times article today:
"We should marginalize those who would dare make threats as a means to silence others. Stand up for Free Speech, Democracy and civil society!!
Immediately, right now, without further delay, people belonging to the "Revolution Muslim" group should be arrested and charged with harassment, threats of violence, intimidation, and hindering free speech. Where do these punks think they're living? Under a dictatorship? Under a cruel monarchy? In pre-historic times? This deserves the greatest harshness that U.S. law will allow.
If that is true then I am truly sad that this country continues to bow to the "feelings" of the muslim world.
Religious thuggery in all forms (Christianity's history is just as sordid as Islam's) is a vile attack on freedoms that we all enjoy and which have been a long, difficult time in the making.
What religion is so weak that they can not face questioning or criticism. None, its not the religion that is weak is it those who claim to practice that religion who are weak.
moderate Muslims absolutely have the right to boycott and protest depictions that they don't like, but they also need to silence and marginalize the fringe wackos who can't deal with a cartoon.
We can't tolerate these veiled threats from groups like Revolution Muslim and remain a free society. They need to be hit, and hit hard, with massive denial-of-service attacks.
Those fools doom themselves with their rigid, stale logic that a prophet who was human is so holy that we can't disagree with him or poke fun
The sad reality is that muslim extreemists have a history of inflicting violence on artists that they percieve as insulting thier deity
I am so sick and tired of us kowtowing to superstition and "acts of faith." It's the 21st century, let's start acting like it
this is the first step down the slippery slope to Sharia Law
Yes, bow to their threats. Show the extremists that you wouldn't dare offend them because you are afraid. Show them that through threats of violence they can bring shariah to the U.S. one step at a time. I guess terrorism is working.
When will these people figure out that threatening every perceived slight with physical violence, including murder, only makes their religion LESS great.Any religion, political group, or ideal that can't stand up to criticism or parody isn't worth belonging to.
Revolution Muslim has no place in America.
Where are the muslims speaking out against these threats?" End of quotes.
Feedback welcome.
Chris
Silence is not moderation By Sam Harris
Silence is not moderation
By Sam Harris
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann said that anti-Muslim rhetoric in America is bad news for anti-terrorism efforts: "We are handing al Qaeda a propaganda coup, an absolute propaganda coup."
By many accounts, the man who could blunt the power of that coup is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the religious leader behind the planned Islamic Center near Ground Zero. The imam has been surprisingly mum on the issue while he travels in the Middle East. What message of faith could he offer to Muslims and non-Muslims alike that could turn this moment of division into a time of healing?
As many have pointed out, the controversy over the "ground zero mosque" is a false one. The project is legal to build, and it should remain legal. That does not mean, however, that any concern about building a mosque so close to ground zero is synonymous with bigotry.
The true scandal here is that Muslim moderates have been so abysmally lacking in candor about the nature of their faith and so slow to disavow its genuine (and growing) pathologies--leading perfectly sane and tolerant people to worry whether Muslim moderation even exists.
Despite his past equivocations on this issue, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf could dispel these fears in a single paragraph:
"Like all decent people, I am horrified by much that goes on in the name of 'Islam,' and I consider it a duty of all moderate Muslims to recognize that many of the doctrines espoused in the Qur'an and hadith present some unique liabilities at this moment in history. Our traditional ideas about martyrdom, jihad, blasphemy, apostasy, and the status of women must be abandoned, as they are proving disastrous in the 21st century. Many of Islam's critics have fully justified concerns about the state of discourse in parts of the Muslim world--where it is a tissue of conspiracy theories, genocidal ravings regarding the Jews, and the most abject, triumphalist fantasies about conquering the world for the glory of Allah. While the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity also contain terrible passages, it has been many centuries since they truly informed the mainstream faith. Hence, we do not tend to see vast numbers of Jews and Christians calling for the murder of apostates today. This is not true of Islam, and there is simply no honest way of denying this shocking disparity. We are members of a faith community that appears more concerned about harmless cartoons than about the daily atrocities committed in its name--and no one suffers from this stupidity and barbarism more than our fellow Muslims. Islam must grow up. And Muslim moderates like ourselves must be the first to defend the rights of novelists, cartoonists, and public intellectuals to criticize all religious faiths, including our own."
