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Archive for the ‘Religion’ Category

STOP GIVING INTO ISLAMIC DEMANDS IN AMERICA !

Posted by straight shooter on September 20, 2008 under Patriotism, Political, Religion

Once again Muslims make demands in America … and outrageously another company caves into their demands. They demanded to have breaks and meals times changed to accommodate Islam’s Ramadan.

In fact, earlier this week 300 Muslims walked off the job at a JBS Swift & Company meatpacking facility in Grand Island, Nebraska, and marched on city hall, complaining that they were denied time to pray at sunset during their month of Ramadan. Then, two days later the union announced that the company agreed to accommodate the Muslims’ demands.

On Wednesday the president of the local United Food and Commercial Workers Union said management at the Nebraska plant had agreed to temporarily change the timing of the second-shift lunch break to accommodate workers wanting time to pray at sunset during the Muslim observance of Ramadan. The company says the arrangement will be in effect for the remainder of Ramadan – through the end of this month.

This is not the first time Muslims have foisted their religious demands on private companies. At the Hormel plant in Austin, Minnesota the exact same problem took place. Not only that, this is going on all over the country. This is not localized to just one or two or three meatpacking plants. In fact, a similar incident happened recently at a Swift plant in Greeley, Colorado.

Groups of Muslims are demanding that others accommodate to their ways. They are trying to set a trend in America where their wishes and their holidays and their prayer time will be absolutely not only acknowledged but honored.

It is wrong to cave to the demands of those who are not Americans. Is there another nation on the earth where we can infiltrate and try to force our ways, beliefs, and culture on their citizens? No! Americans do not make those kinds of demands – and definitely no one would accommodate us in their homelands. Islam has become the politically correct religion of choice if America and if this trend continues, we are in serious trouble here.

If the non-Muslim employees walked off to city hall to protest the moving of their lunch hour, they would be fired. What other job do you know of where you can just walk out and not be fired on the spot? If they want to pray during their lunch hour … fine, but don’t ask everyone else to move their lunch hour. Christians cannot insist on a specific time off to pray. They have no choice on working on Sundays … they would be fired.

When people accept their job, they accept the condition of employment. Work time, place, benefits, salary, etc. This was a wildcat strike. Swift should have fired all of them. It would have sent a clear message to all Muslims in this country. If you don’t like it you can leave anytime you wish.

I say that when anybody comes to America from another nation legally they need to assimilate into our culture – not demand America to change to accommodate them. If they are illegal … it is time for them to return to where they came from. Muslims in America need to understand that they are not in a Muslim governed country. If they can’t handle that they need to go back to their country of origin.

ONCE AGAIN MUSLIMS LEARN THAT VIOLENT INTIMIDATION WORKS

Posted by straight shooter on August 14, 2008 under Political, Religion, Terrorism

Random House paid $100,000 for The Jewel of Medina, Sherry Jones’ racy historical novel about Muhammad and his nine-year-old wife, Aisha, only to withdraw the book just days before its scheduled August 12 publication date. Random House deputy publisher Thomas Perry explained that they decided to drop the book after receiving, “from credible and unrelated sources, cautionary advice not only that the publication of this book might be offensive to some in the Muslim community, but also that it could incite acts of violence by a small, radical segment.” They decided “to postpone publication for the safety of the author, employees of Random House, booksellers and anyone else who would be involved in distribution and sale of the novel.”

This craven capitulation to violent intimidation came without any actual violent intimidation at all. Random House was smart enough to figure out, in these post-Salman Rushdie, post-Muhammad cartoons, post-Pope Rage days that publishing a book that Muslims find offensive could be hazardous to the health of a good many people.

It is curious that they let Jones work on The Jewel of Medina for six years only to remember Rushdie when her book was about to be published. That may be due to pressure from Denise A. Spellberg, an Associate Professor of History and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. When Spellberg received an advance copy of the book, she became “frantic” and contacted Shahed Amanullah, editor of the popular website altmuslim.com. “She was upset,” said Amanullah, because the book “made fun of Muslims and their history.” She later declared that The Jewel of Medina was a “very ugly, stupid piece of work…. You can’t play with a sacred history and turn it into soft core pornography.”

Spellberg denies charges that she was the “instigator” of Random House’s decision to deep-six Jones’ book. She says, “I felt it my duty to warn the press of the novel’s potential to provoke anger among some Muslims.” Yet Spellberg also maintains: “I do not espouse censorship of any kind, but I do value my right to critique those who abuse the past without regard for its richness or resonance in the present.”

