tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post5026461185006098466..comments2024-03-28T20:30:10.681-04:00Comments on southern orders: A CHRISTMAS GIFT TO A MUSLIM FAMILY IN AUGUSTA (MY HOME TOWN BTW) GOES VIRAL!Fr. Allan J. McDonaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16986575955114152639noreply@blogger.comBlogger95125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-5209865588789958902016-01-10T05:14:37.833-05:002016-01-10T05:14:37.833-05:00PP.S. More temporal confusion – Raj Bhala’s book w...PP.S. More temporal confusion – Raj Bhala’s book was published in 2011, not 2013:<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Islamic-Law-Raj-Bhala/dp/1422417484<br />Anonymous 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-30665152772295868422016-01-09T20:30:26.558-05:002016-01-09T20:30:26.558-05:00P.S. Sorry; temporal confusion. The first Mercer e...P.S. Sorry; temporal confusion. The first Mercer event is next Thursday, January 21, not January 19.Anonymous 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-59068740977683583792016-01-09T15:58:49.741-05:002016-01-09T15:58:49.741-05:00Jus:
You could start by taking seriously the foll...Jus:<br /><br />You could start by taking seriously the following statement of the Church in Nostra Aetate Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions:<br /><br />“3. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all-powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting. <br /><br />Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom.” <br /><br />The “mutual understanding” bit challenges you (and all of us) to learn as much as we can about Islam. That is one main reason I decided to offer a course entitled “Islamic Law in Comparative Perspective” four years ago. Prior to that I had included an Islamic Law module in my Comparative Law course using El Fadl’s book “The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists” (2007), which Father Kavanaugh mentions earlier in this thread, as well as various photocopied materials:<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/dp/0061189030/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=4964748337&hvqmt=b&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_3vvrwfc4lo_b<br /><br />In the full course, however, we use the following:<br /><br /> Raj, Bhala, Understanding Islamic Law (Shari‘a) (2013; 2d. ed. 2016, forthcoming)<br /><br /> Mustafa Akyöl, Islam Without Extremes: A Muslim Case for Liberty (2011, with 2013 Epilogue)<br /><br />I recommended earlier that you read the second book. <br /><br />I am currently reading Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s new book “Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now” (2015) (she wrote the article I linked yesterday):<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/dp/0062333933/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=7014806368&hvqmt=b&hvbmt=bb&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_5vzdhyegq0_b<br /><br />I have read selected chapters so far. Based on what I have read, I would say that the book is a useful introduction to those parts of the Shari‘a that need reforming but that the author lacks nuance in her explanations and consequently the book appears somewhat shallow (although the ant-Islamic crowd will love her sweeping generalizations). <br /><br />I also want to read El Fadl’s recent book on the Shari‘a, which addresses how to reform the Shar’ia using resources within the Islamic tradition itself and which promises to be the most scholarly and robust book of all on this topic:<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/Reasoning-God-Reclaiming-Shariah-Modern/dp/0742552322<br /><br />And then, of course, there is Rabbi Sack’s marvelous “Not in God’s Name: Confronting Religious Violence” (2015) that Father Kavanaugh and I are planning to use in one or more book discussions later this spring:<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/Not-Gods-Name-Confronting-Religious/dp/0805243348<br /><br />So, if you really want to become informed, there is plenty to read other than the distorted one-sided rabble rousing papulum of people like Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller. And if you were living in this area I would suggest that you attend the Mercer series of four talks on Islam and Muslims this spring (beginning next Thursday, January 19):<br /><br />http://www.macon.com/news/local/article51641785.html<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymous 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-18601020966745854532016-01-09T00:41:08.941-05:002016-01-09T00:41:08.941-05:00Should the Spanish have 'respected Aztec blood...Should the Spanish have 'respected Aztec blood religions and the Pagans of Mexico' rather than overthrown them, knocked down their altars, and wiped out their bloody sacrifices?<br /><br />I respect human beings who happen to be Muslim. How exactly am I to 'respect' Islam?<br /><br />Jusadbellumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-10166504556971957112016-01-08T18:11:25.292-05:002016-01-08T18:11:25.292-05:00P.S. Jus:
This is a concise and, I believe, hones...P.S. Jus:<br /><br />This is a concise and, I believe, honest overview of some critical points that I found on the first page of my own Google search of “Islamic reform movements.” I just hope that it is not too late to reverse the radical extremist juggernaut unleashed by stupid Western historical meddling and by ideological liberals on the one hand and ideological Islamophobes on the other:<br /><br />https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-islam-reformers-vs-the-muslim-zealots/2015/03/27/acf6de6c-d3ed-11e4-ab77-9646eea6a4c7_story.html<br /><br />Some of us are doing what we can. And I would invite you and others to get engaged in the real battle for hearts and minds instead of frequenting Islamophobic hate-blogs full of distortion that just play into the hands of the radicals, who are consequently growing in power. Stop messing about and get on with the real task to which we are called. But you will first have to learn to respect Islam and Muslims as our Church teaches us to do.<br /> <br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymous 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-13444746685157572212016-01-08T17:38:07.195-05:002016-01-08T17:38:07.195-05:00Jus:
On the Explanatory Memorandum: Can we infer ...Jus:<br /><br />On the Explanatory Memorandum: Can we infer from this document that the Muslim Brotherhood may possibly have adopted this document’s proposals and be coordinating many different front organizations in the United States? Yes. Can we infer from it that the Muslim Brotherhood has likely done so? No. It is not wishful thinking to suggest that more evidence is needed to prove likelihood than one document (now more than 20 years old and which might even not be genuine) from some underling in the Muslim Brotherhood to his superiors, pleading with them that they not throw the document away but that the at least hear what he has to say. To suggest otherwise is like suggesting that one document (which may or may not be genuine) from some lowly Iraqi official in Saddam’s government proposing to Saddam that Iraq should restart its WMD program proves that Iraq likely had WMDs in 2003. Oh, wait a minute . . . .<br /><br />On my presumptions: “You seem to presume and believe that the 'vast majority' of Muslims not being actively involved in armed Jihad means they will never, ever be.” Not so. Please reread my last posts about the “struggle for the soul of Islam.”<br /><br />On slavery: Did you read the entirety of the Wikipedia article, including the sections on Modern Interpretations and Slavery in the Contemporary Muslim World? Clearly Islamic views on slavery evolved in a liberal direction in modern times. But there is now a radical extremist reaction, which is of course part of the struggle for the soul of Islam too. Even the 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam of the Organization of Islamic States (a document which is a Shari’a based version of human rights) prohibits slavery. Article 11(a) states “Human beings are born free, and no one has the right to enslave, humiliate, oppress or exploit them, and there can be no subjugation but to God the Most-High.” For the full document see:<br /><br />http://www.cfr.org/human-rights/cairo-declaration-human-rights-islam/p26048<br /><br />As for Christians and slaves, not so fast. Southern justifications for slavery invoked sources in the Western tradition, from Aristotle onward, to justify chattel slavery. And lest we forget, how long ago did these here great United States practice apartheid? <br /><br />On sex slavery: We in the United States would do well to look in the mirror. For example, campus rape and the pornography industry anyone?<br /><br />On the pro-Muslim websites: You cite and quote a salafist website, which of course can be expected to express these sorts of views. No-one denies this. Again, such radical extremist views are all part of the struggle for the soul of Islam. Here is information about the founder and his website:<br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Al-Munajjid<br /><br />Interestingly he is banned in Saudi Arabia. <br /><br />Now, why don’t you Google Islamic reform movements and see what you find?<br /><br />And have you read the book I recommended several times? Here it is again. Please read it. Perhaps then your views would then be less one-sided and more balanced because you would have a broader perspective. (You might even learn what a surah is and how it is redundant to talk about the Qur’an_and_surahs as if they were somehow different. They are not; surahs are chapters in the Qur’an):<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/dp/0393070867/?tag=mh0b-20&hvadid=4962714538&hvqmt=p&hvbmt=bp&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_3v68w571p8_p<br /><br />When you are ready, and when you have learned what else you need to learn about Islam and about those opposing radical Islamic extremism and are ready to have a serious conversation about what we need to do to combat the threat we face from radical Islam, we can talk again. Until then, I fear that further exchanges on this subject are a waste of time for both of us.