These are the sorts of sentiments that should be the litmus test for Muslim moderation. Find an imam who will speak this way, and gather followers who think this way, and I'll volunteer to cut the ribbon on his mosque in lower Manhattan .
(End of article—comments on it from website follow below)
http://newsweek.washi...
This article is right on. Particularly relevant is the sentence: "While the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity also contain terrible passages, it has been many centuries since they truly informed the mainstream faith."
I specifically thought about the Spanish Inquisition or our own Salem Witchcraft trials as good historical examples. You would be hard pressed to find any Christians today, no matter how fundamental or radical, that would support a return to those environments.
This is the real difference between Islam and the other world's religions. Muslims of America : Are you listening?
Sam Harris did not go far enough in suggesting what Imam Rauf should say. Here is what Rauf should tell his followers:
My dear brothers and sisters in the Islamic faith
1. Islam was a remedy that Muhammad tried to give Arabic society for what he perceived to be the ills of Arabic society in the 7th century.
2. The Quran is not the word of God but that of Muhammad and whoever helped write the Quran. The Quran is mostly inapplicable for today's Muslim societies and here is what we must do. We do not have to rewrite the Quran.
a. We must rewrite Muslim laws that discriminate against women and non-Muslims. For example we must ban the beating up of wives for disobedience to their husbands as advised by Muhammad in verse 4:34.
b. We must allow non-Muslims to preach their religion to Muslims freely in Muslim countries and we must allow those Muslims who do not wish to continue to be Muslims to leave Islam and even become agnostics and atheists and freely preach their non-belief to Muslims.
c. We must allow non-Muslims to freely build their place of worship in all countries dominated by Muslims including in Mecca and Medina .
d. Until we give freedom of religion to non-Muslims we cannot demand freedom of religion in non-Muslim countries. We must put the Cordoba Mosque in NYC on hold until non-Muslims get full freedom of religion in Muslim countries.
e. We must boycott the hajj until full freedom of religion is allowed in Saudi Arabia . By doing the hajj while Saudi Arabia practices the apartheid against non-Muslims we are showing our support to Saudi Arabia . We waste $10 billion or more every year on the hajj. Instead let us use the money to educate our young Muslims in secular way so that they can become a productive section of modern societies.
I urge that all Muslims put the Cordoba mosque on hold until the majority of Americans support the mosque.
I would only add to Harris's statement:
"Find an imam who will speak this way, and gather followers who think this way,..." that these imams and followers who "speak this way" in both Arabic and English.
There are too many examples of so-called "moderate" Muslims saying one thing to the western world and something very different to the Muslim world
Feedback requested.
Silence is not moderation, and is not being conscious.
Speak up. Say something!
see also
http://www.carlisle.a...
Chris
By Sam Harris
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, terrorism analyst Evan Kohlmann said that anti-Muslim rhetoric in America is bad news for anti-terrorism efforts: "We are handing al Qaeda a propaganda coup, an absolute propaganda coup."
By many accounts, the man who could blunt the power of that coup is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the religious leader behind the planned Islamic Center near Ground Zero. The imam has been surprisingly mum on the issue while he travels in the Middle East. What message of faith could he offer to Muslims and non-Muslims alike that could turn this moment of division into a time of healing?
As many have pointed out, the controversy over the "ground zero mosque" is a false one. The project is legal to build, and it should remain legal. That does not mean, however, that any concern about building a mosque so close to ground zero is synonymous with bigotry.
The true scandal here is that Muslim moderates have been so abysmally lacking in candor about the nature of their faith and so slow to disavow its genuine (and growing) pathologies--leading perfectly sane and tolerant people to worry whether Muslim moderation even exists.
