Culture Clash

Responsibility Hypocrisy

Six days after the destruction of the world trade center towers, President Bush visited the Islamic Center in Washington “to denounce incidents of prejudice against Muslim Americans.” He was attempting to defuse the national outrage against the attackers and prevent a violent backlash against Muslims living in America.

Since then, government leaders and the media have worked hard at establishing in our minds that most Muslims are peace-loving and the terrorists are fringe extremists.

But the line between the two remains very blurred. “Unfortunately, it is not so easy to find Muslim leaders who have genuinely renounced violent jihad and any intention, now or in the future, to impose Sharia (Muslim Law) on non-Muslim countries,” writes Robert Spencer, author of several books on Islam. (From some random post on Myspace.com)

The thing about this is that Muslims speak out against terrorism all the time but what more do we want them to do? It's like we expect them to form their own anti-terrorist terrorist group to terrorize the terrorists because after all Muslims are supposed to be violent so why can't the moderates be violent against the extremists...sounds ridiculous when you actually say it out loud but I believe this is what a lot of people are thinking.

Also on the other hand, when the shoe is on the other foot and Christians are fucking shit up no one expects the Christians to stand up against their extremist compatriots because when it comes to Christians we can draw a distinction between the two sides but with Muslims we tend to think of them as all one congruent group.

The facts are that a lot of moderate Christians actively detest extremist Christianity as do many Muslims detest extremist Islam (and even die for it) but the difference is that we as a society don't expect the Christians to be obligated to do so but feel that it is absolutely the Muslims responsibility to do so.

Re: Good Old Christian Terrorism

This is a response to a blog...actually it is more of a response to the responses of that blog...Click title above for original blog...

I follow Abrahamic scripture. I am not Jewish, Christian or Muslim yet at the same time, in a sense, I am all three. I know, sounds contradictory, but it works for me.

With that said, it astonishes me how so many of the faithful from any religion can claim to be so tolerant and yet in actions and words prove that they are not?

It amazes me how when someone from one’s own religion commits a heinous act that somehow they must not be true believers of that religion…yet when someone from another religion commits a heinous act that is just proof of what the other religion is really about?

It is a false belief that any one religion is about peace or violence. When it comes to the Abrahamic faiths it is both about peace and violence. It is obvious from the Torah, Bible and Qur’an that God states there is time for peace and time for violence. Destroying whole towns? Soddom & Gomorah? That was terrorism right there! Right and wrong is a human invention separate from God. Yahweh/Allah is a God of peace and violence as it serves His purposes.

As I have stated, I believe in the God of Abraham but I do not believe that my way is the only way and I derive this belief from scripture…the same scriptures that many that believe in the same God as I seem to miss. God works in mysterious ways so who am I to question?

At one time I was an agnostic with atheist leanings…I did not appreciate back then when the religious would try to convert me. As now as a religious person I still do not appreciate it…you see, no matter how religious you are, even if you are of the same basic belief system as them they will still try to convert you to their exact way of believing. I do not try to convert others so do not try to convert me…I am open to sharing and if what you have to say is truly the one and only way then your attempts at conversion would not be necessary…I would be compelled to believe, wouldn’t I?

Christiane Amanpour; Radical Muslim

Reporter Christiane Amanpour worked on a three-part documentary series last year titled "God's Warriors". The program was basically about extremism within the three major Abrahamic religions, i.e. Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Well, of course after this program aired all the racist, prejudiced and xenophobic bloggers came out of the woodwork to condemn her work. Mrs. Amanpour and CNN (the station that aired the program) were criticized for having an Arabic Muslim, who by ethnicity and religion must be biased and why did they not have a Jew report on Jewish extremism and a Christian report on Christian extremism (although they believe there is no such thing and is only inherent in the Muslim religion!)

The funny thing here is, and this is where the prejudice comes in, i.e. to PRE-JUDGE, in this case based on skin color (racism) and geographic origin (xenophobia). Christiane Amanpour is neither Arabic nor Muslim, she is PERSIAN by ethnicity and a CHRISTIAN by faith. In fact being among the Christian minority in Iran she knows first-hand about Islamic extremism from the victims' side of the fence. And she undoubtedly knows now all too well about Christian prejudice, ignorance and intolerance!

These people will claim that they are not racist, xenophobic or in any other way prejudice, however, their ignorant assumptions shows them as otherwise. Don't get me wrong! We are all human and prone to make mistakes and assumptions about others based on past experience or when there is insufficient evidence to the contrary. BUT! In this case there are plenty of clues to her real ethnicity and her true religion.

Let us look at a few of these clues, shall we?

1. Her first name is not Arabic/Islamic it is FRENCH and IN FACT is a variation of CHRISTIAN, as in CHRIST!

2. Her last name is not Arabic or Islamic, it is PERSIAN!

3. She attended the CHRISTIAN schools Holy Cross Covenant & New Hall which is a Roman CATHOLIC school.

4. Her family was forced to flee Iran when it BECAME AN ISLAMIC STATE.

5. If she was Muslim, as a woman she would only be allowed to marry a Muslim man, HOWEVER, she is married to a man who has a decidedly UNISLAMIC name.

6. Her child has a curiously UNISLAMIC name.

7. Her sister has a curiously UNISLAMIC name.

8. Her mother is a CHRISTIAN.

I mean, nothing about her says "I am a Muslim" other than the fact that her father is a Muslim, who was evidently such an extremist radical that he married a Christian woman and allowed his children to be raised Christian. Those damn Muslims won't stop until we've all converted to Christianity!

RE: Is Islam a religion of peace?

Ever since 9/11 this question has been asked over & over again. Asked rhetorically and sarcastically by the Right and others who believe Islam is a religion absolutely founded in violence. Asked by the Left and other Liberals as a set-up to espouse their "Why can't we all get along?" inter-faith, cross-cultural ideology. And many Muslims answer, in blind defense of their religion, that Islam is indeed absolutely a religion of peace.

The honest truth is that Islam is a religion of peace and violence...just like Christianity and Judaism and just about any other religion in the World. Yet why is Islam singled out for such scrutiny? I understand that recent events, including 9/11, has put Islam in the spotlight so it is understandable that it would be scrutinized. My question, though, is why the hypocrisy and the double-standards when speaking on Islam? Why are all the atrocities commited in the name of Christianity not allowed in the discussion as if they have no bearing on what true Christianity is? Yet when it comes to Islam any and every heinous act commited by a Muslim is to be taken as indicative of what true Islam is all about?

Why?