* Foolish & arrogant Christian Evangelicals, always at it ...

gapingvoid.com

Ad Targeting Jews For Conversion 'Offensive And Insulting'

New York, NY, March 28, 2008 … A statement by an Evangelical Christian group which defends targeting Jews for conversion by Christians who grew up as Jews, was labeled "offensive and insulting," by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

Sponsored by the World Evangelical Alliance, "The Gospel and the Jewish People: An Evangelical Statement," appeared as a full-page advertisement in the March 28 edition of The New York Times. ADL said the statement validates and defends those who converted from Judaism to Christianity for using their religious and cultural Jewish experience as tools to proselytize Jews, such as Jews for Jesus and so-called "Messianic Jews."

Also see:
WEA launches huge campaign to `persuade` Jews to accept Jesus (ADL condemns move) www.israelenews.com

"[The ad is] really saying that Judaism has no right to exist, and that basically all Jews should become Christians. Scholars call this the attitude of supersessionism -- the view that Christianity has [replaced] Judaism." www.nationalpost.com

Full-page New York Times ad sneers at Jews

On March 28, 2008, a statement, entitled "The Gospel and the Jews" and drafted by the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), appeared as a full-page ad in the New York Times.

While asserting that they have a "genuine friendship and love for the Jewish people," the statement's authors suggest that the best way of expressing this passion is "to forthrightly share the love of God in the person of Jesus Christ." According to the statement, "it is only through Jesus that all people can receive eternal life. If Jesus is not the Messiah of the Jewish people, He cannot be the Savior of the World (Acts 4:12)."

Therefore, the statement reasons, "it is good and right for those with specialized knowledge, history and skills to use these gifts to introduce individuals to the Messiah, and that includes those ministries specifically directed to the Jewish people."

* UK charity sued over killing of cow ...

Hindustan Times
Vijay Dutt, London
March 28, 2008

"Hindu leaders and monks, angered by Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) slaughter of its sacred cow, have served legal papers for trespassing when they put down temple’s sacred cow Gangotri on December 13, 2007.

"Campaigners from the Bhaktivedanta Manor Hindu temple in Hertfordshire claimed that the “mercy killing” was illegal and took place while monks were at worship. The charity was in negotiations with the temple for weeks over the slaughter of the 13-year-old cow because it had a broken leg and had bedsores.

"The move has been endorsed by most major Hindu organisations. This unprecedented act of serving a legal notice to the RSPCA headquarters in West Sussex has surprised the authorities.

"Gauri Das, President of Bhaktivedanta Manor, who led the team of monks serving the legal notice told HT that “The Hindu community in Britain is appalled by the lack of integrity in their behaviour. … No compensation will be adequate to address the loss of Gangotri, whose life was taken through deception and damaged the feelings of our faith community.”

"Das added, “Qualified vets who were caring for Gangotri never thought she should be killed. But what is shocking is that the RSPCA, without any form of apology or remorse, now suddenly started writing to Hindu community leaders inviting them for a round table meeting.”

"The agitation has been going on since December. There were protests outside the RSPCA’s headquarters on December, 26 and another demonstration took outside Parliament Square and the DEFRA offices on February 13.

"Last year, Shambo, a bull kept at Skanda Vale religious community near Carmarthen made headlines when he was slaughtered in July after testing positive for bovine TB. Two other animals from the same temple were also put down soon after Shambo’s death."

*If the cows were suffering or if there was a danger to humans in some way, I agree with the RSPCA. If not, this is an even sadder story. ~ BlogHer

* TIME Magazine Quote of the Day

Friday, Mar. 28, 2008

"Any reasonable person can see this is meant to spit in the face of Muslims and insult our religion."

• ARSALAN IFTIKHAR
• contributor to Washington-based Islamica Magazine, on the release of Fitnah, the anti-Islam film by Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders

Christian Tolerance?

“Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by difference of sentiment in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be deprecated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy which has marked the present age would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination, so far that we should never again see their religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”

~ George Washington, letter to Sir Edward Newenham, Oct. 20, 1792.

Source for most of the biographical discussion of Washington's religion is The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents, From Washington To F.D.R., by Franklin Steiner.

Today, there are many ways of classifying the over 1,000 Christian faith groups in North America:

By denomination
Into three or four meta-groups (e.g. Roman Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican)
By theological belief system (Calvinism, Arminianism, etc.)
By religious family, (Baptist, Lutheran, Pentecostal, etc.), and
By "wing." The conservative, mainline, and liberal wings of Protestantism are described here.

	Introduction: Fragmentation of Christianity from one to thousands of faith groups
	Criteria for selecting the "true" church Using Jesus' statements and how he treated outcasts as a guide Using Jesus' disciples and church success as guide; Conclusions
	The view of an evangelical Christian (an essay donated by William Taylor Sr.)
	The beliefs of some Mormons
	The current teachings of the Roman Catholic Church

This lack of consensus is so extreme that sincerely and devoutly held beliefs by very liberal Christians may well be considered blasphemy by very conservative Christians, and vice-versa. One result is that some Christians view Christianity as a collection of religions, not as a single religion.

* Ram sez, "Let my people go."

Hindu Extremists in India Forcibly ‘Re-Convert’ Christians

Believers lured to temple in Himachal Pradesh, pressured to deny their faith.

by Surinder Kaur Lal

... “I was forced to participate in the Hindu rituals, and I could not resist the force in the temple because of the massive crowd surrounding us,” he said. As part of the purification ceremony, Christians were made to have their feet washed and to drink Gangajal, the water of the River Ganges ... Christian News Report

Divisions in Our World are Not the Result of Religion: Interview With Karen Armstrong

The American Muslim (TAM)
by Andrea Bistirch
Posted Feb 25, 2008

KAREN ARMSTRONG: "The divisions in our world are not the result of religion or of culture, but are politically based. There is an imbalance of power in the world, and the powerless are beginning to challenge the hegemony of the Great Powers, declaring their independence of them-often using religious language to do so. A lot of what we call “fundamentalism” can often be seen as a religious form of nationalism, an assertion of identity. The old 19th-century European nationalist ideal has become tarnished and has always been foreign to the Middle East. In the Muslim world people are redefining themselves according to their religion in an attempt to return to their roots after the great colonialist disruption."

Armstrong's solutions:

"A revised foreign policy. A solution in Israel/Palestine that gives security to the Israelis and justice and autonomy to the Palestinians. No more support of corrupt, dictatorial regimes. A just solution to the unfolding horror in Iraq, which has been a “wonderful” help to groups like Al-Qaeda, playing right into their hands. No more situations like Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo Bay. Money poured into Afghanistan and Palestine. A solution to Kashmir. No more short-term solutions for cheap oil. In Iraq and in Lebanon last summer we saw that our big armies are no longer viable against guerrilla and terror attacks. Diplomacy is essential. But suspicion of the West is now so entrenched that it may be too late." Read full article ...

* Prayer for Conversion of Jews Remains Troubling Despite Vatican Changes

New York, NY, February 5, 2008 …. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) said the Vatican's changes to the Latin Good Friday prayer for the conversion of Jews amount to "cosmetic revisions" and the prayer remains "deeply troubling" because it calls for Jews to "acknowledge Jesus Christ as the savior of all men."

*Grrrr ... this is troubling to me.

A.N.S.W.E.R. Florida

FAU Employee spits on Muslim student: Why won’t FAU condemn racism and discrimination on campus?