Spellberg does seem to be right about The Jewel of Medina. The book rather improbably depicts the nine-year-old Aisha, at the moment of the consummation of her marriage to Muhammad, as finding “the bliss I had longed for all my life.” As evidenced by trash like this, the actual “richness and resonance in the present” of Muhammad’s marriage to the child Aisha is probably lost on both Spellberg and Jones. But due to Muhammad’s status in Islamic tradition as the supreme example of human conduct, child marriage is quite prevalent in some areas of the Islamic world today.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reports that over half of the girls in Afghanistan and Bangladesh are married before they reach the age of eighteen. In early 2002, researchers in refugee camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan found half the girls married by age thirteen. In an Afghan refugee camp, more than two out of three second-grade girls were either married or engaged, and virtually all the girls who were beyond second grade were already married. One ten-year-old was engaged to a man of sixty. In early 2005 a Saudi man in his sixties drew international attention for marrying fifty-eight times; his most recent bride was a 14-year-old he married in the spring of 2004.

If Jones really wanted to offend Muslims, she could have made her novel a negative portrayal of Muhammad’s marriage to Aisha and a denunciation of the devastating effects child marriage has had upon untold numbers of girls in the Islamic world ever since. That would certainly have brought her opprobrium and threats, but she would have had the satisfaction of knowing that she was standing up for the dignity of the human person. As it is, her book does indeed seem to be as Spellberg describes it: a “very ugly, stupid piece of work.”

That being the case, however, since when has Random House or any American publisher refrained from publishing a book because it was ugly and stupid? When has any American publisher passed up a book because they thought it cheapened Jewish or Christian sacred history? Put down your copy of The Da Vinci Code and ponder that one for a minute.

It is becoming increasingly common for Americans to bow to pressure from Muslims to accommodate Islamic practices and mores.  It is also becoming common for the specter of violence to inhibit discussion of the elements of Islam that jihadists use to justify terrorism. Where will all this accommodation end? It will not end until America is a Sharia state, unless enough Americans begin to resist. Or, even if America never becomes anything remotely approximating a Sharia state, how much of our freedoms and rights will we allow to be eroded away before we stand up and call a halt to this?

If Random House had axed Jones’ book because it is silly and stupid, that would be no problem. But to explain that they did so because of the possibility of violence is only to reinforce the lesson that threats and violence work. And with that lesson re-taught, our freedoms will continue to erode.

SATIRICAL OR CLOSER TO THE TRUTH?

Posted by straight shooter on July 14, 2008 under Political, Religion, Terrorism

New Yorker Cover: Obama as Muslim

Monday, July 14, 2008 9:00 AM

new-yorker-obama-muslim.jpg

WASHINGTON – Barack Obama’s campaign says a satirical New Yorker magazine cover showing the Democratic presidential candidate dressed as a Muslim and his wife as a terrorist is “tasteless and offensive.”

The illustration on the issue that hits newsstands Monday, titled “The Politics of Fear” and drawn by Barry Blitt, depicts Barack Obama wearing traditional Muslim garb – sandals, robe and turban – and his wife, Michelle – dressed in camouflage, combat boots and an assault rifle strapped over her shoulder – standing in the Oval Office.

The couple is doing a fist tap in front of a fireplace in which an American flag is burning. Over the mantle hangs a portrait of Osama bin Laden.

“The New Yorker may think, as one of their staff explained to us, that their cover is a satirical lampoon of the caricature Senator Obama’s right-wing critics have tried to create,” said Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton. “But most readers will see it as tasteless and offensive. And we agree.”

A spokeswoman for The New Yorker did not immediately return a call to The Associated Press.

The magazine’s editor, David Remnick, said in a statement to the Daily News in New York that he was surprised by the reaction.

The cover “combines a number of fantastical images about the Obamas and shows them (the images) for the obvious distortions they are,” he said.

“Satire is part of what we do, and it is meant to bring things out into the open, to hold up a mirror to the absurd,” Remnick said.

Republican John McCain’s campaign spokesman, Tucker Bonds, agreed that the cover was “tasteless and offensive.”

Already the cover was generating controversy on the Internet.

The Huffington Post, a left-leaning blog, said: “Anyone who’s tried to paint Obama as a Muslim, anyone who’s tried to portray Michelle as angry or a secret revolutionary out to get Whitey, anyone who has questioned their patriotism – well, here’s your image.”

Associated Press.

CHECK OUT OBAMA’S “NOT EXACTLY’S”

Posted by straight shooter on July 14, 2008 under Political, Religion

Obama’s Not Exactly’s (Repost)

This is an example of how misinformed the people of America can be.  Or, maybe the word is stupid !!! … sorry, if the shoe fits.

IT SHOULD OPEN A LOT OF EYES.

1.) Selma Got Me Born – NOT EXACTLY, your parents felt safe enough to have you in 1961 – Selma had no effect on your birth, as Selma was in 1965. (Google ‘Obama Selma’ for his full March 4, 2007 speech and articles about its various untruths.)

2.) Father Was A Goat Herder – NOT EXACTLY, he was a privileged, well educated youth, who went on to work with the Kenyan Government.

3.) Father Was A Proud Freedom Fighter – NOT EXACTLY, he was part of one of the most corrupt and violent governments Kenya has ever had.

