Tag: Islam

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Paradise Now | Revisited

I originally posted an article on Paradise Now, the 2005 Golden Globe Winner – Best Foreign Film, in 2009. With the conflict between the Israelis and Hamas, it might be time to revisit the movie. It allows you to consider the world from a point of view that is not often taken into account in the West, the Palestinian.

Disclaimer: One should not be necessary, tis not the world we live in, though.  I have written a few sharply clever – IMHO – satirical pieces that a small number of folks took way too seriously. This led to a  smattering of vile comments as they did not appreciate my finely honed sense of ironic humor. While I approve most comments, a few went across the line.

This article deals with a movie that tells the story of two  young men from the West Bank recruited to become suicide bombers.  I am in no way condoning terrorism or violence of any sort.  There is never a valid reason for it, although many groups and individuals will jump through intellectual hoops to do so.  The movie explores why someone would be so radicalized as to commit such an action.  It is something that we need  to think about, what pushes people  over this horrendous edge that they become terrorists.

I don’t quite remember why this Continue reading “Paradise Now | Revisited”

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Jon Stewart weighs in on the Bill Maher and Ben Affleck flap

stewart-religion-300x239Humanity Will Always Live in Chaos as Long as Organized Religion Persists

He absolutely read my mind:

“Organized religion is the worst thing that’s ever happened to human kind.

All organized religion does is provide a tool for those in power to manipulate millions to act against their own self interests. Which is exactly what you see in Christianity and Islam. People in power, using religion, to get people to act like absolute fools. People living their lives under the control of religious rules that are derived by some human’s interpretation of something they read in a book.”

I do not have a problem with faith, just how it has be kidnapped by the power structure.  I perfectly okay if you want to dance naked around a 10 foot statue of G.I. Joe.  But please to not hand me a glass of your Kool-Ade or force me to dance.

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Ben Affleck, Sam Harris, Bill Maher and Islam

I really did not know a lot about Ben Affleck before this, but after watching this episode of Bill Maher I lost a lot of respect for him. He did what a lot of folks seem to do on these types of shows, rather than reason and debate, he was loud and obnoxious in an attempt to make a point.

I am secular and I have a hard time with most religions, but Islam in particular (at least as portrayed by our media). The main reason being is the few Muslims I know personally seem like good and reasonable people. They seem to love and believe their faith as much as any Baptist from Oklahoma. In an attempt to understand the religion that is so much in the news these days I have read a couple books about Islam. At the core Islam seems full of love, care and kindness for fellow humans. I know that the Islam religion as practiced early was very tolerant of other religions.   The Islam that seems to predominate today is one of the fundamentalist ilk that does not seem to very tolerant of some very basic human rights. It seems like separation of church and state is a goal to avoid. The religion I see on the news is not tolerant of different points of views. It appears to me that much of strife in the world currently comes from the Muslim arena.

The message that Christ preached was full of love, caring and kindness also. Something seems to happen when religions move pass this “Golden Rule” core. The history of all the Abrahamic religions is not pretty. It is one of strife, conquering, destruction, intolerance and murder all the way to genocide. The history of the Catholic Church is very troubling.

My basic point of view is that life is tough, so whatever gets you through the day is fine with me as long as you don’t want me to drink your Kool-Aid. I try to be tolerant of religion, but some days I just want to scream. I really do believe that the world would be a far better place if all religions would go away. I also realize that humans have a spiritual need. I just wish there was something else besides the bloody, intolerant Abrahamic religions to fill this need for the 2 or 3 billion individuals that follow these religions.

Oh well. Here is the video. It does not even include the worse of Ben Affleck’s rants.

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Rev. Joe stumbles

I am not religious.  I do not even consider myself spiritual.  I made the last comment a while back and I had a couple folks arguing with me as they thought I was very spiritual.  One problem with the word spiritual is that it has an old school dictionary definition, and common usage that is of a more new age derivative.  The dictionary definition, to me, is not that much different than the dictionary definition for religious . Spiritual in this context seems to imply a less structured version of religious.  I have trouble getting my head around the new age definition.  It is very much like E=mc2.  I understand the parts, but the whole is another matter.

My goal is to live an ethical and a genuine life.  However, most of the time I fail miserably at these tasks.  Continue reading “Rev. Joe stumbles”

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The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam

The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam by Yahiya Emerick available at Amazon.com

ig_islamI read this book for two reasons. First, I’ve appointed myself the task of learning about the various world religions. Secondly, I have an Arabic friend (stay away Homeland Security) who is Muslim, and I wanted to understand where he was coming from a little better.

I wanted to give this book 3 and half stars, but that is not an option. I gave it four because the author fulfilled his primary mission of teaching the reader the basics of Islam. He also threw in a brief history Islam and Arabs that was interesting. When they talk about Sunnis and Shiites on the news, now I understand the difference. Continue reading “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Islam”