Re-Blog: "The Islamic Roots of the Yellow Badge of Shame"

Editor’s note: The following account was written for RaymondIbrahim.com by an American teacher in the Muslim world.

Last week, while reading different articles on the Islamic State’s persecution of Christians in the Middle East, I was made aware for the first time that following the fall of the Iraqi city of Mosul in July of 2014, the Islamic State spray painted in red the symbol – –  ن on Christian homes and businesses throughout the city.

For those unfamiliar with the character ن  (pronounced noon), it represents the 14th letter of the Arabic alphabet  and is the equivalent of the Roman letter N. For many Muslims around the world, the ن  stands for Nazarene, a demeaning Arabic word for the followers of Jesus of Nazareth, or Christians.

free exercise will cost you

ME: The law should protect both parties' rights; rights of equal protection and of religion.
THEM: Your group is infringing on my group's rights and discriminating against them.
ME: My group has religious rights, too. The law should accommodate both parties' rights.
THEM: Your group has every right to their religious beliefs, right up to the point where they infringe on my group's religious beliefs.
ME: You never address how to keep your group from infringing on my group's rights.
THEM: No one is telling your group what to believe. Or infringing on their practice of religion. They can pick either their religion or their employment, but not both.
ME: Your solution is they lose their jobs? How is that not an infringement of my group's religious rights?
THEM: Suck it up and do it, or find another job. Your group is free to practice their beliefs, as long as the practice does not infringe on my group's beliefs.
ME: You continue to deny accommodation for my group, while requiring accommodation of yours. How is that equal?
THEM: I made no request for accommodation for my group. I only threatened your group with their source of income. Your group is free to act against their religion. Or they can lose their job.

Why am I spending so much time fighting this battle?

Because, even though Kim Davis (county clerk in Kentucky) may have been in the wrong for HOW she acted, this is a larger demonstration of what has been going on in this country.

In a country where one of the very first enumerated rights is the "free exercise" of religion, it is hard to believe how often that right is being taken away. Perhaps even more concerning is how unequally those rights are being observed, even allowed. Cake bakers, photographers, military personnel, private property owners, flower shops, printing companies, and private individuals are being taken to court, as well as slandered in public, over their deeply held religious beliefs.

And with each instance, the clamoring gets louder that religion is something to be ashamed of; to hide away in your homes. Which is even more startling given the history of those who shout the loudest; those who for so very long had to hide their own beliefs for fear of ridicule and retaliation. Somehow, in this upside-down world, it is "Justice" to attack, degrade, and demean those who disagree. But it is that type of behavior which is called "bigotry" when practiced by those who call themselves "conservative". Yet it's hailed as "Social Justice" by those who, without irony, call themselves "progressives".

This largely takes place against openly Christian groups and individuals.

Yet with each instance, should the groups switch places, or should a different favored group be inserted for the "offensive" christian group, the reaction is entirely different. If a christian denies a homosexual access to their services, they are reviled, slandered, and often litigated.

Not so, if it were a homosexual denying a christian.

Not so, if it were a muslim group denying a homosexual. Or sometimes, even killing them.

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Dick and Betty Odgaard believed in 2013 that they were standing for their Mennonite beliefs when they refused to let a gay couple get married at their Gortz Haus Gallery, a Grimes church they had turned into a flower shop and bistro.
The Odgaards in December agreed to a settlement with the two men stating that their business would not discriminate in offering its services to the public. Instead of being forced to open the venue to same-sex weddings, the Odgaards ended their wedding business entirely.

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Stutzman is the Washington florist who has been sued for living out her Christian beliefs. In 2013, a long-time friend and customer came to her flower shop and asked her to provide flowers for his gay wedding. Stutzman had known this man and had done business with him for about nine years. Nevertheless, she told him that she could not participate in his wedding "because of my relationship with Jesus."
Keep in mind that Stutzman does not refuse service to gay people. Indeed she had been selling flowers to this gay couple for nine years. She has also employed gay people in her flower shop.
The court also ruled recently that both the state and the same-sex couple, who each filed lawsuits against her, may collect damages and attorneys fees not only from her business, but from Stutzman personally. That means the 70-year-old grandmother may not only lose her business, but also her home and savings because she lives her life and operates her business according to her beliefs.

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In Oregon, the state labor commissioner in July ordered the owners of Sweet Cakes by Melissa to pay $135,000 damages to a lesbian couple for refusing to bake them a wedding cake. Aaron and Melissa Klein have appealed the ruling to the Oregon Court of Appeals.

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Hands On Originals contended that it declined the T-shirt order because it is a Christian company and disagreed with the message of the shirt. The shirt was a stylized numeral 5 on the front. On the back was "Lexington Pride Festival" and a list of sponsors of the gay pride event.
Sexton said in a statement that the ruling is a landmark for Lexington's Fairness Ordinance. "If you're going to do business in Lexington, you must make your goods and services accessible to everyone regardless of the protected classes, including sexual orientation and gender identity. ... If this was a case involving race, religion or national origin, there would be no debate on right or wrong."

