"There was somewhat of an awareness that there could be a violent reaction,"
- Pastor Terry Jones Yes, Pastor Terry Jones got what he wanted.
As the religious calendar of America wends towards Easter, some Christians might be prudent to think of their own sins as well as the sins of others that presumably placed Christ on the cross. But since a few in America's Christian leadership have a difficult time with "mea culpas," such soul-searching will be minor. For example: amidst all of the hand-wringing denunciations of the Afghanistan attack on a UN compound last week, there are some who are basking in a sun of self-righteousness: "See, we were right - Islam is a violent, evil religion."
Such self-righteousness is certainly not new* but what separates this case from many others, is that it was engendered by one man and not by deference to God.
"It time to hold Islam accountable."
In the past, the only being held accountable for disasters has been God. And the only entities held accountable for human atrocities have been groups somehow divorced from humanity and God. Pastor Terry Jones is neither. So should he be held accountable?
Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Friday’s violence
“proves why we were right to be concerned” when Jones made his original threats last summer. “Irresponsible words and actions do have consequences,” Morrell said. “This time, they were tragic, deadly consequences.”
"There was somewhat of an awareness that there could be a violent reaction,"
"Somewhat of an awareness" Can a more inanely defensive response exist? Knowledge of consequences is very close to malice of forethought. Knowledge of consequences is what weighs upon a country's leaders when they act aggressively. Knowledge of consequences can show a distinct lack of concern for others. Coupled with a supreme righteous arrogance, it was the same "knowledge of consequences" that led to history's infamous dictum: "Kill them all! God will take care of his kind."
It makes no difference to many on the side of the Righteous Right that too many parallels can be made with the radicals of Islam (e.g. using the Bible as justification for discrimination as strong as physical harm or relying on the premise of sacred exclusivity). So any direct link from Terry Jones to the Imam in Mazar-e sharif is irrelevant. Therefore, accountability is irrelevant.
But the accountability for Terry Jones in this case should be seriously considered: a man who holds a nation as hostage to his whims, relents, then acts anyway should, at the very least, be labeled a fraud. At most, putting military troops and innocent civilians in harms way should be considered treason. Jones' actions, however, will be covered up by the same proponents who (albeit covertly) supported Fred Phelps. The Westboro Baptist church has been causing real harm throughout the years, abetted by "social conservatives" under the disingenuous auspices of "free speech." And will continue to do so. Taking into account the strong possibility that Jones will never really be held accountable, will Jones be satisfied with his stunt? That may seem a prospect too horrible to imagine, but it must be faced: his twisted reasoning may give way to a "tally" of how many people are killed by "Islam."**
And taking Terry Jones as a lead, will other churches burn Q'urans to show just how "violent" a religion Islam is? Besides accountability, justification also hovers above the scene: Terry Jones' war against Islam can be seen as a righteous Holy War*** and parallels of Imams to ministers will cease altogether.
The situation is incendiary to say the least.
*recently, Cindy Jacobs e schewed the idea of relief for Japan in favor of positing that Japan's woes were brought upon by its innate paganism/atheism and the proof was that it is shaped like a dragon. It also did not respond sufficiently to he evangelizing attmepts several years ago.
** Doubtless, the UN staff will be given the status of martyrs or demons once their religious beliefs are affirmed.
*** "Justified War" has its basis in religion:
wikipedia: A religious war is a war caused by, or justified by, religious differences. It can involve one state with an established religion against another state with a different religion or a different sect within the same religion, or a religiously motivated group attempting to spread its faith by violence, or to suppress another group because of its religious beliefs or practices. TheMuslim conquests, the French Wars of Religion, the Crusades, and the Reconquista are frequently cited historical examples, especially in History Books.
I find it odd that the only one following the teachings of Jesus Christ
in that crowd is a Muslim.
This is Islamophobia at its worst. It is also Christofascism at its worst.
