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Anjum Naveed / AP
A supporter of Pakistan's government minister for religious minorities Shahbaz Bhatti mourns over his death outside a local hospital in Islamabad, Pakistan on Wednesday.
By Azhar Fateh, NBC News
LONDON - As a teenager in Karachi, the southern port city of Pakistan, much of my time was spent as a pedestrian. I absorbed the trends and culture of this diverse city, gathering sermons, dialects, laughter, aspirations, love and hatred during my walks.
With 18 million residents, Karachi is the world’s third most populous city by some counts. Residents include Muslims, Hindus, Christians and fire-worshipping Zoroastrians and it teems with different ethnicities, including Afghans, Bengalis, Burmese, Chinese, Sri Lankans, Filipinos and Iranians.
I was lucky enough to experience it first hand: I have watched Muslims running barefoot to mosques for prayers, Christians worshipping in the Baptist Central Church, and at school, Hindus studied alongside me.
It did not occur to me when I was a boy that behind their smiles and every-day routines, religious minorities of Pakistan live in constant fear of religious vendetta but as I grew older I realized that the situation was not as I had thought it to be.
But Wednesday, after the murder of Shahbaz Bhatti, the Christian minister for religious minorities, any remaining youthful illusions were finally dashed. His assassination is not the only one of his kind -- in early January Salman Taseer, the former governor of Punjab, was shot dead for criticizing Pakistan’s blasphemy law.
The Muslim politician who introduced cable television to Pakistan and encouraged the global consultancy firm KPMG to do business in the country, was assassinated for supporting the release of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman imprisoned for allegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad.
Bearing brunt of intolerance
Out of a population of 170 million, about 78 percent are Sunnis, 16 percent Shiites and 6 percent non-Muslims. The common perception is that everyone in the country regularly experiences the violence of the Taliban but the reality is that it’s mostly Muslims who get killed by their followers armed with suicide belts while non-Muslims have to face the brunt of ordinary Pakistanis armed with religious intolerance.
FAISAL MAHMOOD / Reuters
Shahbaz Bhatti (R), chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, speaks at a news conference in Islamabad in this August 11, 2002 file photo.
After the assassination of Taseer, a friend from Karachi who graduated from a university in the U.K., celebrated his death as a triumph.
“We need to set an example for those who want to insult our prophet,” he told me. “We have an emotional relationship with our prophet and once our emotions are infuriated, we need to retaliate.”
He is not alone and pressure on Pakistan’s minorities has been building for some time.
The judiciary often fails to protect Pakistan’s Hindus, 1.6% of Pakistan’s population, says Amarnath Motumal, a Pakistani Hindu and a council member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.
“Every month, around 25 Hindu girls are kidnapped and forcefully converted to Islam. And the police only rarely register their case,” Motumal told Geo Television in August 2010.
The country’s Christians also suffer from persecution, according to Alexander John Malik, Anglican Bishop of Lahore.
Judges often don’t prosecute the Muslim abductors of Christian girls, he says. In fact, in the light of the victim’s conversion to Islam, judges completely ignore the fact that these girls were forced to change their religion. Instead they forbid the forcefully converted Muslim girls to live with their Christian parents because it is illegal for Muslim children to live with non-Muslim parents.
The roots of this discrimination are not only found in the country’s laws but also in how people interpret Islam’s dictates.
For an idea of the many hard-line Muslim politicians’ feelings about non-Muslims, one needs only to go to the head of Pakistan’s largest religious party.
“Should we praise Hindus when they have occupied the disputed land of Kashmir?” Farid Paracha of Jamaat-E-Islami told Express News in October 2010. “Should we praise Hindus when they are killing thousands and millions of people?”
In the run up to recent elections, Jamaat’s campaign featured anti-Jewish, anti-Hindu and anti-Christian chants and slogans.
AP
Salman Taseer, right, Governor of Pakistani Punjab Province, talks to reporters after meeting with Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi, left, at a prison in Sheikhupura near Lahore, Pakistan, in a Nov. 20, 2010 file photo.
Another fact that makes it especially difficult for non-Muslims to live in Pakistan is the Shariah, or Islamic law. Although not a part of the Pakistani constitution, Shariah decrees that non-Muslims choose between paying a tax to live in a Muslim country, convert or migrate to a foreign land.
Another tenet of Shariah that is a part of the constitution is the blasphemy law, which dictates that anyone who insults the Prophet Mohammad should be sentenced to death. It is under this law that Bibi, the imprisoned Christian woman, was arrested.