4.) My Family Has Strong Ties To African Freedom – NOT EXACTLY, your cousin Raila Odinga has created mass violence in attempting to overturn a legitimate election in 2007, in Kenya. It is the first widespread violence in decades. The current government is pro-American but Odinga wants to overthrow it and establish Muslim Sharia law. Your half-brother, Abongo Obama, is Odinga’s follower. You interrupted your New Hampshire campaigning to speak to Odinga on the phone. Check out the following link for verification of that….and for more.
Obama’s cousin Odinga in Kenya ran for president and tried to get Sharia muslim law in place there. When Odinga lost the elections, his followers have burned Christians’ homes and then burned men, women and children alive in a Christian church where they took shelter.. Obama SUPPORTED his cousin before the election process here started. Google Obama and Odinga and see what you get. No one wants to know the truth.

5.) My Grandmother Has Always Been A Christian – NOT EXACTLY, she does her daily Salat prayers at 5am according to her own interviews. Not to mention, Christianity wouldn’t allow her to have been one of 14 wives to 1 man.

6.) My Name is African Swahili – NOT EXACTLY, your name is Arabic and ‘Baraka’ (from which Barack came) means ‘blessed’ in that language. Hussein is also Arabic and so is Obama.
Barack Hussein Obama is not half black. If elected, he would be the first Arab-American President, not the first black President. Barack Hussein Obama is 50% Caucasian from his mother’s side and 43.75% Arabic and 6.25% African Negro from his father’s side. While Barack Hussein Obama’s father was from Kenya, his father’s family was mainly Arabs.. Barack Hussein Obama’s father was only 12.5% African Negro and 87.5% Arab (his father’s birth certificate even states he’s Arab, not African Negro). From….and for more….go to…..
http://www.arcadeathome.com/newsboy.phtml?Barack_Hussein_Obama_-_Arab-American,_only_6.25%25_African

7.) I Never Practiced Islam – NOT EXACTLY, you practiced it daily at school, where you were registered as a Muslim and kept that faith for 31 years, until your wife made you change, so you could run for office.
4-3-08 Article ‘Obama was ‘quite religious in islam”   http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=60559

8.) My School In Indonesia Was Christian – NOT EXACTLY, you were registered as Muslim there and got in trouble in Koranic Studies for making faces (check your own book).
February 28, 2008.  Kristoff from the New York Times a year ago:  Mr. Obama recalled the opening lines of the Arabic call to prayer, reciting them with a first-rate accent. In a remark that seemed delightfully uncalculated (it’ll give Alabama voters heart attacks), Mr. Obama described the call to prayer as ‘one of the prettiest sounds on Earth at sunset.’  This is just one example of what Pamela is talking about when she says ‘Obama’s narrative is being altered, enhanced and manipulated to whitewash troubling facts.’

9.) I Was Fluent In Indonesian – NOT EXACTLY, not one teacher says you could speak the language.

10.) Because I Lived In Indonesia, I Have More Foreign Experience – NOT EXACTLY, you were there from the ages of 6 to 10, and couldn’t even speak the language. What did you learn, how to study the Koran and watch cartoons.

11.) I Am Stronger On Foreign Affairs – NOT EXACTLY, except for Africa (surprise) and the Middle East (bigger surprise), you have never been anywhere else on the planet and thus have NO experience with our closest allies.

12.) I Blame My Early Drug Use On Ethnic Confusion – NOT EXACTLY, you were quite content in high school to be Barry Obama, no mention of Kenya and no mention of struggle to identify – your classmates said you were just fine.

13.) An Ebony Article Moved Me To Run For Office – NOT EXACTLY, Ebony has yet to find the article you mention in your book. It doesn’t, and never did, exist.

14.) A Life Magazine Article Changed My Outlook On Life – NOT EXACTLY, Life has yet to find the article you mention in your book. It doesn’t, and never did, exist.

15.) I Won’t Run On A National Ticket In ‘08 – NOT EXACTLY, here you are, despite saying, live on TV, that you would not have enough experience by then, and you are all about having experience first.

16.) Voting ‘Present’ is Common In Illinois Senate – NOT EXACTLY, they are common for YOU, but not many others have 130 NO VOTES.

17.) Oops, I Misvoted – NOT EXACTLY, only when caught by church groups and Democrats, did you beg to change your misvote.

18.) I Was A Professor Of Law – NOT EXACTLY, you were a senior lecturer ON LEAVE.

19.) I Was A Constitutional Lawyer – NOT EXACTLY, you were a senior lecturer ON LEAVE.

20.) Without Me, There Would Be No Ethics Bill – NOT EXACTLY, you didn’t write it, introduce it, change it, or create it.

21.) The Ethics Bill Was Hard To Pass – NOT EXACTLY, it took just 14 days from start to finish.

22.) I Wrote A Tough Nuclear Bill – NOT EXACTLY, your bill was rejected by your own party for its pandering and lack of all regulation – mainly because of your Nuclear donor, Exelon, from which David Axelrod came.