On October 30^th, 2007 FAU students and members of the community united to protest against the hateful and racist ideas of Daniel Pipes, who was invited by Middle East and National Security (MEANS), a student organization at FAU. The students conducted a silent protest and held banners that resembled the ideas they wanted to portray to the audience” signs read “No to racism, No to Xenophobic speech”, “Spread love, not hate”, and “Guilty cause I’m Muslim?” while standing quietly and respectfully with their banners, students faced harassment by several members of the Pipes audience who yelled “Go back to your country”, “I see you ready for Halloween” while pointing to a woman wearing a Hijab (headscarf), and “You don’t belong here”.

One of the audience members, an FAU employee, went so far as to spit on one of the Muslim students ...

We see this hate incident not as the act of one intolerant employee but rather as an atmosphere on the FAU campus where openly expressing anti-Muslim sentiment has become acceptable. The university must provide cultural tolerance training to everyone employed by the university. The training should be focused on creating an atmosphere of real cultural acceptance and understanding. More ...

*Good Morning, America. Religion isn't going away anytime soon.Dr. Eboo Patel wants for us to get along.

The Interfaith Youth Core was presented today on ABC's Good Morning America with Robin Roberts in her series, The Many Faces of Faith, as follows.

January 25, 2008

TRANSCRIPT

ROBIN ROBERTS (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) We are the most religiously diverse nation in the world, a nation of Christians and Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, hundreds of thousands of young people of faith, trying to make sense of a world where religion is too often used as an excuse for violence and hate.

GRAPHICS: THE MANY FACES OF FAITH

GRAPHICS: DO KIDS IDENTIFY THEMSELVES BY FAITH?

DOCTOR EBOO PATEL (AUTHOR)

How can we, as a group of people from different religious backgrounds, proud of our religious heritage, come together to build understanding and serve others? Because isn't that what, what I feel is the deepest, most powerful part of my faith as a Muslim? Isn't that what you feel as the deepest and most powerful part of your faith as a Jew, as a Hindu or as a Christian? [**Note: Patel's book, an autobiography, has received highly favorable reviews at Amazon. Sounds like another must-read.]

ROBIN ROBERTS (ABC NEWS)

(Voiceover) For Eboo Patel, the answer to that question was to form a youth group, a movement he calls it, the Interfaith Youth Core, which brings religiously diverse young people together to work with and learn from each other.

Good Morning America (Full Transcript)

*I wonder if there is a secular counterpart to what Dr. Patel is doing? Do we need one? But something like he is doing might help ease the friction between religionists and secularists? ~ BlogHer

The Taboo on Islamic Apostasy in the Netherlands:
The Ex-Muslim Committee under attack

By Floris van den Berg

A new act in the tragedy of Islam and the open society is now playing in Europe. In several European countries Ex-Muslim Committees are being or have been founded. There is a lot of resistance from both Muslims and non-Muslim naivists. In Germany, Mina Ahadi (www.minaahadi.com) takes the lead in the Ex-Muslim Committee (www.ex-mulime.de). Because of death threats, she is now in hiding. On September 11, 2007, the Committee of Ex-Muslims will be founded in the Netherlands. Though the Committee has not yet been established officially, a clash has already taken place. Ehsan Jami, a twenty-one-year-old member of the Dutch Labor Party (PvdA), publicly stated that he is an apostate (though not an atheist), and he criticized Islam and Mohammed. “Allah is a cruel and tyrannical god,” says Jami. Since he made these public statements, he has been threatened and recently has been molested by three young Muslims. Now Jami is in hiding under police protection. Jami and the Ex-Muslim Committee are being supported by the same intellectuals who backed Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh, foremost apostate Afshin Ellian (Fellow of CFI/Low Countries). And the same public figures oppose this initiative who earlier criticized Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Theo van Gogh. They attack Jami with the same argument: it is the tone of the debate that they criticize because, these critics say, the tone of the statements against Islam is what angers Muslims. There is a strong plea for self-censorship not to criticize Islam. It is perfectly accepted by these critics to bash Christianity, but criticizing Islam is taboo. So, these public intellectuals side with the fundamentalists. They should realize that if the fundamentalists were to gain power, these naivists will also be their enemies. If the Netherlands were to become an Islamic theocracy—liberal Muslims, naivists, liberals and humanists all—would be severely restrained in their freedom. While the naivists clearly see the evils of Christianity, they are blind to the dark side of Islam. This reminds me of Sartre who claimed to be a humanist and an advocate of individual freedom and criticized religion and paternalism in France, but was blind for the evils of communism in the Soviet Union and China. The Dutch public intellectuals all know about Sartre, but apparently they have not learned his lesson.