Taseer was assassinated by his own security guard for lobbying a change in this law.
Glimmers of hope
There are still glimmers of hope for Pakistan’s minorities, and there are Pakistani Muslims who want to co-exist with other religions.
“Shariah law has got many controversial policies that require careful consideration before we implement them,” said Rana Khizer Hayat, a Sunni and former president of the influential National Union of Pakistani Students and Alumni [NUPSA]. “I would personally not support any law that treats non-Muslims in the country as unequal to us.”
NUPSA, an organization comprising of 25 college societies, has proposed to the Pakistan government that laws limiting the right of non-Muslim citizens to become the heads of state should be repealed.
Syed Zain Abid, a Shiite, goes further.
“We need to interpret our religion according to the environment of the 21st century and, in accordance, controversial policies of Shariah require re-consideration or complete desertion,” he says.
Shiite Muslims are often victims of attacks by the majority Sunni population. In January, two simultaneous suicide attacks took place on Shiites processions in Karachi and Lahore, killing 12 and injuring 79 people.
An old Hindu friend, who considers himself as much a citizen as anyone else in the country, holds out hope that the situation will improve.
“We, the Hindus, live the normal life and face the entirely same problems as other Pakistanis,” says Avenash Loughani. “The Taliban (is) killing everyone and it would be unfair for me to complain that minorities are being targeted.”
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Well written piece of reportage with an eye on the facts.
CNN.com's feature is so white washed to not "offend" it was one of the most cowardly instances of reportage seen in recent memory. Only one, almost invisible, mention of the murder victim's religion and no mention of the murderer's note left with the body citing religious animus. Cowardly, offensive, and a breach of responsible reporting by eliminating key facts.
Most of them have been taking the easy escape and politically correct routes since 47. Who weeps for the helpless, poor and deprived?
Of course Zoroastrianism is not and has never been a "fire-worshipping" religion. However, Islam does seem to perpetuate a mindset that increases persecution of followers of other faiths.
Islam is the most Intolerant ,vile religion on earth. If you just look at the Laws in Most Muslim countries you would find , like this article says, laws that clearly say if you are non Muslim you either pay a tax and live in fear, convert or get the hell out.They all have laws that say if you insult Mohammad ,you die. No law saying if you insult Jesus or Butta or any other religion. Islam is not and never has been ,a religion of peace and the WORLD is finally waking up to that fact.
Islam radicals and terrorists have taken the Islamic religion to the extreme levels of madness unseen in the history of religions and mankind.
Mosques all over the world have become hate preaching and killer breeding centers. They have been springing up all over due the liberal financing by the sharks of Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait other rich ME nations.
We need to start closing mosques doing greatest damages.
If Saudi Arabia and many ME nations don't permit churches, why should we permit mosques?
Everything can't be one-way streets for long.
Pakistan should be declared as a terrorist nation and sanctions should be applied on it.
Stop all aids right away!
This coming from someone named Mississippi Joe. How many Nigras been tolerated down in ole' Miss Joe? How do you tolerate them with a rope or a bonfire?
Mars Blackman, you sound like a raciest yourself. Are you saying all people in Mississippi are raciest, you don't even know me. So let me tell you something about myself.
I am half Lebanese and half Redneck , I am proud of both my families. My father taught me that you cannot judge a person by the color of his skin ,OR THE PLACE HE IS FROM, my father marched with Martin Luther King in Memphis Tenn. He ran for Mayor of Greenwood MS in 1961 and he ran on the platform that all people are gods creatures and deserve respect and Love. Needless to say he didn't win or gain allot of friends, but he wasn't afraid to stand for what he believed in. The Mississippi of today is not the Mississippi of yesterday. You my brother could have learned a few things from my father and Martin Luther for that fact. You should never categorize people for any reason. I try not to do that with the Muslim religion because I know all Muslims are not bad , but I have read some of the Koran and I can see why it can easily be interpreted in a violent way.I have nothing against Muslim people,just the Muslim religion.
Mars Blackman, give me a freakin break! Ropes and bonfires? I think that BS pretty much ended like...100 years ago! That was a REALLY stupid comment - you're not very bright are you!?