23.) I Have Released My State Records – NOT EXACTLY, as of March, 2008, state bills you sponsored or voted for have yet to be released, exposing all the special interests pork hidden within.

24.) I Took On The Asbestos Altgeld Gardens Mess – NOT EXACTLY, you were part of a large group of people who remedied Altgeld Gardens. You failed to mention anyone else but yourself, in your books.

25.) My Economics Bill Will Help America – NOT EXACTLY, your 111 economic policies were just combined into a proposal which lost 99-0, and even YOU voted against your own bill.

26.) I Have Been A Bold Leader In Illinois – NOT EXACTLY, even your own supporters claim to have not seen BOLD action on your part.

27.) I Passed 26 Of My Own Bills In One Year – NOT EXACTLY, they were not YOUR bills, but rather handed to you, after their creation by a fellow Senator, to assist you in a future bid for higher office.

28.) No One on my campaign contacted Canada about NAFTA – NOT EXACTLY, the Candian Government issued the names and a memo of the conversation your campaign had with them.

29.) I Am Tough On Terrorism – NOT EXACTLY, you missed the Iran Resolution vote on terrorism and your good friend Ali Abunimah supports the destruction off Israel.

30.) I Want All Votes To Count – NOT EXACTLY, you said let the delegates decide.

31.) I Want Americans To Decide – NOT EXACTLY, you prefer caucuses that limit the vote, confuse the voters, force a public vote, and only operate during small windows of time.

32.) I passed 900 Bills in the State Senate – NOT EXACTLY, you passed 26, most of which you didn’t write yourself.

33.) I Believe In Fairness, Not Tactics – NOT EXACTLY, you used tactics to eliminate Alice Palmer from running against you.

34.) I Don’t Take PAC Money – NOT EXACTLY, you take loads of it.

35.) I don’t Have Lobbysists – NOT EXACTLY, you have over 47 lobbyists, and counting.

36.) My Campaign Had Nothing To Do With The 1984 Ad – NOT EXACTLY, your own campaign worker made the ad on his Apple in one afternoon.

37.) I Have Always Been Against Iraq – NOT EXACTLY, you weren’t in office to vote against it AND you have voted to fund it every single time.

38.) I Have Always Supported Universal Health Care – NOT EXACTLY, your plan leaves us all to pay for the 15,000, 000 who don’t have to buy it.

TIME TO FORGET THE COOKIES !

Posted by straight shooter on July 1, 2008 under Political, Religion

The Girl Scouts’ New Radicalism

Marcia Segelstein – 7/1/2008

The Girl Scouts of the USA have been on a steady, well-documented leftward slide for many years.  (More on that later.)  But this summer, the organization is about to take a giant leap even further in that direction.

The GSUSA is introducing a new “Girl Scout Leadership Experience,” essentially a new curriculum, titled “Journeys.”  The first series of books, one for every level of scouting, will be released this summer called “It’s Your World – Change It.”  As you may have guessed from the title, it’s all about girls “taking action.”

Girl Scouts curriculumIn the words of the Girl Scouts’ literature, the mission is for girls to “lead with courage, confidence, and character to make the world a better place.”  Sounds innocuous enough.  But the GSUSA leadership has some specific ideas about what exactly “making the world a better place” means.

For example, seventh- and eighth-grade cadettes will participate in an eight-session “Journey” called “aMaze,” in which “girls create ‘peace kits’ and learn how to create more peace in the world, one relationship at a time.”  It sounds sweet, but is there a lesson in there about peace often coming with a price?

The “Journey” for the oldest Girl Scouts is called “Your Voice, Your World: The Power of Advocacy.”  In it, “girls explore the rich and global history of women’s advocacy efforts and engages girls to become advocates in their communities.”  Advocates for what, you might well wonder.

Many adults associated with the Girl Scouts have expressed serious concerns about this new curriculum.  Promoting social activism, emphasizing the power of self, and jumping on the bandwagon of politically correct causes like global warming are further evidence to them of the organization’s ever-growing radicalism.The blueprint for this new curriculum came from the Girl Scouts Arizona Cactus-Pine Council, which decided they needed to be “re-founded.”  To oversee the process, they naturally hired facilitators — in this case, from the Ashland Institute, a consulting group with a distinctly New Age bent.

The Board of Directors and the Arizona Cactus-Pine Council went into a special retreat.  After engaging in a “collective reflective process called Open Space,” they decided that some radical changes were in order.  According to their own online material, “We are living in a crisis of the spirit in a war-torn world.”  The literature speaks of female empowerment.  It asks, “Could the Girl Scouts help birth the quality of women’s leadership that the world so desperately needs today?”

