Isolated Incidents

MANDATORY DISCLAIMER:  I have nothing against Muslim people or (in general) against the religion of Islam.  I acknowledge that there are peace-loving Muslims who are against violence and terrorism.  In fact, most Muslims have nothing whatsoever to do with terrorism.  There you go.

     How many isolated incidents does it take for people to recognize that there is something bigger going on?  I wonder.  How many dots need to be connected before people realize that a pattern exists?  I wonder.

     It seems that there was a link between the would-be airplane bomber from Nigeria and the shooter at Fort Hood.  The common link is a guy called Anwar al-Awlaki.  Apparently both of the members of the “religion of peace” who most recently committed or tried to commit acts of terrorism were in contact with this cleric in the aforementioned “religion of peace.”  Isolated incidents indeed!

     Everytime a radical Muslim attacks or tries to attack, the media and the politically correct leftists are quick to point out that it is probably just another isolated incident.  They chalk up to an unstable individual.  They never seem to see what is painfully obvious.  These incidents are interconnected and have several common elements, not the least of which is a fundamentalist approach to Islam.  The perpetrators themselves say so.  Why do some people feel the need to discount what they say and make up some other motives for them?

     Quick!  What do these things have in common:  the Munich Massacre (1972), the hijacking of Air France Flight 139 (1976), the hijacking of the Achille Lauro (1985), the firebombing of the Riverdale Press (1989), the assassination of Meir Kahane (1990), the bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires (1992), the shootings in front of CIA headquarters (1993), the Booklyn Bridge shooting (1993), the bombing of the Alas Chiricanas flight (Panama in 1994), the Empire State Building shooting (1997), the Luxor massacre (1997), the bombings at the United States embassies in Kenya and Tanzania (1998),the Jakarta church bombings (2000), the bombing of the World Trade Center (1993) and then the attack on it by airplanes (2001),  the Mombasa attacks (2002), the shootings at the LA International Airport (2002), the Bali bombings (2002), the Casablanca bombings (2003), the Istanbul bombings (2003), the Madrid bombings (2004), the murder of Theo van Gogh (2004), and the London underground bombings (2005)? 

     Is their any link between those incidents?  I really wonder.  There seems to be nothing in common among them.  Yes, I am being sarcastic.

     Notice that the list is nowhere near comprehensive.  Notice that it does not include any terrorist incidents in Israel.  To list every known attack or attempted attack by members of the “religion of peace” would require more time and more bytes than I would like to use.

The Meanings of Christmas

     Chistmas has come and gone, but its messages still resonate in my mind. Sometimes people talk about the true meaning of Christmas, but it seems to me that Christmas has more than one meaning.  Here are some of them:

1.  God Keeps His Promises

     A cursory reading of the Gospel of Matthew indicates that the early Christians saw Jesus as the fulfillment of dozens of prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures.  God said that He would send a Redeemer, and He did.  The great news is that if God kept some of His promises in the First Coming, then He will undoubtedly keep the rest of His promises in the Second Coming.

2.  God Is Willing to Humble Himself

     The Incarnation of God in Jesus shows us tangibly that God, the Supreme Being, is willing to humble himself.  Not only did He become a human being, but He became the tiniest and poorest of human beings.  It is the sign that the angels gave to the shepherds:  a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.  You can’t get much lower than that.  And God did it for us.  How much more should we humble ourselves for Him?

3.  God Wants Us to Know That He Understands Us

     It says in the book of Hebrews that God came to earth in human form in order to understand both the temptations with which we struggle and the various difficulties that we face.  God understands; therefore, we can trust Him.  When we pray to Him, we are not praying to a perfect being who cannot understand us, we are praying to a perfect being who subjected Himself to the imperfections of a human body and to life on this earth.

4.  God Loves the Entire World

     In the Gospel of Luke we read of Jesus’s presentation in the Temple.  The old man Simeon prophesied over the infant Jesus, saying, among other things, that He would be a light to the Gentiles.  The Hebrew Scriptures hinted that God’s Messiah would come not just to save the Jewish people but also to save the Gentiles.  In Jesus the idea of “God’s Chosen People” makes sense.  It is not that the Jewish people are loved more, it is that they were chosen to prepare for the coming of the One who would share God’s love with all nations.

