Christian contradiction

just in case there are some folks smugly smiling the 'I told you so'

thing over my last posting,I thought I would update with another event

from yesterday

you can read more HERE

Islam struggling to survive

LiveJournal Tags: Islam,fatwa,Beslan,Darul Uloom,hadith,Qu'rn,Imam

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Comments have appeared previously in this blog concerning
the 'hijacking of Islam', and there is no doubt that the honour
and purity of Islam suffered a grievous wound on 11th September
2001.

The integrity of Islam,however,received a mortal blow at Beslan.

Throughout this blog,over these years, I have sought to demonstrate
the contradictions within faiths of all kinds and have especially sought
to counteract the amazingly distorted proclamations of many religions
that were based upon spurious and dubious interpretations of old
(and somewhat mystic) writings.

My main argument with Islam is the deafening silence of the Imams
and persons of high,even royal,influence within the Islamic world on
the subject of jihadist violence based,not on the Koran, but on extreme
interpretations of not always clearly translated hadiths. In the absence
of outrage at the murder of innocents, the imprisonment torture and
execution of even children..in the absence of that outrage,
silence becomes approval!

It appears that Islam is now beginning to understand it's loss of influence
in the lives of ordinary,decent,compassionate & peace loving Muslims
(which are,by far,the great majority of Islam and for whom I have love
and respect). In India,yesterday, 6000 muslim clerics issued a FATWA 
against terrorism. Amongst it's words were:

"Islam rejects all kinds of unjust violence, breach of peace, bloodshed,
murder and plunder and does not allow it in any form"......... the fatwa
written at the Darul Uloom Deoband, India's foremost Islamic seminary.
The Darul Uloom is one of the most revered Islamic centres in the world.

Here,at last, an authoritative and  respected centre of Islamic knowledge,
has made a clearly unambigious  (?) declaration...yet as with so many of
these 'fatwas' there is always an inherent stumbling block (as there also is
in many so-called Christian pronouncements). In this fatwa it is found
in the word 'unjust'


Why is it always so hard to simply say 'The One God is a God of
unconditional lovingness and violence against each other is a
denial of that lovingness,ergo,is not from God" ?

Is this too much to expect from any "religious expression" ?

In God's name........?

Researchers at Oxford University have compiled a list of the

top 10 most irritating phrases.

These are,apparently,as follows:

The top ten most irritating phrases:

1 - At the end of the day

2 - Fairly unique

3 - I personally

4 - At this moment in time

5 - With all due respect

6 - Absolutely

7 - It's a nightmare

8 - Shouldn't of

9 - 24/7

10 - It's not rocket science

(this list as published in the Daily Telegraph ).

 

Personally, the one that irritates me the most is that one

which implies that one person or another (usually clerics

of whatever faith,but occasionally politicians) has some

'special relationship', elitist position, unique insight, into

God's will for humanity.I find it irritating because,more often

than not, their claim is refuted by their actions!

If it isn't loving,forgiving,compassionate,enduring,......it almost

certainly derives it's origin from a human source that is somewhat

disconnected from it's divine linkage.

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del.icio.us Tags: God,evangelical,eschatology,genocide,racism,priest sexual abuse,jihad

Come fly with me...............

The other day I got an e-mail message saying simply this: Rosa Parks sat in 1955. Martin Luther King walked in 1963. Barack Obama ran in 2008. That our children might fly.

from an article by one of my favourites,Roger Cohen,NYT.

