Proof! Haitian People Swore a Pact With The Devil!*
Well, it's happened again: one of God's "elect" has responded to a natural disaster with food, medicines and whole lot of righteousness and vitriol for the victims. And it happened at a propitious time: the 50th anniversary of the Christian Broadcasting Network and Pat Robertson's (almost to the day) descent into the nether world of Christofascism.
As of this writing, it is estimated that up to 100,000 people are dead. The world mourns the loss of so many people. The United Nations, the U.S., European countries are sending aid as fast as possible. And Pat Robertson's own Operation Blessing will be in Haiti just as they were in Katrina. Of course, Operation Blessing was followed by Pat Robertson's own special gift of approx. 40,000 bibles. While this didn't compare to the late Jerry Falwell's gift of 600,000 New Testament tracts to Muslim and Hindu survivors of the eastern tsunami, Robertson's effort was noted - as a rather insulting gesture by people who needed food for their stomachs even more than food for their souls.
I used to call Falwell and Robertson God's Ambulance Chasers: they seemed to relish disasters. They discovered during the Age of AIDS that capitalizing on "God's curses" was good business. People flocked to help their church save them from the onslaught of the twentieth century's Black Death. They righteously evicted sick and dying people from their homes and their lives. After 9/11, they pointed fingers at their chosen outcasts and told their flocks who the "real" culprits were.
Jerry Falwell would be proud of Robertson keeping up the tradition of bigotry with blame, followed by a condescending compassion.
During all the chaos that has followed the Haitian crisis, has anyone thought to point out to Robertson that his knowledge of history is seriously flawed? The revolution against the French took place well before Napoleon III. In fact, it happened before Napolean I. And it was primarily a slave rebellion:
The native leader Jean-Jacques Dessalines, long an ally of Toussaint L'ouverture, defeated the French troops led by Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau at the Battle of Vertières. At the end of the double battle for emancipation and independence, former slaves proclaimed the independence of Saint-Domingue on 1 January 1804, declaring the new nation as Haiti, honoring one of the indigenous Taíno names for the island. It is the only nation born of a slave revolt.
Reach back into Pat Robertson's own history and you'll find perhaps another reason Pat Robertson hates Haiti: his father, Senator Absolom Willis Robertson was a reknowned Dixiecrat (Virginia) who switched parties when Democrats were voting for civil rights legislation. And Pat's own CBN was involved in a law suit involving accusations of blatant racism against its African-American employees.
Michael B. Keegan, president of People For the American Way, issued the following statement:
"Pat Robertson's comments about the victims of this earthquake are reprehensible. Unfortunately, they fit right in with his history of mean spirited attacks accusing his opponents of causing natural disasters and terrorism. To blame the victims of this disaster for what they've been through is appalling. Regrettably, Pat Robertson can't be written off as an eccentric aberration of the right-wing-he's still a leading figure in the conservative movement.
"At a time when our attention should be focused on helping the victims of this disaster, Robertson's comments are beyond the pale."
So whither will Pat Robertson go to in the next couple of days? Apology? I think not. There will be backpedaling done to be sure, along with a note of good ole Christian persecution thrown in, but that's to be expected. There will be a loud chorus of Christians shouting: "Pat Robertson doesn't speak for us!" but Robertson will pay no heed. He'll ride it out the same way he did when he said Cesar Chavez should be assassinated, Ariel Sharon's stroke was a sign of God's displeasure, Orlando would be hit by a meteor for Disney World's hosting of Gay Day and other inanities.
After all, you can't argue with a man who speaks to God.