It continues:  “She [Tamara Woodbury, executive director of the Cactus-Pine Council] knew the time had come for a feminine approach to leadership in the world.  What better place than the Girl Scouts to help land the possibility — but how to do it in a feminine way?”  I really have no clue how Ms. Woodbury would define a “feminine approach to leadership in the world,” and can’t think why world leadership needs to be approached from a feminine or masculine perspective.  Unless, of course, one has a radical feminist point of view.

right way wrong waySo the Arizona Cactus-Pine Council forged ahead to find a place where “preteens and teens learn to hear and trust their own inner guidance.”  As a Christian, I look to God for guidance, and pray that my children do, too.  “Inner guidance” sounds way too much like “do your own thing,” or “follow your heart,” rather than “do the right thing.”  In fact, the online literature suggests just that:  “Juliette Low [founder of the Girl Scouts] might say to us today, ‘Follow my spirit, not my footsteps.  Lead from the heart into the unknown.'”  An interesting place to want to take teenagers.

Here’s one of the Girl Scouts’ new values:  “Girls learn to quiet themselves, taking ‘full stop moments’ where they can connect with a silence that is perfect and pure, an internal blank canvas….The girls ‘find their own compass’ through a model that starts looking within to find their purpose, values and vision and ends with clear strategies, action and planning.”

In case you weren’t already clear on this, back in 1995, the Girl Scouts made it optional to include the word “God” in their official “promise.”  So it shouldn’t be a great surprise that now girls are supposed to look within, discover a blank canvas, and find their own values.  This isn’t God-optional.  This is anti-God.

Here’s “The Girl Scout Promise,” according to the GSUSA website:

“On my honor, I will try: to serve God* and my country, to help people at all times, and to live by the Girl Scout Law.”

The asterisk is explained at the bottom of the page:  “The word ‘God’ can be interpreted in a number of ways, depending on one’s spiritual beliefs.  When reciting the Girl Scout Promise, it is okay to replace the word ‘God’ with whatever word your spiritual beliefs dictate.”

That’s right.  Go right ahead and define “God” however you like.  Telling girls to look inside themselves for direction, especially teenage girls, is like advising them to wear a blindfold while driving.  So — to be clear — along with political correctness, the Girl Scouts have now fully embraced moral relativism.

Girl Scoutsover the moon COG awardBut getting back to being anti-God, there is the matter of the “Covenant of the Goddess.”  It’s a Wiccan website which, among other things, describes their awards program.  There’s the “Over the Moon Award” for ages 8-11 and the “Hart and Crescent Award” for ages 12-18.  The awards are offered “to any young person…who is a member of any nature-oriented religion (Wicca, Druid, Asatru, Native American, etc.).”  What does this have to with the Girl Scouts?  The Girl Scouts recognize these awards, which may be worn on the Girl Scout uniform.

Criticism of the Girl Scouts is not new.  A few years ago, Kathryn Jean Lopez wrote a piece for National Review Online called “The Cookie Crumbles.”  Here are some highlights:

“Exercises [from a Senior Scout manual] include working through how the Girl Scout Promise and Law relate to such situations as ‘Suppporting a decision to pull a life-support system from a dying relative’ and ‘Ending a pregnancy.’  Some activities ‘you can do as a Girl Scout to address contemporary issues’ include ‘organiz[ing] an event to make people aware of gender bias’ or ‘help[ing] organize an Earth Day celebration.”

She cites the 1997 book On My Honor: Lesbians Reflect on Their Scouting Experience as being “filled with coming-of-age stories sparked by gay encounters in the Girl Scouts.”  The book includes an essay titled “All I Really Need to Know About Being a Lesbian I Learned at Girl Scout Camp.”  According to Lopez, “staffers writing in the book claim that roughly one in three of the Girls Scouts’ paid professional staff is lesbian.”

Then there is the “cozy relationship,” as columnist John Leo put it, between Planned Parenthood and a Girl Scout council in Waco, Texas.  He wrote, “The council gave a ‘woman of distinction’ award to the local chief of Planned Parenthood, who runs an abortion clinic in Waco….The [same] council also endorsed and helped to staff Planned Parenthood’s ‘Nobody’s Fool,’ an annual half-day sex-education program…offering sympathetic treatment of abortion, masturbation, and homosexuality.”  Only after protests did the council withdraw their endorsement of the sex-ed program.

It turns out that other Girl Scout councils in Nevada and Connecticut also had relationships with Planned Parenthood.  And, according to Concerned Women for America, one Girl Scout leadership manual “gives visits to health clinics like Planned Parenthood as an acceptable option for Brownie troops.  Brownies are for girls six to eight years old.”

American Heritage Girls logoIn 1995, when “God” became optional in the Girl Scouts’ promise, a group of parents in Ohio had had enough.  Disillusioned with the increasingly secular leanings of the Girl Scouts, they started their own organization with about 100 members.  American Heritage Girls today has chapters in 34 states, with over 6,500 members.

Here is the American Heritage Girls’ oath:

I promise to love God, cherish my family, honor my country, and Serve in my community.

You’ll note that there’s no asterisk next to “God.”

