Delicious
Digg
StumbleUpon
Newsvine
Facebook
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiWASHINGTON, Feb 21 (IPS) - The U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs came under heavy criticism earlier this month from Muslim and religious freedom advocacy groups after it invited to a conference three self-professed "former terrorists" with strong links to the Christian right.
Collectively known as the "3-X Terrorists", Walid Shoebat, Kamel Saleem and Zacharia Anani are front line soldiers in the U.S. "culture wars", a discursive battle over "values" and hot-button issues ranging from abortion to radical Islam.
The men collected 13,000 dollars for their appearance at the 50th annual Academy Assembly, a four-day conference attended by 200 international students and Air Force cadets and organised under the auspices of the school's political science department.
To supporters, the 3-X represent "moderate" voices; they are self-professed Muslim extremists who converted to evangelical Christianity and are now exposing Islam for what it really is. To critics, they are frauds, accused of fabricating much of their past exploits as mass murderers in order to peddle their Islamophobia on the lecture circuit and on cable news networks, including Fox News Corp. and CNN.
But it is their relationship with political leaders and organisations across the right-wing Christian spectrum that seems to have elicited the greatest concern from critics.
"These men are frauds, but that is not the point. They are part of a dark and frightening war by the Christian right against tolerance that, in the moment of another catastrophic terrorist attack on American soil, would make it acceptable to target and persecute all Muslims," wrote former New York Times reporter Chris Hedges in a widely circulated online essay.
"They offer a window into a worldview that is destroying the United States. It has corrupted the Republican party. It has colored the news media. It has entered into the everyday clichés we use to explain ourselves to ourselves. It is ignorant and racist, but it is also deadly," he said.
Controversy seems to follow Shoebat and his associates wherever they go. Members of the public and the news media were not allowed to attend a student-run forum featuring the three at Stanford University. Princeton University cancelled a scheduled talk by Shoebat in 2005 because it was perceived as being "too inflammatory". In 2006, Columbia University restricted public attendance at a speech with Shoebat and former Nazi Hitler youth and German soldier Hilmar Von Campe only three hours before the event was to take place.
The Military Religious Freedom Organisation (MRFF), a group that is suing the federal government to combat what it describes as "creeping evangelism" in the armed forces, also denounced the visit.
The relationship between the evangelical Christian Right and 3-X runs deep, with connections to Reverend John Hagee's Christian-Zionist Christians United for Israel (CUFI), as well as Focus on the Family, part of the para-church organisations that promote social conservative public policy in the U.S., and have maintained close relations with the George W. Bush administration.
Shoebat says claims to be a former Palestinian Liberation Organisation operative who attacked Jews, planted bombs in Israel, and in 1993 converted to Christianity. He released a book in 2007 entitled "Why We Want to Kill You", and appeared in a purported documentary film called "Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West."
The film was marketed in part by self-described "pro-Israel" groups, and featured interviews with Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, dubious "investigative journalist" Steve Emerson, Itimar Marcus of the Israel-based Palestinian Media Watch, and Daniel Pipes, a controversial scholar of medieval Islamic history whose website campuswatch.com sparked criticism in 2002 for its alleged McCarthyesque attacks on Middle East studies professors.
Shoebat has received the support of other neo-conservative pundits too. His website features a quote from Frank Gaffney, of the Centre for Security Policy: "In the 25 years I have been in Washington I have never heard anything so extraordinary and the truth so eloquently told by someone like this [Walid Shoebat]."
In the summer of 2006, Shoebat also spoke at the "Night to Honour Israel", a three-day event presented by Pastor Hagee's CUFI, which aims to mobilise Christian Zionists as a political force, according to the San Antonio Express.
Shoebat, Saleem, and Anani are also slated to appear on a panel of ex-terrorists at the CUFI Washington convention in March. Other notable speakers include independent Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman, Pipes, Gaffney, and Clifford May, president of the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies.
Saleem, who runs an organisation called Koome Ministries, says he was indoctrinated by the PLO as a child, and ran weapons into Israel via underground tunnels underneath the Golan Heights. But analysts argue there are no accounts of such an incident. Saleem also claims he was descended from the "grand wazir of Islam", a nonsensical term that Saleem rebutted on his website.
"I take responsibility for choosing that inaccurate term. I did so to obscure both title and geographical location of a cleric to whom I am related," he wrote.
The Koome Ministries website is quite clear on its purpose: first, to wake up, educate and train the Christian and Jewish communities on the impending dangers of radical Islam; second, to reach Muslims with the redemptive message of Christ; and third, to teach the Church "relationship evangelism" in order to reach Muslims with the Truth.
The site asks visitors to pray for specific Muslim nations, and provides videos of indigenous groups that are "ripe for the gospel:. The site currently features a video prayer appeal for a Berber group in southern Morocco, asking viewers to "pray for Southern Shilha Berbers will truly become Africa's free men and women in Christ: pray against the spirits of Islam and mysticism that have kept them bound for generations."
Anani claims he has killed at least 223 people as a Lebanese militant during the early 1970s and was "almost beheaded" for converting to Christianity. A 2007 report in the Canadian Windsor Star cast doubts on his jihadi past; according to Tom Quiggin, a Canadian court-qualified expert of global jihadism, some of Anani's accounts did not correspond with actual historical events.
"Mr. Anani is not an individual who rates the slightest degree of credibility, based on the stories that he has told," said Quiggin, a senior fellow at the Centre of Excellence for National Security in Singapore.
Sheobat and Saleem are U.S. citizens, and Anani is Canadian.
© 2008 Inter Press Service
159 Comments so far
Show Alldcbeltway,
I have no problem with anyone's beliefs. Believe what you like, as long as it is not detrimental to others.
Documented, historical facts of the harm that has been done by christianity and islam, is undeniable. There are numerous undeniable statements in your own books, that call for violence. How can you condone them? I realize that most people of faith, are good decent people, i have no problem with them.
My problem is with organized religions. If you truly believe in a god, and your relationship is a personal one, than what is the purpose of organized religions? Why can't you just have your faith, without prescribing to some book that was written over a hundred years after the fact, and rewritten over, and over again by mere mortals, just like you and me, to suit their personal views. Are you not secure in your own spirituality, or do you need the confirmation of others to quell any doubts that you might have?
