Irsad Manji is a brilliant articulate and witty author. The problem is that when you write one brilliant section the reader is spoiled. She peaks at a brilliant chapter 5 but oh what a peak. Her solutions and words are close to some we have offered here. She basicaly calls the far left ( not you B ) full of hot air. The hypercritique of Israel juxtaposed with a plethora of human rights violations under Islam is a form of racism. Are Muslims not capable of the same standards of behavior as everyone else.
In an earlier post Esther talks about the key being education. The truth is it is something I have long espoused. The best example is India which was an ecconomic basket case. Yet India and China value and promote education and understand that ultimately Human capital triumphs over Industrial Capital and Natural resources. Ask any economist with a full deck would they prefer thge future of India or Saudi Arabia and you will get the same response.
Manji talks of the same malady that Stephen Schwartz talks of but she is more witty
and Schwartz is more practical. Manji calls the rash of puritanical violent Islam foundamentalism and describes it as a form of colonialism.
The truth is that we and the Europeans subsidize this malady with our humanitarian aid. Do you want to stop the violence then cut all Aid now to the entire Midle East except Israel and Iraq. Let the Saudis pay for the food and upkeep of their bretheren. The reality is the foriegn aid makes everything worse. Here is a handout so poor Abdul can feed himself. Now that that responsabilty is finished the Saudis and others have more money to fund extreemists and the cycle continues.
Sadly the real solution is to let the situation deteriorate and eventualy there would be an uprising against the corruption , human rights abuses and economic disasters caused by the cycle of violence and mismanagement. At a certain point the people would blame the muslim radicals for their predicament. Sharon may have had this in mind when he pulled out of Gaza . Without the Israeli boogeyman who will the population turn to for jobs and a decent way of life including human rights.
Ultimately all radicals fail beacause throwing bombs much easier then developing an economy with such mundane tasks as Sanitation and basic health services.
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5 comments:
I believe that we differ from many adherents of Islam in our belief that G_g gave us free will and the ability to reason and choose, even make "bad" choices like sin, whereas Islam uses force (in direct opposition to reason and free will) to impose it's external belief's and idea's of what God's Will Is upon all. They believe that in so doing, they are performing G_d's Work. But is it?
Did G_d prevent man from eating of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? No, He punished him by making him live closer and more in tune with the Earth (like the snake). Sounds like a paradox for Islam and us.
They claim to know G_d's Will yet also that they have been banished from the Garden and thereby severed from Direct Knowledge and Communication with this Will. Mankind, banished for placing their own will above G_d's, and at the same time, being created in His Own Image, given freedom by Him to choose.
Did G_d give us spirit, reason, and mind to overcome our animal and bodily instincts? Did He give us instincts, body, and pain to overcome our spiritual and heavenly thoughts? Or did he give us Both so that we could survive and live to learn to harmonize body and Spirit by means of Reason that weighs and values through making choices, Good & Evil?
For one has to wonder. Why did He give us a "free" mind at all? For what Purpose? Why didn't He simply give us instincts, so that we could, like animals, simply eat of the Tree of Life? And why do Islamicists feel the need to do what G_d did not, prevent us from the exercise of our own free will?
G_d did not try and to re-create Heaven on earth, did He? Platonist's like myself believe that he "mixed" them. Body one part, Soul the other. And the Soul he gave us was "reasonable" AND "free". And that THAT is the way it should remain IF it is ever to return from which it came.
-FJ
Which Protestants? Being a once active Evangelical Lutheran (30+ years) I NEVER heard a single sermon dealing with Hell. Lots of Judgement Days. No Hell. Not once. They focused on the "lessons", "gospels", and sang LOTS of songs with psalms and lessons and gospels in them.
It was all BAIT fishing with G_d making sure the evil doer usually getting his come-uppin's in THIS world, one way or d'other. Sodom. Gomorrah.
Coercion is when you don't tell anybody whats going on. You keep the data from them or deliberately mis-inform them so that they act in a way that if they knew what they were doing, they would recoil in horror.
Christians tell people what they think they know. Nobody's there to force you to believe, and ACT on those beliefs. No mullah with a stick to beat you for NOT wearing a veil or removing your hat. They might lock you up to keep you from harming others, but they don't beat you till you put on a veil.
And if any of that DOES happen in a Christian society, you can BET that it is done at the behest of G_dless secular authorities.
-FJ
Ducky
I have zero problem with someone saying as an unbeliever that I am hell bound. The second one urges crimal acitivity or endagers my life and freedom that is a different story.
We all have a right to any non PC god. So you can worship Marx and I will stick with Col Saunders.
Praise the Colonel. Hmmm I wonder what the Col could do with a wahabi duck.
Please show me the Christian who sings cumbaya while pushing men off cruise ships in wheel chairs.
Ducky, I've been told that, as a Catholic, I'm going to burn in hell, any number of times.
I find it quite funny.
I find nothing at all funny about people that wish to kill me and destroy my country, especially as they have taken measures toward that end.
That you fail to see the difference says a lot about you, and why you believe the crap you do, and nothing about me!
Remember the children's chant "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me"? Mr. Ducky, you'd do well to remember that little sentence when you compare Christians, purveryors of words, with Islamists, purveyors of slaughter and of persecution.
Christians often tell others (sometimes even other Christians, as Warren has pointed out), "You are going to hell." But that's a far cry from flying planes into buildings or from pushing a man in a wheelchair overboard. Furthermore, most Christians bring up the threat of Judgment Day or of hell in order to encourage someone to exercise free will and choose salvation. After salvation is chosen, no further action is necessary except to live a Godly life. Of course, a few Christian nutcases have done terrible things (I'm speaking of recent times and don't have time to speak of some of the misconceptions regarding the Crusades), but mainstream Christianity strongly condemns such actions.
I know many pro-life Christians, but none of them believe that abortion-center bombers are following the teachings of the Bible. Contrast the condemnation of egregious acts on the part of "Christians" with the percentage of Muslims who, in some way, support the actions of terrorists, who scream "Allahu akbar!" as they commit mass murder or saw off people's heads.
Before someone else brings up Pat Robertson, I will. He said a stupid thing, and he has apologized for it. However, he was correct in that militant Communist Hugo Chavez is big trouble. I worry that, one day, the world is going to have to deal with Chavez--unless one of his fellow countryman assassinates him. Latin America is filled with such political violence, and it usually has no connection to Christianity.
AS FJ mentioned, modern Christianity puts great emphasis on man's free will. Islam, on the other hand, speaks much of "the will of Allah," and the Islamists then proceed to bring about what they interpret the will of Allah--the slaughter of infidels. I never hear Christians spout off about killing everyone who doesn't follow the faith; instead, Christians use the mission field.
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