‘Holy wars’:
Tagged: evangelicals Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
-
thabet
-
aziz
Evangelical organizations condemn the Qur’an burnings planned by a Florida church for the upcoming anniversary of 9-11.
I think the pressure is why the leader of the church in question now insists that he and his flock have “nothing against” muslims personally.
-
Crabby
Its the typical hate the sin, not the sinner… the sin being the faith of Islam.
-
Shams al-Nahar
yeah, the WECs still want to harvest your muslim soul for Baby Jesus.
Big White Christian Bwana never sleeps……he just takes old person naps.
-
-
mirelle
A federal judge in Wisconsin found the National Day of Prayer to be unconstitutional. The event was codified in US law after a campaign helmed by Billy Graham in 1952. In more recent years, the NDoP had pretty much been taken over by evangelical Christians to the exclusion of pretty much everyone else. The Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed suit and this is the result (pdf of decision, 66 pages). One of my legal buddies said this was a Big Win for the FFRF.
The nut of the decision is found at the top of page 4:
Unfortunately, § 119 cannot meet that test. It goes beyond mere “acknowledgment” of religion because its sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function in this context. In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience.
Pages 57-60 of the decision is a laundry list of news articles from (mostly) the 2008 NDoP, generally pointing out that the NDoP has pretty much become a captive of the Christian Right here in the USA. Jews, Muslims, non-Evangelical Christians, Hindus, Mormons, you name it, they’re all complaining about this. The judge remarks on page 60:
It is true that much of the controversy has been generated by events of private organizations such as the National Day of Prayer Task Force. However, government officials, including former Presidents, have sometimes aligned themselves so closely with those exclusionary groups that it becomes difficult to tell the difference between the government’s message and that of the private group.
[I think this is a comment about how closely entwined the previous administration had become with evangelicals, at least as far as this is concerned.]
And, despite all the hue and cry throughout the evangelical blogosphere that the NDoP has been “cancelled,” this decision is NOT enforced immediately (pp. 65-66):
3. Defendants are ENJOINED from enforcing 36 U.S.C. § 119. The injunction shall take effect at the conclusion of any appeals filed by defendants or the expiration of defendants’ deadline for filing an appeal, whichever is later.
I believe this judge has handed all sorts of evangelical groups a big gift in the form of ready-made fundraising appeals.
-
thabet
Rowan Williams has an argument which at least on front page contributor would agree with:
Dr Rowan Williams said it was right to be suspicious of proselytism that involves “bullying, insensitive approaches” to other faiths.
-
johnpi
Here’s the meat of Pat Robertson’s shameful comment about Haiti that you’ve probably already heard so much about:
“Something happened a long time ago in Haiti and people might not want to talk about. They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.’ True story. And so the devil said, ‘Ok it’s a deal.’ And they kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got something themselves free. But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another.”
I took this excerpt from an article titled, ‘Christian fundamentalists bring shame to America,’ which also makes this observation:
The Muslim world deals with this all the time. With 1.3 billion Muslims in the world over, even if only 3% are radical fundamentalists, their numbers are in the millions and they have come to represent the other 97%.
-
shams
They are not “Christian fundamentalists”, they are WHITE evangelical christians.
-
DavId Anthony Hohol
Ummm… there are Black Evangelists who are carbon copies of Robertson and spew the same crap, so I’m not sure why you brought up the whole WHITE thing. Although I would guess you are NOT WHITE. Christian Fundamentalist is a term widely used in North American media circles when referring to the likes of Robertson as well, although debating this is debating little more than just semantics. One could say say Christian religious nut-job, and it would mean the same thing.
-
Cheerfully Ignorant
Agreed, The women bobbing her head an agreement was an ignorant “black” woman.
-
-
johnpi
[Author Tom] Krattenmaker says the problem is that they’re reaching a sporting public with increasingly pluralistic religious convictions, or no religion at all.
“There are many secular fans who really feel annoyed by that kind of religious expression,” he said in an interview. “Even people who are religious themselves often resent this situation where athletes talk about God in this big moment of victory, sometimes seeming to imply God gave them the victory.”
But Tennessee Titans All-Pro center Kevin Mawae said his Christianity is part of who he is, and he can’t separate it from his life as an athlete or anywhere else.
“The fact that some people are jaded toward religion or faith shouldn’t stop a player from expressing his faith in public,” Mawae said.
There’s no intent to alienate people, only to share Biblical truth, said Vince Nauss, president of Baseball Chapel, which provides chaplains to every major league baseball team.
“If there’s an exclusivity, it’s because Jesus put it out there,” Nauss said. “So I don’t think there’s anything to apologize for, or to dance around in a politically correct environment.”