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Anonymous 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-44120823500899116352016-01-08T12:10:54.035-05:002016-01-08T12:10:54.035-05:00I've found the pro-Muslim websites to be VERY ...I've found the pro-Muslim websites to be VERY helpful.<br /><br />http://islamqa.info/en/159301 They readily admit to a supremacist world view. <br /><br />in this we see how the devil apes God. Islam is a mirror image of the Church. With such a beast there can be tactical armistices but no lasting peace anymore than we can have lasting peace with Communists. Their core belief system precludes a world of peace-ful and permanent co-existence as moral and civil equals. Both Communists and Muslim core doctrines call for global domination via their own hand, their own doing rather than the New Jerusalem coming down to earth from heaven (as we do).<br /><br />Our core beliefs don't paint a picture of the world ending with a triumphant Catholic army conquering the evil-doers by force of arms but of the final battle being a rear-guard 'last stand' that is won not by our arms (though they must exist to give battle to the forces of the anti-Christ) but by God's intervention.<br /><br />Islam's picture of the last day is of their armies triumphing over the cross, over those who believe in God's triune nature.<br /><br />And there's no "reforming" that. So why - other than terror of reality - do so many insist that Islam is peace and if only we treat them as though they were Quakers or the Amish we'd soon have world peace?Jusadbellumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-89642520514727998082016-01-08T11:59:16.753-05:002016-01-08T11:59:16.753-05:00Anon. 2,
As for Islam justifying the abuse of wom...Anon. 2,<br /><br />As for Islam justifying the abuse of women - look no further than the Koran and Hadith themselves.<br /><br />http://www.catholic.com/blog/robert-spencer/islam-and-sex-slavery <br />http://islamqa.info/en/10382 <br /><br />http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/Quran/015-slavery.htm<br /><br />Now, check the references - Islam explicitly preaches that having sex with enslaved women and girls is OK. It regards people claiming this practice to be 'haraam' (wrong) as themselves committing sin.<br /><br />There's no analogue among Catholicism for such a belief and practice. Nothing in our Just War tradition, nothing in our canon law or praxis would make a Catholic think he has a divine right to seize a girl as a concubine and use her sexually. <br /><br />Far from being a cultural factor, this is explicitly approved as a good thing.<br /><br />So how are we going to 'reform' Islam? The best we could hope for is Muslims not being 'faithful' in key components of their creed. That they renounce what their religion calls as a morally fine and uncontroversial practice. <br /><br />As we're seeing with the resurgence of Polygamy, it won't be long before Muslims in the US openly take on second wives if indeed they're not already doing it under the guise of friends with benefits. <br /><br />It's a real problem and it's not something I think we can legislate away or police. It's a problem solved ultimately by cultural and religious CONVERSION but to convert someone you need to accept that their religion is not a path of salvation while your own is.<br /><br /><br />Jusadbellumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-36580561243995992772016-01-08T11:34:49.158-05:002016-01-08T11:34:49.158-05:00As for Islam justifying slavery, I direct you to p...As for Islam justifying slavery, I direct you to peruse the following links:<br /><br />http://africanhistory.about.com/od/slavery/a/Slavery101.htm <br /><br />http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/slavery_1.shtml <br /><br />https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_views_on_slavery<br /><br />Note the pains all take to point out how 'enlightened' Islamic slavery was/is compared to all other cultures' slavery. But also that the Koran explicitly accepts slavery as a right and proper condition unlike the Gospel that accepted it as fact but not as a positive good. <br /><br />So Christians who owned slaves did so not for religious reasons but for cultural and economic ones whereas Muslim slavers can point to Mohammed's own practice and the Koran and the Hadith etc. for ratification of his owning another human being.<br /><br />So the best we could hope for from Islam is a relatively benign or humane treatment of slaves (including sex slaves). We can't expect slavery to be repudiated by any "faithful" Muslim because it is EXPLICITLY approved by Mohammed.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Jusadbellumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-65274750384703153342016-01-08T11:10:09.425-05:002016-01-08T11:10:09.425-05:00Anon 2.