I agree Mars Blackman's statement was way out of line, but Jenlee, you need to beef up on your history. There have been incidents of extreme racism, violence and murder (i.e. lynchings) -- yes, even some involving ropes and bonfires -- in Mississippi and other places in the South a LOT more recently than 100 years ago -- try incidents in 1964 in Mississippi, the 1981 in Alabama and 1998 in Texas, just to name some of the more high profile crimes. It is extremely dangerous to act as if such barbarism is so far removed that it could never happen to people today or that it should be forgotten. These things have happened within the lifetimes of many people living today and could happen again, as it is not so far removed from the attitudes of some (but not the majority by any means) people in this country today.
Saddened - I do read the news and I know that it hasn't disappeared completely, however, my point is that Mars is making his statement as if it's so widespread that anyone in that area would have that mentality, and that in itself is just absolutely ridiculous. The comment is extremely ignorant. It would be like someone saying "Oh, you're from Germany? Well you must be a Nazi and hate Jews!" There are certainly people left in the world who would identify themselves with Nazi's, but to say anyone from Germany were one would be pretty stupid wouldn't it!
Mississippi Joe
I guess you share Gov. Barbour sentiments that thing are ad never were so bad in good ole Miss. (my family is from there too, in the Delta, and they are just plain Black. I speak based upon knowledge of the wicked past of ole. Miss. and its not so much better present. I have heard the horror stories from survivors, including my own family. So no one can say I am out of line or racist. I am just telling the un-sugar coated truth. Miss. and amerikkka have not really advanced much and we need to stop deluding ourselves as such). Did you know that Miss. by far out ranked all other Southern states in number of Lynchings? I know that was yesterday. Right?
check out these stats and history:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_in_the_United_States
http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/shipp/lynchingsstate.html
Civil Liberties in Mississippi
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/historyprofiles/p/mississippi.htm
... excerpt
Civil Rights Legacy:
Mississippi has the reputation of being the most racially charged state in the country, a reputation that is arguably well-deserved. Mississippi had the highest number of lynchings of any state during the civil rights era, and was home to the Emmett Till, Medgar Evers, and Freedom Summer civil rights murders, among many others.
...
Burning of African American Churches in Mississippi and Perceptions of Race Relations
http://www.law.umaryland.edu/marshall/usccr/documents/cr12b873summ.pdf
...excerpts
Fires have been deliberately set at seven African American churches in Mississippi since November
1995. These churches were among the more than 59 arsons of African American churches in the
South between January 1995 and June 19961 that attracted national attention and sympathy.
...
Mississippi does not have a State hate crimes act but does have a penalty enhancement law, enacted
in 1994, for felonies or misdemeanors committed because of the race, color, ancestry, ethnicity,
religion, national origin, or gender of the victim.16 There is no State human relations or human
rights commission or agency. In the two most recent reports under the Federal Hate Crimes
Statistics Act (which called for voluntary reporting of hate crimes to the Federal Bureau of
Investigation), five Mississippi law enforcement agencies reported six incidents in 199417 and no
Mississippi agencies reported in 1993.
Some info about Ole Miss's "progressive" Gov. (and maybe our next prez)
http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2010/12/mississippi-gv-haley-barbour-issues-statement-regarding-racial-co
http://newsone.com/nation/associatedpress3/the-governor-of-mississippi-has-a-confederate-problem/
If you think its better check this out:
Blacks Fear Man Found Hung In Mississippi Wasn’t A Suicide
http://newsone.com/nation/newsonestaff2/frederick-jermaine-carter/
Written by NewsOne Staff on January 21, 2011 12:00 am Click for More Next Post
Mississippi — The idea of a so-called post-racial America was widely discussed, debated and even seen as an achievement by some with Barack Obama’s inauguration as president of the United States.
For Blacks in Greenwood, Mississippi, the notion that America has gotten beyond race isn’t popular today. Many are angry over the recent mysterious hanging death of Frederick Jermaine Carter.
“This is 2010 and we still have Black people hanging from trees? They’re saying he hung himself but I have doubt in my mind that he actually did that. That wasn’t his character. This wasn’t a suicide, this was a homicide,” said Sunflower, Miss., Mayor Michael Pembleton, Jr. to The Final Call.
The body of Mr. Carter, 26, was found Dec. 3 hanging from an oak tree in the predominately White North Greenwood area of Leflore County. The young man lived in neighboring Sunflower County, located several miles away.
Mr. Carter’s stepfather told law enforcement that he was working in the area with his stepson when Mr. Carter wandered off.
