Showing posts with label koran. Show all posts
Showing posts with label koran. Show all posts
Monday, May 18, 2009
Do You Hate Yourself?
Do you hate yourself?
Your ideology is only as worthy as it treats the individual human being. Nay, as it treats even animals. As Abraham Lincoln once said:
Harassing, slandering, libeling, stalking, abusing, killing or otherwise harming a human being or other living creature in the name of religion, God, Allah, Jesus, the Bible, the Koran or some other religious idea or artifact is evil, period. There simply is no excuse, no justification and no rationale that makes these abuses and transgressions righteous and moral. You are committing evil, and you will suffer for it at some point, by your own conscience at the very least.
You are also sullying and defaming whatever ideology you are defending by making it human-hating and life-destroying. Regardless of what you have been taught, your ideology is not more important than the human being you are debasing, denigrating and demeaning. No religion or ideology feels pain - not even a god feels pain - but human beings certainly do. You are causing pain to a living, breathing being over something that does not feel pain. Have you not heard, "As you sow, so shall you reap?"
"I care not for a man's religion whose dog or cat are not the better for it."
In any event, if you find yourself merely tempted to abuse another human being or other living creature in the name of your religion, God, son of God and/or prophet, you have already stained and shamed your ideology by your thoughts of violence and hatred.
Think twice or however many times you need to remove these hateful and violent thoughts against your fellow human being. If your ideology teaches anger and hatred towards human beings, it is unworthy of following. You are full of self-hatred, as you hate your fellow human being, because you have been taught that human beings in general are "wretched sinners," and you are one of them. Your ideology is not godly or divine. It is ugly, vicious and evil. And it is making you all of those things. Throw it away as the garbage it has become. Join the human race and practice love, tolerance, patience and acceptance of your fellow human beings and other living creatures.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Islamic Terrorism Ignored by Mainstream Media
The dishonesty and cowardice of the mainstream press - and the world's governments! - in addressing honestly this critical issue of identifying Islamic terrorism as Islamic will spell doom for the free world, as the Islamic terrorism continues relatively unabated, with appeasement of all manner, including throwing women to the wolves. Most dangerous of all, agencies like the U.N. are virtually controlled by Islamic countries that are forcing an agenda of censorship of anything relating to Islam, including criticism of the abysmal treatment of women and non-Muslims.
The censorship has gotten so bad that news and government agencies bend over backwards NOT to bring Islam into the picture, even if the perpetrator of a violent crime has admitted to acting in the name of Islam! Soon will we be forced to accept all kinds of violent crimes so long as they are committed in the name of Islam, since we will not be able to bring up the subject at all? Islamic warriors terrorizing people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Indonesia and elsewhere globally - it will be illegal to identify them as Islamic, even if they call themselves the "Army of Allah!"
Obviously, all such laws restricting criticism of any religion should be rejected immediately.
If we wish to be absolutely fair, all terrorism and violence done in the name of any religion should be identified as such.
That would include Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism, of course, these latter two being the least warmongering and proselytizing.
If we do not start being meticulously honest in identifying the sources of terror, we will never defeat it. Fighting some nebulous "war on terror" without getting to the root of it will surely fail. The fact that it is Islam at the root of much of the world's terror is confirmed by some of the programs that governments and NGOs have been forced to create, including attempting to head off the hateful and violent brainwashing of so-called radical Islam. If it were not Islamic teachings - straight out of the Quran/Koran - that were driving "radical Islam," it wouldn't be "radical Islam" and there would be no need to have programs addressing it as such. Islamic teachings, therefore, lead to Islamic terror. As taught in the Quran/Koran:
And now, here is some Acharya Law:
No individual, group or government should be forced to kowtow to any religion against its will, moral, ethics and laws.
We are reminded of one of the Koranic injunctions that, like Islamic terrorism, is widely ignored as well:
Yet, here the world is being compelled left and right - ultimately through terrorist acts that have turned many into a frightened pack of sheep running willy-nilly - to accept what amounts to spiritual terrorism.
(Translation by N.J. Dawood: The Koran: With a Parallel Arabic Text, Penguin Classics, 1991)As we might guess, these are some the Islamic teachings leading to Islamic terror. Would not these remarks constitute hate speech under the laws being tossed up all over the place in order to protect Islam?
This Book is not to be doubted.... As for the unbelievers, it is the same whether or not you forewarn them; they will not have faith. God has set a seal upon their hearts and ears; their sight is dimmed and grievous punishment awaits them. --Q 2:1-2:6-2:10; "The Cow," Dawood, pp. 1-2.