The only remaining piece of the original writings of the bible, is no larger than a credit card. So how in the world, can you take the bible as the word of god?
Muhammed is said to have forced himself on a NINE YEAR OLD VIRGIN!!, and yet millions worship him. Can you you enlighten me on that little tidbid? The muslims believe it is alright to strike their wives. You go along with that one? How about those muslims who believe the koran gives them license to stone a woman to death, who is "accused", of infidelity. How about honor killings? How about the call for the death, of the man who published a "cartoon" of muhammed? There is a young man in afghanistan, who has been sentenced to death. His crime?.... he has been accused of downloading a document, that claims that women are equal to men. NICE!
Where do they get their inspiration? Maybe from the koran?
I could go on about other atrocities committed in the name of your gods, but i think you get my point.
If there was a god, what religion would he,she, it, endorse. I contend, that if it was islam, or christianity, maybe you might want to rethink, exactly who, or what you are worshipping.
Terry its sad to see you paint people with a broad brush, your level of intolerance is appaling. I'm not even going to respond anymore since your point of view stems from hatred and lack of empathy for others as human beings. I've seen people of both religious and secular backgrounds proclaim both good and bad ideas and violence and looking back at history this is the case.
When the muslims and the christians, finally get around to reigning in the radicals, the ones who are the leaders, and the voices of your religions, get back to me, and maybe i will find some respect for your religions. I know these things take time, and hundreds of years are not enough time to weed them out.
Or is it that their voices, and actions, are really the true representation of your beliefs? Hmmm.
Believe none of what you hear, and only half of what you see.
And what i've seen is, racism, hatred, bigotry, violence and the abuse of women and children.
Talk is cheap.
tolerancenow February 25th, 2008 4:33 am..
Whew.. Don't know about anybody else but I can't be bothered to wade through the verbal diarrhea you have just subject us all to.
Can't actually follow your thoughts (too wordy and convoluted) except it is obvious you are a racist and an xenophobe, with particular emphasis on Arabs (for which Islam is a sort of code word..). That means your thoughts, such as they are, are only relevant to identify the intolerant view point ..
It is wonderful that oppressed members of the muslin communnity have found this most liberal sight. Now you wonderful people have an audience well suited to your search for sympathy as a class of religious victims. It should be welcoming for you and the usual liberal readers of this post that your message will be heard. Here are a few tips to remember about this sight:
1. Keep reminding the readers that white males are the cause for every evil in earth, including 911, and the Saudi Arabian burning of young school girls (about Aisha's age) because they were not dressed appropriately to leave the burning school building.
2. Nazis killed jews, not muslims, and that their leader was a white european male. Therefore, white males of european males will always be the true enemy. Since you muslims are not typically white eupropean males, it will be assumed that you need the liberals help and support because you are helpless victims.
3. Remember that liberals think its cute when others want to kill jews. So long as it is not a white european male.
4. Every chance you get, only tell them how you interpret the bible based solely on the Crusades and the Klan. What ever you do, never tell anyone that people in the Klan and people during the crusades were not allowed to read the bible. The Spanish inquisition killed as many people who read the bible as they did jews, muslims and protestants.
5. Recite only those few verses in the Koran that do not refer to Mohammed's instructions to his army to kill those who stood up to him,or allude to killing and raping everyone that does not submit to the Prophet. This way, you avoid appearing intolerant.
6.Like the liberals on this sight, never read the bible. Refer to hint 4 and continue to base everything you assume about the bible on Hitler, Torquemada, perverted catholic priests, KKK, Crusaders, Nixon and Bush.
7. Stress the rights women have in the Koran. Forget about the fact women in America, Europe, Asia and India are running successful multi million dollar companies and employ hundreds of people.
Remember, choosing which burka to wear and which other wife they can talk to in a seperate room while the men eat are the true freedoms unknown to most women in the world. Most women really don't need to be in public with men they are not married to when they have so many other freedoms in the Koran.
8. Threaten jews, christians at all times. As you muslims have figured out by now, most Americans will never take you seriously when you make these comments. To most Americans and to every liberal on this sight, these are simply cute child like comments no true American would ever take serioulsy from an oppressed, victimized people like Arabic muslims. So long as you are not a white male of european ancestry, you are a friend to the American feminized liberal and can say and do whatever you want to anyone- just don't let your sons marry their daughters. It upsets them.
9. So long as you criticise white American males, make those cute comments about kiling jews and christians,readers of this sight will assume you are telling the truth. So don't worry about any American feminized liberal actually making an effort to verify your statements or reading the Koran. They will find out about it soon enough, right?
10.Finally, never mention hell to the American feminized liberal. Hell to them is the continued existence of the American white male. There is nothing worse.
Hope these guidelines help. I am confident that you will gain thousands of new friends from this sight alone by following these hints. Good Luck
Not the first Arabs to sell snake oil in the grand ol' U. S. of A. There's a gentleman named Salem Kirban who has also claimed much the same sort of thing. With much the same sort of credibility.
With regards to 'A'isha:
http://realdeen.wordpress.com/2006/07/30/real-age-of-hazrat-aisha/
"According to hadith in Bukhari and Muslim, Aisha is said to have joined Muhammad on the raid that culminated in the Battle of Badr, in 624 CE. However, because no one below the age of fifteen was allowed to accompany raiding parties, Aisha should have been at least fifteen in 624 CE and thus at least thirteen when she was married following the Hijra in 622 CE."
"Ibn Hisham's recension of Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rashul Allah, the earliest surviving biography of Muhammad, records Aisha as having converted to Islam before Umar ibn al-Khattab, during the first few years of Islam around 610 CE. In order to accept Islam she must have been walking and talking, hence at least three years of age, which would make her at least fifteen in 622 CE."
"According to many Ahadith in Bukhari, it is believed Aisha participated in the battle of Badr and Uhud. Also in Bukhari (Kitabu'l-maghazi) Ibn `Umar states that the Prophet did not permit me to participate in Uhud, as at that time, I was 14 years old. But on the day of Khandaq, when I was 15 years old, the Prophet permitted my participation. So if it was not allowed to participate in Uhud for people younger than 15, then Aisha would be at least 15 in those battles, making her age at least 13 to 14 at the time of marriage."