Check out their website to see if there’s a chapter near you.  And if there isn’t, they’ll help you start one of your own.

After ten years as a producer for CBS News, forty-something years as an Episcopalian, and fifteen years as a mother, Marcia Segelstein considers herself a reluctant rebel against the mainstream media, the Episcopal Church (and others which make up the rules instead of obeying them), and the decaying culture her children witness every day. Her pieces have been published in “First Things,” “Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity,” and “BreakpointOnline,” and she is a contributing editor for Salvo magazine.

THE NEW LAND OF TOLERANCE

Posted by straight shooter on June 26, 2008 under Political, Religion, Theological Concerns

“Survey Shows U.S. Religious Tolerance” was the headline of a New York Times article about the Pew Forum’s survey of America’s religious landscape. It found that Americans have acquired a “non-dogmatic approach to faith.” In fact, 70% of Americans who claim affiliation to a religious body – including Christians – agreed that “many religions can lead to eternal life.” Nearly the same percentage said that “there’s more than one true way to interpret the teachings of my religion.” WHAT?

What’s true of faith is also true of morals when 78% say that there are “absolute standards of right and wrong.” But only 29% say that they “rely on their religion to delineate these standards.” Instead, more than half of the respondents said that they rely on “practical experience and common sense.” As the Book of Judges aptly puts it, “every man did what was right in his own eyes” has become the practice of the day.

Not surprisingly, the media repeatedly used the word “tolerant” to characterize America’s religious beliefs.

But to be regarded as “tolerant” today no longer means extending “full rights of free speech and free expression” to those of all faiths. Instead, it appears that “tolerance” now requires what journalist Terry Mattingly calls a “certain doctrine of salvation,” that regards all “religious paths” as leading “to the top of the same eternal mountain.”

So, it is not possible anymore to debate religious truth claims respectfully. Instead, the new “tolerance,” which has become our ultimate civic virtue, requires abandoning all truth claims lest we “offend” somebody.

This applies everywhere: over the water cooler at work or even in presidential politics. When asked recently in a private meeting with religious leaders whether Jesus was the only way to salvation, Barack Obama reportedly said, “Jesus is the only way for me. I’m not in a position to judge other people.” Was Obama merely trying not to offend non-Christians, or did his answer reflect what he truly believes? This growing relativism is becoming rampant even among “Christians.”

The problem is that all religions make mutually exclusive truth claims. Either Jesus is, as He Himself said, “the only way to the Father,” or He is not. What Christians, Muslims, Jews, and Hindus say about the person and work of Jesus Christ cannot be reconciled. They cannot all be true.

It’s called the law of non-contradiction – it goes back to Aristotle: If proposition A is true – that is, if it conforms to reality – then proposition B, making a contrary claim, cannot be true as well.

We can trace our debased definition of “tolerance” back to French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau who rejected any distinction between “civil” and “theological intolerance.” Rousseau did not believe that people can “live at peace with those [they] regard as damned.” He saw Christian truth claims as being intolerant. Specifically, he wrote, anyone who dared to say “no salvation outside the church” should be driven out of society – that is precisely what is happening today.

Have we been so taken in by our own culture that we have abandoned truth? The antidote to this is that Christians need to be grounded in their basic beliefs, or indeed will be swept up in the tides of surging relativism.

ITS OKAY AMERICA … ITS JUST ANOTHER CHRISTIAN MARTYR !

Posted by straight shooter on April 24, 2008 under Political, Religion, Terrorism

christian-martyrdom-vom.jpgEvery night on the news we hear updates of violence in Iraq. The war continues and commentators debate whether American soldiers should be there or not. We hear little of the positive changes that are happening, but what we do not hear about is the plight of Christian nationals in Iraq. For those who are, or convert to, Christianity, a spiritual war wages every day … not just in Iraq but in all Muslim countries.

The efforts to silence, intimidate, and kill the infidels (all those who are not Muslim … especially Christians) resonates from the mouths and hearts of those devoted to the Koran and to Mohammed. They have no problem killing those who will not join them … even if you are family.

When *Muhammad first converted to Christianity from Islam, he kept his new faith a secret. In fact, the first person he told outside of his wife and son was a Christian named *Joseph. He knew the risks of sharing his faith with others in his homeland of Iraq but felt led to do so anyway. So he then witnessed to his extended family. Following radical and normal teachings of Islam, his family members killed *Muhammad. (*Actual names changed to protect the families.)

*Muhammad’s widow sent *Muhammad’s friend *Joseph an e-mail after the martyrdom of her husband. She wrote: “I have bad news. *Muhammad is dead. Our family killed him for sharing his new faith in Jesus Christ. I miss him dearly. *Muhammad left me two important things: my son and our Bible. I’ll never forget why he died. He died for Jesus. I believe Jesus will help me. Tell the people [other Christians] to pray for me.”