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Senior Master Sgt. Phillip Monk, assigned to the 37th Training Wing, said Friday he was relieved July 26 of his duties as first sergeant of a training squadron and forced to take leave because he disagreed with his commanding officer’s position on gay marriage. He says his commander is openly lesbian.
Monk said he was subsequently relieved of his duties at the unit, and had to request permission to return in order to collect personal items. “I was relieved of my position because I do not agree with my commander’s position on gay marriage,” he said.

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Atlanta city officials say they were within their rights to fire former Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran because he wrote — and offered for sale — a Christian book without permission and gave copies of it to nearly two dozen people at work.
The councilman, who is openly gay, has told the Atlanta Constitution-Journal that “when you’re a city employee and [your] thoughts, beliefs and opinions are different from the city’s, you have to check them at the door,” according to ADF attorneys.

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source:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/04/01/gortz-haus-indiana-religion-law/70810344/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/02/20/living/stutzman-florist-gay/
http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2015/08/colorado_court_rules_against_c.html
http://www.kentucky.com/2014/10/07/3468006_hands-on-originals-discriminated.html?rh=1
http://archive.militarytimes.com/article/20130816/NEWS05/308160021/AF-sgt-claims-he-fired-religious-views-gays
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/gay-texas-judge-tonya-parker-won-perform-marriages-straight-couples-article-1.1027709
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/apr/5/video-puts-muslim-bakeries-florists-in-gay-rights-/?page=all
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/being-gay-in-the-islamic-state-men-reveal-chilling-truth-about-homosexuality-under-isis-10470894.html

beyond reward and punishment

this is a personal record of a conversation which stimulates any number of philosophical paths... i record it here for future digestion.
the names have been superficially veiled to protect the anonymous...

Dr. S.
"In a recent conversation with a student, I was reminded of this quote from Rabi'a, a woman mystic in the Islamic tradition: Lord, if I worship You from the fear of Hell, then let me burn in Hell. If I worship You for the hope of Paradise, then deny me admittance to it. But if I worship You out of reverence for You alone, then do not deny me the joy of Your Eternal Beauty. - Pretty well captures my Jewish-Christian-Muslim-Buddhist-Confucian-Daoist-Hindu-Shinto convictions ..."

Mr. M.E.
"also, something to put into everyday practice... don't act out of expectation of reward or rebuke... act with a genuine desire for the act, itself... ties in nicely with 'do unto others' philosophy."

Dr. H.
"But it isn't do unto others, it's worship another. I suppose the devil (so to speak) is in the details, but if the Eternal Beauty is precisely in its impermanence, in its ephemerality, and in the immediacy of the act, it strikes me that reverence and worship of First Causes or Final Outcomes (whether or not it is personal Hell or Heaven) takes away time and effort from fully appreciating the our fleeting relationships and experiences. It takes fairly selective reading of most of those traditions (although it's easier with some flavors of Buddhism & Daoism) to see 'worship' and 'reverence' as simply a well-lived life--and our choices as gods."

M.
"not to fill up Dr. [S]'s post with discussion and debate, i am writing directly to you with a response for your consideration... i think, in some minor way, we agree on something... i didn't expand on my post, but i'd like to beg your indulgence and do so here.

you said 'to see worship and reverence as simply a well-lived life'... i agree... it is my belief that the Christian 'do unto others' either stems from or parallels that Buddhist philosophy... in the negative (as many Christians read it) 'do unto others' means NOT doing bad things... in the positive, it is an action; of DOING... it is my belief that living a well-lived life, in a Buddhist sense, is a philosophy of action; of doing things for the sake of the action, itself... this ties back to [S]'s quote from Rabi'a, of worship without consideration of reward or rebuke... if we take 'worship' in the Buddhist sense of a well-lived life, as you noted, then our everyday life is a series of acts which are done without regard to the self; only for the sake of the act... in the negation of the expectation of reward/rebuke, we begin the negation of self... and isn't that a beginning to the path to nirvana/enlightenment?"

Dr. H.
"Yes, I think that's what I was getting at. And yes, I think there is an easier path toward this in Buddhism (and perhaps Daoism and maybe--strangely--Shinto). But I think you really have to bend the Judeo-Christian religions pretty radically to have it fit that model. Thanks for taking the time to reply..."

i'm not sure you have to "bend" Judeo-Christian religions very radically, if at all, to fit that model... it just takes a broad reading of the text in context of the times and peoples involved...

where do i sign up?

Sharia = no interest loans plus polygamy.