The ahadith are the stories about Mohammed's life, and are the closest we have to an autobiography of him, being recorded in the years after his death and the establishment of the kilafah aka the rule of his deputies.
dcbeltway, I disagree with you regarding wives. I know I didn't live during those times, but when I heard this for the first time, I will admit it bothered me and to be quite honest still bothers me.
AISHA SIDDIQA: A woman named Kholeah Bint Hakeem suggested that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) marry Aishah, the daughter of Aby Bakr, to form a close relationship with Aby Bakr's family. She was already engaged to Jober Ibn Al Moteam Ibn Oday. At this time Jober was not yet a Muslim. The people of Makkah did not object to Aishah becoming married because although she was young, she was mature enough to understand the responsibility of marriage. Prophet Muhammad (bpuh) was engaged to Aishah for 2 years before he married her. Aby Bakr was the first leader after Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) death.
http://www.anwary-islam.com/women/prophets-wives.htm
Gradually the Muslims who remained in Mecca left the city and traveled to Medina to join their beloved Prophet, and amongst them was a little girl called 'A'isha, the daughter of Abu Bakr. Soon after arriving in Medina, 'A'isha, who was now nine years old, as married to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), who was now fifty-four years old. It was at this point that she left her family's household and joined that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). 'A'isha later reported that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had told her that Jibril came to him and showed him a picture of her on a piece of green silk and said, "She is your wife in this world and in the next world." About her wedding, she related that shortly before she was to leave her parents' house, she slipped out into the courtyard to play with a friend. "I was playing on a seesaw and my long streaming hair became disheveled," she said. "They came and took me from my play and made me ready." They dressed her in a wedding dress made from fine red striped cloth from Bahrain and then her mother took her to the newly built house where some women of the Ansar were waiting outside the door. They greeted her with the words, "For good and for happiness, may all be well." Then, in the presence of the smiling Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) a bowl of milk was brought. The Prophet drank from it himself and then offered it to 'A'isha. She shyly declined it, but when he insisted she drink as well and then offered the bowl to her sister Asma' who was sitting beside her. The others who were present also drank from it, and that was all there was to the simple and solemn occasion of their wedding.
http://www.anwary-islam.com/women/pwife_aisha.htm
TerryB I suggest you read this link below regarding the Muslims condemnations of terrorism and extremism. I also think you need to do some personally introspection and ask yourself why you are prejudiced and painting over 1 billion humanbeings with a broadbrush. From your posts this is clearly the case. I wish you good luck and I hope you can overcome the hate.
http://groups.colgate.edu/aarislam/response.htm
TerryB of course I strongly disagree with such practices they are morally wrong just as I feel the death penalty in Western Christian society by electric chair or lethal injection is equally morally wrong. I believe in justice and in punishment just not taking lives to punish.
Lets remember that Islamists just like Christian fundamentalists are part of political movements that misconstrue religious texts to suit their own political ends in order to gain power. True Muslims and True Christians do not act this way and condemn the killing of others especially innocents. In the Quran just like the Torah it states: "To take an innocent life it is as if you killed all of humanity and to save a life it is as if you saved all humanity." Therefore the sanctity of life is what the Quran honors and Islamic tradition honors. Some Muslims believers may forget or ignore those traditions and those that do should be brought to justice for their poor actions. There are bad people and bad leaders in the world of all faiths and backgrounds. You can even look to secular leaders like Mao and Stalin as they killed millions and they were marxist and against religion. So blaming religion for the actions of a few makes no sense. Islam's roots are in the Judeo-Christian tradition as Muslims trace their history back to Abraham and Jesus and other leaders in common with Jews and Christians. The Qu'ran says that there is salvation for both Jews and Christians as they are people of the book.
Some of the most vocal critics of what has happened in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia's judicial systems are other Muslims lets remember.
"To put the world in right order, we must first put the nation in order; to put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order; to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal life; we must first set our hearts right." Confucius
http://www.cbc.ca/sunday/2008/02/021008_2.html
If you really want to see, the sick practice of stoning, google islam stoning of women. I could not watch it all.
There is also a case in afghanistan now, where a young man has been sentenced tot death.
His crime?..... he downloaded a document off the internet, that suggests that women are equal to men.
dcbeltway, what are your thoughts on the stoning to death, of those who have been "accused" of infidelity. Honor killings. Striking of women by their husbands, and calling for the death of the guy who drew a cartoon of mohammed?
Agree, or disagree?
This is an excellent article on women in Islam:
http://www.islamfortoday.com/ruqaiyyah09.htm
JoBo the prophet's first wife and the very first convert to Islam was a business woman and she remained a business woman until her death. She was Muhammed's only wife until her death. He married the other women many of whom were very old not out of lust but because many were the widows of Muslims who had died in battle and there was no social protection to take care of these women at the time.
The Quran is extremely equitable and will often use "believing men and woman" putting the onous on both sexes for following through with their obligations. Adam and Eve fell from Heaven equally in the Quran unlike the bible which only blames Eve for the original sin. In fact in Islam there is no concept of original sin...you are born sinless afterall if you think logically how can a baby be sinful? Yet the Catholic church belives we are all born into sin.
Islam gave women an inheritance right centuries before Christian Europeans granted women that right. Ever see the movie Sense of Sensibility? It was set in England in the 1800's and it stars the actress Kate Winslet. Notice how the women had no inheritance rights when their father died and they are left practically destitute and the father begs his son to take care of his step mother and step sisters and he barely does as he was under no obligation to do so legally? For its time the Islamic practice of giving any woman inheritance was revolutionary.
People in both the Eastern and Western worlds used to marry cousins and other members of thier families. This practice has only now really stopped since modern times. You should really read the history of marriage in the Western World before pointing fingers: http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/ATLAS_EN/html/history_of_marriage_in_w...
Mohammed himself was adopted. He was always protective of orphans and anyone who adopts the Quran argues will go to heaven for thier kindness. Please provide a link to that allegation as I have never heard of that.