Despite his past equivocations on this issue, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf could dispel these fears in a single paragraph:
"Like all decent people, I am horrified by much that goes on in the name of 'Islam,' and I consider it a duty of all moderate Muslims to recognize that many of the doctrines espoused in the Qur'an and hadith present some unique liabilities at this moment in history. Our traditional ideas about martyrdom, jihad, blasphemy, apostasy, and the status of women must be abandoned, as they are proving disastrous in the 21st century. Many of Islam's critics have fully justified concerns about the state of discourse in parts of the Muslim world--where it is a tissue of conspiracy theories, genocidal ravings regarding the Jews, and the most abject, triumphalist fantasies about conquering the world for the glory of Allah. While the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity also contain terrible passages, it has been many centuries since they truly informed the mainstream faith. Hence, we do not tend to see vast numbers of Jews and Christians calling for the murder of apostates today. This is not true of Islam, and there is simply no honest way of denying this shocking disparity. We are members of a faith community that appears more concerned about harmless cartoons than about the daily atrocities committed in its name--and no one suffers from this stupidity and barbarism more than our fellow Muslims. Islam must grow up. And Muslim moderates like ourselves must be the first to defend the rights of novelists, cartoonists, and public intellectuals to criticize all religious faiths, including our own."
These are the sorts of sentiments that should be the litmus test for Muslim moderation. Find an imam who will speak this way, and gather followers who think this way, and I'll volunteer to cut the ribbon on his mosque in lower Manhattan .
(End of article—comments on it from website follow below)
http://newsweek.washi...
This article is right on. Particularly relevant is the sentence: "While the scriptures of Judaism and Christianity also contain terrible passages, it has been many centuries since they truly informed the mainstream faith."
I specifically thought about the Spanish Inquisition or our own Salem Witchcraft trials as good historical examples. You would be hard pressed to find any Christians today, no matter how fundamental or radical, that would support a return to those environments.
This is the real difference between Islam and the other world's religions. Muslims of America : Are you listening?
Sam Harris did not go far enough in suggesting what Imam Rauf should say. Here is what Rauf should tell his followers:
My dear brothers and sisters in the Islamic faith
1. Islam was a remedy that Muhammad tried to give Arabic society for what he perceived to be the ills of Arabic society in the 7th century.
2. The Quran is not the word of God but that of Muhammad and whoever helped write the Quran. The Quran is mostly inapplicable for today's Muslim societies and here is what we must do. We do not have to rewrite the Quran.
a. We must rewrite Muslim laws that discriminate against women and non-Muslims. For example we must ban the beating up of wives for disobedience to their husbands as advised by Muhammad in verse 4:34.
b. We must allow non-Muslims to preach their religion to Muslims freely in Muslim countries and we must allow those Muslims who do not wish to continue to be Muslims to leave Islam and even become agnostics and atheists and freely preach their non-belief to Muslims.
c. We must allow non-Muslims to freely build their place of worship in all countries dominated by Muslims including in Mecca and Medina .
d. Until we give freedom of religion to non-Muslims we cannot demand freedom of religion in non-Muslim countries. We must put the Cordoba Mosque in NYC on hold until non-Muslims get full freedom of religion in Muslim countries.
e. We must boycott the hajj until full freedom of religion is allowed in Saudi Arabia . By doing the hajj while Saudi Arabia practices the apartheid against non-Muslims we are showing our support to Saudi Arabia . We waste $10 billion or more every year on the hajj. Instead let us use the money to educate our young Muslims in secular way so that they can become a productive section of modern societies.
I urge that all Muslims put the Cordoba mosque on hold until the majority of Americans support the mosque.
I would only add to Harris's statement:
"Find an imam who will speak this way, and gather followers who think this way,..." that these imams and followers who "speak this way" in both Arabic and English.
There are too many examples of so-called "moderate" Muslims saying one thing to the western world and something very different to the Muslim world
Feedback requested.
Silence is not moderation, and is not being conscious.
Speak up. Say something!
see also
http://www.carlisle.a...
Chris
Killing of Governor Deepens Crisis in Pakistan
from NY Times, January 4, 2011
Killing of Governor Deepens Crisis in Pakistan
By SALMAN MASOOD and CARLOTTA GALL
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The assassination of an outspoken secular politician by one of his elite police guards on Tuesday plunged the government deeper into political crisis and highlighted the threat of militant infiltration even within the nation’s security forces.