Muhammad’s widow and son are now being supported by VOM’s (Voice of the Martyrs) Families of Martyrs fund. VOM reaches out to families who have been victims of severe persecution and martyrdom. Weekly the martyr cases increase.

America is silent on the martyrdom of Christians and the ethnic cleansing of Christians from Muslim countries and the countries they are taking over by the “sword.” Check out the Koran.

Shame on the politicians who continue to ignore such atrocities as the lives of people are sacrifice daily.

NEXT STOP FOR BANNING IS THE USA

Posted by straight shooter on April 7, 2008 under Political, Religion, Terrorism

The book America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It is about to be banned in Canada.It has been labeled as “flagrantly Islamophobic” by the Canadian Human Rights Commission, the New York Times America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It bestseller , is now in paperback-and ironically could soon be sold in America alone.

Why is this book so controversial?

According to Canada it’s because America Alone is “alarmist.” Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because Steyn proclaims the unspeakable, yet undeniable truth: the Western world is falling prey to the unrelenting tide of radical Islam, demographically and ideologically. And if we don’t do something soon, one day we’ll wake up to the end of the world as we know it: the end of church bells, replaced by the muezzin’s call to prayer. The end of free speech, replaced by strict, religious-based censorship. The end of liberty and justice for all, replaced by Sharia law.

Think this can’t happen? Guess again. The future, as Steyn shows, belongs to the fecund and confident. And the Islamists are both, while the West is looking ever more like the ruins of a civilization.

Check out England and other European countries if you want proof. Better yet … read the book.

All is not lost though: America can survive, prosper, and defend its freedom. But only if it becomes self-reliant, stays true to itself, and fights for the conviction that our country really is the world’s last, best hope.

If we don’t stand for something, we’ll fall for anything…Canada already has.

By the way, I am Canadian and tolerance to everything but Christianity is killing Canada and America is next!

THE NEW SEGREGATION: Muslim style for now …

Posted by straight shooter on March 22, 2008 under Immigration, Political, Religion

America is heading into this same nightmare with its out-of-control and excess levels of immigration!

Where there are large concentrations of Muslims in England, “no-go” zones are being established and, according to the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Church of England’s Bishop of Rochester, non-Muslims who “trespass” in such neighborhoods risk attack.

Nazir-Ali, a native of Pakistan and convert to Christianity, writes in The Sunday Telegraph that a spiritual vacuum in Britain, along with its indifference to the rise of Islamic extremism and a growing “multi-faith” society, is robbing the nation of its Christian identity and putting its future in jeopardy. He is not alone. A poll of the General Synod – the Church’s parliament – shows that its senior leaders also believe that Britain is being damaged by uncontrolled immigration.

Bishop Nazir-Ali warns of attempts to give Britain an increasingly Islamic character by introducing the call to prayer and wider use of Sharia law, a legal system based on the Koran. He is critical of the government’s response to immigration and the influx of “people of other faiths to these shores,” blaming the government’s “novel philosophy of multiculturalism” for allowing society to become deeply divided and accusing ministers of lacking a “moral and spiritual vision.” He says that multiculturalism has led to deep divisions in British society.

Trevor Phillips, the chairman of the Commission for Equalities and Human Rights, believes the country is “sleepwalking into segregation.” David Davis, the shadow home secretary, goes further, accusing Muslims of promoting “voluntary apartheid” by shutting themselves off from surrounding culture and demanding immunity from criticism.

Anyone who has studied Islamic societies (as Bishop Nazir-Ali has, having been part of one) knows segregation and subjugation of non-Muslims is the norm, not the behavior of an “extremist fringe.” Former Muslims and others have issued dire warnings about the intentions of these immigrant invaders and their objectives to subordinate Western countries to their view of God’s will. Segregation and intolerance are the first fruits of what they intend to impose on everyone. Political leadership in Britain and increasingly in the United States turns a blind eye to such things because they are prospecting for votes, including from those who would end democracy.

No wonder Britons are growing increasingly uneasy, even despondent, about life in their country. A poll conducted by the respected YouGov organization and published in the Dec. 30 London Times found that more than half of all men and four in 10 women said they would rather live abroad if given the choice. The main reasons are antisocial behavior among a growing underclass and immigration. The “state of the nation” poll of more than 1,500 people found that concerns about immigration topped the list of issues of six out of 10 of those questioned. Among self-identified Conservative voters, three-quarters consider immigration among their top concerns.

Three British cities already have high Muslim populations, thanks to immigration, high birth rates and conversions (but don’t try converting any of them to another faith, which is one reason they are creating “no-go” zones). Seventeen percent of London’s population is Muslim (1.3 million out of 7.5 million). In Luton, it’s 14.6 percent. Birmingham has 14.3 percent. Other European cities have a higher percentage of Muslims.