If people want to really learn about Islam, may I suggest you speak to people who have left Islam and who suffer death threats for it. Two people I know have had their lives threatened by their own families because one became Christian, and the other simply stopped believing in Islam. Have you ever had to email someone to say "if you are still alive on Monday, please email me back"? I have.
The British Council of Ex-Muslims have a support forum for those who have left at http://councilofexmuslims.com
Lizard:
"Islam is dedication to God as embodied in its 5 pillars. But what I like is the laws that give women rights and protect orphans."
I assume you are joking about the rights of women? Even for pre-Islamic Arabia, Islam was a calamity for women -
in total three rights were given to women in the Qur'an:
1. The right not to be buried at birth. (borrowed from the traditions of the Mecca based Qurayish tribe).
2. The right to keep her dowry.
3. The right to keep her inheritance.(half that of a man's)
but all other rights of women was severely curtailed - as Muhammad's wife Aisha said to Muhammad "You have made us (ie women) dogs!"
Secondly Muhammad abolished adoption so he could marry the wife (Zainab) of his adopted son Zaid (as adopted sons were seen as "biological" and daughter in laws were also seen as biological - so marrying Zainab was seen as incest - until Muhammad got around it by getting a message from God saying adoptions were not legal) - the abolition of adoption was the single most catastrophic effect on orphans in Arabic society.
If you can provide anything which dispute any of the facts I have presented please do so. For anyone who is interested in Islam, may I ask that you google any of the things I have written.
Only one difference between Hitler and the ASSHOLE, ....Hitler didn't try to hide it.
HEIL to the same fate for Bush.
I decided to weigh in on the Hitler-Christian question. I remember reading that Hitler imposed a tax on all Germans to give to the Christian churches. I tried googling it, and got this interesting link.
Sound like anyone we know?
http://www.jrbooksonline.com/HTML-docs/hitlove.htm
The best advice my father ever gave me,... Believe none of what you hear, and only half of what you see.
He told me that when i was a young teen, and i'm now in my 60s. It has served me very well, and i pass it on to every young person when i get the chance.
My mother, told me many year ago [when I was a young girl in catholic school], to never mix religion and politics in the same breath; AND don't ever let a man drive your automobile and don't ever tell him how you are going to vote. NO GOOD EVER COMES FROM IT! After the last 7 years or so, I actually think I believe her.
It's called brainwashing. It's been practiced by fundamental religious organizations for millenia, and it's typically directed at children because they're more impressionable than adults. Yes, it does take away a child's freedom of thought. Sometimes, but not always, an adult can escape the mold made for them. Unfortunately, because it's still practiced by hard-core present day religions representing considerable political clout in their respective countries (for example, Catholic, Muslim), it's likely to continue. A good reason to enforce our constitutional separation of church from state.
The worst form of abuse, is when you take away a child's freedom of thought. Religion 101.
The Bible is a bubble. Just a bunch of tribal legends and stories mixed with some moral fables. Same for all the religious "holy books". Developed hand in hand with Empire to keep people in order and under control. They only teach basic morals and don't even do that very well. All the phony stories keep people separated and fighting for years as they believe in their own "Bubble". Their bubbles need to be popped. Keeping people on a nursery school level in the school of spiritual life is to the benefit of those in power, they don't want you to think there is anything more important in life than serving them.
godlessrant, When it comes to mythology and fairy tales, you can rewrite them anytime, to suit your personal interests.
sllawrence...isn't the old testament god, also the new testament god? suddenly "God" gets kinder by the time the new testament rolls around? why then read psalms? or proverbs? you can't separate the 2
Well, the Larger Spectrum was communicated here, and I thank you all!
And thanks for the positive, loving, and inspiring messages! I can't live well without them.
I am concerned with the personification of fears for Obama and others, however, because imho, first the idea, then the reality. I know someone who predicted she couldn't remember peoples' names, and was upset when she didn't remember.
We are powerful in our imaginings, so please let's imagine what WE DO WANT! Incidentally, look how it's worked for Bushco!
TheLorax,
Thanks for that it saved me typing it, I live next door to one.
There you have it! Terrorists boasting about killing more than 223 peoples and they are welcomed and phrased by the US Air Force Academy, and Christains.
I wonder whether they (the terrorists) are being paid large sums of money for their speeches.
Seems that Posado Carriles is not the only terrorist we are harboring.
Hey, I bet Bin Laden would be welcomed to the UAFA, and the White House too if he claim to have been converted to Christainity.
Think of the wealth of information we could gain from him, for a fee, of course.
This would have been ironic, or down right shocking, during any other administration; but it's normal for the current one.
maybe as an experiment, extreme interrogation could be performed on these truth-sayers, just to see if these forms of interrogation work. Since it's not illegal in the US, and thus exposing the real truth...and have Joe Leiberman as a witness to testify!!
O N E __ W O R L D __ O D O R
S T I N K S __ B E Y O N D __ H I G H __ H E A V E N
Cant we just round up all these Christian Whack-jobs, disappear them, and claim it was the Rapture?
curmudgeon99 -- Excellent quotation from Wendell Berry, and aptly placed herein. Thank you.
We need to continually remind ourselves of the "Whole Earth", and keep that picture of a precious life sustaining blue marble surrounded by exceedingly thin and vulnerable layer of air.
It is the mysterious Van Allen belts of magnetic force lines, although invisible to the eye, they shield precious Earth from the otherwise ravaging supersonic rivers of Sun matter (we call it solar "wind")
SOLAR "WIND" is but a misnomer to quiet our otherwise arosed fear.
It's actually the streaming boiled off surface of the Sun, with pieces being flung abundantly outward in all directions, not anything like our friendly familiar atmospheric wind of air moving as we commonly think of blowing through the trees.
More aptly imagined, this continually replenished but quite variable and violent stream of Solar particles, has been heated to millions of degrees, and is more likened to a raging stellar meta-herculean-sized (literally) disastrous storm of destruction. Think 300 mph hurricane winds (but multiplied by a factor of several million fold) bending palm trees down until they touch the ground, and then ripping them out and hurling them thousands of billions of miles out.