The killing of Salman Taseer, the prominent governor of Punjab Province, was another grim reminder of the risks that Pakistani leaders take to oppose religious extremists, at a time when the United States is pushing Pakistan for greater cooperation in the war in Afghanistan by cracking down on militant groups like the Taliban.
Mr. Taseer, 65, a successful businessman and publisher of a liberal English-language daily newspaper, was exceptional, even within the secular-minded Pakistan Peoples Party, for his vocal opposition to the religious parties and the extremism they spread. He was imprisoned in the 1980s under the military dictator Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq for it and was still opposing the religious parties 30 years later.
He recently took up a campaign to repeal Pakistan’s contentious blasphemy laws, which were passed under General Zia as a way to promote Islam and unite the country. The laws have been misused to convict minority Pakistanis as the Islamic forces unleashed by the general have gathered strength. The laws prescribe a mandatory death sentence for anyone convicted of insulting Islam.
Religious parties staged vigorous demonstrations of thousands of people across the country last weekend to protest the campaign by Mr. Taseer, even burning him in effigy. Mr. Taseer countered in comments on his Twitter account and elsewhere.
“Religous right trying 2 pressurise from the street their support of blasphemy laws. Point is it must be decided in Parlaiment not on the road,” he wrote on Dec. 26 in the imperfect shorthand typical of such posts.
“I was under huge pressure sure 2 cow down b4 rightest pressure on blasphemy. Refused. Even if I’m the last man standing,” he posted on Dec. 31.
On Tuesday Mr. Taseer was shot in daylight multiple times at close range as he was getting into his car in Islamabad at the Kohsar Market, an area frequently visited by the city’s elite. His attacker was identified as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, an elite-force security guard, who surrendered to the police immediately afterward and implied he had killed the governor because of his campaign to amend the blasphemy laws.
“I am a slave of the Prophet, and the punishment for one who commits blasphemy is death,” he told a television crew from Dunya TV that arrived at the scene shortly after the killing, according to Nasim Zahra, the director of news at the channel.
[quote from suspect indicates he is brianwashed caveman "slave" to pre-modern, 7th century stories, conjectures and FIXED ideas about God and the superiority of those who believe in them and who don't question them--stories about which no doubt, question, debate or uncertainty is allowed--upon penalty of death without trial--just stealthy stalking, surprise attack and instant assassination of the perceived guilty--in the name of the God of the Koran and Muslims--Allah--and with this "repugnant mindset" (here quoting the judge in the murder trial of the father and brother of Aqsa, the 16 year old Mississauga girl whom they also assassinated) no evolution or respect for other opinions is possible--CT]
[Who can rightly say that God said anything, let alone "kill your enemies?" Who can justly say that God is offended or insulted by anyone or anything? That belief is an interpretation--imposing it on others is arrogant--CT]
It was not yet clear whether he had acted alone or on behalf of some extremist group.
Mr. Taseer’s death will serve as a chilling warning to any politician who speaks out against the religious parties and their agenda and will certainly end immediate attempts to amend the blasphemy laws, politicians said. “It is a loss to progressive forces; he stood up for what he believed in,” said one of his party colleagues, Sherry Rehman, a legislator.
Yet Ms. Rehman, who has long worked to amend the blasphemy laws, said the party should regroup and continue to pursue the issue because it is central to the liberal politics that the Pakistan Peoples Party and Mr. Taseer have stood for.
“You can recoil in fear, or you can have a considered action and regroup sensibly at a time when it is approachable and applicable,” she said.
Like Mr. Taseer, Ms. Rehman has frequently received threats, but she said the future of the country was at stake. “You have to understand the gravity of the challenge,” she said. “Personal safety is at risk, but there is also an existential threat to Pakistan.” ...
Members of the Pakistan Peoples Party were shaken to the core by the killing, which occurred within days of the anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto three years ago. The killing also resurrected the party’s fears of the extensive infiltration of extremists in the government institutions, like the military and the police, of the nuclear-armed country.