While one can say that this kind religious intolerance and harassment shouldn't be allowed to exist, the problem we have is that it DOES. Had the Muslim man not been in front of the White House, had he been in, say, Alabama, parts of Kansas, or even parts of Southern California, who knows what would have happened to him. Had he been near any state senator who wants to "ban Sharia law" on the basis of ignorance and fear, I would not have vouchsafed his life.
I've always had a problem with the phrase, "It's the Christian thing to do." Somehow I always imagine it being said with a slight air of contempt. It's always said by self-righteous old ladies (English ladies, to be sure) with their noses firmly pointed towards the sky and their eyes looking down at their underlings. To me, it is the most insufferably arrogant phrase in our very difficult, but very precise language and it conveys to the listener that the person saying it, like others of his or her ilk, have a corner on goodness.
So in the midst of the furor brought about by the Cordoba Center ("Ground Zero Mosque"), I'm wondering when the phrase will be uttered. Oh, it's been bandied about in several ways by that paragon of Christofascism, Bryan Fischer (he of the SPLC-listed hate group, American Family Association), but not with anything even resembling compassion, even condescending compassion. (He said that deporting all Muslims would be "compassionate" but he couldn't be heard thereafter above the laughter).
The Christofascists will certainly have a difficult go of it: the closest they can come to "the Christian thing to do" is to tolerate the building of the Center, but they won't do that since they've been demonizing Muslims so long it would be totally out of character. So here is an instance where "the Christian thing to do," becomes different than "the American thing to do." Again, a stumbling block, but one which Christofascists are certainly more experienced in handling. For years, Christofascists have made equal rights for gays "unAmerican" in their circuitous reasoning, so they will somehow turn the freedom of religion for Muslims into an attack on America's principles. Don't ask me how they will do it, but there will be ads/billboards demonizing Islam and Muslims. Maybe they'll cling to that imaginary string (a leftover from some Southern Baptist minister's sermon) that Islam is not really a religion, but a cult of bloodthirsty thugs. And when they get through demonizing, we'll be glad if the KKK moves in on the spot.
Forget the "insensitivity" issue. It's dead. In it's place will come "evil." Christofascists will talk of evil more than any thing else from now on. They have to use force. Maybe force will be "the Christian thing to do."
Now the GOP has chimed in and said it will definitely make the GZM a talking point in midterm elections. Why? Is it necessary for politicians to take a stance at all? To Christofascists across the country it definitely is, because involving politicians only lends credibility to their stance: more politicians on their side is the "American" bridge they need. It will be "the American thing to do."
The world we live is no longer so simple, so small that we can speak to one group and assume another group will now know what we've said. It hasn't been for a long time. Yet this is how the opponents of the Cordoba building, which is not being built on Ground Zero, are acting. They need to come out of their caves and wake up to the reality that their small, bigoted response does not stand the smell test, when they claim failed Muslim "sensitivity." On the contrary, their own sensitivity to the threat to America is the problem.
I will agree that Christofascists are zenophobic because they realize the wisdom of taking on one country at a time, but Kall is wrong when he thinks that they will ever "come out of their caves." Many of those "caves" are Fundamentalist congregations owned by the new "Christian" leaders like Tony Perkins, Rick Warren, Rod Parsley and Lou Engle. And if they come out at all, it will be too late.
America's pop religious icons are coming very close to expelling Muslims altogether, from jobs, from homes, from America. And they will somehow manage to take Bryan Fischer's "compassion" and fashion it into one big, righteous package: "It's the Christian AND American thing to do." I don't know exactly how or when (or who), but someone like Tony Perkins will re-enact Queen Isabella's expulsion of Muslims and Jews from Spain which, being the "Christian thing to do" allowed people to keep their lives in some warped worldview of compassion and humanity. And of course, it won't be "nice" just "Christian."
one weak-kneed group of kind-hearted, wimpish people at a time. God has not called us to be nice, he has called us to be good, and being good will occasionally call us to stand firm in the face of evil and stare it down.
