Religion – Page 41 – Politics Plus

Celebrations of Republican Hatred

Posted by TomCat at 12:28 am Politics, Religion

Sep 122010

I knew that other Republicans would carry the torch, in this case literally, for so-called Rev. Terry Jones, because this outpouring of hatred and bigotry are not the isolated acts of a few wing-nuts. This level of hatred has been promoted by leaders in the Republican party.

First on yesterday:

The United States marked the anniversary of the September 11 attacks on Saturday with commemorative ceremonies and although a pastor had canceled plans for a high-profile protest burning of the Koran, the Muslim holy book was abused in at least three separate incidents.

Hundreds of people in favor and against the building of an Islamic cultural center and mosque near the site of the toppled World Trade Center gathered in New York — hours after ceremonies in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania to mark the attacks nine years ago that killed nearly 3,000 people. The protests were peaceful.

But there were at least two incidents of abuse of the Koran in Lower Manhattan. Separately, two evangelical preachers not affiliated with any mainstream church burned two copies of the Koran in Tennessee.

Florida preacher Terry Jones had outraged Muslims around the world with his plans to burn copies of the Koran on Saturday. Jones, head of a tiny and obscure church in Gainesville, canceled his plans on Thursday.

The plan had triggered outbreaks of violence in Afghanistan in which one protester was shot dead. Thousands of Afghans demonstrated in the northeast of the country for a second day on Saturday.

President Barack Obama and U.S. officials had warned that the burning of the Koran could harm America’s image abroad, endanger lives and act as a recruiting tool for al Qaeda. Muslims view the Koran as the literal word of God, and actual or alleged desecration of the holy book has often sparked protests in the Muslim world… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Reuters>

Note that the woman pictured above, holding a picture of a lived one killed on 9/11, is wearing a chador. The attack in 2001 was as offensive to Muslim Americans as it was to the most rabid Republican pseudo-Christians.

You would think that they would learn or that they would care about the danger they pose for our service people or harm they are doing to our international standing, but no. The Republican litany of hate goes on.

Given the notoriety Terry Jones and his Dove World Outreach church have achieved in the last week, what do you think the chances are that Jones will be invited to speak at a gathering of social conservatives any time soon, or that leading Republican presidential contenders and Congressional leaders would attend a conference hosted by Dove World Outreach?

The chances of that are probably rather slim … but, for some reason, social conservatives and Republican leaders seem to have no problem sharing the stage with anti-Muslim bigot Bryan Fischer at the upcoming Values Voter Summit.

The Summit is being co-sponsored by the American Family Association [bigots delinked], where Fischer is Director of Issues Analysis, and Fischer is scheduled to be a featured speaker [bigots delinked] along with the likes of Michele Bachmann, Jim DeMint, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Bob McDonnell, Mike Pence, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and others.

Would any of these leaders be willing to share a stage with Terry Jones? If not, then why are they sharing a stage with Fischer, who has declared that all Muslims should be banned from serving in the military, that all Muslim noncitizens must be deported and all Muslim citizens must be stripped of their US citizenship and expelled from the country, that the construction of mosques in the United States must be completely banned, and that all the soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan have died in vain because the US did not convert those countries to Christianity?… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Right Wing Watch>

Note the similarity between Republican Family Values propaganda poster and the Nazi propaganda poster, both hiding religious hate behind beaming smiles. Does America really want family values like these? For any Muslims who may read this, authentic Christians respect your faith.

The Republican War on Islam

Posted by TomCat at 12:58 am Politics, Religion

Sep 102010

In a recent article on the proposed Koran burning, I explained the Republican silence on the issue: “They fear offending the very people whose hatred they have so carefully cultivated for political advantage.” Really, this never should have become an issue, but whenever a right wing idiot goes beyond the pale, the Republican Ministry of Propaganda, Fox News, jumps in to support them. Once the right broadcast it, others had to respond. Before we examine how the Republican Party has caused this tragic outpouring of hatred, here’s the latest:

The anti-Muslim leader of a tiny Florida church at the center of a global debate says he’s rethinking his decision to cancel burning copies of the Qur’an.