* The Haitian Bizango societies are based on a military structure. Their members reveal themselves to fight and wage war. These figures represent the power of the Bizango fighters. Their terrifying appearance preserves the memory of the insurgency of the slaves in the period in which these societies were first formed. Some bear the scars of wounds. The heads are modelled on real human skulls. Ropes and chains keep the powers they possess in check. Fragments of mirrors in their eyes and on their clothes refer to the spirit world, and protect against evil. Despite their static pose, the past blood and fire in which they are drenched is tangible. (Flickr: Jeremy Bergin)
I was scared. All forty of us were. We went from the showers through the foot disinfectant and into the cold, subterranean vault of tile walls and floor. There were no windows, which was just as well because we were all naked. I was fourteen and, with the exception of my father, I had never seen naked men. Or naked boys called “men.”
No, this was not Auschwitz. Instead, it was the first day of swimming class in my Catholic college prep school. It was then that I sadly realized: all men are not created equal. And that keeping this knowledge from young "men" (like me, at least) was criminal.
Likewise for getting a hissy-fit over a male mammal function.
Last Sunday, FOX aired its episode of American Dad, titled Never Look a Smith Horse In The Mouth. The animated program is definitely adult in content in that it has scenes and references that children would not comprehend: its send off of "The Rapture", Jesus meeting Sam in a bar to tell him that the Anti-Christ has taken Francine and an episode titled "Fake Jesus." One of the most notable was when Roger the alien talks about Christianity:
Roger:Oh, I love your religion ... for the crazy! Virgin birth. Water into wine. It's like Harry Potter, but it causes genocide and bad folk music.
But this time, the program really pushed the envelope with a scene implying the masturbation of a horse! The Parent's Television Council is `now starting to get American Dad punished by the FCC since it thinks the episode "depicted scenes of a man masturbating a horse. " Explicit bestiality!! So how does the creator of American Dad and Family Guy, Seth MacFarlane, take all the criticism?
"That’s like getting hate mail from Hitler. They’re literally terrible human beings. I've read their newsletter, I've visited their website, and they're just rotten to the core. For an organization that prides itself on Christian values—I mean, I'm an atheist, so what do I know ?—they spend their entire day hating people."
BTW, a poll was taken and 40% of those polled thought the scene was harmless and very funny.
A broadcast television network aired an animated program on a Sunday evening when children were in the audience, and the program featured a man masturbating a horse," said Tim Winter, president of the PTC. "Up until now, I never imagined that those exact words could ever be spoken in that particular order. But sadly, here we are.
Fox declined to comment on the backlash.
I wish I had a copy of the aforementioned scene, but the only one you can view is on the PTC's site HERE. Do you see Stan actually touch the horse's penis and stroke it? No. Is masturbation implied? Yes. Implied. And to the people of the PTC, implying masturbation is just as bad as the act itself. Imagining sex is just as bad as the act itself. And with all that imagining and implying going on, the PTC exploits people's assumptions that something wrong happened.
The PTC is trying to penalize Fox and MacFarlane due to implications and not actual fact. They are also arguing that since American Dad airs at 9:30PM, it violates the law that says more adult content must be shown after 10:00PM.
A question: just where does bestiality come in on all of this? The horse may have ended the episode very happy, but did Stan get pleasure out of it? Obviously not. And if Stan didn't derive any pleasure, is there, in fact, any bestiality going on at all?
There wasn't. The PTC wants you to think that. They also do not want you to see a mammalian appendage ever again, unless you have to.
I have a black t-shirt with bright white lettering that fits my mood these days:So Many Right Wing Christians - So Few Lions.Obviously, I can't wear it everywhere. Certainly not where the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission congregates. I'd be instantly labeled "anti-Christian" even though the shirt qualifies it's remarks with "Right Wing Christians" whose actual Christianity is questionable.
I'd also be labeled a "homosexual activist" because as everyone knows, gays want to destroy Christianity - it's all part of the "gay agenda." So it was really no surprise to me to find out about the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission's "Top Ten Anti-Christian Attacks in 2009." It should be called "The Top Ten Non-Anti-Christian Attacks We Can Blame On Our Enemies, Especially Gays." It should also substitute "attacks" with something more suitable, like "Totally Unrelated Incidents and Fabrications." Stretching some of these "attacks" into anti-Christian violence makes for interesting, novel (as in fiction) reading. So to set matters straight (ugh!), I've listed the "Top Ten" with some minor addenda.