- Brian Fischer, Focal Point, 7/21/10
When Barack Obama dove into the Ground Zero Mosque Debate, he expressed a fundamental American tenet: to be kind and tolerant of everyone. Of course, he qualified his statement by implying that he didn't necessarily agree with the wisdom of building an Islamic cultural center just blocks away from New York's infamous site, but the sentiment threw the Christian Right into a near-violent tantrum of Islamophobia. Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association pre-empted Obama's statement by saying that absolutely no mosques should be built at all:
"Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for Ground Zero," Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association wrote this week on the AFA website. "This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government."
That's what you get when you elect a man named Barack Hussein Obama about whom you know nothing other than the fawning, worshipful puke served up by the liberal media all through the campaign and for most of his first year and a half in office.
The rhetoric of the Christian Right is getting dangerously vitriolic. Forget the calls for the death of Obama: these were considered to be the squeakings of church mice like James Manning and Wiley Drake (and Pat Robertson's edicts have been on the wane for the last decade). No, the Lou Engles and covert Reconstructionists of today's Christofascism* don't put their faith in imprecatory prayers, but instead focus their prayers (sung by rock bands) on a Christian-only nation ridding its country of perceived enemies whether they be Muslims, gays, atheists, feminists ... o.k., it's a rather long list.
Bryan Fischer's pronouncements - that we should deport all Muslims, that gays are a threat to the entire country, that Christians are commanded by God to be "good" but not necessarily "nice" - are foolhardy statements that nonetheless reflect the inner core of Christofascism. If people distance themselves from Fischer, it's only because they don't want their true agenda to be known just yet. Sound like a conspiracy theory? Maybe, but even the most far-out theories can have a grain of truth in them.
Today, more and more people are taking on the titles of "theocrat" or "Reconstructionist" with only a slight brush to the side: i.e., they don't take as much offense at those labels as they used to. Yes, I've read The American Spectator article on the misuse of the term "Reconstructionist," but I still think that Sharron Angle is a Reconstructionist ....disguised as a complete ditz.
Love The Sinner
Most Christofascists believe that if you repeat the "Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin" slogan a certain number of times, anyone will believe your intentions are good. The LSHS ideology has been around a long time: it's good PR. But they also know that only a miniscule portion of their adherents believe it, much less practice it. LSHS grates against human nature: which one of us loves the person who stole our food? our shelter? our clothing?
Pat Robertson, The 700 Club television program, January 14, 1991:
You say you're supposed to be nice to the Episcopalians and the Presbyterians and the Methodists and this, that, and the other thing. Nonsense. I don't have to be nice to the spirit of the Antichrist. I can love the people who hold false opinions but I don't have to be nice to them.
Maybe it comes down to this: the Christofascists of today simply tout their stance as one of "tough love." E.G.: Bryan Fischer said that deporting all Muslims may actually be compassionate, since they would get to be with "their own kind." A monstrous statement, to be sure, but one that had conviction.
The Lies
Another reason I think that Christofascist Tough Love might be gaining ground is that old lies are brought out and brandished with impunity:
The Gay subculture is one of the most violent subcultures out there. Government studies show gays are 20 times more likely to be abusive or abused in their personal relationships. This reflects an inherent emotional instability that is not conducive to good order or discipline.
The author of the piece above was referencing a thoroughly debunked 40-year-old statistic. Whether or not he knows it's a lie is, of course, another story: it's the same old lie repeated in every one of the Family Research Council's donation pleas. Along with it are the "facts": gays have a shorter life-span by 20 years, gays are unstable because their suicide rate is 6 times greater than "normal" people, and gays always have HIV-tainted blood.
But lies are gaining ground in the fact that, given support (like a moronic congressman), they reach the ears of the general populace: The Rachel Maddow show (rightly) poked fun at Rep. Louie Gohmert (R., Texas) and his assertion about supposed "terror babies." (See below). We all laughed, but think of this: how many people had to believe in "terror babies" before it came to Gohmert's attention? Where did the story originate? And despite the ludicrous presentation Gohmert made, how many believed him becausehe was made to look like a fool on Anderson Cooper 360? Sometimes more support is gained when an adherent to the cause is ridiculed by the "liberal" media. America loves an underdog.