Pastor Terry Jones and his congregation of fewer than 50 members had planned to burn the Muslim holy books Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Thursday afternoon he announced he was backing off — the book burning was canceled — saying the leader of the planned Islamic center near Ground Zero in New York City decided to move the mosque and that it was a "sign from God."

"He has agreed to move the location. That, of course, cannot happen overnight, but he has agreed to move that. We felt that that would be a sign that God wanted us to do it. The American people do not want the mosque there, and the Muslims do not want us to burn the Qur’an," Pastor Jones said.

But a local Muslim leader says he only offered to set up a meeting between Jones and New York mosque leaders. Imam Muhammad Musri told reporters he never told Jones the New York cultural center would be moved — nor does he have any authority on or involvement in that project.

The Islamic leader on that New York project, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, said he was happy about Jones’s decision to stop the Qur’an burning but added he has no intention of moving the mosque.

"My major concern with moving it is that the headline in the Muslim world will be Islam is under attack in America," Imam Rauf said.

Thursday evening, Jones back-pedaled, saying he was lied to and is rethinking his decision to cancel the book burning… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <WBAY>

Now, Jones never connected his vile campaign with the Muslim Community Center in New York. I trust he would never have thought of it, but Sarah “Drill Baby Dingbat” Palin and John “Agent Orange” Boehner, backed into a corner over this, tried to score political points by hatefully equating building a place of worship with burning holy books.

Along with pointing out other Republican abuses of 9/11, Rachel Maddow exposes the Republican war on Islam.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

We still don’t know whether Jones will actually follow through. Damage has already been done, because Islam’s Tea Party is already in full propaganda mode over the intent alone. Jones is just a small-minded Republican wing-nut. He would not get any attention at all, had not the Republican Party made such hatred “respectable” in Republican circles though their own rhetorical war on Islam, carefully cultivating hatred in their insane quest for power.

They have sown the wind. Who shall reap the whirlwind?

How Republicans Support the Troops

Posted by TomCat at 2:14 am Politics, Religion

Sep 082010

Republicans are quick to claim that Democrats do not support the troops when some of us don’t want to support Republican wars of greed and conquest, but when the troops needed equipment, health care, a raise, family support, and educational benefits, Republicans said no. But the most recent example of their ‘support’ is positively shameful.

The pastor of a tiny, fringe evangelical church in Florida on Tuesday rebuffed a plea for restraint from Gen. David H. Petraeus, who warned that a plan to burn the Muslim holy book could provoke violence against American troops and citizens overseas.

"Instead of possibly blaming us for what could happen, we put the blame where it belongs — on the people who would do it," Pastor Terry Jones of the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., told the Associated Press. "We should address radical Islam and send a very clear warning that they are not to retaliate in any form."

Jones also said he was still praying over his decision and hinted that he might change his mind. "We understand the general’s concerns and we are taking those into consideration," he told WOFL-TV in Orlando.

A coalition of Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders held a news conference in Washington on Tuesday to condemn Jones’ statements and other slurs aimed at Muslims nationwide.

"The threatened burning of copies of the Holy Koran this Saturday is a particularly egregious offense that demands the strongest possible condemnation by all who value civility in public life and seek to honor the sacred memory of those who lost their lives on Sept. 11," said a statement by religious leaders organized by the Islamic Society of North America… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <LA Times>

In the past, I have said that I oppose burning the American flag, but I defend the freedom to do so. I also defend my own freedom to speak out against it. In the same way I am speaking out against burning the holy book of Islam. In my opinion, burning it is just as wrong as it would be for Muslims to burn Bibles.

Although I oppose the war in Afghanistan, I don’t want out troops put in unnecessary danger, and I don’t want Al Qaeda, Islam’s version of the Tea Party, to have this recruiting tool. So if I, an opponent of the war, support the troops in this, where are the Republican leaders on the issue?

