Tag: Religious Extremism

Another BS Story From A Preacher

Another Saturday and time to dial back the political observations…..

Recently there have been several news stories about some religious leaders caught with their pants down…in more ways that one….

A pastor from Pennsylvania has denied any wrongdoing after police discovered him in a car with a naked man. George Nelson Gregory of Munhall and the unidentified man have been charged with lewdness and indecent exposure after they were discovered in the vehicle on 9 February.

According to a complaint made available to CBS Pittsburgh, authorities received a call regarding a suspicious car that was parked in from of a home on Beechland Street. On arriving there, officers found Gregory sitting in the back seat while a naked man bound with nylon rope was seated in the front.

In their criminal complaint, the officers mentioned that Gregory told them that they “were just playing” and normally “meet up from time to time to play with each other.” The naked man confirmed as much and added that their actions were consensual.

However, the 61-year-old now claims that the police report was incorrect and that the said conversation did not take place. “I have nothing to hide. I did nothing wrong,” Gregory said, explaining that the police had come to the car because they thought someone inside had passed out.

“I was counselling a young man with a drug problem,” he explained. “It did turn strange, but it wasn’t my doing, OK? And I was adamant that I’m not participating in that way. And so that’s when the police pulled up, and they assume things, but I’m standing by my story. It’s not true.”

The pastor revealed that the man did take off his clothes and proposition him. “I will deny, on a stack of Bibles with God as my witness, that I did nothing,” he said, pointing out that he was fully clothed at the time and did not deserve to be charged with public lewdness.

(ibtimes.co.uk)

And we all know that preachers do not lie….like Swaggart, Bakker and a hundred others….and they all used the Bible to prove their innocence….and none were….

I will be off for awhile……try to enjoy your day and your time……chuq

Closing Thought—09Jan18

…I seldom post on religion simple because it is none of my business what you choose to believe…..but when I read something about religion that I think needs attention….then I post.

In Islam one of the “Pillars” of the religion is the Hajj….Muslims are should make a pilgrimage to Mecca in the lifetime if they are capable of doing so.

The story is the Qatar is embroiled in a conflict with Saudi Arabia and its allies and that the country is preventing the Qataris from executing an obligation they have as Muslims………

Saudi Arabia has been accused of preventing Qatari pilgrims from performing the Umrah pilgrimage, according to a social media account and a Qatari newspaper report.

In its editorial on Thursday, the Al-Raya newspaper said Saudi Arabia has been taking arbitrary measures against Qatari pilgrims visiting Mecca.

Amid Qatar’s ongoing diplomatic dispute with Saudi Arabia and its allies, which began in June 2017, Qatari nationals have reported trouble trying to perform pilgrimages in Saudi Arabia.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/01/qataris-barred-pilgrimage-saudi-arabia-180104121809114.html

I have a problem with the Saudis being this petty and preventing fellow Muslims from completing the obligation to God.

Do You Know What You Fear?

There is as time when Americans quake in their panties when the word Muslim is mentioned……not so much these days that is until our Fearless leader has to re-Tweet his hateful videos…..or until the next attack that some dildo yells a few words in Arabic and then the whole race is condemned because of stupidity.

Try to keep up.  The beliefs that AQ and ISIS hold dear come from the the teaching s from Saudi Arabia……the vicious aspect of ISIS/AQ come from the teachings of Wahhabism…….you want to hate some Muslims because of their actions then hate the Saudis for it is where the craziness of terrorism originates.

The London Bridge attack and recent bombing in Manchester have again raised the question, what influences jihadists to carry out such horrendous acts?

“Yusuf”, a Muslim in Bradford, like the majority of British Muslims, rightly condemns such terrorist acts as contrary to the teaching of Islam.

“Such acts are caused by Wahhabism and its teaching of hate”, he says imploringly.

Wahhabism, a puritanical Islamic movement, found mainly in Saudi Arabia, originated in the 18th century from the teachings of the fanatical preacher, Muhammad Ibn Abd’al Wahhab.

Rejecting most practices of the majority of Muslims as bidah (harmful innovations), he ordered his fellow Arabs to accept his form of Islam or die.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/what-wahhabism-puritanical-code-islam-10564342

Since all this hatred began I have tried to make  Americans see just what they hate…..it is is not all Muslims but rather those bastards that follow wahhabism the religious teachings of Saudi Arabia.