County Sheriff Ricky Banks reportedly told the media the young man had a “mental condition and a history of wandering off.” He also publicly stated that he saw no signs at the scene pointing towards it being a crime or murder.
http://eotm.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/frederick-jermaine-carter-hanging-in-mississippi-no-suicide-according-to-the-naacp/
I guess white Mississippian really like to give special attention to their darker neighbors :-)
http://www.mississippi-tribune.com/article/State_News/Mississippi_News/MISSISSIPPI_MANHUNT_FBI_and_Justice_Dept_probes_allegations_that_white_Miss_lynch_mob_hunt_Black_man_with_a_tank/18285
DISTRICT ATTORNEY LEADS LYNCH MOB DOWN IN MISS. AUGUST 20, 2009
Sep 10, 2009 ... Lawyer Organizes Lynch Mob & Uses Machine Guns, Dogs & Tanks To Hunt Down A Black Man Where The Lynching Of Emmett Till Took Place… ...
www.blogtalkradio.com/.../district-attorney-leads-lynch-mob-down-in-miss- august-20-2009 -
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2009/08/breaking-newsmob-rule-in-sumnerms.html
In the word of the Late Great Billie Holiday: "
BTW I meant this to inform jenlee as well. I especially like how a district atty would lead a lynch mob with tanks and 50 cal machine guns to kill one black man (notice this is 2009 not 1959 or1969 or even 1999).
Mississippi Joe, I wonder if you have even read the Qur'an? I love how you state you dont judge people by their skin color but you judge all Muslims by the actions of a few and my theocratic countries where the people there dont live in a free country.
Christianity has a long history of not being a peaceful religion, in fact that amount of hate and anger on the Christian right is rank. Of course I know that just because there are many bad apples out there that it doesnt mean the whole Christan religion is bad.
Americans are so blind and naive, the majority of us Americans have no clue how the real world is and how blessed we are with all the freedoms that we enjoy (and take for granted)
My greatest fear is the christian religion and those far right wing nuts in the extreme portions of it trying to force feed their religion onto me. Seems that this is the latest trend, almost like both the extreme Christian and Muslim factions are just aching for a war when the rest of those religious people just want to live in peace.
ps as a reference point I am Agnostic.
Marsblackman, you seem to be missing the point. I am not trying to say there isn't racism in Mississippi, what I am saying is, you cant say everyone from a certain area is a raciest, If that was true ,then i guess your family ,who you say is from the Mississippi Delta ,are all raciest. Unless you are trying to say only WHITE people are raciest. If that is where you are going with your rambling ,then this discussion is over. I was born in Greenwood and grew up in Greenville, in the Delta. I, being half Lebanese ,saw both sides of the story. I learned there was good and bad people ,both black and white. You sound like you have allot of hate for white people,you should cleanse your heart of that.
Pirate Boy, you sound like you just are angry with God and Religion,sorry to hear that because all you have to look forward to ,is darkness. Religion has done allot more good in this world than bad. I hope one day you get past this anger and find God.
Jeenee Lee, thanks for having my back. God Bless.
That story about Sumner MS seems to only show up in a few places. Why is that? It sounds pretty incredible. They were all over the Jenna 6 thing. Why would something this incredible get virtually no coverage?
http://tri-statedefenderonline.com/articlelive/articles/4126/1/Manhunt-rumors-haunt-Mississippi-town-with-troubled-past/Page1.html
Did anybody get any of this on film?
So Mississippi Joe, What you are saying is that although there are obviously some virulent racists and extreme cases of racist injustices I should not indict all of White Mississippi?
So do you think that possibly the same rule of thumb may apply when it comes to Muslims, Islam and Islamic countries? Could that possibly have been, in part, my point (well Miss. is pretty screwed up and backward racially; plus yall are the fattest amerikkkans around, with a screwed up school system and excessive, almost 3rd world like poverty:-).
You said the following (as a reminder, my comments bolded):
They all have laws that say if you insult Mohammad (NOT TRUE) ,you die. No law saying if you insult Jesus(not true again, Jesus is a Prophet of Islam, highly regarded) or Butta (spelled wrong; its Buddha) or any other religion. Islam is not and never has been ,a religion of peace (which religion can totally claim this? Don't most white Mississippians consider themselves Christians-even KKK? Wasn't it white "christians" that brought Black people here in the first place and then tormented them until today? Didn't white Crusaders wage war against Muslims? Didn't white christians murder Muslims and Jews during the Spanish Inquisition? Didn't Hitlet consider himself a Christian?) and the WORLD is finally waking up to that fact.
