Homegrown Extremists

This photo has been floating about the internet for a couple years but this is the first I've seen it  "Liked" by a friend on Facebook which appeared on my radar.

We are worried about terrorists getting a hold of nuclear weapons but what would happen if some trigger happy Americans got a hold of them first? Now, I'm not saying all Americans want to nuke the Middle East and the same goes for Muslims. We are talking about extremists and extremist thinking (or lack thereof). There are extremists who would love nothing more than to wipe Mecca off the map. Shoot first and recover from an economic catastrophe, oil shortage, and environmental (dare I say planetary by the size of this impact we're looking at nuclear winter) annihilation later. All to settle a score. If you can look at this photo and not feel disgusted I don't think I could consider you human let alone a "friend". Here's the link to the Facebook page which posted this picture if you want to peruse through the comments. I posted this photo not because I feel I have better morals than these people but to demonstrate how poisonous a twisted ideology can be if left to fester. 11 years later and some Americans feel justice has not been served even though we have taken out Osama bin Laden.

This is not justice. To quote one of my favorite moments of the Bible Abraham challenged God

"Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” Gen 18:25

We've come a long way from OT morality, or at least most of us have. Loving your enemy is hard, but a way towards that goal is to understand them. Once you understand them you will find they're no different than we are. There is no They, there is no Other.   We can be better than this. We are better than this. Or at least we should teach our children to be better than us.

On Violence in Religion

"If we want to get rid of violence we have to get rid of human beings. It has nothing to do with religion, it has to do with us." ~Tariq Ramadan~

Tariq Ramadan speaking on the future of Islam in a pluralistic society. I know this video is a bit dated but I believe these are the types of conversations we should be having in regards to religion. He doesn't go as far as stating that religions and scriptures are man-made creations but that when sacred text mention elements of violence they are touching about aspects of our humanity. Essentially he states that the problem is not the source (the text) but the reader. I would personally go a bit further and state there is a problem with the source, but I believe mankind is the source. I applaud moderates like Tariq Ramadan because they struggle with the text and their faith while remaining faithful to their religion in an attempt to understand our neighbor, The Other.



On a similar note my favorite Tennessean rabbi, Rabbi Rami Shapiro, recently wrote on ending violence in religion and his hopes on interfaith dialogue.

Justice is Done

"How can you not celebrate this man's death?" blurted a local talk radio personality over my radio today. How could I celebrate anyone's death? As most of you know Osama Bin Laden has been killed in a recent military operation, yesterday. Yet I don't feel joyous for this man's death, in fact I don't think I could ever celebrate anyone's death regardless if they deserve it. Several of my fellow bloggers also share in my view rejecting Bin Laden's death as a cause for celebration as seen on the news with crowds of people cheering and chanting U.S.A. Does my lack of celebratory spirit mean I'm a traitorous, terrorist-supporting, unpatriotic American? No. All life is sacred, and until we collectively realize that sacredness we will always have terrorist attacks, wars, and senseless killings. Always.

I wonder if Obama had this Bible verse in mind when stating "justice has been done" during his announcement last night. Maybe we celebrate because the memory of our suffering that day is too great to bear. Maybe we feel Osama did deserve death for death. I'm not saying he didn't deserve it, I just can't find it in myself to celebrate, whoop and holler. What I hope for is a collective awareness of our global neighbor's suffering so that we may be moved to compassion.  I pray that through our collective suffering our hearts are cracked open so that we may learn to love beyond our social, tribal, and national borders.

Peace and blessings be upon you and yours.

Update: I recently stumbled upon an interesting article by Aziz Poonawalla over at City of Brass how he, as a Muslim, is emotionally coping with the recent news of Bin Laden's death.

One Nation Under God, Not Allah

I know I post a lot of videos and I don't want to become dependent on them to make my point but this one today, oh boy. This one would make me want to drown mankind in a torrential flood if I were god. I know I'm all sunshine, rainbows, and "let's hold hands in brotherhood" kind of guy but this video screams of so much hatred I just want to chuck my laptop into the river and boycott all media (except cartoons) for the rest of my life. But ignoring the problem won't make it go away, if anything it'll get worse.