Top Ten Anti-Christian Attacks in 2009
Contact: Dr. Gary Cass, Christian Anti-Defamation Commission, 760-630-2232, 954-551-9770 VISTA, Calif., Jan. 4 /Christian Newswire/ --
The Christian Anti-Defamation Commission (CADC) has released its list of the top ten incidents of anti-Christian defamation, bigotry and discrimination in the US from last year. The list was selected by the subscribers to CADC's e-mail list and was selected from a list of twenty of CADC's top stories from 2009.
"It is arguable that anti-Christian hatred has spilled over into material forms of persecution in 2009," said Dr. Gary Cass of the Christian Anti-Defamation Commission. "Christians were killed and bullied for their witness, ministers and churches threatened with violence and vandalized for standing for marriage, and Christians were fired for not compromising their faith. If these are not bona fide examples of persecution, than I wonder what more it might take?"
A helluva lot more, it seems. "Bona fide examples of persecution" would include violence against people for being Christian, just like violence against people for being gay. But the following examples don't prove anything of the sort.
10. Pro-life Pastor Reverend Walter Hoye of Oakland, CA was jailed for exercising peaceful, pro-life speech. Evidently, not that peaceful.And he wasn't jailed for his speech:
SFGate.com: Walter Hoye, 52, of Union City was the first person convicted under an Oakland ordinance barring protesters from coming within 8 feet of anyone entering an abortion clinic.
9. Rev. Fred Winters was murdered while preaching in his pulpit in Maryville, Illinois.
CBS Series, Guns In America: The man suspected of fatally shooting an Illinois pastor during Sunday services suffered from mental illness stemming from a tick bite, the suspect's family told a newspaper in an interview last August. [Lime Disease].
So who should be jailed - the suspect, or the one who gave him the gun? Absolutely no mention of any form of anti-Christian motive.
8. HBO's program "Curb Your Enthusiasm" aired an episode where the main actor urinates on painting of Jesus. When confronted HBO would not apologize.
New York Daily News:In a statement titled "Urinating on Jesus," Catholic League president Bill Donahue says, "At one point in the show, David goes to the bathroom in a Catholic home and splatters urine ["accidently"] on a picture of Jesus; he doesn't clean it off. Then a Catholic woman goes to the bathroom, sees the picture and concludes that Jesus is crying. She then summons her equally stupid mother and the two of them fall to their knees in prayer."
A Daily News poll: 40% thought it was OK - and funny.
7. The overt homosexual participation in Obama's presidential inaugural events by "Bishop" Vickie Eugene Robinson, the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington D. C., and a homosexual marching band.
Eugene Robinson is indeed an Episcopal bishop who riled the Christian Right by saying "We worship a living God, not one locked up in the Scripture of 2,000 years ago." The presence of Robinson, the Gay Men's Chorus and the marching band were supposedly meant to be somehow anti-Christian.Reasoning: Gay=anti-Christian. Or maybe it should be Gay=anti-"Christian."
6. Police called to East Jessamine Middle School in Lexington, Kentucky to stop 8th graders from praying during their lunch break for a student whose mother was tragically killed.
From Isitluck: Cops weren’t called. The kids were not targeted for praying, but for stretching their prayer time past the end of the lunch period, skipping class en masse.
Isitluck is a blog: it brought out the fact that the incident was not in any media whatsoever, not even CBN. Nothing.
5. Pro-life activist Jim Pullion was murdered in front of his granddaughter's high school for showing the truth about abortion. Reports showed that the suspect was mentally unstable, and targeted Pullion and another man for displaying pictures of aborted fetuses near the hgh school.