Benny, I don't know why there was not more coverage of the Sumner thing. I read the story a few months ago. I gave the links I found. I do know Miss. seems to like to cover up their racial problems (such as the recent lynching I mentioned).
If you or anyone find I am wrong and can show proof I will concede.
I just can't believe that nobody else has picked up on this story. The national news media would eat this up. Why has this not gotten more coverage, especially since it has been out there for a while? I have no proof that you are wrong. Sending tanks does seem like overkill to a burgulary, and that's from someone who actually used to have a tank (me). Even if the story is 100% correct, it's good that cooler heads seem to have prevailed.
The case of the other fellow who hanged himself strikes me as odd to be described as a suicide. I do know someone who hanged herself successfully, but even then that is not how most people kill themselves. The coroner and the state seems to think it was a suicide, but no one seems to say why this guy would do this.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-12-07-mississippi-suicide_N.htm
Was he depressed?
And thanks for not calling me names.
Yes dear Benny, no more name calling (fingers crossed behind my back mind you). As I stated I am very much aware of the area (the Delta) in question and Mississippi's bloody past. I would not be inclined to believe some things except for this. In the case of the young man who was killed his family and friends all say that it was not likely that he would have done it since all things were looking up in his life (he was getting married, etc.) and he was not depressed or had ever showed signs or talked about hurting himself.
I could only opine that these and many other incidents in good ole Miss. get swept under the rug to hide serious racial tensions and problems. No one/place wants negative press. And no one/place wants to be portrayed as chronically racially backward (especially when nearly every movie that depicts racial tension and injustice has your State's name in it title or is about it, i.e. "Mississippi Burning", "A time to Kill", "Mississippi Masala"), especially when your Governor may be running for president (then again maybe this proponent of White Citizen's Council's is just what Republicans and Tea Party members want as representation; no offense if this is your or anyone else's party affiliation. I don't care either way as I am not adherent to any party)
Belief is not knowledge, therefore belief is never just cause for any action, good or bad. Muslim beliefs in particular are incompatible with science, reason, and western civilization in general. Respect has to be earned in every other human endeavor, why should unfounded beliefs get a pass?
Short answer is if you or your ideas do not acknowledge Allah as the only God and Mohammad as his prophet (and therefore do as he says and follow his example) you will be killed and your ideas that conflict with Islam will be destroyed.
We often ridicule Islamic countries for not having more than a just a few people willing to risk their lives and step up to the plate for freedom and the pursuit of happiness. Most of the commentators in these forums are writing under pseudonyms. John Aalborg is my name and a photo is in my profile.
i say we make a parking lot out of it and then we have all the oil we need simple
islamic people are nut jobs anyway.
Sooner we do it, better it will be for the world. After making parking lot, send back all those who want to spread their hatreds and killings here.
Moslems are in favor of religious tolerance wherever they are in the minority but let them become the majority religion and, as one person interviewed for this article say, 'death for those who insult the Prophet". How would they react to Western countries jailing or executing Moslems who blaspheme against Christianity, "God is one and he has no son"? I suspect that the followers of the Prophet want their beliefs and practices fostered by the nations of the West but have no intention of giving equal protection to "infidels" in their part of the world. I maintain that the code of Sharia is more threatening to the ideals of the Western democracies than fascism or communism ever were.
Go to politicalislam dot com (I'm a newbie, so I can't put links in posts), look in the left hand column for special interest books and click on Sharia Law under it. On the next screen click on view product, then on the next screen click on look inside. It is a 48 page pamphlet that will show you what you said is true. It describes the Islamic political system that Mohammad implemented when, after 13 years, he realized his religion was a failure. He went from 150 converts in the first 10 years to 100,000 people submitted to Islam in 10 years and the Jews in his kingdom were either dead, enslaved or forced out of Saudi Arabia. The tolerant Arabic culture he invaded with his political system was gone for good, the first of many cultures that became extinct under Islam.
bla bla bla hit them with your shoes they love that beat them over there heads with shoes.
We must stop all aid to Pakistan. If we can not fight in Afghanistan without Pakistan'shelp we need to get out of both countries. Pakistan is not our Friend and once again the US is on the wrong side of history propping up a tyrannical government.
Before speaking on any religion, dont forget to learn and understand the/that religion. All I see is a bunch of under educated individuals talking trash about a peaceful religion. Moreover, religion definition can not be interpreted by actions of a few individual.