(h/t Unreasonable Faith)
This video makes me want to vomit. How can there be this much hatred in a "God-fearing" America? And what really broke my heart were the worried expressions by the children entering the building at the 2:00 minute mark. If THIS is America, I don't want to stay. One of the protesters shouted "One Nation Under God, Not Allah" to demonstrate, I suppose, the righteous anger of God (the Christian god) for worshiping a false god (the Muslim god). I guess the protesters thought that if they shouted at non-believers and their children long enough they (the Muslims) will understand the protesters belief in a God who hates non-Christians for being born to parents of a different faith. Everyone knows that even though you may be born and raised within a different culture YOU HAVE TO leave the culture, faith, and traditions of your parents behind when you come to America. Oh, you can bring your delicious food, wise sayings, and herbal remedies with you when you step on American soil, but everything else is banned. It's simply un-American to be different, you gave up that freedom when you entered the land of the free.

And what really gets under my skin is that the event being protested was a charity fundraiser held by the Islamic Circle of North America to raise funds for disaster relief, women's housing, and other causes. If this is truly one nation under God I hope it's not the god of these protesters who shout at families going to charity events to raise funds for those in need. I would say God Bless America but if immigrants are more loving and empathetic to their neighbors than "real Americans" then I'd rather say God bless everyone BUT Americans.

The Sacredness of Ground Zero: Part 4- Not in My Backyard!

The Park 51 controversy has sparked a wave of anti-Muslim rhetoric and has empowered local residents to march and protest against the growing radical Muslim horde. As a former resident of Murfreesboro I've been closely following the protests to halt the construction of the new Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. Just over the weekend there's been a suspected arson attack on construction equipment as well as shots fired near the site (I've read one article stating 9 shots and another which stated only 5 were fired). No one in Murfreesboro has been hurt yet but fear has a powerful grip over the ill informed.

See if you can spot the "evidence" produced by Laurie Cardoza-Moore, spokesperson of the Murfreesboro Mosque Opposition, as she states the danger in building this house of worship.



The fear seems to be of radical Muslims taking over America by infiltrating the "capital of the Crusaders", Nashville. First of all, What?! How long has Nashville been the Crusader capital of the world? Pat Robertson also uses alarming words like mega and massive to scare his audience into believing that these growing communities constitutes a national security threat in this August 19 episode of the 700 Club (the same one mentioned on Anderson Cooper). Ms Moore gives two pieces of evidence why we should protest this site:

• Mosaad Rawash, a board member of the Islamic Community of Murfreesboro, had posted pro- Hamas material on his Myspace page. Yes, his Myspace page.
  
• The Imam, Sheikh Ossama Mohamed Bahloul, taught at a mosque in Irving, Texas under investigation for terrorist related activities.
  

Although Anderson Cooper states in the video that the first allegation has been thoroughly investigated and Rawash has been cleared of all charges, and the second allegation was found to be complete bunk, Ms. Moore still believes this is enough evidence to keep the Islamic community of Murfreesboro from building a house of worship for their growing community. Using Myspace as evidence, really? Her evidence is no more than an exaggerated reach to tie a quiet moderate community which has been present in the area for 30 years with Muslim extremists. I doubt she, or anyone heavily opposing the construction of this mosque, has attempted to visit with the Muslim community in person. Moore tolerates the community staying at their present cramped location because this keeps them out of view. Out of sight, out of mind, right?

The issue is not that terrorist may be secretly planting training camps and education centers in the Nashville area, the issue is that many Americans don't know anything about Islam and this scares them to the point of denying their fellow citizens their freedom of worship. Vandalizing the Islamic center's sign with the words Not Welcome is one thing, arson and gunshots are on a whole other level (although the gunshots might be possibly unrelated the ATF and FBI are still investigating). There are thousands of churches throughout Tennessee and I highly doubt that a handful of new mosques and Islamic centers constitutes such a legitimate threat to the thriving Christian community as Ms. Moore argues. Of course it's much easier to love your neighbor as long as they're Christian (well unless you're not). So the moral of the story is if your neighbor is not Christian (in some circles read Un-American traitor) run them out of town. Toleration is so next century!