Faith breeds Hate

Well, Terry Jones just couldn't help himself. After promising that "not today, not ever" would he carry out his dumb shit ploy to burn the Quran on the anniversary of September 11th, Terry Jones, like any good man of God, broke that promise. On March 20th, he put the Quran on "trial," found it guilty and then through a multiple choice questionnaire, found that it should be sentenced to burning.
No, I'm serious. About 30 people attended the event live, where Pastor Terry Jones supervised Pastor Wayne Sapp burning the Quran, after finding the holy book "guilty of crimes." But wait, it gets better: apparently, just to be fair, there was a Dallas Imam present at the burning to act as the defense for...a god damn book. Surprisingly, he didn't win, and members of Jones' congregation chose from four sentences, after deliberating for less than 8 minutes: burning, shredding, grounding or firing squad. I personally think firing squad would have been more creative. Would they have gotten a little blindfold for the book? How many people would have been in the firing squad?
As it happened, they just doused the little fucker with kerosene and set it on fire with a grill lighter - how charmingly southern. At the time, there was no media coverage of the event, leaving it to Jones himself to spread the word about his hateful extracurricular activities. Having his actions condemned by everyone from President Obama to General Patreus, and defense secretary Robert Gates, stating that such a stunt could risk the lives of NATO forces in the Middle East, Jones went ahead and not only burned the book but put it up on facebook, YouTube and any other social media site he could find. Thus forcing his escapades onto the international media stage, and so surprisingly, causing an uproar in the Middle East.
On Friday, hundreds of demonstrators marched towards the UN headquarters in the northern Afghanistan city of Mazar-i-Sharif. Aside from burning effigies of Jones and the American flag, the protesters stormed the UN building, killing 10 foreign staff members, beheading two of the victims, and killing five Afghans. At least 24 people were injured.
Meanwhile, Jones takes no credit for the violent uprisings in Afghanistan, saying that "We find it very tragic any time that someone is murdered but we do not feel any responsibility for that. It definitely does indicate that there is a very radical element of Islam."
Hmmm...I wonder what Terry Jones calls his "element" of Christianity...
Bottom line, both sides have radicals. Actually, every religion with a book as contradictory as the Bible, Quran or Torah will house extremists from both sides. And as I've said before, the violent, insane extremists tend to make the most noise and the most trouble.
Take this for example, from the Bible:
"Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you"
(Luke 6:27-28).
Awww, how sweet.
How about this, also from the Bible (also of the Torah) (and ironically also the home of the 10 commandments, of which one is Thou Shalt not Kill): "and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy" (Deuteronomy 7:1-5)

Hmmmm...confusing.

From the Quran: "If thou dost stretch thy hand against me, to slay me, it is not for me to stretch my hand against thee to slay thee: for I do fear God, the cherisher of the worlds. (The Quran, 5:28)
Also from the Quran: "Fight them (unbelievers) until persecution is no more and the religion of Allah reigns supreme.”
(The Quran 8:39)

Hmmmm....getting some mixed messages here too.

However, having read most of all three texts (New and Old Testament and the Quran), I have to say that the Quran is the least violent of all. The bible enjoys reveling in violence, relishing each detail. For example, there's no passage in the Quran detailing the night long gang rape of a girl. There is in the Bible. And in the Quran, the prophet Muhammad, prohibited the killing of women and children. Interestingly enough, if Jesus were around to ask, I don't think he'd be a big fan of it either...but therein lies the trouble.
All of these books are so hypocritical. They solemnly declare one thing and then completely contradict it only a few passages later. They allow people to pick and choose what to believe, what to take as gospel and what to cast aside. They leave room for do-gooders and terrorists, casual believers and violent extremists.

When a news anchor asked Pastor Terry Jones if the Bible doesn't say to love thine enemy, Jones agreed that it did, but that that had nothing to do with this event.
And there you have it. Islam, Christianity, and Judaism base their religions on books that see-saw back and forth, making it nearly impossible for a free thinking, well educated mind to be fully ensnared by their doctrine - because no one can fucking agree what that doctrine is! Should I kill, or not kill? Should I forgive or not forgive? Judge or not judge? Sell my daughter as a slave or stone her to death?
I mean, come on people - what the fuck!?