I was being sarcastic in 4:36
As for you...Anon 2.<br /><br />I was being sarcastic in 4:36<br /><br />As for your question about the Koran, hadith and suras dealing in large measure with how Muslims are to treat non-believers... what is your critique or question?<br /><br />1) a large amount of the texts DO provide instructions for how to deal with non-believers and a lot of it involves treating us at a minimum as second class citizens and at worse as enemies to slay or subjugate. Their doctrine of abrogation means the pacific texts of the early Koran are abrogated by the later, more hostile texts.<br /><br />2) CAIR isn't a fiction. That document isn't a fiction of the internet. It's real. Now, to what degree all the groups listed are coordinating with each other with that global Jihad concept in mind is anyone's guess. But ASSUMING there is no master plan, that such a plan is "impossible" and that we've nothing whatsoever to fear is unsupportable by any evidence. Your wishful thinking is even less rational than my concerns for you have nothing to base this presumption that Muslims will never, ever seek Sharia for the US when they have sought to implement it everywhere else.<br /><br />3) I fully respect foreigners and foreign ideologies as adult human beings capable of free will and grand ambitions. I don't believe the White Supremacy myth that only evil white men are capable of "manifest destiny" type agendas. I don't accept the myth that minorities are helpless waifs incapable of global ambitions because history is replete with examples of minorities seizing control of empires and nations. The vast majority of Russians were not Bolsheviks in 1920 but it didn't matter. The vast majority of Germans weren't Nazis in 1938 but it didn't matter. You seem to presume and believe that the 'vast majority' of Muslims not being actively involved in armed Jihad means they will never, ever be and that the only driver possible towards that will exclusively come from evil white people thinking bad thoughts about them (again, premised on the believe that we are the only moral agents on earth and everyone else are reactive and inert lumps).Jusadbellumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-1798365374820279532016-01-07T19:57:58.078-05:002016-01-07T19:57:58.078-05:00Anon 2
Regarding the Cologne incident, first repo...Anon 2<br /><br />Regarding the Cologne incident, first reports described sexual assaults and robbery committed against women by 'hundreds' of men 'of Arabic or African appearance'. Your average English market town on a Friday or Saturday night can present an alarming spectacle with belligerent and drunken youths brawling noisily and the behaviour of the scantily-clad female element is equally bad. But I have never seen the same in Germany; this sort of public disorder is not a German trait (the street violence of the Weimar years was an historical aberration). The young women victims interviewed by the BBC were intelligent and respectable, and could not understand why the police did not protect them.<br /><br />I agree it is a facile oversimplification to blame Islam for all this. Cultural factors are important. The atavistic village culture of Pakistan is not easily transplanted into a northern English town, first generation immigrant women won't learn English and can only mix with their own kind, and one of the most problematic of migrant groups, the Romanian gypsies, are not Muslim in the first place. However it is equally facile to deny that some cultural practices abhorrent to the west are at least indirectly influenced by Islamic teaching. John Nolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09027156691859606002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-51654097396683437032016-01-07T18:52:59.692-05:002016-01-07T18:52:59.692-05:00The spreading of misinformation online - Michela D...The spreading of misinformation online - Michela Del Vicario, Alessandro Bessi, Fabiana Zolloa, Fabio Petronic, Antonio Scala, Guido Caldarellia, H. Eugene Stanley, and Walter Quattrociocchia<br /><br />"ABSTRACT: The wide availability of user-provided content in online social media facilitates the aggregation of people around common interests, worldviews, and narratives. However, the World Wide Web (WWW) also allows for the rapid dissemination of unsubstantiated rumors and conspiracy theories that often elicit rapid, large, but naive social responses such as the recent case of Jade Helm 15––where a simple military exercise turned out to be perceived as the beginning of a new civil war in the United States. In this work, we address the determinants governing misinformation spreading through a thorough quantitative analysis. In particular, we focus on how Facebook users consume information related to two distinct narratives: scientific and conspiracy news. We find that, although consumers of scientific and conspiracy stories present similar consumption patterns with respect to content, cascade dynamics differ. Selective exposure to content is the primary driver of content diffusion and generates the formation of homogeneous clusters, i.e., “echo chambers.” Indeed, homogeneity appears to be the primary driver for the diffusion of contents and each echo chamber has its own cascade dynamics. Finally, we introduce a data-driven percolation model mimicking rumor spreading and we show that homogeneity and polarization are the main determinants for predicting cascades’ size."<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-80518896146802725432016-01-07T17:59:34.983-05:002016-01-07T17:59:34.983-05:00Jus ad Bellum at 4:36 p.m.:
Now you are being ver...Jus ad Bellum at 4:36 p.m.:<br /><br />Now you are being very silly. I thought you were a philosopher and therefore were trained how to think. Perhaps you are having a bad day and your dripping sarcasm is getting in the way.<br /><br />By the way, have you made any progress in figuring out the problem with your statement: “If so then what do we make of the Koran, Hadith, and Suras that speak of warfare and how to 'deal with' non-believers?” I asked about this on another thread a few weeks ago. As well read as you are, compared to me and Father Kavanaugh, you should have no trouble.<br /><br />Talking of which, I am still waiting for your response to my post addressing the purported Muslim Brotherhood Explanatory Memorandum.<br /><br /><br />Anonymous 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-53750125727843668132016-01-07T17:02:48.631-05:002016-01-07T17:02:48.631-05:00Jus:
“Islam justifies slavery. It justifies hono...Jus:<br /><br /><br />“Islam justifies slavery. It justifies honor killing. It justifies all manner of abuse of children and women and non-believers.”<br /><br />Discuss.<br />Anonymous 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-14331149600331166462016-01-07T16:59:49.353-05:002016-01-07T16:59:49.353-05:00As another example, then, is “grooming” the result...As another example, then, is “grooming” the result of Islam or the cultural background of the immigrants coming from a particular part of the world? Is it permitted by Islam or prohibited? To the extent Islam appears to permit the practice, does it depend on a particular interpretation of the relevant texts? Indeed, is it agreed which texts are even relevant? If Islam appears to prohibit it (again this may depend on the texts and their interpretation), then this suggests Islam is not part of the problem but instead part of the solution. The only way to get at these matters is to examine the motivations of the perpetrators. What was actually in their minds? <br /><br />So, there is so much that I (we?) do not know but would need to know to reach a fair and objective judgment about so many of these incidents and situations. But is this how the anti-Islamic blogger industry proceeds? Doesn’t the question answer itself?<br /><br />I will try to respond to the good points you make in your fourth paragraph in a later post.Anonymous 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-52330920696881186902016-01-07T16:59:23.632-05:002016-01-07T16:59:23.632-05:00John Nolan:
You are correct regarding the lawyer’...John Nolan:<br /><br />You are correct regarding the lawyer’s role as an advocate. However, to be truly effective in advising the client as a counselor (including preparatory to or during adversarial litigation when representing the client as an advocate), the lawyer must be able to evaluate the case from both sides and, in criminal defense work, also imagine how potential jurors might see matters (to prepare jury strikes). And if you still don’t like the lawyer point, then I am also an academic for whom the quaint notion of “truth” still carries some weight.<br /><br />The word phobia seems perfectly appropriate in this situation. One of the central elements of a phobia is irrationality. Check out these definitions in Webster’s. I think you will see that they fit quite readily:<br /><br />http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phobia<br /><br />One of the central elements of a phobia is irrationality. Thus, when people have a fearful automatic reaction, or perhaps better said overreaction, to an event or situation before they have examined the evidence regarding that matter or situation, it is irrational. For example, when people see some fabricated video or read about some very questionable document on the Internet and automatically assume its truth because it fits into the pre-existing narrative “all Muslims are radicals or terrorists and/or want to take over the country,” it is irrational and the result of phobia. This said I am totally opposed to the use of such terms to shut down conversation as so many on the liberal left do in a PC manner. (I should add that those on the right can be just as guilty; for example, one favored tactic of the right over here, and you see it on this blog as well, is to suggest that one is a “terrorist sympathizer” or “apologist for Islam” if one dares to question the rationality of various claims; this again is the result of “Islamophobia.”) No, what I seek is the objective evaluation of the evidence. <br /><br />You make some cogent points in the third paragraph. I have said on this blog before that Enoch Powell, for all his “strangeness,” was correct to warn against the imprudent admission into Britain of so many immigrants from certain parts of the world and to caution that it could well result in social unrest and violence. Notice, this isn’t necessarily to blame the immigrants, or indeed to blame anyone, morally. It is just a question of social realities about how human beings react to radical change. One of the things that can happen with the admission of large numbers of “aliens” is mutual incomprehension and mutual suspicion, especially when there is little positive contact between an immigrant group(s) and the existing population.