Please! Educate me. If you refer to the "peace verses," commonly waved around as deception (tell me the Islamic word for deception to help prove you really know Islam), I ask in turn if you know what "abrogation" is and tell you that the "sword verses" (kill all kafir) came later in Medina than the "peace verses" from Mecca and Mohammad's first 13 years where he made about 10 converts a year. After implementing Sharia Law, he forced 100,000 people to submit to Islam, killed and robbed, enslaved or drove out all the Jews, and made the formerly tolerant Arab culture extinct.
BTW, I know "lost boys" and people who were kidnapped by Muslims and forced to be child soldiers against their kin. Islam is not a religion of peace: it operates by killing and worse anyone who doesn't submit to Allah and do what Mohammad said and did. Its political program for making all but Islam extinct has been perfected for 100s of years, and the book on how to do it since the 1400s.
Oh, final question. What is the name of the Sura that the peace verses are in, and how long did it take to compose? Ignorant minds want to know.
Good people do good, bad people do bad.
If you want good people to do bad,
you need religion.
There is good and bad in everyone. It is all in your point of view. Religions have been established to help people love one another and do the right thing. Killing someone for an insult is not the right thing. Eliminating spirituality because a few people strike back is also not the right thing.
Tollerance and peaceful coexistence of all people everywhere needs to be fostered. We are in a new global world which is multicultural. Old doctorines need to be examined and put into the new context in which we live. Although it is not helpful to insult any groups religion, teachers or prophets, when it happens why should there be a punishment? Old rules need to be revised. Mutual respect, tollerance and education will get us there.
The writer is wrong.
The genocides of those declared as infidels have been going on since 47.
After Pakistan, a pure Islamic nation, was formed minorities, who accounted for more than 25 percent were reduced to about six/five percent within two years. It was a massive genocide.
I won’t believe even the numbers of a Paki writer.
World looked the other way. Human rights organizations, leftists, moderate Muslims and liberals did not notice them.
The religious madness have no limits. Pakistan is the classical example. Now it is the turn of other sects of Muslims like Ahmedias, Sufis, Shias. Minority tribes had their share of genocides too.
Pakistan is the world's raping, looting, stealing, begging, blackmailing, wailing, weeping, hating and killing holes. Where are the moderate Muslims of the world?
Where are those who claim: Islam is a religion of love and peace?
If they had limited all their hatreds and killings to Pakistan, we could still put up with it. Now they are the massive exporters of all the ills of Pakistan.
See the terrorism cases right in the US, Britain and European nations. They have spread their Paki baggages to our streets.
World should fight back right now instead of tolerating any longer the religious insanity!
It's not religious insanity, it's political insanity. Mohammad failed as a religious leader, roughly 150 converts in 10 or so years. Then he turned to politics, and the politics of war in particular (he called it Jihad). In the next 10 years he had 100,000 "followers" who submitted to him. Go to politicalislam dot com and root around. Take a look at the 48 page pamphlet on Shari'a law. It will be an eye opener, and it cites the Islamic texts as its authority. I have checked some of the cites against the text and they are accurate.
dajohn: When poliical insanity uses religious insanity as a tool, the resulting insanity become the worst combination.
In Pakistan, both are combined to turn Pakistan and Pakis into one of the worst liabilities on earth, the world has ever seen!
Pakistan - what a f&%^d up armpit of the universe! Same with these sh&%$$le nations such as Congo. If I were born there I would ask for one round of ammunition to shoot myself in the head and be done with. Thank God, we live in the USA. As imperfect as we are, we are light years ahead of these nations in terms of the strength of our social fabric.
I guess you won't be singing "We are the world..."
yes, we are so enlightened. We prefer a much slower and civilized death by overconsumption.
Believe it or not, Islam and the Koran is Satan's GREATEST LIE!
I'd have to believe in Satan first. Sorry, not going there.
This is the religion Obama celebrated in his Cairo speech...when he bragged of the two thousand mosques in America....Islam is a "Borg" religion that wishes to absorb us all. The sooner ALL Muslims are deported from the Western World...the better!!!
Frank Herbert wrote in his excellent book "'Dune" that .."all institutions created by man, no matter how noble their original purpose, end in self-perpetuation." Religion is an institution that is not immune to this corruption. Muslim, Christian or Jew (or other...) are all rife with intolerance and the use of violence to deal with noncomformity. And interestingly enough are also very controlling and misogynist.