The only true faith in God's sight is Islam. --Q 3:19; "The Imrans," Dawood, p. 51.
He that chooses a religion over Islam, it will not be accepted from him and in the world to come he will be one of the lost. --Q 3:85, "The Imrans," Dawood, p. 60.
God's curse be upon the infidels! Evil is that for which they have bartered away their souls. To deny God's own revelation, grudging that He should reveal His bounty to whom He chooses from among His servants! They have incurred God's most inexorable wrath. An ignominious punishment awaits the unbelievers. --Q 2:89-2:90, "The Cow," Dawood, p. 13.
Fight for the sake of God those that fight against you, but do not attack them first. God does not love the aggressors.
Slay them wherever you find them. Drive them out of the places from which they drove you. Idolatry is worse than carnage.... --Q 2:190-2:191, "The Cow," Dawood, p. 28.
[Note that within Islam, many things can and are interpreted to be "aggression," such that the death penalty is freely handed out.]
When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them.... --Q 9:5; "Repentance," Dawood, p. 186.
Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate. --Q 9:73, "Repentance," Dawood, p. 198.
Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and forsake them in beds apart, and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them. Surely God is high, supreme. --Q 4:34, "Women," Dawood, p. 83.
And now, here is some Acharya Law:
No individual, group or government should be forced to kowtow to any religion against its will, moral, ethics and laws.
We are reminded of one of the Koranic injunctions that, like Islamic terrorism, is widely ignored as well:
Yet, here the world is being compelled left and right - ultimately through terrorist acts that have turned many into a frightened pack of sheep running willy-nilly - to accept what amounts to spiritual terrorism.
Our future generations will have little to thank this current one for turning it over to the terrorism of the very soul.
Roars about Russia, Nary a Whisper about Islam
by Diane West
Amazing, how quickly the punditocracy switches maps, time zones and histories, simultaneously mastering new combinations of consonants and vowels, to report and react to a "surprise" conflict in Georgia. It's almost hard to recall that, just a few days ago, the most urgent questions confounding most of the media had to do with just how narcissistic John Edwards really is, or what the ramifications of Barack Obama's plans to announce his vice presidential pick via text message might finally be.
Since the sight of tanks rolling usually has a way of concentrating the media mind, the question has become: Whither Russia?
In truth, the demise of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn earlier this month was a journalistic godsend. After all, who hadn't already dusted off their long-retired Soviet history books -- not to mention their long-retired Soviet history experts, all of whom have had the busiest couple of weeks in years -- by the time Vladimir Putin announced last week that "war has started" over South Ossetia and Abkhazia?
Historical memory somewhat refreshed, Western media were ready with the headlines -- "The evil empire is back"; "Welcome to the 19th century"; "The Russian bear's new teeth" -- to promote the main thrust of most stories: namely, that Russia is reverting to tsarist, expansionist, Soviet-style, empire-amassing type.
It's not that there's anything controversial in this journalistic approach, although I do tend to think there remain aspects of the Georgian story we haven't reconciled. What's noteworthy about this narrative consensus, however, is that the invocation of Russia's historical and cultural record is being made so frankly and without hedging. That is, no one's blaming "Russian extremists," "tsarismists," or "hijackers of a great history." On the contrary, the implication behind most Russia-versus-Georgia stories is that the Russians' world-stage behavior as they smash Georgia is something that this same historical and cultural record tells us that Russians do....
And why is this important? When I started seeing these stories and statements -- even making some of them myself -- I realized there was something free-wheeling about the style of expression that made it different from what has been the norm. I first wondered if there was a somewhat perverse trace of nostalgia in dealing again with the Russians. And then it hit me. In the nearly seven years since Islam has wholly dominated current events, neither our media nor our leaders have ever, not even once, looked at similarly characteristic behavior from the Islamic world and labeled it accordingly.
In other words, no pattern of avowedly Islam-inspired violence in the world has ever earned a headline nearly as straightforward as "Islamic jihad is back." Not even the Islamic success of Motoon Rage, which has severely repressed Western modes of expression regarding Muhammad in particular and Islam in general, inspired anything as descriptive as, for example, "Sharia's new teeth."...
And what American presidential candidate would ever explain the Islamic push, financial and otherwise, in the West for mosque construction, Islamic schools (madrassas), campus Islamic studies (apologetics) departments, Sharia law-inspired legal challenges, lobbying for Sharia-compliant banking and the like as a matter of Islamic imperialism?
