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Politics : Foreign Policy Discussion Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kumar who wrote (103)	11/28/2002 6:09:02 PM
From: lorne	Respond to of 15987

Beauty pageants can be murder Ann Coulter November 27, 2002 Inasmuch as liberals are demanding that Americans ritualistically proclaim, "Islam is a religion of peace," Muslims might do their part by not killing people all the time. Recently, the Religion of Peace suffered a PR setback when Muslims in Nigeria welcomed the Miss World beauty pageant by slaughtering Christians in the street and burning churches to the ground. At last count, more than 200 people were dead, hundreds more were injured and thousands were left without homes. Also, the Nigerian contestant's chances of winning "Miss Congeniality" were dashed. Leaping at the one chance they had to attract positive press to their country and perhaps begin the process of dragging themselves out of the 13th century, Nigerian Muslims instead chose to hack innocent people to death with machetes in the name of Allah. Pageant officials pulled up stakes and took the show to London. At least the Christian-carving faithful can sleep at night knowing they've secured a place for themselves in heaven alongside Mohamed Atta. One can assume the director of the Nigerian Department of Tourism isn't too pleased. Winning the pageant site had been an uphill battle from the beginning. Some of the more closed-minded Miss World participants had already begun carping about the upcoming stoning of a Nigerian woman, in accordance with Islamic sharia law. The president of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, tried to downplay the Muslims' murderous rampage by cheerfully explaining: "The beauty queens should not feel that they are the cause of the violence. It could happen at any time irresponsible journalism is committed against Islam." Well, that's a relief. It seems an article in a Nigerian newspaper had mused that the Prophet Muhammad "would probably have chosen a wife" from among the Miss World contestants. This upset the practitioners of the Religion of Peace, whose polygamous prophet preferred his wives a little younger – one was 6 years old. They expressed their displeasure with the article by bludgeoning, stabbing and burning Christians to death. In one part of Nigeria, enforcers of the Religion of Peace commanded that Muslims kill Isioma Daniel, the authoress of the blasphemy. (Overheard at Miss World contest: "Does this make me look fatwa?") The New York Times can't bear to think that their little darlings – angry, violent Muslims – could be at fault in this melee. That makes no sense because Islam is a Religion of Peace. So the Times reviewed the facts, processed it through the PC prism, and spat out the headline: "Religious Violence in Nigeria Drives Out Miss World Event." According to the Times, rampaging Muslims pouring out of mosques to kill Christians and torch churches resulted from "the tinderbox of religious passions in the country." Islam is peaceful, but religion causes violence. Pay no attention to the fact that the most bloodthirsty cult in the 20th century was an atheistic sect known as communism. But that was not "true communism," just as Muslim terrorists are not practicing "true Islam." The ironic thing is, liberals would hate Muslims who practiced only "true Islam." Without the terrorism, Muslims would just be another group of "anti-choice" fanatics. But these are the good Muslims – the Mumia Muslims, not the Jerry Falwell Muslims. The police step in to try to quell violent Muslims and the Times reports this as "fighting between Christians and Muslims." Ah, the cycle of violence. It would be as if a conservative newspaper, with no basis in fact, referred to all murderers as "environmentalists." Environmentalists Fly Planes Into World Trade Center; Environmentalists Rape Woman In Central Park. Winning "Best in Show" was the Times' headline on an article about the Christian missionary shot dead in Lebanon by a Muslim: "Killing Underscores Enmity of Evangelists and Muslims." This is like referring to the enmity between a woman and her rapist. She hates him, he hates her. It's a cycle of violence! Except the funny thing about the Christians is, they still love the Muslims. The Muslims' main beef with the Christians was that they "destroy the fighting spirit of the children, especially of the Palestinian youth, by teaching them not to fight the Jews, for the Palestinians to forgive the Jews and leave them Jerusalem." No new data are capable of shaking the Times' faith that Islam is a religion of peace and Christians, as a general matter, deserve to be shot. The Times seemed to agree the Muslims had a point with the evangelical. In a news analysis, the Times said the missionaries claimed they were merely exposing people to Jesus Christ. "But," the Times charged in a "j'accuse" tone, "a somewhat more direct goal emerges amid the Web site postings." They were asking for it. (On the bright side, at least this means the Times is holding the gun innocent in this one instance.) The Christians were caught red-handed committing irresponsible Web postings against Islam. Fortunately, Christians do not rip out people's entrails in response to irresponsible journalism committed against Christianity. worldnetdaily.com