If you look at some of the extreme, hard-line Muslim countries you will find the people are very oppressed and deeply unhappy with little hope for a better life. They are easily manipulated then by their leaders, whether religious or not. Many of us who live a better life might say we don't care if someone else does not, but we all live in this world together and can not escape the actions of those we looked down our noses at or failed to help in their time of need when they get angry enough to lash out.
Excellent post Marie!!!
Need I remind you all that Hitler was a "christian"? Should I then persecute all christians for the actions of this man? Where is your logic? Religion does not corrupt man, man corrupts religion.
LOL...Hitler most definitely was NOT a Christian, but I guess we just have to add this to the growing list of lies Muslims tell to try to obscure the barbarity of Islam. BTW, the Grand Mufti Muhammed Amin al-Hussein was a BIG fan of Hitler. I guess some infidels are better than others.
I believe Hitler was defeated because the Christians of the world decided he had to go. I don't see that ever happening in places such as Pakistan or any Islamic state because for the most part, I believe you all are cowards and ignorant human beings still squatting in the sand. The greatest liberator of all will be a simple laptop computer and the freedom to see the world as it really is, instead Islamic people still have their noses pressed to the floor of a mosque and become enraged over cartoons that slight Mohammad "what's his name" ?
Sorry, but WWII was not a Crusade. Stalin strikes you as a devout Christian? Or have you conveniently forgotten who took Berlin?
They all hate us anyhow
So let's drop the big one now
Let's drop the big one now
~Randy Newman, Circa 1980
It's time the minorities leave Pakistan to save their lives. There is no "other" that is tolerated by Islam. Get out while the getting is good. Sorry to say that. And sorry that we all can't live in peace, especially with Islam.
great article!
Is the issue really with Islam, or is the issue that most of the Islamic world is 1000 behind ours? Christians did some pretty bad stuff in the past as well.
That being said, maybe there does need to be Jihad. Maybe we should get all the Islamic Extremists, the Christian Fundamentalists, and all the other groups that hate one another together and just let them go at it. Hopefully when it is all done the rest of us will be able to get along.
well , wel you who say send all those hate full urders back home are 100% corect. so all you white people start packing up. you bunch of hipocrits! you critize other religons and people driffrent from yourselves. yet your ansestors commited religous intolrance and genocide here in the western hemispher for 500 hunderd years now.
you so called christians refered to the native people here as lice and nitts that mace make lice and your gorerment pais thugs to rape and murder indian women and children and rip the unborn from their wombs. to ecterminate the rightfull inhabitance of this contient. so who are you to condem ? one of your grate christian cults the puritans een stooped to humans sacrifice. they even bragged about it when they should have hid in shame for the burning alive of hundreds of native people in one day, old people , wemen and children.
your history is full of artrosities and blood shead just as those you condem. so go home and join your own kind. or stop whining about it and show some love for ohters instead of calling the kettle black when you are the soot.
there are many people here from the middle east that are hard working honest and peacable folks. they hae never as far ias have heard gone onto an indian reservation and stealing children for the sex trafficing trade. but there are historic records of you white christans doing this een to this very day..
Islam doesn't just increase persecution of other faiths. Shari'a law is a political system that has eliminated not just other religions by killing the Kafir as commanded by Mohammad (Muhammad). Sharia law has systematically eliminated any trace of the ideas of the societies and countries where Muslims were allowed to infiltrate and/or invade and take over because they are kafir ideas. Our constitution is a temporary, man- made law and must give way to the eternal and correct principles of Shari'a law given to the prophet by Allah.
I go to church with Sudanese survivors of Shari'a law, and the church is used by secular people for Sudanese meetings. All are survivors of the attempt to impose Shari'a law in the South, and the few times I have gotten "lost boys" and former Muslim child soldiers to open up, their tales are horrific.
These stories match the Sira, Sunnah, and hadith, which are the other 86% of Muslim "scriptures." The Koran commands Muslims over 50 times to look to Mohammad as a perfect Muslim, and to follow what he says and his example. Those commands make the documents I just named Muslim "scripture."
Go to politicalislam.com and find the link for special interest books, then click on the link to Sharia Law. On the next screen click on view product. On the next screen click on look inside. The booklet is a good primer on Islam's political system, and you will learn a lot about Islam, including the meanings of the words I used above. The booklet quotes Muslim "scriptures," with references. I have some of the source documents and the links I have checked are accurate to the Muslim text.