I quoted McCain above discussing, matter-of-fact, what he considers to be catchall "Russian" ambitions to restore the "old Russian empire." Would he, or any other American politician, ever say the same regarding catchall "Islamic" ambitions? While both Russia and Islam claim similarly long histories and cultures of conquest for reference, it's mighty tough to imagine any U.S. politician ever saying the following: "I think it's very clear that Islamic ambitions are to restore the old caliphate." (And that's despite a growing body of statements, even polling data, reflecting the persistence of Islamic caliphate dreams.)...
See also this article:
We need to stop being such cowards about Islam
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Monday, March 24, 2008
The Muslim World Throws a FITNA - Again
Once again, the Muslim world has gone into a state of apoplexy and thrown a fit, or FITNA, as the case may be. What else is new?
For those who haven't heard, "FITNA" is a movie by Dutch politician Geert Wilders exposing the connection between the Islamic holy text the Koran/Quran and the violence found abundantly in the Muslim world for the past 1,400 years or so.
This movie - which, we are constantly reminded, no one has ever seen - is so powerful, apparently, that the entire Muslim religion will be destroyed by it in a heartbeat. At least, that's the impression given by the incredible frantic knee-jerk reaction that had the unprecedented affect of shutting down the film's website before anything of substance was even posted there!
Because of "complaints," the registrar of Wilders's domain fitnathemovie.com, Network Solutions, has "temporarily suspended" the account, which means the film cannot be posted there. This censorship situation occurred precisely at the point when Wilders claimed he would release the film. Here is a screenshot of the site with the notice from Network Solutions:
When we go to the site to see what could possibly be so egregious as to cause such aggressive behavior, we are faced with a "Acceptable Use Policy" that prohibits the following:
"...material that is obscene, defamatory, libelous, unlawful, harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, constitutes an illegal threat, violates export control laws, hate propaganda, fraudulent material or fraudulent activity, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable material of any kind or nature."
We would wager that Network Solutions is investigating "FITNA" under "hate propaganda," an ironic situation in consideration of the fact that this movie is allegedly basically just a recitation of the KORAN - indeed, that it is apparently making the case that the KORAN itself constitutes "hate propaganda." How else are we to interpret a text - the KORAN - that repeatedly calls for the deaths and/or punishment of non-believers and that has been followed to such ends as to lead to the deaths and/or punishment of hundreds of millions of people?
Here are just a few of the attacks on "infidels" in the Koran - "scriptures" that have unquestionably been used over the centuries to slaughter unbelievers of all manner - and that is precisely what "FITNA" was supposedly designed to demonstrate to the world.
And in the meantime, Network Solutions has no problem, apparently, serving as the registrar of the violent terrorist organization Hizbollah, the "Army of God!" So much for the "ethics" of Network Solutions. Note that the "WHOIS" information for hizbollah.org has now been CENSORED to omit the fact that it is Network Solutions who is the registrar! The "WHOIS" information specifically naming Network Solutions as the registrar for hizbollah.org has now been replaced with:
When we go to www.pir.org/whois for details, we see:
Needless to say, the behavior of Network Solutions is cowardly and unethical - but it has brought so much more attention to Wilders's film that, should he ever release it, millions more now know about it and will likely clamor to see this "forbidden fruit." And let us hope for the sake of freedom of speech, democracy and, indeed, freedom in general, that Wilders does manage to release his film. We know that there are millions of people anxiously standing by waiting to see it, undoubtedly many of the Muslims themselves who would like to know what could be so bad in their Koran that a film about it needs to be censored - and its filmmaker needs to be under constant guard because of all the death threats he has received, falling right in line with what he is exposing in this film.
In reality, Geert Wilders has already proved his point, as he cannot even walk outside freely simply because he dared criticize a book that, as demonstrated above, clearly has as one of its agendas global hegemony and the slaughter of nonbelievers.
If the film really exists - and Wilders insists that it does - Wilders has a number of options here, including, as he has suggested, "passing out DVDs on the Dam," but also bit torrents, as well as simply providing his film to the many other websites and outlets that have expressed their willingness to host it. We can only hope that this film will be widely distributed, as it is obviously vitally important for the freedom of the entire world. We could even imagine the Vatican hosting it on its website - who will stop the Vatican?
Here's the trailer for FITNA - watch it fast while it's still on YouTube! (It's short but a bit gruesome.)