What is much worse than this plea for self-censorship is that some of these relativistic, malicious naivists go so far as to say that Jami himself is to blame. It is a variant of the mini-skirt fallacy: “The woman who was raped was wearing a mini skirt, therefore she asked for it!” The public debate is turbid because, when the media ask (Dutch) Muslims about apostasy, the answer usually is that it is a private and individual choice. No Muslim says in public that apostasy should be punished with capital punishment. The same is said about homosexuality and Islam. Though publicly Muslims do not advocate violence against homosexuals, the number of incidents of homosexuals being molested by Muslims is rising rapidly. However, Jami did receive numerous (death) threats from Muslims because of his public statement of apostasy and his critique on Islam. Islam is a prison: if you happen to be born in it, you cannot escape. Being Muslim is a life-long sentence. Not a well-informed, autonomous, rational choice. Only if you are religiously naïve can you manage to neglect that there is a problem with leaving Islam even in a society as open as the Netherlands. Jami is a new voice in the choir of critics of Islam: Van Gogh was murdered, Hirsi Ali has left for the United States, Jami is in hiding.

Dutch freethought association De Vrije Gedachte has publicly backed the Ex-Muslim Committee. Even the less outspoken Humanistisch Verbond has welcomed the Ex-Muslim Committee. We humanists should hope that ex-Muslims will find their way to the freethinkers and humanists.

*Floris van den Berg is a philosopher and Executive Director of CFI Low Countries. He can be e-mailed at florisvandenberg@dds.nl.

The Bombing of Nagasaki August 9, 1945: The Untold Story

By Gary G. Kohls

08/09/07 "Lew Rockwell" --- 62 years ago, on August 9th, 1945, the second of the only two atomic bombs (a plutonium bomb) ever used as instruments of aggressive war (against essentially defenseless civilian populations) was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, by an all-Christian bomb crew. The well-trained American soldiers were only "doing their job," and they did it efficiently.

...

A large portion of the responsibility for the prevention of military atrocities like Nagasaki lies within the organized Christian churches and whether or not they soon start teaching and living what the radical nonviolent Jesus taught and lived.

The next Nagasaki can be prevented if the churches finally heed Jesus’ call to nonviolence and refuse their government’s call for the bodies and souls of their sons and daughters.

Full article ...



My question is: would atheists/agnostics have created this horror?

Jewish World Review August 2, 2007 / 18 Menachem-Av, 5767

GROW UP, MIDDLE EAST!

By Victor Davis Hanson

Radical Islamists love to scream about the "decadent" West.
Everything from our operas to our attitudes about women outrage
these loud pious critics.

As part of their condemnation, fundamentalist Muslims say they put a higher premium on family values and reverence for the past than crass modern Americans and Europeans do. But that is hardly true.

Full article ...

* Islamophobia ~ A Brillant Term

Why "Islamophobia" Is a Brilliant Term

by Dennis Prager
July 31, 2007

"Whoever coined the term "Islamophobia" was quite shrewd. Notice the intellectual sleight of hand here. The term is not "Muslim-phobia" or "anti-Muslimist," it is Islam-ophobia -- fear of Islam -- yet fear of Islam is in no way the same as hatred of all Muslims. One can rightly or wrongly fear Islam, or more usually, aspects of Islam, and have absolutely no bias against all Muslims, let alone be a racist." Full article ...