Do not make all Muslims pay for the stupidity of a few……and Americans need to know who they hate…..as it is now with the leader we have now they just hate for the sake of hate.

Burma–WTF?

In case my reader is not aware of the religious persecution that is happening in Myanmar (Burma) then maybe you should read my original post……

https://lobotero.com/2017/11/20/the-rohingya-search-for-a-home/

The Pope has made a trip to  Burma to see for himself what is happening….and the head of the Burmese army told the Pope….nothing to see here……

Myanmar’s army chief Min Aung Hlaing said he told Pope Francis his country had “no religious discrimination” after the pair met late Monday, in a papal visit framed by the exodus of the Rohingya Muslim minority.

“Myanmar has no religious discrimination at all,” he said in a Facebook post by his office. “Likewise our military too… (it) performs for the peace and stability of the country.”

The Tatmadaw, as his army is known, has been accused by the UN and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of conducting a campaign of “ethnic cleansing” by driving 620,000 Rohingya from western Myanmar into Bangladesh since August.

Seriously?  Nothing to see?

Then why has honors given to the nation’s “democracy” candidate been rescinded if nothing is happening?

Aung San Suu Kyi has been stripped of the “Freedom of Oxford” award by the city’s council, over her failure to speak out on abuses against Myanmar’s Rohingya.

In a unanimous decision on Monday evening, Oxford City Council voted to strip the Burmese State Counsellor of the award she received in 1997 and collected personally in 2012, after 15 years under house arrest.

“It was right to give the Freedom of the City to Aung San Suu Kyi in 1997 in recognition of her long struggle for democracy and her personal links to Oxford,” the cross-party motion read.

But, according to the motion, she had not responded to the council’s letter calling on her to “do whatever she can to stop the ethnic cleansing in her country”.

(AJE.com)

Even a clueless dolt like SecState Tillerson has issued a statement…..

I visited Naypyitaw, Burma on November 15, where I met separately with State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing. I reaffirmed the United States’ strong commitment to Burma’s successful democratic transition as the elected government strives to implement reforms, bring peace and reconciliation to the nation, and resolve a devastating crisis in Rakhine State. Our first priority is to relieve the intolerable suffering faced by so many. In response to the dire situation, I announced last week an additional $47 million in humanitarian assistance for those affected by the Rakhine State crisis, bringing the total amount spent in response to this crisis to more than $87 million since August of this year.

Burma’s response to this crisis is vital to determining the success of its transition to a more democratic society. As I said in Naypyitaw, the key test of any democracy is how it treats its most vulnerable and marginalized populations, such as the ethnic Rohingya and other minority populations. Burma’s government and security forces must respect the human rights of all persons within its borders, and hold accountable those who fail to do so.

https://www.state.gov/secretary/remarks/2017/11/275848.htm

So now we wait to see just what the beacon of democracy, the US, will do to rectify this situation.

MY guess is our Fearless Leader will do NOTHING to bring this situation to a close….after all these people are Muslims and we know what he thinks of Muslims now don’t we?

IST Asshat “Assie” Award—-June 2017

TS Cindy has moved on…we are still getting a bit of rain from the storm…..my garden is now just a memory only thing that survived was the okra.  The Coast is trying to dry out but these intermittent showers is making that process difficult.

Let’s move on shall we?

The last Sunday of the month and time for the awarding of the monthly Asshat “Assie” Award.

This month was a nightmare of ignorant statements by ignorant people…it was difficult to decide on the winner so I turned over the nominees to my granddaughter and let her choose the winner.

She spent a good portion of the day mumbling to herself and shaking her head before she presented me with the winner.

Sen. Cotton’s intern “Nate”……for making potty mouth pronouncements about others.
Buuuut———

As I was writing this post a new nominee came to me….we all remember the horrible shooting of Rep. Scalise of LA……well it seems that some people do not have any respect or civility…..

IN SANER TOUGHT

ASSHAT “ASSIE” AWARD FOR THE MONTH OF June 2017

WINNER!

A Nebraska Democratic Party official was caught saying he was glad House Republican Steve Scalise was shot in an audio recording posted on YouTube, first reported by Fox 42 News.