4. An activist judge ordered a home school mom in New Hampshire to stop home schooling her daughter because the little girl "reflected too strongly" her mother's Christian faith.
LifesiteNews.com: [The "activist judge"] proposed that the Christian girl be ordered into a government-run school after considering "the impact of [her religious] beliefs on her interaction with others." The court approved the order.
This incident was more about the pending legislation in New Hampshire that would place new restrictions on homeschooling.
3. The Federal Department of Homeland Security issued a report entitled "Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate" that labeled conservative Christians extremists and potential terrorists.
Check out the actual report HERE. It's a report on hate groups of the militia/"I-wanna-kill-me-some-queers-and-n*****s" kind. Oddly enough, the only mention of "Christian" is in a passing reference to the hate/militia group Christian Identity, a violent group whose history goes back to Father Charles Coughlin the virulent anti-Semite, often called "The Father of Hate Radio." The CDRC is banking on the fact that their readership can't, well, uh, read. Or are afraid of death-by-boredom-and-confusion by reading a government document.
2. President Obama's appointment of radical anti-Christians like homosexual activist Kevin Jennings as the "safe school czar;" pro-abortion advocate Kathleen Seblius made Secretary of Human and Health Services, and Chai Feldblum, pro-homosexual and anti-religious liberty judge nominated for Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
This "incident" is so anti-gay that it defeats own purpose. Instead, it highlights its own bigotry and discrimination.
1. The Federal Hate Crimes Bill that attacks religious liberty and freedom of speech. For the first time in our history ministers are vulnerable to investigation and prosecution for telling the truth about homosexuality.
The position of this "incident" as #1 shows the chief intention of the list is to slam anything to do with protection of the LGBT community from gay-bashing. The law clearly states that religious institutions and ministers are protected by freedom of speech.
***
OK, there you have it. The Top Ten Anti-Christian Attacks of 2009. I'll bet that the Top Ten list for 2010 includes throwing away an old DVD of "Going My Way."
There's something amiss when a publicist defends a noted minister's actions in the Op Ed section of a major newspaper. Especially when the minister is Rick Warren and the publicist is - his own, A. Larry Ross:
While experiencing banner ministry impact, including monthly food assistance to 2,000 local families, the Southern California mega-church had been essentially on budget for the first half of its fiscal year, until this past week. But despite 10 overflow Christmas Eve services, the seasonal offering benefiting many of the church's benevolence outreaches was down significantly; and the timing of Christmas on Friday affected attendance and giving on the final weekend of the year.
This piece, btw, was titledRick Warren: Soup Nazi or soup, grazie?Ross does a barely creditable job at tying Rick Warren to a Seinfeld character:
This past week, Rick Warren, renowned pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., faced a similar dilemma of having to turn away people in the community in need of assistance - not because of any capricious regimen, but due to limited resources at the close of the last decade.
I hope Rachel Maddow covers this in her inimitable style:
So Rick Warren - the great pastor who delivers august sermons at inaugurations - was surprised. At a downturn in donations. During a time of severe economic recession. And he uses a publicist who doesn't know an adjective from a noun ("benevolence outreaches"). The same publicist who, two weeks after Warren's "noteworthy" speech to Muslim-Americans on July 4th, sends a misspelled, ungrammatical and error-ridden transcript. And to only one - rather obscure - Muslim-American website.
From the website of A. Larry Ross Communications:
A. Larry Ross Communications (ALRC) is a full-service media and public relations agency founded in 1994 to “restore faith in media,” provide “value-added P.R. that defines values” and give Christian messages relevance and meaning in mainstream media.
Warren challenged the congregation to help offset a $900,000 shortfall from the final week offerings that help fund year-end benevolence ministry prior to the start of 2010, which would allow Saddleback to continue to minister and meet the needs of not just Orange County, but Southern California, the nation - and the world, through the PEACE Plan.