For those who haven't heard, "FITNA" is a movie by Dutch politician Geert Wilders exposing the connection between the Islamic holy text the Koran/Quran and the violence found abundantly in the Muslim world for the past 1,400 years or so.
This movie - which, we are constantly reminded, no one has ever seen - is so powerful, apparently, that the entire Muslim religion will be destroyed by it in a heartbeat. At least, that's the impression given by the incredible frantic knee-jerk reaction that had the unprecedented affect of shutting down the film's website before anything of substance was even posted there!
Because of "complaints," the registrar of Wilders's domain fitnathemovie.com, Network Solutions, has "temporarily suspended" the account, which means the film cannot be posted there. This censorship situation occurred precisely at the point when Wilders claimed he would release the film. Here is a screenshot of the site with the notice from Network Solutions:
When we go to the site to see what could possibly be so egregious as to cause such aggressive behavior, we are faced with a "Acceptable Use Policy" that prohibits the following:"...material that is obscene, defamatory, libelous, unlawful, harassing, abusive, threatening, harmful, vulgar, constitutes an illegal threat, violates export control laws, hate propaganda, fraudulent material or fraudulent activity, invasive of privacy or publicity rights, profane, indecent or otherwise objectionable material of any kind or nature."
We would wager that Network Solutions is investigating "FITNA" under "hate propaganda," an ironic situation in consideration of the fact that this movie is allegedly basically just a recitation of the KORAN - indeed, that it is apparently making the case that the KORAN itself constitutes "hate propaganda." How else are we to interpret a text - the KORAN - that repeatedly calls for the deaths and/or punishment of non-believers and that has been followed to such ends as to lead to the deaths and/or punishment of hundreds of millions of people?
Here are just a few of the attacks on "infidels" in the Koran - "scriptures" that have unquestionably been used over the centuries to slaughter unbelievers of all manner - and that is precisely what "FITNA" was supposedly designed to demonstrate to the world.
(Translation by N.J. Dawood: The Koran: With a Parallel Arabic Text, Penguin Classics, 1991)If these quotes from the Koran do not constitute HATE PROPAGANDA, then what does? According to Network Solutions, a 10 or 15-minute film that exposes such attacks on infidels (and women) does represent "hate propaganda!" In other words, with their disgraceful behavior, Network Solutions is preventing millions of people from their "God-given" right to know what is in the Koran and how it has been used to conquer and "slay idolaters" around the world.
This Book is not to be doubted.... As for the unbelievers, it is the same whether or not you forewarn them; they will not have faith. God has set a seal upon their hearts and ears; their sight is dimmed and grievous punishment awaits them. --Q 2:1-2:6-2:10; "The Cow," Dawood, pp. 1-2.
The only true faith in God's sight is Islam. --Q 3:19; "The Imrans," Dawood, p. 51.
He that chooses a religion over Islam, it will not be accepted from him and in the world to come he will be one of the lost. --Q 3:85, "The Imrans," Dawood, p. 60.
God's curse be upon the infidels! Evil is that for which they have bartered away their souls. To deny God's own revelation, grudging that He should reveal His bounty to whom He chooses from among His servants! They have incurred God's most inexorable wrath. An ignominious punishment awaits the unbelievers. --Q 2:89-2:90, "The Cow," Dawood, p. 13.
Fight for the sake of God those that fight against you, but do not attack them first. God does not love the aggressors.
Slay them wherever you find them. Drive them out of the places from which they drove you. Idolatry is worse than carnage.... --Q 2:190-2:191, "The Cow," Dawood, p. 28.
[Note that within Islam, many things can and are interpreted to be "aggression," such that the death penalty is freely handed out.]
When the sacred months are over slay the idolaters wherever you find them. Arrest them, besiege them, and lie in ambush everywhere for them.... --Q 9:5; "Repentance," Dawood, p. 186.
Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate. --Q 9:73, "Repentance," Dawood, p. 198.
Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because God has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and forsake them in beds apart, and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them. Surely God is high, supreme. --Q 4:34, "Women," Dawood, p. 83.
