Monthly Archives: September 2010

More ground zero mosque solutions

Posted on by
9

From Imam Rauf:

Mr. Rauf argued radical extremists had “hijacked” the debate over the relationship between the West and Islam, then stunned many in the audience by suggesting one way to reduce ill feeling toward Muslims was to order a “media blackout” of coverage of suicide bombers.

Censorship of Islamist atrocities: yes, that should do it.

From John Stackhouse an evangelical theologian who thinks Rauf is a “moderate”, that he should go ahead and build it and that everyone else concentrate on more important things:

Controversy continues to rage over whether moderate Muslims should build, and should be allowed to build, a mosque or a community centre near Ground Zero in New York City. (Yes, they’re moderate: I have met the imam in question, Feisal Abdul Rauf, and his wife, Daisy Khan, who also leads the project. They are just what intelligent, sensible people would want in Muslim leaders: affable, well-informed, well-spoken, serious, convinced, and committed to good relationships with their neighbours of every stripe.)

Stackhouse does little to bolster his credentials as a judge of character by adding:

I’m a Christian. In fact, I’m an evangelical Christian. Am I implicated in the shooting of abortion doctors? Am I implicated in the policies of the Harper government here or the Bush administration recently gone? Am I implicated in whatever James Dobson or Pat Robertson or Franklin Graham or Benny Hinn says? If so, then I’m a pretty dangerous guy.

How did Harper, Bush, Dobson etc. get lumped into the same category as the murderers of abortion doctors?  How is James Dobson dangerous? Why were Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama or Jeremiah Wright not on the list? Presumably because it’s a list of the political right which, in Stackhouse-land is, a priori, tainted.

From someone who has the appearance of being a genuinely moderate Muslim speaking on a US news program this morning – I didn’t catch his name, unfortunately – who made the blindingly simple and obvious observation that if the majority in the US (the number is around 70%) opposes the ground zero mosque, why would Muslims want to further alienate them by going ahead and building it? He said it should be moved.

Rev. Canon Douglas Graydon pleads for the excluded

Posted on by
5

The Rev. Canon Douglas Graydon considers the great Anglican non event of 2010 – General Synod – and writes:

And yet, gay and lesbian Anglicans continue to stand off to the side, relegated to being less than complete human beings within our community of faith. As long as the learning, discerning

prayerful debates or indaba-like conversations continue, gay and lesbian Anglicans will be denied what every other Anglican enjoys: the full and blessed recognition of our relationships.

Let us keep in mind the human dimension of every church debate that involves the “worthiness” of another to receive the recognition and blessing of “the church.” And recognize the suffering experienced by those who are excluded, year after year, decade after decade.

God help us to learn more quickly from our own history of exclusion and to live more boldly Christ’s radical love of inclusion.

Rev. Graydon is one mixed up Canon.

99% of Canadians who freely choose – indeed, who could not be dragged kicking and screaming into an Anglican Church – to “stand off to the side” of Anglicanism would probably be shocked to learn that, by doing so, they are  “less than complete human beings”. For most of humanity, “blessing” resides in the comforting assurance that “decade after decade” they have been absent from an Anglican Church.

Every other Anglican does not enjoy “the full and blessed recognition” of his relationships. My dog and I have a deep, committed but hitherto unblessed relationship; he is hurt and feels profoundly excluded every Sunday when I set off to church without him, although his grief is considerably assuaged by noting the presence of the Anglican Journal in the cat’s litter box.

A blessing from an average Canadian Anglican Church isn’t worth much, so the “worthiness” of its recipient isn’t particularly relevant. In a real church, though, parishioners are acutely aware that they are unworthy of anything at all: any worthiness that has accrued to them is through Christ’s atoning sacrifice on the cross and any blessing an unearned favour, not a “right” to be bludgeoned out of the disintegrating Anglican diabolarchy that masquerades as a church.

The Rev. Canon should try and keep up with the times a little more. The “new gay” is polyamory; when is he going to start campaigning for the egregiously excluded polyamorists? – after all, they suffer so.

Imam Rauf: I didn’t think my mosque would be controversial

Posted on by
1

From here:

The imam in the middle of the Ground Zero mosque controversy said Sunday he would never have picked that location if he knew it would create the conflict it did, but he has no plan to move the Islamic center from the proposed site two blocks from where the World Trade Center fell.

“I would never have done it. I’m a man of peace. I mean, the whole — the whole objective of peace work is not to do something that would provoke controversy,” said Imam Feisel Abdul Rauf.

This, of course, means that Rauf is either an idiot or a liar. I don’t think he is an idiot.

So what was burned on September 11th?

Posted on by
11

Anjem Choudary, UK Muslim, professional dole recipient and demented Islamist mouthpiece of Islam4UK, burnt a US flag in London to cries of “Burn, burn democracy”, “democracy, go to hell”, “democracy, you will pay”:

Just before September 11th, In Pakistan a Christian man, woman and their four children were burned to death by Islamists.

Various police checkpoints were set on fire by Muslims in Afghanistan.

In Indonesia, a Christian was stabbed in the stomach and a pastor battered with a plank.

On September 11th, 115,000 babies were aborted, many burned alive with salt solution.

Anglican and other Christian leaders – not to mention Obama, less anointed politicians, Vatican officials, UN officials and uncle Tom Cobley and all – wrung their hands and pleaded with would-be Koran burners not to do it, while studiously ignoring all of the above.