<br /><br /><br />Are there social problems in Britain and elsewhere arising from the immigration of Muslims? To be sure there are. But we have to try to understand the nature and causes of the problems. Take the incidents over New Year in Cologne, for example. I do not yet have the facts, so any judgment must be provisional. As I understand it at the moment, however, alcohol was involved. If that is the case, and if the alleged groping, rape, and theft were due to inebriation, how on earth can one blame Islam when, as I am sure you know, under the classical Shari’a consumption of alcohol is haram (even if the prohibition may sometimes/often be ignored)? No, it may have had far more to do, one suspects, with the non-religious cultural attitudes of the individuals concerned (assuming the allegations are true). Thus what happened in Cologne may well have occurred not because of Islam but in spite of it (but, as I said, I need more facts). Here is an ABC report which illustrates my points:<br /><br />http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/germany-minister-deportations-cologne-case-36137126<br /><br /><br />Incidentally, a lot of things get blamed on the religion which are more socio-cultural in origin. So we need to make some distinctions here. <br /><br />(continued)<br /><br />Anonymous 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-56625136585595143642016-01-07T16:36:49.705-05:002016-01-07T16:36:49.705-05:00Anonymous, we are not allowed to think bad thought...Anonymous, we are not allowed to think bad thoughts about Muslims at all. See, if we do harbor bad thoughts, we'll just drive the otherwise utterly peaceful, Amish-like awesomely awesome Muslims into the arms of the radical bad Muslims (who, when they kill people magically cease to be Muslims in no-true-Scotsman style).<br /><br />Thus, any bad behavior is CAUSED not by them being savages but by us not being sufficiently welcoming. If only we were more submissive to them, they wouldn't be such threats to us. <br /><br />See how this works?<br /><br />A statesman once reminded us that there is a certain path to peace: surrender. But also that there is something more precious than "peace" and it's worth fighting for.<br />https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpH5L8zCtSk <br /><br /><br />Jusadbellumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-65666427978180287182016-01-07T14:35:13.366-05:002016-01-07T14:35:13.366-05:00On December 31st Muslim men raped and groped Germa...On December 31st Muslim men raped and groped German women in the cities of Berlin, Colonge, Düsseldorf , Hamburg, Aacen and many others the police admitted they lost control and could only stand and watch incredible!!! The female mayor of Colonge blamed the women for the raping and groping, can you believe this???? Angela Merkel wanted these animals in Germany and by God she got her wish. This is only the beginning of a disaster waiting to happen, you ain't seen nothing yet!!! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-90692415784955713962016-01-07T10:04:35.813-05:002016-01-07T10:04:35.813-05:00Where are the 'moderate' Muslims who fight...Where are the 'moderate' Muslims who fight the radicals? Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan... that's about it. And to fight them requires a massive police surveillance state with swift and bloody repression of any Jihadi group. Syria hasn't done anything against its radicals that Algeria didn't do in their civil war....<br /><br />Now, these various kingdoms and centralized regime states are nationalists, not pan-arabs. The powers that be realize that ideological Islam, the Islam calling for Caliphate would be their death so they will fight to the death to preserve their own skin. This may tactically mean they will help the West but they are fighting not to reform Islam but to use Islam to maintain power.<br /><br />The point being that when "moderates" and "radicals" both use Islam to justify the mass destruction and mayhem leveled against civilian populations, we've got a serious problem and it's not caused by "phobia" on the part of American conservatives calling our government to restrict immigration.<br /><br />Islam justifies slavery. It justifies honor killing. It justifies all manner of abuse of children and women and non-believers. Historically it has always militated towards Caliphate. So these "moderates" you so fervently believe we must be nice to (good cop) so as to not drive into the camp of the radicals (bad cop) are "moderate" not by theological or ideological premises but in tactical, temporary, conditional ways.<br /><br />Only when Islam is below 3% of a given population do they behave peacefully. Once they grow beyond that their own internal theological and ideological requirements militate towards Sharia law. <br /><br />If our hope then is that the "moderates" will become Modernists, ala "cultural Catholics" or "Muslims in name only" that's a very weak read to plant one's security on. Why not just go to full conversion?<br /><br />Ah, but then that would run afoul of the fiction that global religions can co-exist in a permanent state of détente and non-competition all while preaching doctrines of global significance and purpose.<br /><br />Communism HAS to seek world domination. The theory itself calls for total control in order to 'work'. Islam HAS to seek world domination. Likewise, Catholicism, to be true, HAS to seek to make disciples of all the nations.<br /><br />Thus as much as we might pray for peace, there must necessarily be ideological and religions conflicts - they're inescapable. <br /><br />Jusadbellumnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-28971696938534286762016-01-07T07:41:43.526-05:002016-01-07T07:41:43.526-05:00Anon 2