Much beyond the orbit of Pluto - and even past Halley's comet, the Oort Cloud, all the way to the heliopause, where an even more stupendous larger storm rages driven outward from the black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy
Just imagine the lifeless surface of the Moon, or Mars (maybe), which has no protection of either magnetic shielding nor atmospheric thickness (mostly with 20 miles). That is the neighborhood that our lively blue marble survives and thrives within.
We are very very blessed, and could spend every waking moment in fervent gracious acknowledgment and gratitude for this lovely and peace corner of the universe -- but, we chose to ignore the warnings of climate change and resource limits to growth, an how precious life really is across the millions of trillions of miles that we've observed and catalogued. So far, the Earth is unique and the solitary place in all of creation where we can survive.
The way many people think, the Earth is as easy to replace as a used role of toilet paper.
! _ N _ O _ T _ !
WAKE UP to the storm that is raging mere miles above our heads -- and consider that you'll need an SPF of 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 to survive long enough to last for just a fraction of one second -- without the shields of lovely Earth. Oh, I forgot about the part about holding your breath (or going w/o water) - how long can you stop your breathing for?
… … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … & … ML King … … Inspiration … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed »
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — MLK
In the 1920s the Ku Klux Klan embedded itself deeply in many of the churches in Indiana and elsewhere. In hindsight we can see that the churches were stooges to hang out with a racist ideology.
Now whole churches of Christians are hanging out with brutal war worshipers, the hate your enemy crowd, and the pro-death movement. Do these people want their collective names to be changed from Christians to groups of wealthy people who eat cookies inside odd-looking buildings?
Christianity and Islam are both cut from the same cloth. They are both proponents of violent justice, in the name of their gods.
History bears this out. It is undeniable, and it continues to this day.
If there was a god, what religion would he, she, it endorse?
One World Order needs to be stopped!
Oh, now I see. It is not bombs that the US Airforce drops on people. It is clusters of love and forgiveness. How ungrateful of the recipients of such magnanimous gifts to those who receive such blessings from the USA.
Do I believe in Love? Most certainly. I also believe in truth. Nothing's going to get fixed until we admit that it is broken. Believe you me; the USA is broken.
Great post, suhail_shafi.
Remember this from CD archives re the USAF, "The Cancer from Within" by David Antoon, Col.,USAF,Ret.:
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/08/5093/
Upton Sinclair wrote: "When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross." Bet he didn't see it coming in the USAF, though!
I realize the following quote from author Wendell Berry is not short, but in light of the animosity raised by this topic, I strongly feel it is VERY pertinent.
"As I read, I thought with some dismay,
and some amusement. that the adherents of
the Koran and the Bible might be divided into
two groups: those who appoint themselves
as agents of divine anger, and those who understand
themselves as called to be agents of
divine mercy. As never before, I thought of
the unimaginable distance between God's
anger and God's love-and of the speed
with which Christians sometimes move from
God's presumed anger at other people to his
presumptive love for themselves.
To think of oneself as an agent of God's
anger is exceedingly attractive; perhaps this
is the temptation that the Lord's Prayer appeals
to God not to lead us into. There are
certain intense pleasures in anger, especially
if one's own anger can be presumed to
coincide with God's, and also in the use of
an angry self-righteousness as a standard by
which to condemn other people. This is a pleasure
necessarilv founded on the shallowest sort of
self-knowledge. There is much comedy in
(as Shakespeare for one, knew well), and
also great tragedy. It is evidently possible to in-
dulge one's own anger, justifying it as God's,
and relying on God's mercy hereafter-but
that seems to bet against great odds, and with
hell to pay here and now for a lot of people. For
those who appoint themselves agents of God's
anger, there can be only division and strife until
the end of time.
To take up, by contrast, the agency of
God's mercy seems to involve one in a labor of
self-knowledge and then knowledge of others
that is endlessly humbling. This perhaps is a
comedy of another kind: We ourselves are in
need of those things we are called upon to give
to others: compassion, forgiveness, mercy. And
unless we give them, we cannot receive them.
God's mercy is of interest to us only in the light
of our recognition of our need for it. Those who
accept the agency of God's mercy, understanding
their own need for it as the index of the
need of others, must forbear their anger and
talk together( "hold discourse".....)until the end
of time, for God's mercy is a mystery never to
be fully known or enacted by humans.
-Wendell Berry
It's just a matter of time, before the masses wake up.-- terryb
That is the name of the game. They have to keep people in dire straights so as that they feel helpless and dependant on Corporate America.
Of all the cowards now engaged in world domination, the US Air Force is the worst. They assume no risk to themselves while they rain terror uopn innocent civilians on a daily basis. At least the Marines are in the line of fire from time to time. They are, even today, asking for the largest amount of tax dollars in history to continue on their murderous killing spree. To call them assholes would put them four notches up on the food chain.
When I first started reading the article I knew the right wing Zionists were involved with the Christian Republican military types.
I have an old friend from Rotc in Ohio State who is a colonel in the Air Guard and he falls for all this.
I had to tell him to stop sending me any more of his crap too.
The purpose of course is to make the public afraid.
Since War is a racket and is accepted as long as it makes people afraid, it goes on and on and on....
They want us to take them seriously so that we will be afraid (mission accomplished).
If we don't take them seriously, we will be attacked by those who are afraid and I don't blame anyone who is afraid of anything being done in the name of War and National Security.
So I take them seriously but I refuse to be afraid.... That is the only way for me to deal with our dilemma I have found that works for me.
Be brave and resist war..... Jesus was right on!
What seems to be conveniently ignored, if not forgotten entirely in the discussion above is that the US Airforce is a pretty morally abhorrent institution in its own right.
Need I remind people how the US Airforce has routinely bombed innocent people in locales as diverse as Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and Laos, destroying entire communities and causing the deaths of thousands of people without any distinction between civilians and military targets? The idea that people can sit in a little cockpit and bomb people from a distance of thousands of feet in order to achieve a military or political goal requires not just a ruthless level of determination but also a crass dehumanization of the victims - whether the Southeast Asians referred by the GIs as gooks ( read an inferior form of humanity ) or Arabs whose very existence is ignored and whose civian casualties are whitewashed as ``collateral damage".