Phil Montag, a Nebraska technology chairman for the state’s Democratic party, said the following of Scalise in the audio recording of a conversation between Montag and several others:

“His whole job is to get people, convince Republicans to fucking kick people off fucking health care. I hate this motherfucker, I’m glad he got shot.”

I have NO patience with people like this……we already have too much derision in this country and statements like this do not help.  The DEM Party does not people that think like this.

If anyone deserves the award this month it is this douche…..

Congrats Mr. Montag!

An email will be sent to the NE Democratic Party in care of Mr. Montag announcing his award.

Some good news to close out the day….

U.S. Representative Steve Scalise, the No. 3 Republican in the House of Representatives who was shot while practicing baseball last week, is no longer being held in the intensive care unit at the hospital where he is being treated, a source familiar with his condition said on Friday.

IST wishes him a speedy recovery.

Time to go for the day….get some rest and prepare for a new week….thanx for everything…..chuq

The End Of Separation Of Church And State?

We have a new lord and master and he is flexing his muscle(take that anyway you like) against the whole fabric of the republic……

Ever heard of the “Johnson Amendment”?

The Johnson Amendment regulates what tax-exempt organizations such as churches can do in the political arena.

Under terms of the 1954 legislation (named for its principal sponsor, then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson), churches and other nonprofit organizations that are exempt from taxation “are absolutely prohibited from directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office,” according to the IRS website.

Organizations claiming tax-exempt status cannot collect contributions on behalf of political campaigns or make any statement for or against a particular candidate. Clergy are not allowed to endorse candidates from the pulpit. (Despite Trump’s promise to “totally destroy” the amendment, the president does not have the authority to do so on his own. Only Congress can repeal a law, in this case an amendment to the tax code.)

Yes, President Trump took the opportunity of the National Prayer Breakfast to drag Arnold Schwarzenegger and his weak Celebrity Apprentice ratings. But he also brought up something arguably just as important: the Johnson Amendment, which he vowed to “totally destroy.” Here’s what you need to know:

  • The Washington Post has a great explanation of the Johnson Amendment, which basically bans churches and charities from participating in political campaigns unless they give up tax-exempt status.
  • Getting rid of the Johnson Amendment is part of Trump’s emerging “agenda of religious nationalism,” in which the president is linking being American with being Christian, the Atlantic reports.
  • MSNBC weighs in on why promising to “totally destroy” the Johnson Amendment is important. One such reason is that it would allow political parties and candidates to “funnel campaign donations through tax-exempt churches” with no oversight.
  • While the Johnson Amendment is wildly unpopular with the religious right, that’s not necessarily the case elsewhere, the Independent reports. A survey last year found 79% of people didn’t think pastors should endorse candidates. And some religious leaders believe churches would be hurt by entering the partisan world of politics.
  • In addition to the Johnson Amendment and Celebrity Apprentice, Trump also discussed foreign relations, telling those in attendance, “just don’t worry about” the “tough phone calls I’m having,” apparently in reference to threatening to invade Mexico and picking a fight with Australia, MarketWatch reports.
  • Outside the National Prayer Breakfast, around 150 members of local churches were protesting Trump’s Muslim travel ban. One Christian author at the protest tells Yahoo News it’s important for the church to “stand up and be on the right side of history.”

For all those religious d/bags….this amounts to a theocracy in waiting….remember that?  That is what some accuse the “sharia” BS of wanting to establish here in the US….same goddamn thing!

Source: Trump’s Plan to ‘Totally Destroy’ the Johnson Amendment Is a Massive Gift to the Christian Right | Alternet

I say okay…but they start paying taxes on every dime that comes through the door.

You are kissing your rights good-bye slowing and steadily….are you happy now?

But we shall see just how strong the Congress and the Constitution really are……

Christians, Can You Hear This?

When some obscure iman or Muslim leaders says something awful the media makes it a story for a couple of days, depending on what is happening, but yet when some prominent Jewish leader has something foul to say….IT IS IGNORED!

AS if NO one wants to believe the worst about this toad and his group dimply because they are in Israel and Israel would not do anything against the US, right?  (Ask survivors of the USS liberty attack)

Sorry but an intolerant prick is an intolerant prick NO matter the religion or the country.

Time for Israel to sack up!  If it is truly a democracy then this should be publicly chastised and this a/hole needs to be held accountable.  But that will NOT happen because he is a JEW and we know NO JEW can do anything wrong.