In our adversarial system lawyers start wi...Anon 2<br /><br />In our adversarial system lawyers start with a presumption of guilt or innocence. Examining the evidence and coming to a conclusion is usually left to the jury. One of the functions of a defence counsel is to discredit the evidence put forward by the prosecution, whether it's true or not. If a lawyer is not partisan, he will make a poor advocate. <br /><br />Could we please drop the loaded term 'Islamophobia'? Anti-Islamic, like anti-Catholic is a more accurate description of those who for one reason or another are opposed to these particular manifestations of religious belief. The Nazi persecution of the Jews was surely irrational, yet we don't use the term 'Judaeophobia'. Incidentally, the Nazis were never successful in turning ordinary Germans against the Jews - the NSDAP organized a 'Judenboykott' in 1933 with the slogan 'Kauf nie bei Juden!' It was a flop and was never repeated.<br /><br />The behaviour of certain groups of non-European origin, and the apparent favourable treatment of them by the authorities (minority status confers privileges) is causing increasing resentment among the European public at large. What happened in Cologne on New Year's Eve has sparked protests, not least against the police who failed to take action. The advance of the Front National in France was only stalled by tactical voting on a massive scale. The sense of grievance is real; it is not generated by anti-Islamist blogs. Nor is it much to do with terrorist atrocities - don't forget that nearly three decades of Irish republican terrorism failed to produce a significant anti-Irish backlash in Britain. What is of most concern is the failure of the government to control immigration; a concern shared (in Britain at least) by established immigrant communities, including Muslim ones.<br /><br />There are also historical factors. When Islam burst out of the Arabian peninsula it came into contact with civilizations like the Byzantine and Persian and adapted to them and borrowed from them. By the later Middle Ages it had largely declined into obscurantism at the same time as the Christian West, always open to scientific enquiry, was embarking on an age of expansion and would come to dominate the planet. Modern Islam is very much a religion of resentment; a third-world faith; the religion of the 'have-nots' rather than the 'haves'. Apart from anything else, there is no majority Muslim state that in military terms has more than local influence. <br /><br /> <br /><br />John Nolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09027156691859606002noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-80603763361198958892016-01-07T07:30:35.430-05:002016-01-07T07:30:35.430-05:00Jan - In what continents are Christians violent?Jan - In what continents are Christians violent?Fr. Michael J. Kavanaughnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-21114026258480513302016-01-06T20:14:40.488-05:002016-01-06T20:14:40.488-05:00Well then Fr Kavanaugh you are calling a fellow pr...Well then Fr Kavanaugh you are calling a fellow priest a liar when he says his relatives can't go openly to Mass. I suggest you read:<br /><br />http://rescuechristians.org/persecuted-church-indonesia-christians-persecuted-islam/<br /><br />Catholics injured in attacks on Indonesian prayer service<br />Intruders assault home owner, a journalist and others<br />Ryan Dagur, Jakarta<br />Indonesia<br />May 30, 2014<br /><br />http://www.ucanews.com/news/catholics-injured-in-attacks-on-indonesian-prayer-service/71052<br /><br />Indonesia: Muslims screaming “Allahu akbar” attack Roman Catholic Church during Sunday Mass<br /><br />June 30, 2014 6:33 pm By Robert Spencer <br /><br /><br />Indonesia Deploys 1,500 Police to Protect Churches Against Christmas ISIS Attack<br /><br />Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/indonesia-deploys-1500-police-to-protect-churches-against-christmas-isis-attack-152687/#FSvCicXK9kwFODBu.99<br /><br />Indonesia's Christmas shrouded by terror<br /><br />Fifteen years after deadly church attacks's Christians remain vulnerable<br /><br />Siktus Harson, Jakarta<br /><br />This backs up what the priest I know says and shows that in every country Islam is violent.