Today Orange County, tomorrow the WORLD!! Uh, gee, I didn't know $900,000 could stretch that far! I didn't know Warren's ministries were that GLOBAL! That STUPENDOUS!But, ah, if they're that global, $900k seems like a drop on the proverbial ministry bucket. From The Orange County Register
The church does not make its financial information public, so it’s impossible to tell just how big of a hole in the boat this $900,000 represents. A spokeswoman for Warren said the church does not release detail on its finances, so it’s hard to put the shortfall in context. (Suffice to say it may not represent a terribly significant portion of Saddleback’s annual budget, and that his personal appeal may well close the hole, and then some.)
So, transparency is not in Saddleback's financial lexicon. Only Ross' ill-treatment of buzz-words. And fuzzy math. Also vagaries. Oops, almost forgot an important word: hyperbole. Which comes before another word in the dictionary: hypocrisy (our personal favorite, although Ross doesn't use it very much).
Well, enough of channeling Rachel. Suffice it to say that there are actually those who believe Ross' press releases/op-eds.
Tony Perkins, the endearing don't-I-look-like-a-choirboy? president of Family Research Council is sizzling over ENDA - the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. He thinks that men will come to work draped in hot pink feather boas and secretaries (his term) will be sporting fake mustaches and sideburns. But most of all, he's bent out of shape because of Amanda Simpson's appointment as Senior Technical Advisor to the Commerce Department.
Of course, it makes no difference to people like Perkins that Simpson is almost overqualified for the job: she underwent her sex change over ten years ago while working in Tucson for Raytheon Missile Systems as Deputy Director. BTW: Raytheon is the world's largest producer of guided missiles and the majority of its revenue ($20 billion per annum) is from defense contracts, giving Simpson one hell of a resume (and Perkins one hell of a headache - he can't say she isn't qualified!)
It also doesn't make any difference to Perkins that ENDA has been introduced in every Congress since 1994 (with the exception of 2005-2007 under George W. Bush). Or that the primary goal of ENDA is to curb discrimination in the workplace. Pehaps Tony Perkins thinks he's a prophet of decaying morals: "everyone" will be "potentially" "forced" to hire homosexuals and transgendered people. So the Perkins dog and pony show begins:
"...the Obama Administration dropped another bombshell in its agenda to radicalize America by appointing its first openly "transgender" person to a high federal post.
The day after Simpson began work, The New York Times reported that the main website advertising jobs with the federal government now says there will be no "discrimination" based on "gender identity"-even though Congress has never passed a law saying that.
This new policy applies only to the federal government. But there is a bill being considered in Congress, the so-called "Employment Non-Discrimination Act" (ENDA), which would require every employer in America to open every position to homosexuals(by making "sexual orientation" a protected category) and "transgenders" (by protecting "gender identity").
The problem with Tony Perkins' harangue is that the current bill under consideration prohibits employers with 15 or more employees from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. And exceptions are made for religious organizations, non-profit membership-only clubs and the military (currently covered under DADT). He frequently engenders fear by confusing his faithful, making them think that drag shows will be performed at every company Christmas party. Perkins also inundates the reader with buzz words in his petition to Congress (to be signed by every Right-thinking American in the country):
Dear Members of Congress and President Obama,
Please do not tarnish the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement by treating a person's chosen sexual behaviors or their gender self-identification as a protected category in the nation's civil rights laws. The choice to engage in homosexual conduct and the choice to adopt a "transgender" identity (sex change or cross-dressing) are not equivalent to the established (and immutable) protected categories of one's race and biological sex, nor are they protected by the Constitution (as is the freedom of religion, also a protected category).
I urge you to oppose the "Employment Non-Discrimination Act," known as "ENDA," and not to add "sexual orientation" or "gender identity" to America's civil rights laws.
And his "Action Alert" states:
All American employers including Christian owned businesses and potentially Christian ministries would be affected.
Don't let Congress and President Obama forceAmerican employers to hire homosexuals, transsexuals, and cross-dressers.