* "The Origins of Religious Violence" by Nick Gier ~ Which Religion has Killed the Most Human Beings?

By Nick Gier, New West Unfiltered 6-06-07

RELATIVE VIOLENCE IN ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY

Nick Gier, Professor Emeritus, University of Idaho

"I'm writing a book on the origins of religious violence and my thesis is that there has been far more religiously motivated violence in the Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—than the Asian religions.

"... Short of Osama bin Laden getting several nukes and using them, militant Muslims have a long way to go to match the historical Christian kill rate."

Gier: The connection between strong belief and religiously motivated violence can be well documented, and the early results of my research on the origins of religious violence can be found here.

Nick Gier taught religion and philosophy at the University of Idaho for 31 years. See his columns as the Palouse Pundit.

Gier's Website

* Our Mother, Who Art in Heaven ~ Tamas Pataki, "Against Religion" ~ 10 Characteristics of Religion

"The preconditions for belief in God, Tamas Pataki suggests, are set in the first months of life, when the infant feels anxious when separated from the mother. His only wishes are to be free of hunger and pain, and to believe in the mother as infinitely provident and, later, that she knows everything. 'It is remarkable, is it not,' writes Pataki, 'that these attributes—omnipotence, omniscience and omnibenevolence—so necessary in the regulation of infantile narcissism and wellbeing, are precisely the key perfections attributed to God?'" TIME Magazine, May 24, 2007, Andrew Chapman

Neil Godfrey extracts and summarizes Pataki's ten characteristics of religious fundamentalism, as follows, and fleshes them out more fully on his website.

Godfrey writes, "Fundamentalism is a term applied to various Islamic, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Judaic groups, and even to some secular (economic and environmental) groups. All different.

"Yet Tamas Pataki in his newly published Against Religion lists what he sees as “criss-crossing similarities — family resemblances — in certain basic beliefs, values, and attitudes” (p.27) that characterize the various religious groups labelled “fundamentalist”.

1. They are counter-modernist.

2. They are “generally assertive, clamorous, and often violent”.

3. They are “the Chosen”, “the Elect”, “the Saved”.

4. Public marks of distinction are needed to maintain their sense of superiority and distinctive identity.

5. There is only one true religion and one correct way of life; and these must be defended against inroads from other religions and secularism.

6. There is an inerrant holy book, prophet or charismatic leader to whom literal obedience is mandatory.

7. Law and authority come from God.

8. Female sexuality must be controlled and clear impassable boundaries must be established between men and women.

9. Sexual behaviour is a major concern of all fundamentalists — Christian, Jewish, Islamic — without exception. Especially the fear of and opposition to homosexuality.

10. Fundamentalism and nationalism converge."

Tamas Pataki is Honorary Senior Fellow and sometime lecturer in the Philosophy Department, University of Melbourne, and Honorary Fellow at Deakin University. He has published extensively on the philosophy of mind, psychoanalysis, moral philosophy, and aesthetics, and is co-editor, with Michael Levine, of Racism in Mind (Cornell, 2004).Scribe Publications

* Hamas TV Kills off Mickey Mouse Double

Remember the story back in May about the new Hamas TV children's program where Mickey Mouse teaches children to fight the "Zionist Occupation" and dream of a world dominated by Islam? Well, now the children have seen Mickey beaten to death by an Israeli official in the last program. Religion is evil.

Fri Jun 29, 2:48 PM ET

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A Mickey Mouse lookalike who preached Islamic domination on a Hamas-affiliated children's television program was beaten to death in the show's final episode Friday.

In the final skit, "Farfour" was killed by an actor posing as an Israeli official trying to buy Farfour's land. At one point, the mouse called the Israeli a "terrorist."

"Farfour was martyred while defending his land," said Sara, the teen presenter. He was killed "by the killers of children," she added.