Keith Olbermann and veteran Todd Bowers have the answer.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Why are the Republicans silent? The answer is simple. They fear offending the very people whose hatred they have so carefully cultivated for political advantage. If American soldiers die as a result of their silence, they do not care. They only express support for the troops when it serves their end to use war to transfer wealth from the poor and middle classes to the rich.

Every Republican in office is one Republican too many!

Murfreesboro Hate: Authentic Christianity or Supply-side Jesus?

Posted by TomCat at 2:31 am Politics, Religion

Aug 302010

Amid all the controversy about the Islamic Community Center near the former WTC, the theocratic Republican hate against a Muslim religious site in Murfreesboro, TN has been largely ignored. Is it authentic Christianity or just another manifestation of Republican Supply-side Jesus (not the real one)?

In Murfreesboro, first there was the fire:

A spokeswoman for an Islamic center whose proposed expansion has sparked vehement opposition says a fire that damaged construction equipment at the site has frightened Muslims in the Nashville suburb.

"Everyone in our community no longer feels safe," Camie Ayash told the Daily News Journal in Sunday’s edition. "To set a fire that could have blown up equipment and, God forbid, spread and caused damage to the neighbors there … When (officials) called me this morning, I started crying."

The fire early Saturday morning at the site of the proposed Islamic Center of Murfreesboro was being investigated by the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Sheriff’s department Lt. Randy Groce told the newspaper it was unclear "exactly what we’ve got here," and declined further comment.

The incident marks the latest twist in an increasingly volatile debate surrounding the efforts of the local Muslim community to build a much larger house of worship. The proposed center on 15 acres would include a mosque, a multi-purpose facility, sports facilities, a pavilion and a cemetery, and serve approximately 250 families…

Inserted from <Boston Globe>

Here’s some local news footage: (H/T Think Progress)

Then there was the gunfire:

Sheriff’s deputies are investigating a complaint about shots being fired Sunday afternoon near the construction site of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, Tenn.

The report came just hours after a fire of suspicious nature damaged construction equipment at the site.

A group of congregation members was at the site looking at the damage done to construction equipment by the fire overnight when they heard nine shots fired from two directions.

The incident occurred around 3:15 p.m. The congregation members reported hearing six shots coming from one direction, and about three minutes later they heard three more shots from another direction, said Saleh Sbenaty, a congregation member and university professor…

Inserted from <13WMAZ>

Here are two views on other religions:

"I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."

–Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin

If to be a Jew means to say with all one’s heart, mind and soul Shma` Yisrael, Adonai Elohenu Adonai Ahad; hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One, not only today I am a Jew, I have always been one, Mr. Pearl.

If to be a Christian is to love the Lord our God with all of my heart, mind and soul, and to love for my fellow human being what I love for myself, then not only am I a Christian, but I have always been one Mr. Pearl.

–Imam Rauf

This brings up an interesting question: who would you want building a house of worship in your neighborhood?…

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

Rauf is the Imam of the community center in Manhattan. Isn’t it ironic how much more Christian the Muslim is than the general?

Jesus never preached hatred. Therefore it’s evident on its face that the above hatred does not represent authentic Christianity, and does represent the pseudo-Christianity of Republican Supply-side Jesus. Republican Supply-side Jesus isn’t real. He is a human invention and serves to justify war, hatred, bigotry and greed.

So, as an authentic Christian, I ask myself, “What would Jesus do?” In the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus honored a faith that was different from his own. Therefore, I believe the authentic Christian response is to honor the faith of authentic Muslims. We don’t have to agree with it, just like they don’t have to agree with ours. For that matter, you don’t have to agree with mine, and if you don’t, I honor your faith, including faith in nothing, as long as you don’t try to shove it down my throat.

And, as an authentic Christian, I ask myself, how should I deal with the followers of Supply-side Jesus? What would Jesus do? First, I defend their right to believe whatever they want, with the caveat that their beliefs end at the tip of my nose. In his day, Jesus dealt people just like the followers of Republican Supply-side Jesus. They were religious hypocrites who insisted that they were holier than everyone else, insisted that everyone believe exactly what they do, and controlled everyone’s behavior by enforcing piety codes. They were called Pharisees and Sadducees. Jesus opposed them. So I oppose them too.