It may seem contradictory for a religious group based on the teachings of Christ to espouse such potentially violent ideologies: wasn't Christ "good-hearted" and "nice" to people? Aren't we "good" because we are "nice" to people? Doesn't our own Statue of Liberty declare how "nice" and compassionate a country we are? Unfortunately, "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free" is, day-by-day, becoming an anachronism when compared to a Christofascist's "tough love" stance on immigration and Muslims. And even occassional shots of "Love the sinner" - given to anaesthetise people from the pain of Christofascist's demonization of gays - are giving way to overt lies and distortions.
Periodically, the cry will go out that the Christian Right is dead or that Christofascists are losing the culture war because their numbers are shrinking. This assertion, however, does not consider the fact that no matter what their number, their hate has become louder, yet more insidious, if that's possible. They have concentrated their strength, condensed it, and even localized it. Their national screeds and bloviators, like Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and Lou Engle of The Call, are spearheads they hope will inflict serious wounds into a diverse democracy. The Values Voter summit, unfortunately, grows every year. Their screams concerning freedom of speech and freedom of religion grow louder with each of their setbacks or obstacles; e.g. October will be a tipping point in the Fred Phelps saga - in as much as they've distanced themselves from Phelps, they will most certainly support a Supreme Court decision for Phelps. Their kind of freedom must trump the kind of emotional vandalism Phelps heaped upon the families of war casualties.
And they will continue to trumpet lies and distortions through people like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh. They will continue to support creationism, homophobia, Islamophobia. They will continue to foster the image of a militaristic Jesus and eschew the "kind-hearted", "bleeding hearts" and "nice" people in favor of the aggressive, political religious. I realize that these last points make me sound polemic, but how can I sound balanced when faced with the biased, the unbalanced?
How can any of us be patient for human rights and equality when faced with aggression that is threatening to rob us of the "kind-hearted"?
* While some may balk at the term "Christofascism" the Christian Right's politically aggressive stance has lately paralleled fascism too much to be ignored: overt NATIONALISM, SEXISM, combination of RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT, protection of CORPORATE POWER, disdain for INTELLECTUALS and THE ARTS ... And in the end, the best explanation was by Sinclair Lewis: "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross."
It is unfortunate that although not all Muslims are terrorists, all terrorists are Muslim. - Anonymous
WARNING: Today's climate is not good for defending Muslims. And while the article does not defend acts by Muslim terrorists, the fact is that anyone in line with prejudiced voices within the Christian Right will think me extremely anti-Christian and totally un-American.
There are many, many wonderful Christians in this world. They go about doing and fostering good works and do not think it necessary to proselytize. They just do the work that's needed, then go to the next group in need. To these people, I say a sincere "thank you". You are worthy of praise and not condemnation.
There are also some people who have distorted basic Christian beliefs and have pushed their own agenda while saying that it is God's. To these people I say "Go ahead, be insulted" for if only a small fraction of what I'm writing about is true, then you deserve to own up to your sins. And those sins involve avarice, pride, arrogance, maliciousness and yes, murder.
Islamophobia: the fashionable phobia for right-wingers this year.
"While Christianity is a religion of peace, founded by the Prince of Peace, Islam is a religion of war and violence, founded by a man who routinely chopped the heads off his enemies, had sex with nine-year old girls, and made his wealth plundering merchant caravans."
- Bryan Fischer, the one-time head of the Idaho Values Alliance who got called up to the big leagues earlier this year when he became the American Family Association's Director of Issue Analysis.
"Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you"
- Former Attorney General John Ashcroft
"Islam is a very evil religion. All the values that we as a nation hold dear, they don't share those same values at all ... these countries that have the majority of Muslims."
- Franklin Graham
"This man [Muhammad] was an absolute wild-eyed fanatic, he was a robber and a brigand. And to say that these terrorists distort Islam ... they are carrying out Islam. I mean: This man [Muhammed] was a killer and to think that this is a peaceful religion is fraudulent."