If we're putting the Quran on trial, we should sure as shit put the Bible and Torah up there too. But instead of burning them, why don't we read the damn things - cover to cover, then decide that they're all fucked, and put 'em snugly in the Fiction section along with Lord of the Rings and Compassionate Conservatism.
Knowledge is not a danger. What is dangerous is when we use stories, unsupported by fact or truth, as an excuse to create laws, start wars and judge other cultures and people.
Faith breeds hate - not because of these stories, but because they are absolute, because they employ no use of the human mind, of logic. They cast that aside and rely fully on emotion and faith to wield their message. And that, is dangerous, very dangerous. It means that neither side can win, for nothing will ever be able to kill faith. The more bombs you drop, the more resolute they are. Governments will fall, but faith, blind, stupid faith, will endure as long as there are people to endoctrinate. It will breed hate for the "others" and intolerance for "enemies." It does and will continue to breed hate.

I'm over trying to convert. Since there is no logic in faith, that argument will never be won. People must see for themselves the evils incorporated in religion, and move away of their own volition.
What I'm interested in now is educating. The quotes up there are but a minuscule example of the hypocrisy in our beloved holy texts. Take a look, read through those books, educate yourselves on what people hold as gospel, so that you and your MIND can argue against blind faith.

And finally, burning books doesn't prove any point other than bigotry and intolerance, something we could all use a little less of. And whether Jones wants to admit it or not, he has blood on his hands and not a shred of decency in his soul.
Books, no matter their genre, are meant for reading, not burning. Read, do not blindly accept. Research, do not blindly hate.

Turning tables make me dizzy

The upcoming elections already have me popping advil and holding on to furniture as I make my way through the "he said she said" mayhem drowning this country. Besides the fact that the campaign costs for these elections are surpassing the $2 billion (more than 2006 and 2008 combined), the mud slinging and across-the-aisle fighting is being executed with wizard (or witch depending on who's ad your watching) like precision and pomp.
So, besides that topsy turvy world of excess spending in a hyper-recession, we have our talons tethered to another tumultuous mess in the middle east.
Tariq Aziz, Iraq's ex-minister is being sentenced to death for his supposed role in eliminating religious parties. A fun little fact is that he is a Christian. He was the highest Christian in command under Saddam Hussein and now even the pope is getting involved asking for clemency for this good Christian soul. Nevermind wondering where the hell the pope was when thousands of others were being executed, he's here now, in all his papal glory.
The plot, like any good soap opera, thickens, since Aziz was once very buddy buddy with the very people who are running his former government...US.
He was the minister who enlisted US support for the Iran war, and in 1984 met with then President Ronald Reagan at the White House. I know it may be hard to think back that far, but there was a time when Iraq and Saddam were allies of the US, and a time when he had nothing to do with our beef with Bin Laden...oh wait, no, he never had anything to do with that...right.
Who Bush Jr. would later compare to Hitler, his father helped illegally arm with not only military weapons but also chemical and biological ones. Getting dizzy yet?
There's no set date for the execution so there's still time for the pope to work his magic, along with Aziz's son and of course ample time for us to completely change our minds and decide he's a good guy again. So, stay tuned kids - more cliffhangers and plot twists after these campaign messages from our corporate sponsors.