How Republicans View Tolerance

Posted by TomCat at 2:31 am Politics, Religion

Aug 222010

By rights, the US should be the most tolerant nation on earth. Our Constitution gives us the right to believe and practice the faith of our choice, including faith in nothing, to say what we wish, within reason, and to do what we wish, again within reason. Given such a structure, the only sensible way to deal with people who have beliefs and behavior different from ours is mutual respect and tolerance. However, the Republican Party has made intolerance an issue. For example:

Republican Allen West is the Tea Party candidate for House in Florida’s 22nd district … said:

[A]s I was driving up here today, I saw that bumper sticker that absolutely incenses me. It’s not the Obama bumper sticker. But it’s the bumper sticker that says, ‘Co-exist.’ And it has all the little religious symbols on it. And the reason why I get upset, and every time I see one of those bumper stickers, I look at the person inside that is driving. Because that person represents something that would give away our country. Would give away who we are, our rights and freedoms and liberties because they are afraid to stand up and confront that which is the antithesis, anathema of who we are. The liberties that we want to enjoy.”

… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

West, and his Republican cronies are wrong. It is they who would give away our country, because they are the ones who are opposing the constitutional guarantees we enjoy, the rights and freedoms and liberties, by denying the to others. It is they who are the antithesis, anathema of who we are.

That said, I must confess to an intolerance of my own. I have zero tolerance for the intolerant.

Republican Religious Right: Our Troops Died for Nothing!

Posted by TomCat at 1:22 am Politics, Religion

Aug 202010

The Republican Pharisees and Sadducees at the AFA do not represent the same Jesus that authentic Christians do.

Just how anti-Muslim is the AFA’s Bryan Fischer?

So anti-Muslim that he is now claiming that the entire Iraq war was an epic failure [theocon delinked] and complete waste of American time, money, and lives because we did not seek to convert the entire country to Christianity.

Fischer says that the only thing that kept Iraq functioning under Saddam Hussein was that "Christians to help him run the country [because] Christians were the only decent, trustworthy, honest people he could find." When Hussein was toppled, it left Iraq in the hands of Muslims and "Islam simply doesn’t produce men with the kind of character and integrity needed to run a country."

Fischer says America has offended God by creating a new Islamic Republic in Iraq which, "without the stabilizing values and presence of the Prince of Peace," will ultimately collapse.

Therefore, all of our soldiers have died for nothing:

It grieves me to the bottom of my soul to think of the soldiers who bravely gave their last full measure of devotion in such a misbegotten cause. They served bravely and well; it was their leadership that let them down.

All this is due to President Bush’s naive short-sightedness about the true nature of Islam and what it does to the human spirit. I believe him to be an honest and decent man, but deceived and foolish when it came to Islam.

He genuinely seemed to believe that Islam is a religion of peace which had been hijacked by evil men. The truth is the other way round. Islam is a barbaric religion of violence and war. The only hijacking that’s been done is by those trying to fool people into thinking it’s something benign.

… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Right Wing Watch>

Are we to thank God that Christians were helping Saddam run the country when that bastion of piety, Donald Rumsfeld, brokered the deal for Saddam to acquire chemical weapons and provided him training in their use? Are we to thank God that Christians were helping Saddam run the country when he killed and tortured so many of his own citizens? Are we to thank God that Christians were helping Saddam run the country when he accepted the invitation to invade Kuwait from April Glaspie, the US Ambassador appointed by GHW Bush? I say no, no and no!

If US deaths in Iraq were futile, it is because we should never have invaded, not because we did not do more to convert them to Republican Supply-side Jesus. How can this hate monger claim that Islam is a religion of violence and war when it was GW Bush who claimed that Jesus told him to invade Iraq? Had we tried to force conversion on the Iraqi people, Iraq would be politically unified today… against us.

Supply-side Jesus, the Republican religious right invention, whose gospel is war, hate and greed, has nothing to do with Christ. Just as Jesus opposed the Pharisees and Sadducees, authentic Christians today oppose their modern day counterparts.