President Zardari, Ms. Bhutto’s husband, has blamed police and intelligence officials for her death, and his senior aides blamed infiltration of the elite Punjab security force for the governor’s death.
“It was well organized; it was a jihadi element in the force that was there to protect him,” said a presidential spokeswoman, Farahnaz Ispahani, who spoke tearfully about Mr. Taseer’s death on the Express TV news channel Tuesday night.
Ms. Ispahani invoked the legacy of Pakistan’s secular founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, using the popular title for him, Great Leader: “Show me another party where the leaders are being murdered, and why is that? Because we are standing up for Quaid-i-Azam’s Pakistan, and against extremism and terrorism.”
Hundreds of party members and friends gathered at Mr. Taseer’s home in Lahore as his body was taken back from the capital on Tuesday evening, said Ahmed Rashid, an author and journalist. While many mourned a friend, Mr. Taseer’s supporters warned that Pakistan had lost, after Ms. Bhutto, probably the most outspoken and determined advocate against religious extremism in the country.
While the liberal and progressive segments of society saw Mr. Taseer as a courageous and admirable leader, he was loathed by the extreme right. An indication of this disdain was evident in post-assassination statements by most religious leaders, who were reluctant to condemn the killing.
Citing hospital officials, local news media reports said that Mr. Taseer had been struck by nine bullets. But hospital officials later said that 24 bullets had hit him.
President Zardari expressed shock at the assassination,
Rehman Malik, the interior minister, told reporters that an investigation had been started to determine the motives of the assassin and whether he had acted alone.
Mr. Malik was quoted by the Geo Television network as saying that the killer had volunteered to be on Mr. Taseer’s security detail on Tuesday morning. Mr. Malik said the Punjab police official who enlisted Mr. Qadri on the security detail had been taken in for questioning.
Waqar Gillani contributed reporting from Lahore, Pakistan, and Mark Landler and Eric Schmitt from Washington.
Killing of Governor Deepens Crisis in Pakistan
By SALMAN MASOOD and CARLOTTA GALL
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The assassination of an outspoken secular politician by one of his elite police guards on Tuesday plunged the government deeper into political crisis and highlighted the threat of militant infiltration even within the nation’s security forces.
The killing of Salman Taseer, the prominent governor of Punjab Province, was another grim reminder of the risks that Pakistani leaders take to oppose religious extremists, at a time when the United States is pushing Pakistan for greater cooperation in the war in Afghanistan by cracking down on militant groups like the Taliban.
Mr. Taseer, 65, a successful businessman and publisher of a liberal English-language daily newspaper, was exceptional, even within the secular-minded Pakistan Peoples Party, for his vocal opposition to the religious parties and the extremism they spread. He was imprisoned in the 1980s under the military dictator Gen. Mohammad Zia ul-Haq for it and was still opposing the religious parties 30 years later.
He recently took up a campaign to repeal Pakistan’s contentious blasphemy laws, which were passed under General Zia as a way to promote Islam and unite the country. The laws have been misused to convict minority Pakistanis as the Islamic forces unleashed by the general have gathered strength. The laws prescribe a mandatory death sentence for anyone convicted of insulting Islam.
Religious parties staged vigorous demonstrations of thousands of people across the country last weekend to protest the campaign by Mr. Taseer, even burning him in effigy. Mr. Taseer countered in comments on his Twitter account and elsewhere.
“Religous right trying 2 pressurise from the street their support of blasphemy laws. Point is it must be decided in Parlaiment not on the road,” he wrote on Dec. 26 in the imperfect shorthand typical of such posts.
“I was under huge pressure sure 2 cow down b4 rightest pressure on blasphemy. Refused. Even if I’m the last man standing,” he posted on Dec. 31.
On Tuesday Mr. Taseer was shot in daylight multiple times at close range as he was getting into his car in Islamabad at the Kohsar Market, an area frequently visited by the city’s elite. His attacker was identified as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, an elite-force security guard, who surrendered to the police immediately afterward and implied he had killed the governor because of his campaign to amend the blasphemy laws.