Of course some well meaning toad will reference “Freedom of Speech”…well that would be a good argument if it help for all the citizens but in this case it does NOT!

Fuck this PIG and Fuck Israel!

Do You Really Want To Defeat ISIS?

Now there is question that most Americans will answer….yes.  But the tactics used is not for defeat but rather for a continuation and the profits that follow.

But more “experts” will be trotted out now that there has been a couple of bombings and the American people will once again get on some high horse and spout the rhetoric of ignorance.

Sadly these days Americans are otherwise distracted with the antics of the two clowns that desire the presidency…..the media labors long and hard to make sure that the attention of the country is otherwise directed toward the silliness that is the campaigns these days.

So do you want to really defeat ISIS?

There have been many studies that point to the actions needed to defeat this barbarous enemy….they range from bombing the crap out of them to sending in a massive army to obliterate the group…….there are other ways that this can be accomplished without so much violence…..but it will take work….and work is not something that many will want to pursue…..

Let’s begin by looking at the situation of ISIS today……

Recently I wrote a piece that explain why there is a void in the strategy of ISIS…..(if a refresher is needed)…….

Source: What Is ISIS’ Problem? – In Saner Thought

There are many problems fighting ISIS but if a defeat is truly wanted then maybe try to eliminate the ideology that spawned the barbarous group……Wahhabism

To truly understand ISIS one must understand Wahhabism……

The dramatic arrival of Da’ish (ISIS) on the stage of Iraq has shocked many in the West. Many have been perplexed — and horrified — by its violence and its evident magnetism for Sunni youth. But more than this, they find Saudi Arabia’s ambivalence in the face of this manifestation both troubling and inexplicable, wondering, “Don’t the Saudis understand that ISIS threatens them, too?”

It appears — even now — that Saudi Arabia’s ruling elite is divided. Some applaud that ISIS is fighting Iranian Shiite “fire” with Sunni “fire”; that a new Sunni state is taking shape at the very heart of what they regard as a historical Sunni patrimony; and they are drawn by Da’ish’s strict Salafist ideology.

Many Saudis are deeply disturbed by the radical doctrines of Da’ish (ISIS) — and are beginning to question some aspects of Saudi Arabia’s direction and discourse.

Source: You Can’t Understand ISIS If You Don’t Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia | Huffington Post

Now some are saying that the defeat of ISIS would necessarily mean a defeat of the fundamentalist ideology of Wahhabism……

I have been repeatedly saying that an extensive course of action is required to successfully combat ISIS, Daesh, and other similar offshoots that follow the same ideology, Wahhabism.

Some really bold steps must be taken. One of those steps is to ban Wahhabism. World leaders should speak with Saudi Arabia face-to-face and ask them to abandon all moral and financial support of Wahhabis.

Source: Defeat the Wahhabi Ideology to Defeat Daesh | The Awaited One

I have read a piece and used it in a previous post…..about an movement against Wahhabism…..

The religious authority in Saudi Arabia responded aggressively to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s annual message Sept. 5 in which Khamenei attacked the Saudi government against the backdrop of the disputes between both states that culminated in forbidding Iranian pilgrims from the hajj this year. Iran also accused Saudi Arabia of negligence in managing the hajj, which led to the deaths of more than 760 people and injuries to around 1,000 in 2015.

Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, the Saudi grand mufti and head of the Council of Senior Scholars, spoke to Makkah newspaper Sept. 6, saying, “We must understand that those are not Muslims. They are Majus [Zoroastrians], and their enmity to Muslims — specifically to the Sunni community — goes way back.”

Although Sheikh was addressing the Iranian political regime, his choice of words and the context of his response gave the impression that he was targeting Iranian Shiites in general. He used the pronoun “they” in his reply to the message of Khamenei, who is only one of many Iranians. He also focused on Zoroastrianism, the historical religion of Iranians before Islam, and his reference to historical enmity with Sunnis is further proof that the international media got the story right — this was an attack on Iranian Shiites in general.

Of course not everyone in the region feels this way…..some see it as Wahhabism is not the same as the ideology or religious beliefs of ISIS leadership…..