Religious Right Tolerance? Ha!

Posted by TomCat at 12:30 am Politics, Religion

Aug 122010

The Republican Religious Right believes in freedom of religion… for their religion ONLY!

How do you think the Religious Right would react to a scenario in which several Christian teachers and employees were fired from a school for not holding the proper views? Most likely, they’d scream "discrimination."

Now how do you think the Religious Right would react to a scenario in which several teachers were fired from a Christian school for not holding the proper views? Most likely, they’d say the school has the right to set its own religious requirements and to determine who it hires and fires accordingly.

So I am genuinely curious about how they will respond to this story in about a Christian school firing a bunch of Catholic employees for not being "born again":

Four teachers and seven other workers at a Southern California religious school have been fired because of differences in biblical interpretation and incompatible beliefs.

Most of the dismissed workers were Roman Catholics whose beliefs conflicted with those of Corona’s conservative evangelical Crossroads Christian Schools, which last year lost its autonomy and came under the umbrella of the 8,000-member Crossroads Christian Church next door.

"To me, it feels like religious cleansing," said the Rev. John Saville of St. John’s Episcopal Church, where fired elementary teacher Marylou Goodman is a parishioner.

The fired employees had been told a year ago of the school’s closer relationship with the church and a requirement that they attend a "Bible-believing church," meaning born-again.

The employees had reportedly signed a "statement of faith" which summarized Crossroads’ beliefs and saw nothing with which they disagreed, but authorities at the school believed that these employees "weren’t living out" the statement, in part because they have not received the proper baptism… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Right Wing Watch>

I can’t say whether or not this school receives state of federal funds. If it doesn’t they are exercising their right to be wrong. If it does, that are in violation of the establishment clause abd the guarantee of equal protection. The poor children! Imagine that they had to associate with people who had been sprinkled instead of dunked!!

But if you think that bad, look how Keith Olbermann and Rep. Keith Ellison exposed how these ideologues who misrepresent Christianity behave toward other faiths.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Republicans Hate Skience

Posted by TomCat at 2:28 am Politics, Religion

Aug 112010

I know. I spelled it that way, because that that’s how Kelly Bundy spelled it, and Kelly is a perfect example of a Republican intellectual. Republicans deny climate change, so much so that Bush ordered scientific data altered to prevent its recognition. Republicans deny evolution and want biblical creation taught in our classrooms. Not even Einstein is safe.

To many conservatives, almost everything is a secret liberal plot: from fluoride in the water to medicare reimbursements for end-of-life planning with your doctor to efforts to teach evolution in schools.

But Conservapedia founder and Eagle Forum University instructor [delinked] Andy Schlafly — Phyllis Schlafly’s son — has found one more liberal plot: the theory of relativity [delinked].

If you’re behind on your physics, the Theory of Relativity was Albert Einstein’s formulation in the early 20th century that gave rise to the famous theorum that E=mc2, otherwise stated as energy is equal to mass times the square of the speed of light. Why does Andy Schlafly hate the theory of relativity? We’re pretty sure it’s because he’s decided it doesn’t square with the Bible.

In the entry, "Counterexamples to Relativity," the authors (including Schlafly) write:

The theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. It is heavily promoted by liberals who like its encouragement of relativism and its tendency to mislead people in how they view the world.[1]

To what does that reference lead? Why, a note by Schlafly:

See, e.g., historian Paul Johnson’s book about the 20th century, and the article written by liberal law professor Laurence Tribe as allegedly assisted by Barack Obama. Virtually no one who is taught and believes relativity continues to read the Bible, a book that outsells New York Times bestsellers by a hundred-fold

In other words, reading a theory about physics is correlated to a decrease in people’s interest in reading the Bible, which means that it causes people to stop reading the Bible… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Gawker>

Rachel Maddow covers this beautifully.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

We certainly need those teachers, but I do have to disagree on one point. Evolution is not the only theory that should be taught in the classroom, when a competing view has ample supporting evidence. Consider the theory of devolution:

Older Entries Newer Entries