5.  God Is Unstoppable

     Although King Herod tried to kill the King of the Jews, God made sure that it did not happen.  The Magi were warned not to return to Herod, and Joseph was instructed to sojourn in Egpyt.  That sojourn was the re-enactment of the days when the Israelites were in Egypt.  People may try to thwart God’s plans, but they will not succeed.

Mild Mannered Guy Messes Up

WARNING:  This is a long, very personal post that could be as boring to you as whitewashing a fence.

     I am not a confontational person.  I hate to assert myself, so much so that a therapist once dropped me because week after week I refused to do an assignment she gave me–to find somebody that I needed to confront and then to do it.  I would rather put up with a lot of inconvenience or even some mistreatment than to cause myself or some other person the pain of a direct confrontation.

     I know that it probably does not seem to be true from this blog or from my comments on other blogs, but I am a mild mannered guy.  It’s one thing to write tough; it’s another thing to actually talk or act tough.  I am more capable of it than I used to be, but I still rarely assert myself.

     However, I messed up last night. 

     Somebody hit me with some information that really surprised and upset me, and I reacted very badly.  Here’s the situation:  I was counting on somebody to make some arrangements for me.  This person volunteered to do it and promised to make sure it got done.  Then somebody else informed me last night that somehow the arrangements had not been made.  I still do not know if the person who made the promise actually let me down or if it was somebody else involved in the process.

     I made some very strong comments in quite a strong voice–no shouting, but some pretty forceful words and facial expressions.  I felt justified in most of the things that I said, but it was the wrong time and the wrong place, and my reaction was out of proportion to the problem.  Other people were present who did not need to know about the problem and did not need to hear me ranting.

     What really got me going was that after expressing frustration and disappointment about the situation, a couple of people got very defensive, including the person who had promised to take care of the arrangements for me.  It seemed that they could not handle my feelings.  They told me to calm down and that the situation was no big deal.  Why was I so bent out of shape?  Why was I complaining?

     Here’s the thing:  I have seen every one of the people there in a similar, even worse state.  I have seen them express frustration and disappointment about things that did not go their way.  But last night, when I was losing my cool a little bit, it suddenly became a terrible thing to do, according to them.

     I suspect that it’s because they are not used to seeing me act or react that way.  I  suspect that they have labeled me “the mild manner guy,” and I was acting out of character, and I am not allowed to do so.  One of them is the exact opposite.  He is known as the guy who “blows off steam.”  So it’s just accepted and brushed off when he expresses anger.

     I was tired, and the news hit me really hard.  It also looks like I was getting sick, because today I had a fever and a rundown feeling.  Apparently I was just not in a mood to have something go wrong.  Isn’t that just a matter of being human?

How to Get the Constitution Backwards

     The First Amendment to the United States contains the following:  “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” 

     That statement has been the source of much controversy and of many court cases.  The two clauses seem often to contradict each other.  If a child wants to put a picture of Jesus on his school locker, for example, the free exercise clause seems to acknowledge his right to do so.  The establishment clause, however, seems to prevent him from doing so in the setting of a public school, since that could be seen as the school’s endorsement of his religious beliefs. 

     Well, not really.  At least not in my mind. 

     What the first clause says, if the archaic language is understood, is that the United States Congress shall not enact a particular church or religion as the official religion of the United States of America.  That’s all it says.  A whole body of court cases have been built up around it that interpret it in other ways, but it strictly and precisely says that we cannot have a Church of America that everyone must belong to (or that anyone is free not to belong to, for that matter).

     If a student wants to put a picture of Jesus on his locker, that is not even close to the Congress declaring that Christianity (or some branch of Christianity) is the national religion.  It’s just a boy expressing his religions beliefs, which the free exercise clause and the free speech clause of this same amendment say that he is permitted to do by right.  (If the school bans any pictures on lockers, then that is a completely different issue.  Since they own the lockers they have the right to do that and probably should for the sake of neatness and uniformity of appearance.)

