{"id":2720,"date":"2010-08-30T02:31:59","date_gmt":"2010-08-30T09:31:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=2720"},"modified":"2010-08-30T02:31:59","modified_gmt":"2010-08-30T09:31:59","slug":"murfreesboro-hate-authentic-christianity-or-supply-side-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2010\/08\/30\/murfreesboro-hate-authentic-christianity-or-supply-side-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Murfreesboro Hate: Authentic Christianity or Supply-side Jesus?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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)?<\/font><\/p>\n

In Murfreesboro, first there was the fire:<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\"30murfreesboro\"<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

"Everyone in our community no longer feels safe," Camie Ayash told the Daily News Journal in Sunday\u2019s 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."<\/p>\n

The fire early Saturday morning at the site of the proposed Islamic Center of Murfreesboro was being investigated by the Rutherford County Sheriff\u2019s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.<\/p>\n

Sheriff\u2019s department Lt. Randy Groce told the newspaper it was unclear "exactly what we\u2019ve got here," and declined further comment.<\/p>\n

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\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Boston Globe<\/a>><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s some local news footage: (H\/T Think Progress<\/a>)<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/param><\/param><\/param><\/embed><\/object><\/font><\/p>\n

Then there was the gunfire:<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\"30murfreesboro2\" Sheriff’s deputies are investigating a complaint about shots being fired Sunday afternoon near the construction site of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, Tenn. <\/p>\n

The report came just hours after a fire of suspicious nature damaged construction equipment at the site.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <13WMAZ<\/a>><\/p>\n

Here are two views on other religions:<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\"30boykin\" "I knew my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol." <\/p>\n

–Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

–Imam Rauf<\/p>\n

This brings up an interesting question: who would you want building a house of worship in your neighborhood?\u2026<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Daily Kos<\/a>><\/p>\n

Rauf is the Imam of the community center in Manhattan.  Isn\u2019t it ironic how much more Christian the Muslim is than the general?<\/font><\/p>\n

Jesus never preached hatred.  Therefore it\u2019s 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\u2019t real.  He is a human invention and serves to justify war, hatred, bigotry and greed.<\/font><\/p>\n

So, as an authentic Christian, I ask myself, \u201cWhat would Jesus do?\u201d  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\u2019t have to agree with it, just like they don\u2019t have to agree with ours.  For that matter, you don\u2019t have to agree with mine, and if you don\u2019t, I honor your faith, including faith in nothing, as long as you don\u2019t try to shove it down my throat.<\/font><\/p>\n

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\u2019s behavior by enforcing piety codes.  They were called Pharisees and Sadducees.  Jesus opposed them.  So I oppose them too.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-religion","category-5-id","category-47-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2720\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}