Religion ruins everything

This wouldn't necessarily be true in a country where people educated themselves on the ills of religion while accepting and respecting the good (if any) that can come of them. However, we are not that country. Unfortunately, with our population and pull, that's an especially bad place to be standing in. If you haven't noticed the headlines in the past few weeks, there seems to be a mass hysteria enveloping the proposed Muslim center in new york which has in turn somehow fueled heated discussions regarding President Obama's true religious beliefs. Of course, not missing a chance to pounce on the idealistic combo of religion and race, the religious right has been shooting off vehement commentary denouncing Obama as an evil Muslim. In the words of Franklin Graham, “The teaching of Islam is to hate the Jew, to hate the Christian, to kill them. Their goal is world domination.”
Hmmm, I guess good old Graham hasn't read the passage in the Qoran where Muhammed preaches to his followers to accept those who do not see eye to eye with them, that they will come across believers from other walks of life and they should be civil and respectful. But oh wait, maybe he could've read that if the religious right didn't BBQ books rather than reading them. I smell the familiar scent of Nazis and burnt paper...
Since we Americans gobble up everything fed to us by the trick dealing hand of the media, recent polls show a significant spike in the number of Americans who believe that Obama is in fact Muslim. Furthermore, even those who don't think he's Muslim don't necessarily think he's Christian...I say he's Wickan...I mean why the fuck not?
In the 60s, some Americans were afraid that JFK would dig a tunnel to Rome, now we're afraid Obama has a couple secret service guys digging their way to Mecca between coffee breaks. What the fuck people?
As usual, right and left continue to go back and forth: he is, no he's not, he is, no he's not, he is...shut the fuck up! Who gives a dick stick whether he goes to church every sunday? I personally don't care if he goes to mosque, or temple or any where else. He can pray to his coffee maker if it makes him a better leader.
I will never understand the average American's incessant curiosity with everything about the president other than his presidency. Yeah, he sent another 50,000 troops to Afghanistan? Whatever, did you see his vacation photos? Yeah, he signed a health care bill? That's nice - what about this Muslim thing?
Meanwhile, peace loving Muslims here and around the world are shaking their heads at our ignorant arrogance and terrorists are finding more fodder for their hate with every newscast we send over our sickened airwaves. Islam is not the Muslim religion. Extremism is not synonymous with Muslim religion. Islamists are crazy fucks who took the Qoran, burned the pages, and stuck their own psycho manifesto in the same binding...so if you think about it, our religious right and their religious right has way more in common than the poor bastards imbetween...

dumb Americans and political correctness

Pastor Terry Jones invites you to burn books with him on September 11th in honor of the fallen and as a message to the Islamic heathens of this world to beware. Great. As if we needed one more nut job to help our reputation deteriorate around the world.
After having seen a clip of this wacko on CNN, my friend and I entered into a conversation about the state of this country.
The big issue we came to is that the American people are just plain stupid, either by choice or by birth. No one cares to take a look at current events, no one cares to check up on what's going on in the world. Our schools have trouble even teaching simple literacy, much less global politics and our place in them. Parents allow kids to sit in front of the TV and playstation until their eyes glaze over. Current affairs consist of who fucked who and what's the hot new shade of nailpolish this month.
As much as I hate to say this, we are living on borrowed time. The longer we ignore the world, the closer we press towards the point of no return, economically, politically, environmentally, you name it.
While discussing these sobering and depressing topics, my friend sighed and went back to his sports page. I quickly jumped at the chance of scolding him. Why? Because being overwhelmed by the apathy and idiocy around you, is no excuse to join it.
It is incredibly frustrating to be one of the few who cares about what's going on. For such a young country, we have rapidly forgotten what it means to live in a republic (or even what a republic is). We take for granted that things are as they have been and will continue to be. We look with disdain on the rest of the world yet insist upon being politically correct when in truth there's nothing correct about political correctness and the only political attribute is who feeds into it enough to be deemed electable. I'm Jewish. You don't have to refer to me as Jewish American. I've never been to caucasia but I'm not gonna throw a bitch fit next time I fill out a form. I used to be fat. I wasn't fitness challenged or big boned, I was fucking fat. Call it what it is. And know what you're calling out. Pastor Terry Jones is a biggoted, mindless, racist, extremist. He is the furthest from and most embarrasing representation of a good Christian. The people who blow up buildings in the name of Allah are biggoted, mindless, racist extremists. They are the furthest from and most embarrasing representation of the Muslim faith. Read the Koran, don't burn it. See that nowhere are the words "holy" and "war" placed next to each other. See that the prophet Mohammed said to be tolerant of those who do not believe as you do (contrary to the bibles kill, kill, kill policy). Think before you speak and know before you act. We have every right to protect our country from those who wish to harm us. But we must understand who that is, and more importantly who they are not. And most important of all, we must know and understand ourselves. For how can we protect a country, a way of life when we know nothing about it? Educate yourself. Be a concerned citize . It's your flag they're waving when the bombs fall. Doyou know why they're falling and upon whom?