So the idea that the US Air Force would invite a bunch of purportedly ``former'' terrorists whose life stories may or may not be authentic, in order to slander Arabs and Muslims as terrorists and extremists, at a time when the Middle East has been home to many of the very worst excesses of US forign policy makes perfect sense. It plays into the strategy, consistent with US foreign policy and the ideology of the Christian right alike, to dehumanize the victims of US policies and delegitimize their grievances.
The life stories of Shoebat et al may or may not be based on reality, but who would deny that at an ideological level, such individuals have an agenda that is very useful to the Christian Right/Neoconservative/Military-Industrial complex cabal ?
nelson, They have always been there, preying on the weak. But now, with the power of communication, they will soon be exposed for what they are.
It's just a matter of time, before the masses wake up. Then maybe we will have a chance at true humanity, and finally be on the path to becoming a civilized society, and species.
Enjoyed your post namaste.
I worry about Obama's safety.-- sllawrence
I am too.
namaste, I was a former Catholic. My brothers were alter boys and I was told I couldn't walk on the alter being a girl and all. I had the understanding at the time that I would have desecrated it. Not a good feeling......
You are correct, we were taught that our spirituality came through someone that is authorized. Anything other than that was considered evil. We human beings are so sinful any thoughts we had on our own were evil which is why a great deal of people do not develop their (misguided) spirituality.
Just now reading more. Had to give it up last night. Really interesting posts! Lizard, I know that Jesus was a prophet of change. He was an agitator in his time, was hated by those in power who called him a heretic, and was killed for what he stood for and taught. (And note that I used the word 'story' in my post last night at least twice.) Christians are *not* for Bush and his war. It is the radical right Fundamentalists. Doug nailed it: "Be it embassy or abortion clinic, violence, fear and terror are their main weapons. No wonder they [radical "Christians"/Muslims] can get into bed together so easily……." As Doug said, we have no control over the fact that they call themselves 'Christian Right' when there's nothing Christian in their beliefs or actions. They seem to all be Republicans, though, dancing to that fear and violence song for BushCo. We call them Dixiecrat Republicans here in Texas because they don't want information and they don't make mistakes and neither does their President. Their motto is like the Know-Nothings: 'my country right or wrong'. How do you break through that steel-trap mindset with reason? They get their 'reasoning' from Rush, fergodssake. Unfortunately, Texas is a red state, but there are pockets of us who are progressive and who have NEVER voted for Bush, even for Govenor. Texas appears red on the map, even though Travis County (Austin) votes blue every year. Other Texans do, too. I started out with Kucinich, went to Edwards, voted for Obama in early voting here.I worry about Obama's safety. There's bad racist rumblings on the net and a new hate email, calling Obama Anti-Israel. It's blatantly racist. Check out MotherJones.com.
Reading through the blog it is heartening to see pain wrestled with perspective, stretched through words, springing back, calling for love, calling for clarity. A virtual community valuing journeying with a multiplicity of perspectives.
I had a brief flash of seeing all of it as a dance choreo-graphed by how each enters and exits. Memes of violence presented not so much to harm but to illustrate. I'm reminded of Hindu and Buddhist icons that embody states of mind - mirrors for contemplation. I wonder about viewing violent passages in the Bible from this perspective.
These Christo-facists will soon be a thing of the past. I can remember when they did not exist - pre-Reagan, when we did not have to listen to their nut-job, xenophobic, hateful rhetoric. Soon they will return to their caves and be forgotten.
terryb, I can't describe where this energy comes from, only know that it does. In the past it has been labeled as "evil". Evil is what those in this article are doing. You are correct by saying as long as it isn't detrimental to others. We need to honor life and the living.
Many organized religions appear to act toward their members and participants, AS IF the spirit were to be too rarefied and elusive for mere humans to connect with alone.
They apparently need the pastor/minister/priest/… to invoke the powerful essences of non-physical existence in carefully orchestrated ceremonies, while slinging just proper amounts of incense, and colored clothe and iconography in just the right directions. Oh yes, they can prey at home but only within certain limits of acceptable range.
This type of leader is usually fairly empty w/o the proper mix of people within the congregation, and acts as the in-between and spiritual guide while sermonizes about whatever he thinks that they want to hear about -- so that they'll feel better about their beliefs and lives and place the appropriate dollar$ into the collection plate. This type of leader appears to me, to be pimping out reactionary rhetoric for monetary gain and pumping up the wimpy believers flagrantly immorality of the lowest common denominator of hate, racism, and war mongering - while profiting handsomely from the politic back room boys connections.
Please don't flame me for this exaggeration, as I've met and known many church leaders and congregation members whose selfless acts bring much good into the world everyday. As in everything, the real truth is a mix and dance of details across a wide spectrum of behavior and intention.
Overall, the balance is hard to ascertain. ¿ Do all churches and religions on-balance across all the world's peoples, actually create more good than evil thoughts, actions, and BE'ing in this world ?
It all depends upon the people participating, and as I expressed above, many (most?) are indoctrinated to leave critical thinking to the "leaders", which once given so much vulnerability of so many, all to often take dispicable advantage of the trust established.
IF THERE ONE THING that I would wish that everyone to know, is that it is literally raining "spiritual soup" all day and night long, and that each of us, already have within all the church that we really need, to seek the proper guidance and find the answers within.
Sure many can then go back to their ways, go along to church and have a more powerful experience -- and the lazy ones can go and get pimped out -- but the masses are already (each of them) exactly in the place that they need to be in to reach the spirit within
… … … … … Mahatma Gandhi … & … ML King … … Inspiration … … … … …
« We must be the change we wish to see in the world »
« There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed »
« We adopt the means of nonviolence because our end is a community at peace with itself » — MLK
I believe the only thing that can change the world is for people to take the time to develop their spirituality. What has happend in the past is that this knowledge has been hidden so that people can be controlled and manipulated. People like these in this article would would have NO power at all for I know how powerful love truly is. Unfortunately it is going to take time for this change to transpire but it is! It is the coming new evolution!