And in the meantime, Network Solutions has no problem, apparently, serving as the registrar of the violent terrorist organization Hizbollah, the "Army of God!" So much for the "ethics" of Network Solutions. Note that the "WHOIS" information for hizbollah.org has now been CENSORED to omit the fact that it is Network Solutions who is the registrar! The "WHOIS" information specifically naming Network Solutions as the registrar for hizbollah.org has now been replaced with:
WHOIS LIMIT EXCEEDED - SEE WWW.PIR.ORG/WHOIS FOR DETAILS
Registrant Organization: Hizbollah
Registrant Street2: care of Network Solutions
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City: Herndon
Registrant State/Province: VA
Registrant Postal Code: 20172
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.570708878
Registrant Street2: care of Network Solutions
Registrant Street3:
Registrant City: Herndon
Registrant State/Province: VA
Registrant Postal Code: 20172
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: +1.570708878
Needless to say, the behavior of Network Solutions is cowardly and unethical - but it has brought so much more attention to Wilders's film that, should he ever release it, millions more now know about it and will likely clamor to see this "forbidden fruit." And let us hope for the sake of freedom of speech, democracy and, indeed, freedom in general, that Wilders does manage to release his film. We know that there are millions of people anxiously standing by waiting to see it, undoubtedly many of the Muslims themselves who would like to know what could be so bad in their Koran that a film about it needs to be censored - and its filmmaker needs to be under constant guard because of all the death threats he has received, falling right in line with what he is exposing in this film.
In reality, Geert Wilders has already proved his point, as he cannot even walk outside freely simply because he dared criticize a book that, as demonstrated above, clearly has as one of its agendas global hegemony and the slaughter of nonbelievers.
If the film really exists - and Wilders insists that it does - Wilders has a number of options here, including, as he has suggested, "passing out DVDs on the Dam," but also bit torrents, as well as simply providing his film to the many other websites and outlets that have expressed their willingness to host it. We can only hope that this film will be widely distributed, as it is obviously vitally important for the freedom of the entire world. We could even imagine the Vatican hosting it on its website - who will stop the Vatican?
Here's the trailer for FITNA - watch it fast while it's still on YouTube! (It's short but a bit gruesome.)
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Saturday, October 06, 2007
The Violent Oppression of Women in Islam
Please read the booklet linked hereto by Robert Spencer and Phyllis Chesler, and pass it along to all those who love life and justice. We need many more voices like these hard-working individuals who are risking their necks to expose the harsh realities behind Islam.
The bottom line is that MILLIONS OF WOMEN AND GIRLS ARE SUFFERING EVERY DAY WITHIN ISLAM, and not doing anything about constitutes a tacit endorsement of such suffering.
The Violent Oppression of WomenFinal note from Acharya: I don't usually engage in the politics of "right v. left," but I have to say that, in the case of Islam, the lefty liberals have driven me and many others straight into the Neocon camp. For those who are bothered by the "staged stoning" of the pic above, please see this disturbing video of a real stoning - albeit of MEN, who likewise suffer horribly under the sadistic fascism called Islam.
By Robert Spencer and Phyllis Chesler
FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, October 05, 2007The booklet that you are about to read details some of the principal ways in which women suffer in the Islamic world - often with religious and cultural sanction. Many of these crimes against women, such as wife-beating, are ordained by the Qur'an itself; others, such as female genital mutilation and honor killing, are praised by Islamic clerics and hallowed by Islamic culture. That feminists in the West remain silent about this deeply ingrained and institutionalized mistreatment of women, and even ally with groups that have devoted themselves to the spread of Islamic law that justifies this mistreatment, is one of the unconscionable scandals of our time.
This article is a segment of a series being run as part of our nation-wide campus effort, Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, which will be held on 200 university and college campuses on October 22-26. Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is a national effort to focus on all the victims of Islamo-Fascist Jihad -- as well as to counter the lies of the academic Left, which seeks to deny the evil, and even the very existence, of our enemy in this terror war. In this way, Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week hopes to educate American students and to enable them to rally to defend their country.
In terms of the booklet of our subject today, its cover is a still photograph that epitomizes Islamic oppression of women, and it has come to also epitomize the Western feminist non-response to it. The picture comes from a Dutch film called De Steen (The Stone), directed by Mahnaz Tamizi, and features the actress Smadar Monsinos. The Stone dramatizes the barbaric treatment of women in Islamic countries. It accurately depicts the reality of Islamic Sharia law regarding adultery: when a couple is caught in adultery, the man is jailed while the woman is stoned to death.
It is a telling indication of the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of the Left that it has fastened upon our use of this picture to try to discredit Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, since the photo does not depict an actual event - as if women weren't being stoned to death under Sharia law in Iran and some other Muslim countries today. In reality, eight women are currently in prison in Iran awaiting death by stoning for the crime of adultery. A mother was sentenced to be stoned to death in Iran for adultery just last week. It is typical of the Left to try to cast opprobrium not upon those responsible for these harsh realities, but upon us who are trying to draw attention to them in the name of human rights.