President Elect Barack Obama

Technorati Tags: President elect Obama,HuffingtonPost,Gallnas,Bengtsfors,Sweden

HuffingtonPost.com had a fantastic election page also with various 'election data widgets' from other sources,like MSNBC,DailyKos,

Google,CNN,etc. So I was 'stuck' at HuffingtonPost.com for all my data. Here's their headline,up at 04-05 am Swedish time

F1 World Champion

Lewis Hamilton wins the 2008 F1 title and becomes youngest world champion

One of US.......USA and world

for more of these pictures (from AP and Ghetty) of Obama in the rain

go to HuffingtonPost

I guess it's not hard to see who I support

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An important 'insider' perspective

Mosab Hassan Yousef is an extraordinary young man with an extraordinary story. He was born the son of one of the most influential leaders of the militant Hamas organization in the West Bank and grew up in a strict Islamic family.
Now, at 30 years old, he attends an evangelical Christian church, Barabbas Road in San Diego, Calif. He renounced his Muslim faith, left his family behind in Ramallah and is seeking asylum in the United States

You can read the full interview/story here:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,402483,00.html

It is a very interesting article
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Indivisibility of Integrity
In the article mentioned in the previous blog entry,Roger Cohen used a very
interesting phrase 'the indivisibility of integrity'

Indivisibility: incapable of being divided,split,seperated
integrity: "One can describe a person as having integrity to the extent that everything that that person does derives from the same core set of values. While those values may change, their consistency with each other and with the person's actions determine the person's degree of integrity.
Some commentators stress the idea of integrity as personal honesty: acting according to one's beliefs and values at all times" Wikipedia

Thus it was well said that 'by their fruits ye shall know them",in other words a person's actions manifest their core values, their personal beliefs,their honesty, their respect for others.
Here is a fool-proof system for assessing the validity of another's words, be it a priest,politician,guru,imman, - indeed anyone.

It is in our actions and inter-actions that we define our own self-belief, our own self-standard. Therefore it was also said "to thine own self be true". Compromise your standards of self and you cease to be yourself but become shaped and formed by the desires and/or standards of others.

We have only ONE responsibility in life. To be the best 'self' that we can be as defined by our OWN standards.
When we allow our spirit to speak to our consciousness - and this voice is heard above all other voices - we bear only the fruits of lovingness
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LESSONS OF WAR

We exist in a cocoon of armchair observation. Well many do and I am one of them. Life,country,religion has never required of me that I must go to war. I am of a blessed generation living in a blessed area of the world. Whatever I could say,therefore,about war, about my deep idealism towards pacifism and yet my logical awereness of the need for reality in these issues, pales into insignificance when confronted with a sober,intelligent and 'objective' essay. An essay that can find these things in the midst of war:

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the stubbornness of love
the fierceness of moral clarity
the quietness of courage
the indivisibility of integrity and the importance of

a single dissenting voice

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My words are simply opinions. The words of Roger Cohen are insightful and clearly deeply-caring observations that have an authority which commands respect.

You can read his full 'essay' here:

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/opinion/24cohen.html?hp

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Let us remember,as we read, the emotional and intellectual trauma that lingers like a cess-pit stench even in the heart and mind of a trained observer when confronted by the horrors of war - and not least the 'intellectual gymnastics' (that offend every moral fibre of our being) performed by many who wage war.

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When someone attempts to encourage us to hate - or be intolerant - it is well to remember where that journey ends......

For so often, so tragically often, it is the children that pay the highest price for our foolishness

This young boy (13) was executed in Srebrenica. He was of the 'wrong religion' in the 'wrong place' at the 'wrong time'........ but there can never be a justification for the wrong that was done to him.

Did the previous picture of children parading in terrorist style depress you?

Are you just going through a 'depressive patch' in your life at this time?

Got that,'why do I bother feeling?'.

Well,hey,just think about grass (no not the smoking kind). It's summer and we keep cutting it...what if the grass said 'Oh,heck,why do I bother?'

If this comment doesn't inspire you then go here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wbUcfL9BQhk&NR=1

and watch this

His name is George Sampson, he's just 14...he didn't give up the previous year and won the contest his second year. He's a nice guy...and you should Google him to learn something of his life. Not such an easy life,but that didn't stop him.

There's inspiration all around, often in the most unlikely forms, for those who are willing to simply see.

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Lovingness is our natural state.

Hate,prejudice,intolerance....these are things that result

from conditioning or from a questionable "well-intentioned"

and misguided teaching.

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The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the
utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer
and richer experience.