Terry Jones did not burn any Korans.

Which just goes to show that it’s easier and more personally satisfying to concentrate on the inconsequential than what really matters and that grovelling to bullies in an attempt to appease them is a complete waste of time.

Atheist Billboards and Satanists in Oklahoma

Posted on by
1

From here:

Add an Image

Atheist Billboard Provokes Oklahoman Christians

OKLAHOMA CITY — Atheists in Oklahoma City have erected a billboard seeking fellow non-believers, and Satanists have scheduled a conference in a city-owned building, drawing criticism from ministers in a state where more than eight out of 10 people say they are Christians.

Understandably, Christians in Oklahoma are upset:

Oops, sorry, wrong photo.

At last: a reason for wearing a tie

Posted on by
1

From here:Add an Image

Tired office male workers can now fall asleep at their desk in comfort – using a new necktie that contains an inflatable pillow.

The Pillow Tie is available in over 60 ‘stylish’ designs and looks just like a normal tie when deflated and worn with a suit, or so its manufacturers claim.

But it also holds a discreet air bag that can be blown-up in less than a breath.

A small mouthpiece – similar to those found on swimming arm bands – is hidden behind the ‘arrow end’ of the tie.

This allows the wearer to simply lift the tie to their mouth, inflate it and lay their head and ‘pillow’ on a desk.

The tie does not even need to be removed from the neck.

It can be deflated in seconds if the boss returns to the office and you want to appear busy.

The company sells the ties using the slogan: ‘Because most functions that require a necktie… deserve to be slept through.’

I wonder if there will be a pew-friendly Anglican version.

My CBC tax dollars at work

Posted on by
11

In an idle moment this afternoon, I decided to listen to CBC Radio. Since I listened to a live stream on my iPod, the title of the music that was playing was blazoned across the screen: Fuck You by Cee-Lo Green. I have no idea who or what, Cee-Lo Green is, but I can only assume that this was his/her/its way of saying thanks for the tax dollars.

Still, my afternoon radio experience wasn’t a total loss: the news informed me that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has agreed to move his mosque in exchange for a promise from Rev. Terry Jones not to burn 200 Korans. Perhaps Rev. Jones isn’t such a loon after all.

An Anglican priest denies the existence of Hell

Posted on by
5

This seems to be an odd career limiting assertion for a priest: if there is no hell, we don’t need saving; if we don’t need saving, we don’t need a Saviour; if we don’t need a Saviour, we certainly don’t need church or priests. Perhaps that explains why the Anglican Church in Canada is losing thousands of people every year.

From here:

The idea of hell as a place of punishment for the wicked was widespread in the world long before the Christian era. However it became assimilated into the official teaching of the Church very early on, in spite of the fact it conflicts with both Bible teaching and the inherited liturgies; and this contradiction has continued over the centuries……

The time has come for all denominations to think again about anomalies and inconsistencies in the inherited faith, which have led many people to come to disregard the Christian religion altogether, without realizing that what they are rejecting is not the faith itself but distortions of it that should indeed rightly be challenged.

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity has been misunderstood as being belief in three gods, but it is belief in One God, who has been described as being made up of three entities, between whom love flows, The Lover, the Beloved, and Love itself [and I always thought there were three Persons in the Trinity – silly me].

Thinking about the true nature of God, accepting that God is Love, and putting the demands of that Love first and our ideas about “religion” second, would surely have huge ramifications for the future peace of the world.

A God of Love does not send people to hell!

Of course, anyone who has had to sit through an average Anglican sermon has irrefutable evidence that Hell exists.

The Koran burning ruse

Posted on by
5

Worked.

Rev. Terry Jones has more publicity for his church than he could have imagined in his wildest dreams. Liberals – closet, idiot or otherwise – are exposing themselves by endlessly mouthing deeply embedded clichés. Here are a few samples:

Petraeus – if we upset our enemies they might want to kills us! Remedy here (thanks sda).

Clinton: “regrettable”, “distrustful”, “disgraceful”, “outrageous”, “aberrational” – a red flag to a bull; now I want to burn one.

Peter MacKay: ““This initiative is insulting to Muslims and Canadians of all faiths who understand that freedom of thought and freedom of religion are fundamental to our way of living,” – well, Pete, that remark is insulting to anyone whose brain still functions. Rev. Jones is making a symbolic gesture: he’s not stopping Muslims worshipping whatever they want, nor is he burning every extant Koran. If we really agree with freedom of thought and religion, we should let Rev. Jones burn away shouldn’t we?

On the other side of the spectrum is a more entertaining bon mot from Ann Coulter: “It turns out I’m for it, but mostly because burning Qurans will contribute to global warming”.

Leaving aside the inefficacy of Rev. Jones’ novel outreach technique, if the concern for Koran burning were rooted in anything other than pusillanimity we would have heard a similar outcry against the piss Christ, the dung Madonna and the defacing Bible as Art wouldn’t we? But we didn’t.

Congratulations, Terry, you’ve hit the motherload.

And now a break from Koran burning: Snafi comes to Saudi Arabia

Posted on by
2

An impotence remedy is causing a fuss in Saudi Arabia. A TV ad proclaims, ‘Snafi – it does the job: up to 36 hours of stiffness.’

Apparently, ‘Broadcaster Channel One was reported to be inundated with complaints about the ad.’ Perhaps Muslim men are offended that their masculinity is in doubt; or maybe the ‘stiffness’ didn’t last the full 36 hours?