It sounds to me like the three terrorist's just traded one cancer of the soul for as bad a one! So their plight doesn't seem to have improved much. It doesn't make much difference fanaticism is fanaticism in any religion. One causes as much misery, death and hatred as the other. So they haven't improved their plight any. But, I never ceased to be amazed at the depths of depravity the evangelical Christian's will stoop to just to worm their way into an institution. They are like destructive virus taking over our society.
MA-Matriarch, i feel exactly as you, only i don't believe in a god. It goes to show you that there are many paths to compassion, humanity, and spirituality. All are valid.
Believe what you like, as long as it is not detrimental to others. That is where religions fail. Big time.
Sorry I had to revise that...
terryb, it is a difficult concept for people to believe. They fear not doing God's will. We are spiritual beings. Our spirituality can't be found in a book, it is found within ourselves. IT IS ALIVE! Once people experience it then they begin to trust it and it grows.
Let me tell you I would have really resented it if I didn't experience it while I was living. I can't express how blessed I feel having experienced it. There are no words that could possibly express the love I feel for the Great Divine. It just keeps on growing, there seems to be no end.
terryb, it is difficult concept for people for people to believe. They fear not doing God's will. We are spiritual beings. Our spirituality can't be found in a book, it is found within ourselves. IT IS ALIVE! Once people experience it then they begin to trust it and then it grows.
Let me tell you I would have really resented it if I didn't experience it while I was living. I can't express how blessed I feel having experienced it. There are no words that express the love I feel for the Great Divine!
So the US Air Force now invites self-confessed war criminals to speak, and pays them $13,000.
These "3-X Terrorists" might be on to a real money-making scam here. I fully expect them to incorporate, issue an IPO and market the stock among Southern Baptists. I might want a piece of the action myself. Sounds like a sure fire investment to me.
Daniel David is right - it is odd that they would be speakers at an Air Force Academy if what they say is true.
Can you imagine a hit man lecturing cops? "Hi, I'm Ted, I used to kill cops and never did time for that but then I found God". And that'd be great that the hit man confesses to a room full of cops but at the end, shouldn't they arrest him? Instead, they applaud and buy his books.
Governor Bush had no problems executing a born-again Christian woman. He even mocked her plea for clemency in public. She didn't kill over 200 people. She didn't get to write books that get a 5 star rating on Amazon ("Why we want to kill you", written by one of the "reformed terrorists" in the story). President Bush OTOH, seems to allow "reformed terrorists" to wander the country.
Does it really matter what spiritual practice one practices? Is love not universal? In my mind the only thing that is stopping it from happening is that people are allowing themselves to be controlled. Love isn't about controlling anothers will, it is about being free. Free to do God's will that is within all of us. To me that is what true freedom is all about.
MaMatriach,
If you know that your path is pure, that is a reason to rejoice. It should do anything but get you down. Spread your love in your immediate surroundings, and that will cause a positive reaction. I feel it, and so will others.
Listen:
The only difference between the radical, extremist Christian right (sorry Jesus, but that's what these assholes call themselves) in Amerika and the radical, extremist Muslims is their choice of religion. Be it embassy or abortion clinic, violence, fear and terror are their main weapons. No wonder they can get into bed together so easily.......
TheLorax, You nailed it.
TheLorax, You nailed it.
After reading this entire thread I had to say my invocation out loud. I had to clear my head. I find it so difficult to cope in a world filled with so much animosity. This negativity depletes my energy, physically, mentally and spiritually.
This negativity makes it challenging for me thrust forward and fulfill the desires of my heart. I know I can't change anyone's will, only my own. The only thing I can do is send forth my love out into the universe and to live my life in love and honor.
I do not feel the need to put a label on what unites us all in this world. I am just wondering what the results would be if everyone did the same?
The most disturbing component of this story is in the original article in "Air Force Times." The following comment is truly frightening:
Based on the presentation "more than 100 cadets wrote policy recommendations for Congress, the Defense Department, the Central Intelligence Agency and Rand, a California-based think tank."
link: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2008/02/airforce_academy_terrorists_08...
terryb -
Christians do nothing about bush because they are the problem, not because they are cowards.
Their whole life is devoted to hypocrisy.
The reason they follow bush is because they have ALWAYS blindly followed leaders.
They drop their money in collection baskets at their little "house of hate" so the preacher can run his greedy hands through it. When they walk out after the service they grimace in contempt at the beggar, who gets nothing.
They offer to "help" disadvantaged or ill people and then gossip about their problems in closed circles.
They say they are pro-life and life begins at conception but then toss a miscarriage into the trash can because it costs too much to bury.
They blather about indecency and then surf porn when they get home.
These are the 'normal' Christians not the radicals. Christianity shares the same bed with Hypocrisy. Once you enter into the Christian fantasy world, it's easy to make another one for yourself, and another one. So you see that Christians are not cowards. They don't even have enough grip on reality to understand the situation.
curmudgeon, so did the muslims.
I am in universal perfection, I invoke the positive energies of the Lord & Lady to cleanse my body, spirit and mind so that I can perform this day in love and honor as befit a member of the craft of the wise..so mote it be.
78% of americans are christians. That is over 230,000,000 strong.
Now if you christians are all about love, compassion, and humanity, how does a war mongering, genocidal asshole like bush, get away with all this shit ? Where is the outrage, and protest?
All i hear from you christians is silence. Why are you not standing up in your churches and demanding that your leaders put and end to it? Your religion is full of hypocrisy.
Now either you are all for this carnage, that your government is perpetrating on innocent men, women, and CHILDREN!!!, or you are all a bunch of weak kneed cowards, who don't have the balls to stand up.
Or is this all about your obsession with the mythological, 2000 year old, prophecies of the wonderful rapture? I hope you got your ticket early, because only 140,000 of you get to go.
I suggest that you all get on your knees and pray for a back bone, and you could use one, to find the courage to practice what you preach.
Pathetic!
It's quite obvious that an article such as this, will result in a variety of views about religion.