Since he brought up the Civil Rights Movement, is it permissible to ask Mr. Perkins which side of the Movement he would have been on if he was time-warped back to the 60s? A southerner with traditional family values? Take a guess.
Perkins is obviously confused on several points: "Christian ministries" are exempt from the bill and transgender does not necessarily mean "cross-dressers." And if he still wants to go there, studies have shown that most "cross-dressers" are heterosexual men.*
Fear and confusion.
That's the Family Research Council way.
*Docter, Richard F., Prince, Virginia (1997). Transvestism: A survey of 1032 cross-dressers. Archives of Sexual Behavior 26(6), 589-605.
Rick Warren proved to himself that he is still has the Midas Touch: he turned a plea for $900k into $2.4m+ and publicity gold. For that feat he should be lionized, I guess. The problem with glorifying a"man of God" like Warren, however, is that it tends to cover up the real person. But perhaps, that is why Warren wants to be lionized. He preaches, converses, and lies in vague generalities. He causes more confusion than clarity with his explanations and backpeddling: after he insisted that no "fat cats" were involved in the donations, the matter of who gave what is still unclear:
Supposedly the envelopes filled with checks are still coming in!
An AP story stated that only Saddleback "members" were involved.
The potential size of the pool of givers is also confusing. Outreach Magazine lists Saddleback with 22,000+ in weekend worship attendance. But remember, not everyone goes every Sunday; not everyone who goes is a "member" (which Saddleback, like many conservative evangelical churches, reserves for people who have taken classes in discipleship and committed to joining the church); and not every member goes.
A, Larry Ross, spokesman for Saddleback Church:
At virtually every Saddleback church service, a disclaimer is made from the platform and reinforced in the bulletin to the effect that, "if you are not a member or regular attender who considers this your church home, you are our guests - please do not feel compelled to give." So, by posting the Intranet letter addressed to church family on the church blog, it is akin to the plate passing a visitor by in the pew -- it is an appeal intended for members only, giving them an opportunity to minister through giving.
According to Warren:
"No big major extravagant gift by some very wealthy person," Warren said. "This was just normal giving by normal people. Fifty bucks, one hundred bucks, one thousand bucks."
Hmmm. I know many who consider themselves "normal people" but not "one thousand bucks"-normal people.
Much more disturbing, however, is the claim that "200,000 people will be fed" because of the donations. Saddleback supposedly supports/maintains many local ministries that provide food and/or shelter, but how can this figure be verified? Why should this figure be verified?
"Why" is easier to explain than "how." We've experienced Warren's sweeping generalizations before: "For 5 thousand years in every culture and society, marriage has always been between one man and one woman." This statement insults educated people, of course, but Warren isn't interested in reaching educated people. So a huge subjective number like 200,000 serves Warren's agenda quite well: is there anyone out there who dares to go against such a number?
Furthermore, counting 200,000 homeless and hungry people is almost impossible given the situation: if, as Warren says, most of the money will go to helping the homeless, there is no way to track the money. You can't go to every park and public building and ask the homeless what ministries or churches they've been fed from today. And those faith-based agencies are notorious in having their programs overlap. It's the same with his "AIDS programs" here in the States. He says that they are inclusive of gays, but no one has come forth to verify it.
And the $900,000 shortfall: he said that 50% of Christmas donations were off because of the economy. Citing the obvious (which would have been expected over six months ago), Warren acted like it was some great surprise. If it was, he's got the dumbest marketing team on the planet. And considering the size of his congregation and Saddleback's yearly gross (over $150 million), $900,000 is not a great sum of money.
So as usual, Warren's actions and reactions bring up questions; more than he's willing to answer, or answer with credibility. One comment to an ABC.com article summed it up nicely:
Amazing. We will call up and pledge money to a stranger who claims to have an inside track to God and leave a neighbor out cold in the street...
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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