It may have seemed inconceivable that feminists and their allies would defend those who bury women in the earth and kill them by throwing large stones at them, but that is the ultimate thrust of the Left's outcry against our use of this picture and against Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week in general. Such are the ironies of our troubled age.
In this booklet are realities that should be of paramount concern not just for feminists in the West and their allies on the Left, but of all those who are concerned with the universality of human rights and the dignity of every human being.
The rest of the images here are unfortunately quite real, including the blood pool from a victim of female genital mutilation, the hanging of an Iranian woman from a crane, and the Iranian victim of a severe beating because she was not properly covered up (reproduced here with permission from Dr. Homa Darabi). I hesitate to post here some of the worst images, including that of the genital area of a victim of female genital mutilation.
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Wednesday, March 29, 2006
A Truly Sacred Scripture
1. a. A sacred writing or book.What is a sacred or holy scripture? Hundreds of millions of people around the world hold sacred the Bible, the Koran, the Dhammapada, the Vedas, Puranas and many other texts that are considered to be "divinely inspired" in some way or another. Countless people claim that there is a single god somewhere "out there" who directly inspired these texts, which are therefore infallible, since this god "himself" is infallible. Others see these texts as manmade and containing errors, although they may also possess much divinely inspired wisdom. Still others consider these so-called scriptures to be entirely contrived by human beings and a reflection of human understanding, rather than divine inspiration.
b. A passage from such a writing or book.
2. The sacred writings of the Bible. Often used in the plural. Also called Holy Scriptures.
3. A statement regarded as authoritative.
What is the truth? Is a book that contains endless stories of warfare and slaughter against infidels or unbelieving nations and individuals really "holy writ?" One which dictates that there are "chosen people" who are superior to others, who may thus be unreservedly dominated and exploited? Or that human beings are revolting "sinners" who can only achieve grace by believing in a "Son of God" who was hideously tortured and murdered "for our sins?" Is this sort of "scripture" truly the most appropriate and intelligent writing the God of the cosmos could come up with?
Let us briefly examine some of what these "holy scriptures" say:
"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, out of all the peoples that are on the face of the earth." Deuteronomy 7:6
"You shall suck the milk of nations, you shall suck the breast of kings; and you shall know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob." Isaiah 60:16Phew! That's a whole lotta spewing. Now, of course, this collection represents only a small fraction of what is contained in those "holy texts." And, of course, there is some "good" stuff to balance it...slightly. But, again, is this type of sentiment - which permeates not only the so-called scriptures but also the ideologies themselves, oozing out of believers like some supercilious and smug sludge, heartlessly hurled at all who do not believe likewise - really the best and holiest concept in the cosmos, such that it merits the distinction of being deemed "divinely inspired" and representing the "infallible Word of God?"
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but with a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy." Matthew 10:34-37
"For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: all this is but the beginning of the sufferings." Matthew 24:7-8
"This Book is not to be doubted.... As for the unbelievers, it is the same whether or not you forewarn them; they will not have faith. God has set a seal upon their hearts and ears; their sight is dimmed and grievous punishment awaits them." Koran 2:2-6
"God's curse be upon the infidels! Evil is that for which they have bartered away their souls. To deny God's own revelation, grudging that He should reveal His bounty to whom He chooses from among His servants! They have incurred God's most inexorable wrath. An ignominious punishment awaits the unbelievers." Koran 2:92-6
Or could there be something much more enlightened that deserves to be held up in a higher sacrosanct position?
The American Constitution may well be the "holiest of holies." It is not "infallible," nor does it address religion specifically, except for this particularly pithy amendment that is not only wholly relevant but also holy in its implications for securing liberty from religious imposition of all kinds:"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."These remarks do not suggest that the constitutions of other nations are necessarily inferior or that the U.S. is flawless, but at least in this well-considered and well-written scripture - as defined by the third definition: "A statement regarded as authoritative" - there is a chance for humanity to be truly free and to reach its best.
If we were to fling open the doors of nations around the world and allow free movement in either direction, which way would most of the traffic flow? Would most people up and run towards "Oppressivestan," under the dominion of so-called holy law, or towards "Libertyland," governed by such a constitution? Think about it.
(This essay is updated and included in my book The Gospel According to Acharya S.)
Labels:
Bible,
koran,
sacred scripture,
u.s.,
united states constitution,
we the people
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