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-78343833681444478332016-01-06T19:17:04.138-05:002016-01-06T19:17:04.138-05:00If you need any evidence of how Muslims, the "...If you need any evidence of how Muslims, the "religion of peace", are treating Chaldean Christians in the Middle East, just read these news items at <a href="http://www.helpiraq.org/news-2/" rel="nofollow">www.helpiraq.org</a>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-32659705861801703342016-01-06T18:51:50.423-05:002016-01-06T18:51:50.423-05:00Any Catholic (and really any Christian) if truly s...Any Catholic (and really any Christian) if truly such, is not without hope. It is through our sacrifices offered up, and our pleadings and supplications to God, that He, by them, might have mercy on us and reduce and mitigate the chastisements and punishments we so richly deserve. God does require certain things of us so that He is not just at our bidding to do what we ask of Him, without anything done on our part. We are not like cattle out in the field to soak up the benevolence and kindness which the Divine Sun bestows on us without us contributing something. He allows certain things to transpire and to be inflicted on us so that we might again be and do what He desires of us. Sin has consequences, and it is one of the consequences that evil grows and becomes more powerful, and in doing so it takes unforeseen forms and directions. So, yes, there is always hope that one day the Moslems will practice their religion and allow others to practice theirs in peace, free from intimidation and fear. In the meantime we must continue to do the spiritual works that all Catholics should do. At least try to pray the rosary and Divine Mercy chaplet every day. <br />Georgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05809499822558662728noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7846189835239594160.post-84375869125890034222016-01-06T17:34:43.996-05:002016-01-06T17:34:43.996-05:00Let me try this again as the post to which the P.S...Let me try this again as the post to which the P.S. was added apparently got lost in cyberspace:<br /><br /><br />Jus:<br /><br />As I said to Jan, I have a job and cannot spend all my time trying to respond to everything you throw up. So let me just say this. <br /><br />I have never denied that there exists a threat from radical Islam and radical Islamic terrorists. Indeed, it is the premise behind everything I have written. For years I have talked about the “battle for the soul of Islam” on this blog. What on earth do you think that is about if not the battle between the radicals and non-radicals? <br /><br />And I have maintained that Western participation in this battle needs to be intelligent, not stupid. In my view it is not intelligent, but stupid, to whip up anti-Muslim hysteria based on the fevered imaginings of Islamophobic extremist bloggers and so-called “experts.” Instead one needs to look at the evidence in a calm, cool, and collected manner. One needs to understand before one reaches judgment. I am a lawyer by training, so this is in my DNA.<br /><br />Let us take just one document you cite as illustration—the 1991 “Muslim Brotherhood Explanatory Memorandum.” Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I did not know about it. So, yes, I suppose I am not so well-read, as you say. I am certainly not as well read in the world of Islamophobic extremist blogs and their conspiracy theories as you and some others here seem to be. As I said, I prefer more credible sources. Apparently, this document is the basis for the theory that the Muslim Brotherhood is planning to take over the United States, or some such thing. Given the monopolization of the Internet by Islamophobic extremist blogs that share and repeat the same material, it took me a while to find a response with “inconvenient information” that may cause a bit of cognitive dissonance. Did you even look? Here it is, in two links:<br /><br />http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/print/muslim_brotherhood_document1<br /><br />http://www.loonwatch.com/2011/04/sue-myricks-hearing-on-the-muslim-brotherhood-threat/<br /><br /><br />I hope you understand that, as a lawyer, my disposition is to consider both sides of an issue and to evaluate all the evidence and all the arguments regarding that issue instead of uncritically buying into one particular narrative. As I indicated yesterday, I have the same approach to UFOs. Even though I am open to the possibility that extraterrestrial life may exist and indeed may even have discovered a means of traveling to Earth, I regret to say that the evidence just is not there yet. I await your response.<br /> <br />P.S. Here is what appears to be the bottom line on this document (see the recent New Yorker article quoted at the end of the first link):<br /><br />“The memo, however, is far from probative. It was never subjected to an adversarial test of its authenticity or significance. Examined closely, it does not stand up as an authoritative prescription for action. Rather, it appears to have been written as a plea to the Muslim Brotherhood leadership for action, by an author we know little about, Mohamed Akram. He is listed elsewhere as a secretary in the Brotherhood, but he writes in the tone of an underling. Islam watchers do not quote his appeal that the recipients “not rush to throw these papers away due to your many occupations and worries. All that I’m asking of you is to read them and to comment on them.” These lines reveal the memo as a mere proposal, now twenty-four years old. No other copies have come to light.”<br />Anonymous 2noreply@blogger.com