“I am a slave of the Prophet, and the punishment for one who commits blasphemy is death,” he told a television crew from Dunya TV that arrived at the scene shortly after the killing, according to Nasim Zahra, the director of news at the channel.
[quote from suspect indicates he is brianwashed caveman "slave" to pre-modern, 7th century stories, conjectures and FIXED ideas about God and the superiority of those who believe in them and who don't question them--stories about which no doubt, question, debate or uncertainty is allowed--upon penalty of death without trial--just stealthy stalking, surprise attack and instant assassination of the perceived guilty--in the name of the God of the Koran and Muslims--Allah--and with this "repugnant mindset" (here quoting the judge in the murder trial of the father and brother of Aqsa, the 16 year old Mississauga girl whom they also assassinated) no evolution or respect for other opinions is possible--CT]
[Who can rightly say that God said anything, let alone "kill your enemies?" Who can justly say that God is offended or insulted by anyone or anything? That belief is an interpretation--imposing it on others is arrogant--CT]
It was not yet clear whether he had acted alone or on behalf of some extremist group.
Mr. Taseer’s death will serve as a chilling warning to any politician who speaks out against the religious parties and their agenda and will certainly end immediate attempts to amend the blasphemy laws, politicians said. “It is a loss to progressive forces; he stood up for what he believed in,” said one of his party colleagues, Sherry Rehman, a legislator.
Yet Ms. Rehman, who has long worked to amend the blasphemy laws, said the party should regroup and continue to pursue the issue because it is central to the liberal politics that the Pakistan Peoples Party and Mr. Taseer have stood for.
“You can recoil in fear, or you can have a considered action and regroup sensibly at a time when it is approachable and applicable,” she said.
Like Mr. Taseer, Ms. Rehman has frequently received threats, but she said the future of the country was at stake. “You have to understand the gravity of the challenge,” she said. “Personal safety is at risk, but there is also an existential threat to Pakistan.” ...
Members of the Pakistan Peoples Party were shaken to the core by the killing, which occurred within days of the anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto three years ago. The killing also resurrected the party’s fears of the extensive infiltration of extremists in the government institutions, like the military and the police, of the nuclear-armed country.
President Zardari, Ms. Bhutto’s husband, has blamed police and intelligence officials for her death, and his senior aides blamed infiltration of the elite Punjab security force for the governor’s death.
“It was well organized; it was a jihadi element in the force that was there to protect him,” said a presidential spokeswoman, Farahnaz Ispahani, who spoke tearfully about Mr. Taseer’s death on the Express TV news channel Tuesday night.
Ms. Ispahani invoked the legacy of Pakistan’s secular founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, using the popular title for him, Great Leader: “Show me another party where the leaders are being murdered, and why is that? Because we are standing up for Quaid-i-Azam’s Pakistan, and against extremism and terrorism.”
Hundreds of party members and friends gathered at Mr. Taseer’s home in Lahore as his body was taken back from the capital on Tuesday evening, said Ahmed Rashid, an author and journalist. While many mourned a friend, Mr. Taseer’s supporters warned that Pakistan had lost, after Ms. Bhutto, probably the most outspoken and determined advocate against religious extremism in the country.
While the liberal and progressive segments of society saw Mr. Taseer as a courageous and admirable leader, he was loathed by the extreme right. An indication of this disdain was evident in post-assassination statements by most religious leaders, who were reluctant to condemn the killing.
Citing hospital officials, local news media reports said that Mr. Taseer had been struck by nine bullets. But hospital officials later said that 24 bullets had hit him.
President Zardari expressed shock at the assassination,
Rehman Malik, the interior minister, told reporters that an investigation had been started to determine the motives of the assassin and whether he had acted alone.
Mr. Malik was quoted by the Geo Television network as saying that the killer had volunteered to be on Mr. Taseer’s security detail on Tuesday morning. Mr. Malik said the Punjab police official who enlisted Mr. Qadri on the security detail had been taken in for questioning.
Waqar Gillani contributed reporting from Lahore, Pakistan, and Mark Landler and Eric Schmitt from Washington.
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