To: kumar who wrote (103)	11/28/2002 11:50:05 PM
From: Sultan	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 15987

<OT> A small number of fundamentalists have been pronouncing all manners of edicts over last 25, 30 years.. Oil money from SA over the same period has gone to some of the poorest countries with low standard of living and limited educational opportunities.. The important point here is the local clergies and teachers themselves have very limited knowledge and certainly lack religious as well as secular knowledge and therefore what is taught is religious education that seems to impart a particularly narrow and limited message combined with what ever the politics of the time.. What may be metaphorical is interpreted literally.. Throw in population explosion amongst the poor, lack of opportunities and education, you have a constituency that can be easily incited and molded.. Books on Islam, various interpretations, philosophy and explorations number in thousands.. Over 1400 years of different Islamic civilizations have flourished and withered.. and there are enough achievements documented that if one was interested, one could read up on what has transpired over time.. But there are many disconnects between now and 1400 years ago.. Following is part of an extract of advise given by Ali, son-in-law of Prophet Mohammad, to the army before the battle of Siffin.. 1. Never begin a war yourself, God does not like bloodshed; fight only in defense. 2. Never be first to attack your enemy, repulse his attacks, but do it boldly, bravely and courageously. 3. Never follow and kill those who run away from the battle or an encounter, life is dear to them, let them live. 4. Never kill wounded persons who cannot defend themselves. 5. Never strip naked a dead man for the sake of his coat of arms or dress. 6. Never cut the nose or the ears of the dead to humiliate them. 7. Never take to loot and arson. 8. Never molest or outrage the modesty of a woman. 9. Never hurt a woman even if she swears at you or hurts you. 10. Never hurt a child. 11. Never hurt and old and enfeebled person. The above was to an army that was about to engage in battle .. Some of Ali's sermons read like what you'd expect from any faith and religion.. Here is one.. 'Be Virtuous when there is still time for you to realize and adopt virtues, when repentance can do you good, when prayers are heard; when you are enjoying peace and comfort and when the angels are still writing your good and bad actions. Do good before old age or disability stops you from doing anything, before protracted illness renders you exhausted and unfit for any work and before death takes you away from this sphere of activities.. Because death, sooner or later, will put an end to all your pleasures and all your enjoyments, it will send you far away from your cherished surroundings." Here are some of his sayings.. - There is no treasure like Knowledge. - The realm of knowledge has no bounds. - The chief of talents is knowledge. - Knowledge leads to wisdom, accordingly the educated man is the wise one; riches diminished by expenditure, while knowledge is increased by dissemination. - A wise man needs each day an hour set apart in which to examine his conscience, and measure what he has gained or lost. - The heart is the source of wisdom, with the ear as it's channel. - Philosophy is the tree growing in the heart, and bearing it's fruit on the tongue. - Belief and wisdom are twin brothers; Allah accepts not the one without the other. - Books are the gardens of the learned. - The man of learning lives even after his death. - The ignorant man is dead, while still alive. - The Scholar knows an ignorant man, because formerly he was ignorant himself, but the ignorant knows not the scholar, never having been one. - There is no greater wealth than wisdom, no greater poverty then ignorance, no greater heritage than culture, and no greater friend and helpmate then consultation. - The strongest man is he who can make his reason conquer his passions. - One without pity for others will never be pitied. - Whoever has compassion upon orphans, will see his own children treated kindly. - Treat people in such a way and live amongst them in such a manner that if you die they weep over you and if you are alive they crave for your company ---------------------------------------------------------- There are many many others but I don't really have time so I will just post two more here.. My favourite in that it sum up the religion and the spiritual beautifully, IMHO.. - Simplest way of attaining God's mercy is to be good to all humanity. - Do not envy the glory and magnificence of others, let not pride and grandeur of this world puff you, nor let sorrow over it's wickedness and poverty depress you; for, all glory and magnificence shall fade, all worldly bliss pass away and all evil and poverty surely end, as we shall ourselves pass away..