Kendpotter is spot on, when talks about religion, because it is the minority of twisted, corrupt, evil people, who over a couple of thousand years, have taken all kinds of "religion", and used it as a tool, to control people. Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, are not evil, or responsible for evil deeds, but there are people who have used them for their own evil designs, or maybe to have an excuse for evil deeds.
The crusades, reformation, Spanish inquisition, the holocaust, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have included the last one, because I believe that without the tacit support of the "Christian" right in the US, the politicians would not have been elected to start the war.
Islamic terrorism is a different thing altogether, because I believe that it involves only a minority of radical/fundamentalist/extremist people, who whilst responsible for appalling acts of terror, mostly against civilian targets, do not have armies at their disposal. Their atrocities, whilst barbaric - be-headings, suicide bombs - never manage to achieve the scale of death and destruction, which modern armies do.
As a lapsed Catholic, I would like to see "ordinary" Christians, Muslims and Jews speak out against the people who have hijacked religion.
Tony Blair recently converted to Catholicism, and met with the Pope. This whole charade disgusted me, because it gave religious credibility, to a man who has been responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people.
I have to say that the "Christian right" scares me more than "radical Islam" at the moment, because it seems to be the hand which is guiding mainstream US politics and foreign policy.
Mike Corbeil,
Thanks for the reassurance. Stories like this are almost enough to give me nightmares, especially when I consider my encounters with Christian extremists online or on Fox news, and I just finished reading "The End of Faith" by Sam Harris.
I've gotten to know a few of these Christian extremists, and you're right about them being psychopaths, or in the very least just extremely gullible "Christian" zombies who fall for charismatic preachers. Luckily, it seems very few are intelligent or sophisticated enough to rise high enough in American society to cause any serious damage(unless Bush is an example or maybe he's just a big liar), but the thought of Christian extremists in the military with access to nuclear weapons is disturbing. It's a wonderful thing that their favorite preachers like Hagee are some of the biggest hypocrites and phonies who probably don't even believe most of the craziness that they preach, even if their flocks do. The best word to describe the folks I've met who take Hagee seriously is just plain "dumb".
Hopefully this form of insane, violent Christian extremism fades away like the KKK, which also perverted Christianity for its violent, racist agenda. Considering that the majority of the most committed Christian Zionist extremist war-mongers are small-town/red state whites, the similarities are striking in many ways. Let us hope it is also on the same historical path as the KKK.
The 3-X spectacle is a concoction of the right wing "public relations" machine, part of the fabricated reality fed to the true believers to ensure they think the correct thoughts, and act the correct actions, work for the MIC, et al, vote Repuk, and otherwise act against their own better interests.
"Enlighten the people, generally..." - T Jefferson
Let's hear for the biggest Shoebat backers !!!!!!!
They bought 100's of cases of that good ol' snake oil.
kendepotty !!!
kernel !!!!
Daniel David !!!!!
May Allah have mercy on them.
Ok, the discussion has taken on a flavor that I can now handle: the "one-line-zinger" types are gone and there seems to be a good deal of understanding and tolerance.
But, I am still totally stunned that the only use of the f-word was by an individual who signed "in christ" (not to mention a GD and a good ole AH).
The comments that addressed that rant were great, btw.
This pathetic example should help those christians who ask the question: "why do they hate us so much?"
Later...
sllawrence: Jesus claimed he wanted to instigate discord in the family. He seemed to believe in conflict. He came not to bring peace, but a sword. He came to put the son against the father..etc. There are 2 sides of Jesus, but the aggressive side is downplayed. Not that it matters, since the new testament has no historical value, its just a story. I like when he hangs around with jews collecting taxes for the romans. Drinking wine with traitors! He crossed all kinds of lines. Sweet, but highly individualistic and self-important.
Godlessrant, that's why I think the violent and vengeful people calling themselves 'Christians' should call themselves Old Testament God-Followers or something. It was the Old Testament God who did the destroying (the story of the great flood that I think you are referring to). It was Jesus who did the healing and forgiveness, and instructions to love one another. The only time that I can recall any action that could be classified as 'violent' is the New Testament story of when he drove the money-changers from the temple with a whip because he said they were turning the house of God into a marketplace, or words to that effect. Oh, and he reportedly did "smite" a fig tree to make a point because it wasn't doing its job--no figs. He warned against false prophets. Surely, those are the 'violent nutjobs' that you mention.
Actually, lizard, I re-read my own post, and I think you would be within your rights to send the Grammar Police to arrest me for run-on sentences and excessive use of adjectives. I will let Great Mystery stand [trumpeting forth :-)] in honor of a woman I worked with once who was grossly abused by family who called themselves "Christians". She found that she could not use the word God because it had been so mis-used and, instead referred to Her as the Great Mystery. This was a truly fine human being, who took her own life at the age of 38 and, if I sounded a little "out there" I guess it's because I am so damned outraged at the injustice that she's gone and they're still here.
Anyway, it's kind of you to answer. Thanks.
sllawrence: i reread your post and find I misread it. I owe you an apology. I just get jumpy when I see the lofty opening and the deity trumpeting forth. But I was an ass.
"Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you."
may be part of the bible but so is the great flood that the "loving god" decided to do because he regretted his creation. killed over 50,000 people for looking in "his ark". utterly destroy the men, women, and children of Sihon.
,utterly destroy the men, women, and children of Og.
we always hear of the "loving jesus" but this crap gets glossed over. is it any wonder that violent nutcases are drawn to christianity?
Televangelists with big hair and Cadillacs is stilted???
No, lizard, I don't 'fancy myself a prophet'; I'll leave that job up to you. As you so wisely say, there are many misconceptions.
sllawrence: What's with the stilted language? Do you fancy yourself a prophet? Are you in contact with God? Do you hear voices?
I said I had a "fair grasp", not that I was an expert. Islam is dedication to God as embodied in its 5 pillars. But what I like is the laws that give women rights and protect orphans. I also like the comments about Christianity and Judaism and find them very relevant. Mohammed believed Christians to be pantheistic and Jews to finnesse the laws. In both instances he is correct. Christianity violates various commandments and yet nobody seems to care. The most important violation is commandment one which is also the first pillar of Islam: ONE GOD. Not three.