- Pat Robertson
[At a Pro-Israel rally] "This not a war between Arabs and the Jews, this is between God and the devil.
- Benny Hinn
There are also some people who have distorted basic Christian beliefs and have pushed their own agenda. And it makes no difference to today's Islamophobes that Jesus Christ is mentioned more than Mohammed in the Q'uran and that Christ is considered Islam's most important prophet (after Mohammed).
(Remember) When the angels said O Mary! Allah Gives thee Good News of a son through a Word from Him! His name shall be the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, honoured in this world and in the next, and of those who Are Granted Nearness to Allah! (3.45) And he shall speak to the people in the cradle, and when of middle age, and he shall be of The Righteous (3.46)
Qur'an 2:136–136 "Say: we believe in God and that which is revealed unto us, and that which was revealed unto Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and which the prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered."
IMPORTANT NOTE:
The following is only a small portion of the entire activity of people who have called themselves "Christian" in history. I have been compiling notes and statistics for 6 years. Many people will refute even these meager numbers and events. While I don't wish to overtly offend anyone, because, as I've said above in this article, there are many wonderful Christians in this world, there are people who don't want this kind of information to be exchanged. They now call it "revisionist" history. However, these statistics and featured events are culled from a myriad number of sources, all written long before religious "revisionist" theories were contemplated. In order to give you a taste of what philosophies have been tolerated under the name of Christianity, the following is taken from The Jesuit Extreme Oath of Induction:
“…I do further promise and declare that I will, when opportunity presents, make and wage relentless war, secretly and openly, against all heretics, Protestants and Masons, as I am directed to do, to extirpate them from the face of the whole earth; and that I will spare neither age, sex or condition, and that will hang, burn, waste, boil, flay, strangle, and bury alive these infamous heretics; rip up the stomachs and wombs of their women, and crush their infant's heads against the walls in order to annihilate their execrable race. That when the same cannot be done openly I will secretly use the poisonous cup, the strangulation cord, the steel of the poniard, or the leaden bullet, regardless of the honor, rank, dignity or authority of the persons, whatever may be their condition in life, either public or private, as I at any time may be directed so to do by any agents of the Pope or Superior of the Brotherhood of the Holy Father of the Society of Jesus.”
Christian "Crime Line"
There are crimes…and then there are CRIMES. The following is really just a partial list of all the historical events Christians just won’t own up to. Notable statements plus resulting casualties are highlighted in red. If you're a devout Christian, ask your local pastor about these points. If he or she can't answer them, then do some research. Research by yourself the development of your own religion. If even a tenth of the profile presented in these points are true, there may be something your pastor or religious mentor does not want to discuss, even in your Bible study class.
40 - St. Stephen becomes the first Christian martyr - Note: most persecutions were carried out on a local level -Death Toll: Up to 100,000 During 275-year period
48 - First Christian Council convenes Apostles meet in Jerusalem to determine if Gentiles need to become Jews first, then Christians. Gentiles do not have to undergo circumcision, nor are they obliged to keep Jewish ritual and purity laws
314 - Christians begin to massacre pagans in Egypt and Palestine .Persecution tables have now turned
325 - Council of Nicea is convened by Constantine to discuss date of Easter and deal with Arian Heresy. Approx. 300 bishops attended (out of 1800 in the entire empire, most of whom were in north Africa) – Note: Constantine threatened bishops with exile unless they agreed to the Nicene Creed. Arius and two others were exiled.