Eleanor Roosevelt

"Jimmy taught us all to let anger and hate go, look deep
in your heart and the love will flow".

Sometimes somebody says something that hits right into our hearts.
The power of these words is hugely magnified,however,when you
consider that the family of 16 year old Jimmy Mizen say these words
at Jimmy's funeral.Jimmy was murdered just 500 metres from his home
and was an exceptional light of lovingness in his short life.

The above words have a power beyond death.

You can see more about this here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/7464972.stm
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There are those for whom LOVE is the expectation that another
will bring them happiness.For these LOVE is reduced to a need.

There are others for whom LOVE is the sharing of their own
happiness. For these LOVE has become an ectstasy.

gg

"Here, the past always buries the future, not the other way "

Thomas L Friedman, New York Times columnist
An article observing the unprogressive attitudes in Middle Easterncountries.

It's so easy to 'rest in our past' than accept the challenge and
excitement of every new day. It's a trap we can all fall into!

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The clarity of One-ness
Worship is a wonderful thing for many people. It is uplifting.
It is inspiring.
Generally speaking, the more we put into worship - the
sincerity with which we pray, the enthusiasm with
which we sing, the studied concentration with which we
listen - the more we receive from it.

That's a basic law of life - the more we put into it, the more
we receive from it.

But I cannot help thinking that worship can be a self-rewarding
scenario and has little to do with pleasing, honouring, a
perception of God. Or it can be a ritualistic rhythm of conformity
in religio-politico societies.

Would it not be more 'self rewarding' to do an action of
kindness or display an ernestness of compassion without
placing upon another the 'burden of gratitude'?

Would this not be a truly worthy offering to any
perception of Divinity?

In other words, worship can be a 'strength builder', a
means of focusing. Yet worship in and of itself is not
a substitute. For a moment of kindliness,compassion,
unconditional lovingness is a melody of worship of
the highest calibre.

"If you do it to the least of my brethren,you do it unto me"

Islam re-orientating?
Since this blog started 7 years ago,I have on many occasions
protested the distortion of spiritual insights by so called 'religious
leaders/scholars/preachers/Immams'. I have particulary and specifically
tried to show that 'fatwas' and 'jihads' are,generally, socio-political
tools derived from highly questionable 'interpretations' of ancient
texts/quotations. This campaign for 'religious accuracy' has nothing
to do with a specific religion (see also my blogs on,for example,
The Vatican's distortions). It has to do with TRUTH. Spiritual TRUTH.

Today, here, appears an interesting report documenting efforts within
Islam by moderates to reclaim the beauty of Islam and transform it
from the religion of terror and oppression which Jihadists and power
hungry Immams have created into it's original concepts of lovingness.

Here are some excerpts from the well-worth-reading article:

"Back in the mid-1990s, Osama bin Laden had a problem, and it was Islam. He
wanted to say the Qur'an gave his followers license to kill innocents—and
themselves—in the cause of "jihad." That was how he could justify his global
campaign of terror. But that's not what the Muslim holy book says,
and that's not the way it was interpreted by any of the great
scholars and preachers of the faith.(see this blog as recently
as 22 April on this subject)
Once sympathetic publics in the Middle East and South Asia are growing
disillusioned
Momentum is building within the Muslim world to re-examine what had
seemed immutable tenets of the faith, to challenge what had been taken
as literal truths and to open wide the doors of interpretation (ijtihad)
that some schools of Islam tried to close centuries ago".

Differing cultures,differing traditions,differing languages are all used by
the One God to disseminate spiritual truths that speak to the individual's heart
in a comprehensible manner. Conformity is not an option if you truly believe
in the awesome power of lovingness.Nor is any proclamation that does
not speak of love.

I wish all, who seek to speak with loving and compassionate hearts about a
perception of LOVE and healing as an active force in society,every success in
their endeavours to celebrate the differences that are the expressions of
uniqueness.

If one man gains spiritually, the whole world gains with him.

Mahatma Gandhi

(photo courtesy:http://www.themothersunion.org/worship.aspx)