Everything I Ever Needed to Know about ISLAM, I Learned on 9/11

Man oh man. What I would have given to be at the scene of this failed rally. It all started with self-proclaimed Islamic radical Anjem Choudary who planned on holding a rally called "Sharia4America". These are the kinds of people that give peaceful Muslims a bad name. You can read the comical backstory story here, but to make this brief Choudary canceled leaving the counter protest standing around with no one to protest and all that pent up protest rage. In enters a lone Muslim, a White House regular, who just happened to show up on the day of the rally and the various protest groups swarmed in on him.



There are several ironic and comical moments I love throughout this clip but the most memorable was the scene at the very end where protesters were throwing metal crosses in the Muslim's prayer space. The Muslim pointed out the Christians' lack of respect for their own holy symbol. The Christians stated it's not God, it's merely a symbol. The gentleman next to the Muslim stated they tossed the crosses on the ground to show how much Jesus loved him. I'm sure the real reasoning was because they wanted to disrupt his prayers.

I  somewhat agree with these anti-shariah protest groups, I don't want to live under a theocracy either. Although we have a greater chance of living under an Amish lifestyle before we ever come to live under Shariah Law in the U.S. It's just not going to happen, period. Yes, there are Muslim radicals who do want to see America destroyed or converted to Islam and these are the REAL enemies we should be worried about not some lone Muslim peaceful praying near the White House. But these groups make the threat large than life claiming ALL Muslims want Shariah Law enforced in the States.

If you missed it in the video the title of this post is based on a t-shirt worn by one of the protesters. It's actually inspired me to create a similar t-shirt (although I doubt I have the gall to even wear it in the south): Everything I Ever Needed to Know about CHRISTIANITY, I Learned on 1099. Sadly, most Christians would completely miss the historical reference to the siege of Jerusalem where the Crusaders massacred the civilians of the city. I'm not sure that too many of my Christian neighbors would appreciate a history lesson on their own faith, especially on such a dark point in Christianity's history. They would also argue that all Christians can't be held guilty for the actions of the few, an argument commonly ignored when stated by a Muslim.

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.

Fundies Say the Darndest Things!

It's videos like these that I thank Allah every day for Youtube.



 Fundies Say the Darndest Things is a website dedicated to archiving the most outrageous, irrational, and mind-numbing comments made by fundies from online forums. A quick perusal of the archives at first brought me to a light chuckle but after a few minutes these quotes quickly became depressing when reality began to sink in: these are quotes made by real people. You forget that sometimes while perusing through the internet.


Here are a few of my favorite quotes:

"The only thing a kid will learn in an American public school is that homosexuality is good, and America is bad. There is no way, under any considerations, circumstances, or conditions, that my kid will attend one of our leftist public brain laundries." Wolseley

["The Hebrews crossed the 'sea of reeds'. Most Jews agree on this. After all, the first 5 books are theirs."] 
"The first five books are theirs? Um, no. Moses was a Christian. Sorry."  prosperousindividual

"That's the beauty of Heaven... we can leave our brains behind." Lainy68

"Are... are you now disputing the existance [sic] of DNA???"

Yes. DNA can never be proven. Evolutionists are obsessed with it because they always say ''chimps share 97% DNA with modern man'' etc. That's great, however you would then need to prove DNA is real. Asycthian

Why I'm Both Ashamed and Proud to Call Myself a Tennessean

I was born and raised here, Tennessee has always been and always will be home. I even chose a college within my state's borders to attend when it came time to complete my higher education. And if for some reason I do move away I will request that I be buried back in my home state. I know how southerns may come across as slack-jawed, twangy hill folk fiercely clutching to our Bibles, but we're just like everyone else. All we want is to drink our sweet tea on our front porch on a hot summer day while listening to a bit of Johnny Cash (or maybe that's just me).

I live in the Bible-Belt where there's a church within walking distance from every home (well, I may be exaggerating but you get the point). As a non-Christian I am in the religious minority, and I'm OK with that since most people assume I'm Christian anyway (the Chi-Rho tattoo on my right forearm confuses people all the more after I tell them I'm not one of them anymore). Since Christianity is the religion of the masses here I understand how Tennesseans can feel threatened by an outside group, like Muslims, especially when their knowledge of The Other is based on violent images shown on the news. I'd be afraid too if that's all I knew about them, and at one point I was afraid of Muslims. What changed for me was that I took the initiative to learn about them. Now, it's true that because of my openness and my developing sense of reason that, in the eyes of my neighboring Christians, I have lost my faith. But what I've gained in exchange for breaking my tribal ties is an immense love and respect for my fellow man, a love without conditions, exceptions, or fences.

What breaks my heart is when my fellow Tennesseans allow their fears to overcome their ability to love. I'm referring to the proposed bill which would make following Shariah law a felony, punishable by 15 years in jail. Tennessee is not the only state on an anti-Shariah kick, but since this has hit home the issue has caught my attention. Of course this comes on the heels of last summers wave of anti-Islamic fervor which took root in my old stomping grounds, Murfreesboro, TN, over the building of a new mosque. Fear is truly the mind killer since most of the protesters of the proposed mosque refused to take anytime to consider that their longtime Muslim neighbors (the Murfreesboro Muslim community has been there for close to 30 years) simply needed a larger facility to accommodate their growth over the years. Christian communities expand all the time here in the south but when a minority group begins to expand to the point of becoming visible some Christian communities feel threatened. If Christians communities want a competing religious community to fear it should be their neighboring denomination. And with the decline of the housing market also affecting churches, denominations should be in fierce competition for a flock to fill their coffers.

The mosque protesters tried everything from labeling the Murfreesboro Muslim community as terrorists to claiming that Islam is not a religion but a political movement out to destroy the U.S. To counter the anti-mosque protesters a group formed and grew to not only embrace our Muslim neighbors but support their right to build their mosque and worship freely. The fight over the mosque last summer happened a few weeks after I graduated from MTSU and I unfortunately could not attend any of the rallies. I supported them in any way I could by clarifying the subject with friends and family and by also attempting (a very feeble attempt at that) to contact and bring together the religious communities of my local area to support their Muslim neighbors. What does make me proud to call myself a Tennessean is that even though the loudest residents caught the national media's attention, the silent majority believe that Muslims should also have the same rights to build their house of worship. To be honest I did not believe that my fellow Tennesseans would be as tolerant as they turned out to be last summer and for that I hope they will receive my humble apologies. I was so fixated on the intolerant, Bible thumpin' Southerner stereotype that I too fell victim to pigeonholing my neighbor. I'm glad they proved me wrong then, and I hope they prove me wrong over this ridiculous bill.

Holy Ghost Wreaking Machines for Jesus!

I just had to share this, this is too much! Oh and the title is a line from the clip. This video made my day.



(h/t Unreasonable Faith)