-
shams
Eventually the prancing and braying in the public square will poll as turning people off to sports, and they will stop.
As soon as the money talks, the WECs will walk. -
Pretty Pink Unicorns
“If there’s an exclusivity, it’s because Jesus put it out there,” Nauss said. “So I don’t think there’s anything to apologize for, or to dance around in a politically correct environment.”
Wow, way to be a dick.
-
-
buzz
Terry Gross interviews the author of a new book on a secretive Christian Fundamentalist group and its connections to government and foreign policy. I could not believe the reach these whackjobs have into congress nor their warped ideas of Christianity. They rival any terrorist group in their belligerent activities.
You may recognize these names from recent headlines: Sen. John Ensign, Rep. Bart Stupak and Rep. Joe Pitts. Stupak and Pitts have become familiar names through the media’s health care overhaul coverage; their abortion funding amendment introduced an 11th-hour twist as the House of Representatives approached a vote on a landmark health care bill.
Ensign was the focus of media attention over his affair with a campaign staffer. Just last night, a Nevada man disclosed that he found out about his wife’s affair with the state’s junior senator — his best friend — via a text message.
The common factor among these political players is their involvement with the Family, a secretive fellowship of powerful Christian politicians that centers on a Washington, D.C., townhouse. Investigative journalist Jeff Sharlet has written extensively about the influential group in his book The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power.
-
Shams al-Nahar
WECs.
-
Buzz
Uber-WECs. Scary crazy. I did not really believe these kind of people existed. Hagee I can understand. These people are way out there. Especially Coe.
-
-
-
johnpi
The liberal blogosphere is abloom with trenchant insight (and jokes) about the conservative Bible. I post this here for the mortification of the ever-vigilant Christianist stalkers who troll the Islamic blogs, awaiting an opportunity to wallow in their keenly felt sense of victimization.
Suggested conservative revisions from Salon:
Matthew 5:3-5: Blessed are the GOP, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn the death of Christmas, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the children of the rich, for — once Congress finally eliminates the Death Tax — they will inherit the earth.
Matthew 5:17: Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come to force trial lawyers to stop filing trivial lawsuits every time someone gets hurt and won’t take responsibility for themselves.
Matthew 5:21-22: You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, “You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.” But I tell you that a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, so git ‘er done.
What a wonderful way to throw light on the hypocrisy and religious distortions that have resulted from mixing right-wing politics with religion in America.
-
shams
Not mention the partywide intellectual devolution of selecting exclusively for people that believe in Young Earth Creationism and reject modern science and technology….
-
shams
Sarah 5:17: I can see the Rapture from my house!
-
johnpi
lol
-
aziz
omg lol
-
null
Hahaha. So good.
-
-
shams
And I looked, and behold a pale horse:
and his name that sat on him was DeathPanel,
and Sarah Palin followed with him.-
shams
original for the non-biblical
And I looked, and behold a pale horse:
and his name that sat on him was Death,
and Satan followed with him.I wonder if the rightwingers will notice the hypocrisy in their gleeful muslim-mocking during the cartoon controversy, and their butthurt victimhood over their well-deserved mockery in the conservapedia bible project.
-
-
Buzz
“Give a man a fish and you have made him dependent on bloated government programs. Give a multinational fishing conglomerate a huge subsidy and tax break and you no longer have to give the man a fish.”
-
Buzz
Happy is he who applies fuzzy math to corporate welfare programs.
-
willow
Man…you guys are good at this…
-
-
-
johnpi
Some more suggestions for the new conservative bible:
“And Sampson slew the Philistines with a jawbone of a stegosaurus”
“Jesus turned the water into napalm and laid waste to the Samaritans for what the Egyptians hath done”
“Woe be unto the Nazareth Post, for we countethed 13 million people at the Sermon on the Mount.”
“Go thou now and bomb the shit out of the swarthy”
“Jesus spake, ‘I hope those foreign bastards don’t translate my English into Greek.’
“And the Holy Spirit spake unto Mary, ‘Hast thou seen mine bald eagle etchings?’”
“Suffer the little children so their detained parents will talk.”
-
mark g
And if I blasphemed the Holy Qur’an like you just did my holy book, you would be offended and outraged. The double standard of some Islamic Jew and Christian bashers is comical. I know it goes both ways, but I thought maybe your site was at least an intelligent one.
-
johnpi
It is an excerpt from a secular leftist website in the US. You should follow the link to the General’s blog and engage him with your righteous Christian outrage…
-
shams
Yes! Go forth noble xian warrior and engage Jesus’ General in a battle of wits!
