"Do not take the Jews and Christians as allies"

I read this in a summary of an article by Lailatul Fitriyah in The Jakarta Post.  He says "hard-line Muslims" are invoking a twisted interpretation of this verse to argue that true Muslims must not vote for a Christian governor.

Truth be known, American style freedoms only work if all religious people do NOT take the dictates of their religious books as literal requirements.  What if all Christians did exactly what the Bible tells them to do?  Nevermind the old testament, the new is just as full of horrors.

Islamism is what we call government within the Muslim religion.  What do we call what we have, where religious people continually try to infiltrate government and government funded programs?  Christianism?

Islam is not the problem, religion is.

I think this may be part of the reason that so many people have defaulted to supporting tRump.  At a gut level he gets it, that somehow the religion of Islam is motivating some people to kill bunches of hedonistic rich oblivious Americans.  We are The Great Satan, after all.  Our women roam around half naked.  We drink alcohol and eat so much that we can't get out of our chairs.  The Muslims who hate us find plenty to hate.  And the teachings of the religion are harsh.  Unforgiving.  Granted, most religions have some myths and stories that motivate hateful actions.  Most religions have a few fundamentalists whose simplistic interpretations lead them to extreme beliefs and behaviors.  Islam has a lot of people like that.  I am certain that the followers of ISIL think that American Muslims who don't help their cause are apostates, no better than the rest of us.  So given that there are quite a few Muslims who think we all deserve to die, and several at least who've been successful at violently killing Americans, being afraid of Muslims sounds kind of reasonable.  If the Dems don't admit to this, and begin teaching Americans about how they've been attempting to quell the fears of peaceable Muslims in order to prevent religious based warfare, they are missing the boat.  Blaming the Pulse shooting solely on easy access to guns is missing the very important point that currently there are a lot of people with this religious background who are motivated to kill.  We need to study them, to understand them.  They are not necessarily insane, they simply live in a different reality dictated by a different culture.  There are also a lot of Americans who are not Muslim who share their distaste for gays, their disrespect for loose women, and their instinctive hatred of other races.  Maybe you should be afraid.

Just yesterday I finally stopped ignoring the Middle East and looked up a few things. Like who is Shia and who is Sunni. And who has nukes and where. And what exactly an Islamist is. It was....a useful exercise. Anyone else out there taking an interest in this juncture of history? I'm ready to be educated.

It just seems to me, after one *ok a fraction of one* day of looking into it, that the majority Sunnis in most of the Middle East have been supremely frustrated trying to deal with their less conservative, more secular Shia neighbors. And it seems clear to me that America has at least attempted to enact a separation of church and state, even though those words do not appear in the constitution. It was in the First Amendment to the US Constitution that Congress was to "make no law respecting respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". As wikipedia points out, lots of nations have this idea in their code, and there is a great range of shades of gray in its execution. Here in America we do fairly well, but nowhere near a perfect score. For one thing, the constitution has no control over the states and what local laws might be passed. Which may be how we have gigantic crosses along Interstate 5 in Washington State. Not so different from other places, where religion is supposed to guide personal and political life. Here we seem only able to elect Christian presidents. We like to think that we are above it, but we are surely not.

So I know I am rambling and I will call it quits. If you have an opinion about what is the crux of what is going on--in Syria, Turkey, Kurdistan, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Russia or any other involved party, feel free to comment and tell me! I'm building a mind map.

**Created Syria tag.

Beyonce's halftime act is proof enough. Any Muslim that thinks it's indecent for a woman in a vast black robe to straddle a motorcyle is guaranteed to believe, after viewing any part of the Superbowl, that we've gone to the dark side. And they aren't entirely wrong.

...as a nonmember observer state...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/palestinians-certain-to-win-un-recognition-as-a-state-but-opposition-could-delay-independence/2012/11/29/25030e2a-39e6-11e2-9258-ac7c78d5c680_story.html?hpid=z1

I've been mulling over the significance of this effort. Perhaps if we did all draw our idea of this man, over time, the Muslims would become less sensitive about the issue. Or perhaps they will be more sensitive, because we are actively disrespecting their faith. In the Old Testament, Christians too were bidden to make no "graven images" (Exodus 20:4).

I for one have no idea what he looked like, and so if I did attempt the sketch it would be of a caricatured bearded Muslim. Perhaps a halo or some such symbol of his spiritual importance would ease the insult. I don't know. But I do offer to you that this is the day to create your visual representation of the great prophet Muhammed, in protest of censorship, with respect for the man and his path, and in humble appreciation of the complexity of our international and intercultural reality.

Everybody Draw Mohammed Day was an event held on May 20, 2010 in support of free speech and freedom of artistic expression of those threatened by violence for drawing representations of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. It began as a protest against censorship of an American television show, South Park, "201" by its distributor, Comedy Central, in response to death threats against some of those responsible for two segments broadcast in April 2010. Observance of the day began with a drawing posted on the Internet on April 20, 2010, accompanied by text suggesting that "everybody" create a drawing representing Muhammad, on May 20, 2010, as a protest against efforts to limit freedom of speech. (from Wikipedia 5/20/12)

While a resident at Walter Reed Medical Center, Hasan, a Muslim born in the United States to Palestinian parents, reportedly told colleagues he believed the United States was waging war on Muslims. He said Muslim soldiers shouldn't be asked to kill fellow Muslims.

In case you missed it, Hasan is the psychiatrist who shot 43 people at a military medical center. According to several docs on Medscape, he's not looking all that crazy in court, but rather highly effective as a terrorist. Plenty of evidence of careful premeditation has been presented. Like this:

The entire sale was odd, the gun salesman recalled, because Hasan took out his cell phone and videotaped the manager's demonstration of how to load the new pistol, remove its magazine and break down the weapon. Brannon told the court he'd never seen anyone make such a videotape. Hasan said that "he wanted to review it later."

Medscape is free but you have to create a sign-in to access the articles.

The most living moment comes when
those who love each other meet each
other's eyes and in what flows
between them. To see your face
in a crowd of others, or alone on a
frightening street, I weep for that.
Our tears improve the earth. The
time you scolded me, your gratitude,
your laughing, always your qualities
increase the soul. Seeing you is a
wine that does not muddle or numb.
We sit inside the cypress shadow
where amazement and clear thought
twine their slow growth into us.
--Rumi (translated by Coleman Barks)
( a little about RumiCollapse )