Wahhabism was first introduced in the central Arabian region of Najd in the mid-18th century by Shaykh Muhammad ibn ‘Abd al-Wahhab (c. 1703-c. 1792). Since then, it has been one of the most maligned of any religious reform movement in modern history. That in itself is not so extraordinary. Wahhabism is essentially a puritanical, fundamentalist Islamic reform movement calling for renewal of the faith as originally laid out in the Qur’an and the Sunna, the inspired traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and his early converts. Reform movements advocating major doctrinal changes are always likely to be threatening to those who resist any change of the existing status quo.

In addition, over the years Wahhabism has acquired a political dimension that has been threatening to a broad spectrum of people. In order to understand what Wahhabism is and is not, therefore, one must look both at what it actually advocates as a religious reform movement and what political implications have evolved since its founding.

Source: Tawhid or Jihad: What Wahhabism Is and Is Not | Middle East Institute

What now needs to be formed is a Muslim effort against ISIS and its ideology…..this will be tricky at best…..but if they want this scourge erased from the region then someone must step up and take on the ideology….words may not be the best weapon…..

We have the tools to defeat ISIS and NO more violence and destruction is NOT the answer!

Declaring War on “Islamist Extremism” Is Nonsense

Another attack and another round of fights over terminology……most of it is NOTHING new…most of it should be just re-blogged and save what limited mental facilities that some have…I mean the lack of brain power it takes to say the same thing over and over is just amazing…..

But because there is NOTHING new in the words of the illiterate…..they are becoming a one theme post prodigy…….I need to post this piece written in the the National Interests……BTW not a liberal publication….just in case one wants to start the lame name calling…..it is one of you guys….

What matters is not whether a group is Islamist, but whether it endangers America.

It is news to no one that Congress is filled with cowards.

The Constitution places the power to declare war with the legislative branch. This does not mean simply taking note that the president has bombed or invaded another nation. Congress decides whether there will be a war to fight. Constitutional Convention delegate James Wilson explained: “It will not be in the power of a single man, or a single body of men, to involve us in such distress; for the important power of declaring war is in the legislature at large.”

Source: Declaring War on “Islamist Extremism” Is Nonsense | The National Interest Blog

Arguing and debating over terminology takes valuable time and thought away from eliminating the culprit….but then if we do that then these one trick ponies will have NOTHING to write about…now would they?

Who Is Weaponizing Religious Liberty?

Nothing I like better than a bunch of babbling buffoons that want religion to be part of politics……makes sure that real problems are ignored.

Back in the days, many years ago, it was a joy to be part of the political process….but then we got all these semi-literate d/bags on the Right….let me be more specific….the Religious Right…..that turn the whole process into some sort of religious litmus test and started chipping away at the very rights that we all say we love…..

Now it is just a menage of BS after BS…..if it is not abortion then it is prayer or the whole Christian nation thing…..I would love to punch holes in this bullsh*t but I do not feel the urge to bad mouth otherwise spiritual people……

In more recent years these “people” have turned our religious liberty into some sort of weapon….aimed at the very heart of this republic…..

It takes a right-wing village to turn a cherished American principle into a destructive culture-war weapon.

In 2016, for the second year in a row, more than 100 anti-equality bills targeting LGBT people were introduced in state legislatures, many of them described as measures to protect religious liberty. This flood of anti-LGBT and “religious liberty” legislation is not the result of isolated local efforts. It is part of a larger campaign by Religious Right groups to resist and reverse advances toward equality for LGBT Americans by portraying equality as inherently incompatible with religious freedom. That effort began well before the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage equality ruling, but it has kicked into overdrive since.

Religious Right organizations have long equated criticism with persecution, and portrayed legal and political defeats as attacks on Christianity and religious freedom. Efforts to frame opposition to reproductive choice and LGBT equality as religious liberty issues picked up steam with the issuing of the Manhattan Declaration in 2009. This manifesto, co-authored by right-wing Catholic intellectual Robert George, pledged that its signers would refuse to “bend” to “any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family.” Since then, Religious Right groups, their allies at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and allied politicians have increasingly framed their opposition to marriage equality, nondiscrimination laws, reproductive choice, and the contraception coverage requirement under the Affordable Care Act as questions of religious liberty.

Source: Who Is Weaponizing Religious Liberty? | People For the American Way

There are so many that are concerned about the appearance of Sharia law but do not see where there is little difference in Sharia and the extremism that they want us all to follow….

At what point do we return to the ideals of Jefferson, Adams and Paine?  The separation of church and state…..would be a good place to start.