325 - Pagans are killed immediately after the Council of Nicea - Death Toll: 3,000
326 - Constantine first executes his son Chrispus in belief that he had sex with his step-mother, Fausta After Constantine finds out that Fausta lied about the affair, he has her boiled in her bathtub
336 - Arian Christians are persecuted - Death Toll: Approx. 10,000
350 - Riot between Arians and Christians - Death Toll: 3,150
580 - Christians arrest a group of Gentiles in a secret temple - Major Irony: the gentiles were fed to lions, but the lions refused to eat them. They were then crucified instead
590 - After Pope Gregory I decrees celibacy for the clergy, infants are murdered - Death Toll: 6000
782 - Charlemagne orders the beheading of pagans - Death Toll: 4500
850 - Eastern Orthodox Empress Theodora orders execution of Paulicans (heretics?) - Death Toll: 100,000
1095 - Pope Urban II calls for a “Holy War” to reclaim the “tomb of Christ from the heathen” - “Kingdom of Jerusalem” is established - Death Toll: 200,000
1096 - During the People’s Crusade (as in all nine Crusades) Jews are killed en route - Death Toll: 10,000
1144 - First “Blood Libel” used against Jews in England - “Blood Libel”: Jews accused of kidnapping Christian children, bleeding them, then killing them for ritualistic purposes –(Note: This ideology continued until 1915)
1209 Albigensian Crusade - First recorded genocide in Western Civilization. The Cathars (or Albigenses) were considered heretics and against the papacy - Death Toll: Over 100,000
1209 - The Inquisition as institution of Christianity is officially established - Inquisition continues under the title of Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith and its chief goal is to root out heresy as in the thirteenth century. Present Pope Benedict XVI was head of this institution before becoming pope.
1348 - Jews, believed to be the cause of the Black Death were massacred in Mainz, Germany - Death Toll: 16,000
1400 - Approximate time witch hunts occurred - Note: while women were the majority executed, men and children were as well - Death Toll: Approx. 100,000
1420 - Hussite Wars - First organized wars of Christians (Catholic) killing Christians (Protestants) - Death Toll: 80,000
1470 - Start of the Spanish Inquisition - Death Toll: 350,000
1492 - Colonization of the Americas – Christianity vs. Indigenous beliefs Unconverted “heathens” are persecuted for the next 500 years
1540 - Persecution of the Waldensians - Death Toll: 900,000
1572 - St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre - French Protestant Huegenots murdered in one day - Death Toll: 70,000
1631 - The Thirty Years War - Ultimate Death Toll: aprox.11,500,000
1648 - Cossak rebellion against Jews in Poland - Death Toll; 100,000
1648 - Cromwell’s Puritan Revolution in England and Ireland - Massacres of thousands of Catholics - Death Toll: 868,000
1850 - Taiping Rebellion - “Heavenly Kingdom of Great Peace” is founded by Christian heretic Hong Xiuqan who preached that he was the brother of The Messiah - Death Toll: 20,000,000
1913 - The “Jesuit Extreme Oath of Induction” is entered into the Congressional Record
1940 - FBI raids the offices of Christian Front. J. Edgar Hoover stated that it was the intent of the Front to murder Jews, communists and at least 12 congressmen - The Christian Front was founded by Father Edward Coughlin, “The Father of Hate Radio”
1993 - Magdalene Laundry Scandal erupts in Ireland - Brutal conditions and treatment in the “fallen women” Magdalene Laundries run by Catholic nuns are exposed - The identification of 130 bodies in a mass grave are still coming to light
1995 - The Lord’s Resistance Army massacres villagers in Uganda - Death toll: 750
As we stated above, this information was given not to insult good Christians., but to give a perspective to the reader when Christofascists such as Rick Warren, Pat Robertson and Rod Parsley tell us that Christianity has always been a religion of peace. Islamophobia is now creeping into tour lives. Christian "leaders" are calling for serious ramifications for Muslims. They are telling each of us non-Muslims that Islam is an intrinsically violent religion. And they are doing so in order to paint themselves as supporters of Christianity - a "peaceful" religion they think is beleguered with anti-Christian sentiment.
Go outside. Walk for a while and stop every time you see a (so you think) slightly Christian symbol. Count them. Look around you, then ask yourselves how persecuted Christians are these days in the US. Look around you and count the number of Christian symbols in your house - your neighborhood, your town, your state. Christianity has grown so large as to permeate the fabric of being American. And that stupendous growth was based on one ideal: freedom of religion.
America now ranks as the nation with the least amount of restrictions on religion. It also ranks among the most religious nations in the world. So where's the persecution?
Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.
Mark Twain
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