Post-Gaddafi Libya will have Sharia Law as the "basic source" of its civil laws, declared interim leader Mustafa Abdul-Jalil on Sunday. Already Abdul-Jalil has altered several Libyan laws that did not line up with Sharia, such as banning local banks from charging interest and making it legal to again practice polygamy.

no interest AND multiple wives?... who has been hiding this tidbit of information about Sharia law?... and how do we go about getting this implimented here?

wait... if i don't pay interest on loans, then they charge fees for the priviledge of using their money... banks are going to make money somehow... they're not charity groups, after all (sorry Occupy Wall Street)... so, i'm not saving anything.

well, there's still the polygamy!... then i can have multiple wives inform me when, where, and how i've done something wrong.

*sigh*
nevermind.

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source:
Islamic Winter: Tunisian and Libyan 'liberation' leads to Sharia
Mustapha Ajbaili: Libyan NTC chief’s ‘liberation’ speech raises eyebrows

something to die for

An Iranian pastor who has refused to renounce his Christian faith faces execution as early as Wednesday after his sentence was upheld by an Iranian court.

Nadarkhani was sentenced to death for apostasy last September based on religious writings by Iranian clerics, including Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, despite the fact that there is no offense of "apostasy" in the nation's penal code, Amnesty International reports.

Father Jonathan Morris, a Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of New York and an analyst for Fox News Channel, said Nadarkhani's case is "unmistakable evidence" that Iran is executing Christians simply because they refuse to become Muslims.

Morris continued: "Will President Obama, and the free world, allow the United Nations to continue in its cowardly silence on this matter?"

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source:
Iranian Pastor Faces Execution For Refusing To Recant Christian Faith | Fox News -
By Joshua Rhett Miller - Published September 28, 2011

disappoint mints

Satirical mints poking fun at Obama pulled from UT bookstore » Knoxville News Sentinel

The store previously carried satirical mints aimed at former President George W. Bush when he was in office.

"Let me make very clear, there is no candy exception to the First Amendment," said Glenn Reynolds, who teaches constitutional law at UT. "Free speech is free speech. If you make fun of the president in a mint, it is just as much free speech as it is if you make fun of the president in a political cartoon."

it's okay to make fun of Bush or Palin, though... oh, and ridicule Jesus or other religions (except Islam) all you want... but don't you dare make fun of Obama!

for those of you who haven't lost your sense of humor, the Obama "Disappoint-mints" are sold online at the Unemployed Philosophers Guild... they also sell Empower-mints, Messiah-mints ("Save your breath"), Meshuga-mints, Sarah (Palin) Embarass-mints, and Retire-mints... as well as many other products which will offend someone, somewhere.

GET YOURS NOW! (before some liberal jerk gets offended)... Sarah Palin and George W. Bush products will never get pulled off the shelf, so no rush there.

the "Black Cat" bomber?

Man arrested with explosives outside Mich. mosque
this idiot wanted to blow up a mosque with fireworks... really?... fireworks?... what a buffoon.

When they found [Roger Stockham] in the mosque parking lot, police found a concealed knife on Stockham and a large amount of fireworks, including M-80 exlposives (sic), in the trunk of his car, Walid [Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations] says.

according to the Detroit Free Press, he had to maximum allowable amount of purchased conventional fireworks... you know, it's people like this that give Americans a bad name... he's an idiot on so many levels, i almost (but not quite) feel sorry for him... he should be tried as a terrorist and put away for a very long time.

we need less TIME and more outrage

A Brief History of Intolerance in America in TIME magazine...

they have a slideshow of examples of "intolerance" in America... but they don't directly address the issue they are implying... intolerance towards muslims/islam... but the link on every page is Mosque Controversy: Does America Have a Muslim Problem?... so the implied connection is that anyone opposed to the proposed mosque in New York is equally racist/biased/ignorant as the people in the slide show...

included in the slide show are anti-semites, anti-Catholics, anti-Mormons, racists, Ku Klux Klan, Chinese-exlusionists, anti-native americans, anti-Japanese in WWII, and unbelievably they even throw in anti-Hare Krishna...

so are we to believe that anyone who disagrees with the choice of placement of a mosque near the place where muslims masacred thousands, that somehow these people are anti-muslim or racist in some fashion?... there is no other connection to be made... a:b::c:d...

at least TIME has preteded to be moderate on the subject in the article...

Islamophobia in the U.S. doesn't approach levels seen in other countries where Muslims are in a minority.

there's no sign that violence against Muslims is on the rise

so, let me get this straight... if we have an opinion, then we're racist and anti-muslim... we're being attacked around the world, from barracks in Beruit to suicide bombers in the sky... what's a little slap-in-the-face mosque?... why get bent out of shape about that?... how about we go really Christian on this and turn the other cheek?... that cheek has already been slapped.

they (mosque supporters) want us (outraged americans) to respect their rights... i'll stop being outraged when they show a little respect for those who were murdered... i'll respect their rights when they are outraged at those very same murders...

and if they were outraged at the atrocity that was 9/11, they wouldn't propose a mosque in that location... they're not outraged; i don't respect their rights... they are disrespectful; i'll remain outraged... QED