     A principal in Waterbury, Connecticut, has gotten the idea of the establishment clause completely wrong, in my opinion.  Other principals in his own school district seem to agree with me.  Erik Brown has banned all expressions of Christmas, Hannukah, and other December holidays.  The students may celebrate winter and nothing else during this month.

     If I had a child in that school, I would buy him Christmas T-shirts to wear everyday, and I would send Christmas candies and cookies with him everyday to give to his teacher and his classmates.  I would sit him down and remind him that as an American citizen he has the right to express his ideas freely, as long as he doesn’t harm anyone in doing so.

     I am not suggesting that the school should require every student to kneel down in front of a creche and recite a form prayer to the Christchild.  I am suggesting that students get to celebrate Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, and whatever other holidays are part of their heritage.  Learning about culture and heritage is an important part of an education, and what better way to learn about them than to include everyone rather than to exclude everyone.

     That’s the problem.  Brown says that no child should be excluded.  He is trying to accomplish that by excluding everyone’s traditions.  And he is supposed to be an educated person.

Muslims Chastising Muslims

     As promised here is a post dedicated to showing that there are Muslims who condemn terrorism and who have spoken out on terrorist acts as contrary to the teachings of Islam.

     At the Religious Tolerance website you can read an answer to the question Why are there no condemnations from Muslim sources against terrorists?  Their answer is that there have been such condemnations, but they are not widely publicized.  Both MPAC and CAIR issue condemnations of terrorist acts regularly.  At least 700,000 Muslim people have signed a petition that condemns acts of terror done in the name of Islam.

     At the Star Tribune blog, Rabbi Amy Eilberg mentions two other organizations who have condemned terrorism:  the Islamic Society of North America and Muslims for Progressive Values.

     In her post Eilberb mentions “prayers for the healing of the madness in our world that gives rise to violence.”  That phrase sends off a yellow light in my mind.  It certainly could be interpreted as anti-American or anti-West.  I do not believe that madness, or anything else, gives rise to violence.  I believe that people choose to commit acts of violence.  If it is proper to say that we are not fighting Islam, then it is also proper to say that we are not fighting madness either.  We who want peace are fighting people who disrupt peace. 

     These condemnations are good, and it is a start.  However, what I would like to see is some evidence that these Muslims are directly confronting the groups and individuals involved in terrorism, not just issuing public statements.  I would like to see evidence that they are actively working to shut down schools and mosques that promote and plan terrorist acts.  I would like to see evidence that they are cooperating with intelligence agencies and police forces to the point of atually turning people in whenever possible.

     It’s easy to say that one is appalled at terrorism.  Any decent person would say so.  Now it is time to put some action to the words.  At the very least, peace-loving Muslims should disseminate their message throughout the Muslim world, so that young people growing up in Saudi Arabia, Iran, and other Muslim countries realize that their imams are wrong about Islam and realize that no rewards from Allah await them for killing innocent people.

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Thanks to Language Lover for the links.

Dead People Matter More Than Word Choice

     At the FOX News website they are conducting an opinion poll.  The question is wheher the shooting at Fort Hood was an “act of terror” or a “horrific cime.”

     Wasn’t it both?

     It’s just like the term “hate crime.”  What crime isn’t a hate crime?   There aren’t love crimes are there?

     Meanwhile, some of the victims are dead and others are recovering from wounds.  I would say that they were sufficiently terrified to justify calling the incident an act of terror.  I would also say that I am sufficiently horrified by it to justify calling it a horrific crime.

     How about you?  Do you see some substantial difference between terror and horror?  Do you see an important difference between an act of terror and a crime? 

     What they meant, I suppose, is whether the perpetrator committed the crime as a way to uphold his religious beliefs and to support his co-religionists or whether he was simply an individual killing people fo his own idiosyncratic reasons.  Why can’t they just say it that way?  Well, not exactly that way, but they could say, “Did he do it to uphold his religious beliefs or for some other reason?”

