For John, BLUF: Not your church, but your actions. Nothing to see here; just move along.
Out in the Tullahoma, Tennessee area,♠ the newspaper The Tullahoma News has an item on the Department of Justice arguing that there are limits on what one can say in terms of criticism of Islam in social media. Speakers will include the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Mr Bill Killian, and the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Knoxville Division, Mr Kenneth Moore.
Killian and Moore will provide input on how civil rights can be violated by those who post inflammatory documents targeted at Muslims on social media.Of course Mr Nakoula Basseley Nakoula is still in jail for parole violation for producing the short video Innocence of Muslims. I wonder about Mr Nakoula's civil rights, given that if Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Ambassador Susan Rice hadn't focused a spotlight on him he might still be walking free. And, per Wikipedia, Pakistani Federal Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour offered a $100,000 bounty for his death and an Egyptian Court has sentenced him to death in abstentia.“This is an educational effort with civil rights laws as they play into freedom of religion and exercising freedom of religion,” Killian told The News Monday. “This is also to inform the public what federal laws are in effect and what the consequences are.”
But, it isn't just about the First Amendment, which I believe, after voluntary payment of Federal Taxes is the basis for public support of our Federal Government. There is the situation in West Africa, where the US military has been supporting the French in dealing with Islamic militancy, which Ghana President John Dramani Mahama has warned poses a threat that could destabilise the whole of West Africa.
It is a fine line we walk and we need to have a certain degree of generosity in our approach. Almost all the Muslims in the US are good US citizens and are as interested as the rest of us in stopping those who would do harm to our People and to our instruments of government. We need to give them space to be good US citizens and to help in the battle. At the same time, we need be ready to deal with those who would do us harm. On top of that, we need to be demanding of our own government when there are questions about how the Government is operating. FBI Special Agent in Charge Kenneth Moore should be ready to answer questions about how the FBI dealt with Mr Ibragim Todashev, the Chechen acquaintance of one of the accused Boston bombers. In a period of several seconds an FBI agent got off roughly a half dozen rounds at Mr Todashev, who supposedly attacked with a metal stick (not a knife).
Some will think I am naive, but I think religion is not the issue, but actions and stated intentions are.
Hat tip to the Instapundit.
Regards — Cliff
4 comments:
So, you are holding that good Muslims (especially most of them living in the US) don't really believe that the Quran is the immutable word of Allah and therefore, the mandate to kill infidels is really not a mandate at all, but rather, just an option.
Is that what you are saying?
What I am saying is that they treat that injunction more like we treat Matthew 18:6-9.
Rather than pluck out my eye or cut off my foot or hand, I go to confession.
But, there is no doubt in my mind that we have "Snake Handlers" amongst us, e.g., Church of God (Cleveland, Tennessee). Which extends beyond Cleveland, Tennessee. But, to the best of my knowledge they are not into doing the eyes and limbs, at least amongst those I have fellowshipped.
QUOTE
"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come! If your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into fiery Gehenna."
UNQUOTE
I guess I would put it that they believe the Quran is the immutable word of Allah, but that they understand the passage in a more sophisticated way. If I run into a Muslim today I will ask.
Besides, how have all those Jews and Christians lived in lands under Islam for 1700 years?
Not all Muslims are like Feiz Mohammad, although that case and the Boston Marathon Bomber does bring up the boxing connection.
Regards — Cliff
The answer to your question is: "for many, not long."
Islam is one of the most aggressive, imperialistic regimes to populate the earth since time immemorial. Their aggression trumps that of Christianity by far. The Crusades were not, as popular belief holds, Christianities unilateral assault on Islam. In fact, it was a pathetic response to hundreds of years of Islamic colonization of the European regions of the earth.....much the same as is happening today.
BTW....in the ME.....Christianity is largely practiced in secret as it is not permitted to exist in public.
Not sure I see much connection between snake handlers and people who are told by God to kill infidels.
I fully agree that the Crusades was about resisting aggression. No doubt in my mind about that.
Yes, many Jews and Christians and Bahai and Druze and others have been filtering out of the Near and Middle East.
Re the Snake Handlers, I am just saying that not just Muslims have people who believe the Word of God literally.
On the other hand, the FBI notwithstanding, that doesn't mean, to me, that folks should not be free to criticize Islam. Have at it.
But, if as a society, or as the Government, we go after Islam, as opposed to pockets thereof, then we will be squandering who we are as a People and also squandering our best intel sources. We need to find the source of this terrorism. As I noted earlier, the common theme may be boxing.
Regards — Cliff
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