Multiculturalism, globalism, and an emphasis on “inter-faith” (which is really inter-faithless because in this view Truth does not exist) are contributing to the decline of the West just as paganism, hedonism and greed undermined past empires. Rather than learn from their mistakes, the West thinks it can engage in such practices without consequence.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown has expressed concern about the loss of “Britishness” and the failure to learn English and embrace the national heritage. But unless he does something to slow, even reverse Muslim immigration, Britain, as we’ve known it, will be lost and radical Islam will remake Britain in its own image.

As Bishop Nazir-Ali writes, “But none of this will be of any avail if Britain does not recover that vision of its destiny which made it great. That has to do with the Bible’s teaching that we have equal dignity and freedom because we are all made in God’s image.”

Beware America …

A REFLECTION ON ST. PATRICK’S DAY … WHAT IS IT REALLY ?

Posted by straight shooter on March 21, 2008 under Religion

We have the propensity as humans take what is good and turn it into a day of sin and self-indulgence!

Here we are again on March 17, a day set apart as Saint Patrick’s Day. What is it really? You hear, “It’s Saint Patrick’s Day, you need to wear green!” This is the common phrase of people getting ready in the morning all throughout America. Why?

Sadly, Saint Patrick’s Day has been turned into a ‘Helliday’, like some other holidays. In this case an occasion for people to gorge themselves in alcoholism … sin. Saint Patrick’s Day has definitely been railroaded beyond it’s original intent. As for Christians, we should be standing for the truth, not participating in sin.

So, what is the truth? Do you know? I wanted to find out, so let’s look at the life of Saint Patrick. Information about him is found in many different books and also in his own writings, Confessio and Epistola. Other resources are from the well-credited turn of the century church historian Philip Schaff (History of the Christian Church, Volume 4: Mediaeval Christianity 590-1073 AD), and the modern scholar on Saint Patrick, Thomas O’Loughlin (Saint Patrick: The Man and His Works).

If you bump into me on this particular day I will not be wearing green simply so that I can get as many people as possible to ask me why I am not wearing that color. Then, I will be able to share with them about Saint Patrick and how God used him.

Patrick was the son of a deacon in the church and the grandson of a priest in a small village presumably in the country region of present day England. Although being raised in the church, he was a very disobedient young man and was not a professing believer. He was captured during a raid in his youth that carried him away into Ireland as a slave. During his hard years of lonely slavery as a shepherd, the teachings of his childhood came to his mind and he converted to Christianity. He recalls in his confessions that he prayed over a hundred times in one day and often as much at night. He then received a heavenly vision of a ship and set out from his master’s house, walked several hundred miles, and boarded the ship that led him to his village.

After returning home, Patrick, received three more visions: one of a messenger carrying many letters with the same inscription “O holy boy, we beg you to come again and walk among us.” He then received another call, “He who gave His life for you, He who it is that speaks to you.” He then received another internal call including a vision of God the Spirit praying for him, which finally compelled him to return to Ireland.

Patrick returned to Ireland, presumably after receiving some kind of education, though it is uncertain if or where he was educated. However, Patrick was a knowledgeable and persuasive Christian. He returned to Ireland around 432-435 and finally passed away at either 465 or 493 (Both dates occur in Irish History), but the date of his death is agreed on as March 17th and he died in Ireland at the place his ministry began.

During the short period of time that Patrick ministered the Gospel in Ireland, the religious shift in the island was dramatic. He is known as “The Apostle to Ireland” for a very good reason. Patrick baptized thousands of people, was described as the most zealous and efficient evangelist, and performed many miracles across the countryside. He conquered the Druids of the island, and even battled the slave trade in one of his two surviving documents. He is the human instrument by which God converted the entire island of Ireland from Celtic druidism, barbarism, and idol worship to Christianity. For those of you that like numbers, in his short lifetime, he founded between 365-700 churches and consecrated 3000 priests. He changed the laws of the kingdom, healed the blind, and raised nine people from the dead. He was also “rumored” to expel all the snakes and frogs from the Island. That is what I would call an effective Christian.

With these accomplishments in mind, this is the man that is celebrated with public drunkenness, green beer, and commercialism in the form of green leprechaun hats, shamrock necklaces, shakes, clothing, lights, and other paraphernalia.

Here is a portion of a prayer said to be written by Patrick before he confronted the chief ruler of Ireland, which is now known at the Breastplate of Saint Patrick:

I bind myself today,
-To the power of God to guide me,
The might of God to uphold me,
The wisdom of God to teach me,
The eye of God to watch over me,
The ear of God to bear me,
The Word of God to speak for me,
The hand of God to protect me,
The way of God to lie before me,
The shield of God to shelter me,
The host of God to defend me

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me,
Christ in the eye of every man that sees me
Christ in the ear of every man who hears me –

Salvation is the Lord’s,
Salvation is the Lord’s,
Salvation is Christ’s,
Let thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

What a miraculous life he lived, and the best people can do is put on something green and get drunk. Maybe in lieu of this a quiet reflection on why Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated is in order … by instead lifting up a prayer of thanks to God for such a man.