     How would anyone know the answer to that question anyway?  We still have insufficient information to make such a determination, although the reported facts do seem to suggest that he was just on more devout Muslim bent on fighting against the “infidels.”  Shame on FOX for sensationalizing a very sad event.

     Meanwhile, the murdered people are dead.  What we call the incident does not change that fact.  Their families are suffering incredible pain.  Who cares if you call it terror or horror?  Who cares if the man was a jihadist or just a nut?  It doesn’t make his victims either more dead or less dead.

Honoring Muslim Military Personnel

     Many Muslims have served and currently serve in our military forces with honor and integrity.  I honor them with this post.

      Thanks to all of you for serving our country the way that you do.  Thank you for defending our territory and our rights.  Thank you for taking an oath of loyalty and for keeping that oath.  Thank you for believing in the greatness and the goodness of America enough to risk your lives in her defense. 

     I do not blame you for the terrorist acts committed by some of your fellow Muslims.  I hold the individuals who did those things responsible. 

     I respect your right to believe and practice your religion.  I disagree with it, but I would never want to infringe upon your right to follow it.

     I honor you today, because the horrible event at Fort Hood would make it easy for some people to be against all Muslims, especially Muslims in our armed forces.  I want you to know that I will not take that route.  I want others to know that it is wrong to do so.  I hope that others give you the respect and honor that you deserve.

How Did I Know?

     When the news started coming out about the shooting at Fort Hood I was a bit frustrated.  There were so many false reports at first–from established media.  I think that they really do everyone a disservice when they give out unconfirmed information.  They misreported how many shooters there were, how many victims there were, and the status of the shooter.  First he was on the loose, then he was dead, then he was alive and in the hospital.  At least I think that is how it went.

     One thing that I was sure of was that he was a Muslim.  How did I know?  It wasn’t because I think all crazed gunmen are Muslim; it’s because the media were working overtime NOT to report his name or his religion.  Even after his affiliation with Islam was known, many media outlets were falling all over themselves to come up with other reasons for his rampage–he had been harrassed, he had gotten a poor evaluation, he had been depolyed too many times (he never has been, actually), etc., etc.  The fact that they did not come out and reveal that he was a devout Muslim who did not agree with out actions in Afghanistan and Iraq was the one thing that many news sources could simply not accept or report–right away.

     Come on, people.  We don’t want to jump to conclusions, I agree.  We don’t want to be prejudiced and think badly of all Muslims.  However, when a Muslim is actually involved in a violent crime, it is unhelpful and dishonest to avoid reporting it.  As much as somebody might hope that another violent act was not perpetrated by a Muslim, you can’t change reality by avoiding it.

     I know, I know, I’m a bigot.  If you think so, you did not read carefully.  For all I knew, the shooter might have been a blond-haired, blue-eyed Protestant.  The reason I guessed, correctly, that he wasn’t, was that the media would have just said so.  They might even have called him a right-wing religious fanatic.  Am I wrong?

Fort Hood Massacre

     I don’t want to write much today. I just want to suggest that we pray for the families of the dead at Fort Hood. Let’s also pray for the wounded to recover.

A Bit Too Literal?

     Have you ever seen one of these guys who carry a cross across the country?  I did once.  Every so often somebody gets the idea of pulling a cross for hundreds or thousands of miles, usually to call attention to himself in order to preach to people.  The guy in the link is doing it as a sort of penance it sounds like and also to impress a woman.

     It’s a bit strange, I think.  Better that the person just live a “normal” life and try to be a light to those around him.  Help out a needy neighbor, perhaps.  Listen to a troubled co-worker’s problems, maybe.  Volunteer at the local soup kitchen or homeless shelter.

     Of course, I cannot argue with God.  In the expamples I know of, the men all believed that God told them to carry a cross.  Maybe they took Him a bit too literally.  Maybe not.  The Bible does say that “God uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise” and the Apostle Paul talked about being a “fool for Christ.”