The weekly show, featuring a giant black-and-white rodent with a high-pitched voice, had attracted worldwide attention because the character urged Palestinian children to fight Israel. It was broadcast on Hamas-affiliated Al Aqsa TV.

Station officials said Friday that Farfour was taken off the air to make room for new programs. Station manager Mohammed Bilal said he did not know what would be shown instead.

Israeli officials have denounced the program, "Tomorrow's Pioneers," as incendiary and outrageous. The program was also opposed by the state-run Palestinian Broadcasting Corp., which is controlled by Fatah, Hamas' rival. Yahoo News

* Religion is a Barrier to World Peace

There will be no peace among the nations without peace among the religions. There will be no peace among the religions without dialogue among the religions, and there will be no serious dialogue among the religions without common ethical standards.
~ Hans Küng, March 31, 2005

* Who's Who on the Religious Right?

AMERICANS UNITED FOR SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE

"Religious Right leaders often claim that they offer a mainstream vision for America. Their own words, however, demonstrate a radical worldview far removed from the values of most Americans. Over the past two decades, their rhetoric and agenda have been shrill, divisive and extreme."

The single greatest threat to church-state separation in America is the Religious Right TOP 10, PDF

Read all about 'em ...

* Christian Terrorists Attack New Jersey School ~ Take Hostages in Mock Drill

American Center for Law & Justice

New Jersey School Drill Portrays Killers as Christians

April 3, 2007
by WorldNetDaily.com

"School officials in Burlington, N.J., who wanted to stage a "hostage situation" drill have portrayed the attackers as Christians, including one who was upset that his daughter was expelled for praying before class.

"Supt. Chris Manno praised the exercise to test the response of the school and police, explaining, "You perform as you practice. We need to practice under conditions as real as possible in order to evaluate our procedures and plans so that they're as effective as possible."

"Lifesite News reported that the Christian students in the school were offended when the student body was told the alleged gunmen were "members of a right-wing fundamentalist group called the 'New Crusaders' who don't believe in separation of church and state."

"The Burlington County Times said the mock gunmen pretended to shoot several students in the hallways before taking 10 students hostage in the district's media center."

Certainly this drill drew irrate reactions. In defense, Public Safety Director Walter Corter said the scenario was created to represent “anybody who was an extremist and not dealing with reality,” and never specified “Christian terrorists” or other religious or ethnic groups.

However, it is not a so far out scenario that absolutely could not happen. Just as there are Islamic and other religious hate groups, Christianity is not without potential.

Christian Terrorism

Purported hate groups of all ilk . . ., and see Wikipedia

Christian Identity

* My Sweet Lord! Death Threats & Less ...

Six-Foot Chocolate Jesus Most Anticipated Easter Work At Gallery

The Post Chronical
March 28, 2007

NEW YORK -- "World renowned artist Cosimo Cavallaro unveils his latest and most striking installation at the Lab Gallery (at the Roger Smith Hotel, 47th and Lexington avenue) in the early morning hours of April 1st."

The Catholic League is among those who are highly offended by the Easter treat.

"Catholic League president Bill Donohue commented as follows:

March 29, 2007 -- “The cowards at the Roger Smith Hotel, who were brazen enough to tease their trash to selected media sources over the past few days, have shut down and are refusing to talk to the press. But the artist has decided to go his own way. He is now inviting everyone to eat his chocolate Jesus.

“The Roger Smith Hotel is morally bankrupt. It is the goal of the Catholic League to make it financially bankrupt as well. Being mailed out today are hundreds of letters, complete with the news release I wrote a few hours ago, calling for a boycott of the hotel. These organizations represent millions of Americans across religious lines, as well as those who belong to non-sectarian groups. All of them can be counted on to never hold a conference at the hotel. And more—they will let all of their allies know about this incident.

“The Roger Smith Hotel will rue the day it sought to declare war on Christian sensibilities.”

Well, now, today the exhibit has been shut down before it opened due to the outrage which included even death threats from offendees. [sigh]