Oh darn….I forgot christians are unarmed in the wits department. -
shams
and we don’t bash Jews…..they all voted for Obama.
-
Naila
but I thought maybe your site was at least an intelligent one.
I am insulted. The man obviously does not read my posts. I single-handedly lower the collective IQ of this place. What gives, mark g?
(do noble xians get self-deprecating humor…especially those coming from oppressed, submissive Muslim females?)
-
-
-
buzz
Some red meat for Shams: In the news cycle today is word of a bible project to eliminate ‘liberal bias.’ The Conservative Bible Project sets forth the following guidelines:
1.Framework against Liberal Bias: providing a strong framework that enables a thought-for-thought translation without corruption by liberal bias
2.Not Emasculated: avoiding unisex, “gender inclusive” language, and other modern emasculation of Christianity
3.Not Dumbed Down: not dumbing down the reading level, or diluting the intellectual force and logic of Christianity; the NIV is written at only the 7th grade level[3]
4.Utilize Powerful Conservative Terms: using powerful new conservative terms as they develop;[4] defective translations use the word “comrade” three times as often as “volunteer”; similarly, updating words which have a change in meaning, such as “word”, “peace”, and “miracle”.
5.Combat Harmful Addiction: combating addiction by using modern terms for it, such as “gamble” rather than “cast lots”;[5] using modern political terms, such as “register” rather than “enroll” for the census
6.Accept the Logic of Hell: applying logic with its full force and effect, as in not denying or downplaying the very real existence of Hell or the Devil.
7.Express Free Market Parables; explaining the numerous economic parables with their full free-market meaning
8.Exclude Later-Inserted Liberal Passages: excluding the later-inserted liberal passages that are not authentic, such as the adulteress story
9.Credit Open-Mindedness of Disciples: crediting open-mindedness, often found in youngsters like the eyewitnesses Mark and John, the authors of two of the Gospels
10.Prefer Conciseness over Liberal Wordiness: preferring conciseness to the liberal style of high word-to-substance ratio; avoid compound negatives and unnecessary ambiguities; prefer concise, consistent use of the word “Lord” rather than “Jehovah” or “Yahweh” or “Lord God.”[Insert pithy quip here]
-
Shams al-Nahar
reading the finished product will kill brain cells….like conservatives have any to spare.
Consider……what 40 years of memetic selection for individuals either too IQ-challenged or too uneducated to understand theory of evolution has done to the conservative base.
Inverse Social Darwinism, aka selection for stupid. -
Buzz
#6 is great:
Accept the Logic of Hell: applying logic with its full force and effect, as in not denying or downplaying the very real existence of Hell or the Devil.
Use all your rational faculties and common sense to finally conclude and admit that you are being chased down by a super-natural being who is red, had horns and carries a triad. Fear him!
-
abunoor
I believe that both hell (Jahannam) and the devil (Al-Shaytan) are real, and I am not in any way a conservative…
-
shams
Got you beat, Abunoor.
I believe in the Jinn and in maarifa.
-
shams, 
Null, 
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee, and 3 others are discussing. 
Crabby are discussing. 
Buzz and 
Naila, 
johnpi, and 1 other are discussing. 
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee 9:47 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
I saw this movie at ISNA.
Willow 11:39 pm on August 30, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Is it any good?
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee 12:12 pm on August 31, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
It was very interesting to me, although others experience may vary.
Null 2:41 am on August 31, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Are you the “radical Irish Muslim convert”?
Dan 10:17 am on August 31, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Khalid Kelly is the same nutcase that was part of al-Muhajiroun in the UK.
thabet 11:06 am on August 31, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Yep. I thought I had seen him before.
He was profiled in the Irish Times last month.
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee 12:21 pm on August 31, 2010 Permalink
Actually , this was the most fascinating part of the film for me. You could tell that the filmmaker really kinda liked Khalid Kelly and he was trying to communicate a sympathetic portrait of him. Kelly, of course, for the most part, wanted to use the film to get out his message and he tried to stay “on message,” and obviously when he’s doing nothing but spouting the AlMuhajiroun line its hard to relate to him as a person. But the filmmaker spends enough time with him and tells the story in such a way that at least I really did feel an affection for him, although I wished that he would grow a little past the stage he was at…I don’t mean that to sound condescending but it is what it is that’s my take more so than just dismissing him as a nutcase or evil.
Abu Noor Al-Irlandee 12:13 pm on August 31, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Null, you’re not the first person to wonder that. But no, I am just a “radical Irish(-American) Muslim convert,” not the one in the film.
Null 1:32 pm on August 31, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
How many of you guys are there?!
shams 6:14 pm on August 31, 2010 Permalink
legion.