26 May 2006
Double Standards Toward Islam & Christianity
I once had a boss who strictly followed corporate policies prohibiting name calling that involved race, gender or ethnicity, but never disciplined a worker who liked to rant about the "white boys
My boss' view was that those who held a perceived position of power based on their birth did not need the same protections from harassment as did blacks, Hispanics or women.
I was reminded of that double standard by the debate over the Da Vinci Code, and how perceived blasphemy against Christianity doesn't seem to raise the ruckus that it does against Islam.
More specifically, compare the debate over the movie and the reactions of those it offends, with the Muslim reaction to what they saw as blasphemy against Islam several months ago.
Then, the publication of cartoons by Danish newspapers that poked fun at the Prophet Muhammad provoked officially encouraged riots across much of the Muslim world.
Complaints that this response was an affront to the notion of free speech were then shouted down by those who suggested the need for greater sensitivity to Muslim religious views.
Now that Hollywood is making millions of dollars on The Da Vinci Code, which challenges Christian dogma, some bishops (outside the United States) are talking about taking legal action, while others are suggesting a film boycott.
And we wonder why the West has difficulty understanding how the Muslim world ticks, and why it doesn't understand our views and values.
Although it might be politically incorrect to point out these differences in response by the two cultures, failing to do so would be the functional equivalent of sticking one's head in the sand. Nor is it parochial to acknowledge a preference for a society where verbal sparring, no matter how heated, is the norm rather than actual violence.
The cartoons that depicted the founder of Islam last fall led to riots throughout the Middle East,
The violent reaction stemmed from the belief among many Muslims that depicting the Prophet Muhammad is forbidden. It didn't help that one of the cartoons portrayed Muhammad's turban as a bomb, implying that Islam's holy man was a terrorist.
One can only imagine what would happen if Hollywood made a movie that suggested the long-held beliefs of Muslims about Muhammad were a lie
Simply put, religious faith plays a much, much more visceral role in Muslim culture than in Western nations, which leads to more emotional and sometimes violent reactions. We should have known that already, but if there was any doubt, this comparison should drive that point home.
The issue is not why this difference exists, since that really doesn't matter. It would be both presumptuous and counterproductive to suggest that there is something that Western nations can do to make "them" more like us.
And, to be sure, despite the increase in political clout among conservative Christians in the United States, the West is becoming more secular, so the chances of us becoming more like them are even smaller.
The Da Vinci Code is probably even more an insult to Christian believers than the cartoons were to Muslims, because it challenges fundamental long-held doctrines about the divinity of Jesus and the Bible.
There is some irony that when the uproar over the cartoons surfaced, most U.S. newspapers and television stations declined to show the offending drawings to avoid offending the beliefs of the more than a billion Muslims around the globe.
Meanwhile, portions of the U.S. media are not just offering the movie, but encouraging through their coverage of it a discussion about the truthfulness of Christianity's basic tenets.
None of this is to imply that there is anything wrong with making and showing the movie. I'll probably watch it.
However, I'm happy I won't have to worry about Christians burning down the theater around me. And, it does make me think about my former boss and whether we need to think about double standards.
YAHOOO NEWS
16:45 Posted in DUTCH | Permalink | Comments (3) | 
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CHRISTIANITY IS NOW THE WORLD'S PERSECUTED
RELIGION ... AND WE IN THE WEST LET IT HAPPEN!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for finally having the courage that every one who thinks he/she is a "tough journalist" doesn't have the guts to raise as a horrific double standard. Does the United States "get it" yet? Christianity is now the officially persecuted, unwanted, & unwelcome religion. I will never understand the Middle Eastern mindset of the brainwashed Muslims (from what I've seen, they drag young boys away into these schools where they hear and memorize the Qur'an but learn nothing else), but they are obviously 'nurtured' in a culture of hatred and use ANYTHING as an "attack against holy Islam". So many of our brain-damaged left-wingers refused to print those cartoons so we could judge for ourselves just how "horribly offensive" they were (I guarantee that Jesus Christ has ALWAYS gotten the worst deal when it comes to insulting blasphemy). Instead, they said they would not reprint as a gesture of respect for the Muslims' sensitive psyches (I didn't realize terrorists who blow themselves up or behead other people qualified as the "soft, easily bruised, sensitive type") -- yet no one seems to have a single problem with how Christians feel about the Da Vinci Code, The Last Temptation of Christ, or completely barring the mere mention of His Name in public while Speakers from the Islamic Bureau are welcomed into our children's public schools with open arms to introduce our children to ISLAM! Had we not been so lazy in the 1960s and fought with a real passion when the first attempts to ban prayer from public schools were initiated, maybe we wouldn't be in a society that won't allow teachers to wear little crosses to school or actually forbids both children and teachers from having their own Bibles in their desks or bookbags for their own PRIVATE use! Does this sound like the United States of America?
In Psalm 78, Asaph warns us to always talk about GOD'S Wonders and Love so that all future generations will grow up knowing Him and seeking Him for themselves. He said that our failure to do so would produce another generation that would forget GOD and be as stubborn and disrespectful as the whining generation who had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until all the rebellious ones had died out. Another way of saying that is we will always be doomed to repeat our historical mistakes if we won't learn from them the first time. If we don't teach our children, someone else will ... and look who is doing it without announcing it to the concerned parents and citizens.
May GOD finally fill His true servants with the Fire of His Passion to start standing up in public for Him!
Yours Sincerely In Our LORD'S Love & Service:
(Barry & Kim)
MAKE A DIFFERENCE MINISTRIES
Vista, California
Posted by: MAKE A DIFFERENCE MINISTRIES | 31 May 2006
CHRISTIANITY IS NOW THE WORLD'S PERSECUTED
RELIGION ... AND WE IN THE WEST LET IT HAPPEN!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for finally having the courage that every one who thinks he/she is a "tough journalist" doesn't have the guts to raise as a horrific double standard. Does the United States "get it" yet? Christianity is now the officially persecuted, unwanted, & unwelcome religion. I will never understand the Middle Eastern mindset of the brainwashed Muslims (from what I've seen, they drag young boys away into these schools where they hear and memorize the Qur'an but learn nothing else), but they are obviously 'nurtured' in a culture of hatred and use ANYTHING as an "attack against holy Islam". So many of our brain-damaged left-wingers refused to print those cartoons so we could judge for ourselves just how "horribly offensive" they were (I guarantee that Jesus Christ has ALWAYS gotten the worst deal when it comes to insulting blasphemy). Instead, they said they would not reprint as a gesture of respect for the Muslims' sensitive psyches (I didn't realize terrorists who blow themselves up or behead other people qualified as the "soft, easily bruised, sensitive type") -- yet no one seems to have a single problem with how Christians feel about the Da Vinci Code, The Last Temptation of Christ, or completely barring the mere mention of His Name in public while Speakers from the Islamic Bureau are welcomed into our children's public schools with open arms to introduce our children to ISLAM! Had we not been so lazy in the 1960s and fought with a real passion when the first attempts to ban prayer from public schools were initiated, maybe we wouldn't be in a society that won't allow teachers to wear little crosses to school or actually forbids both children and teachers from having their own Bibles in their desks or bookbags for their own PRIVATE use! Does this sound like the United States of America?
In Psalm 78, Asaph warns us to always talk about GOD'S Wonders and Love so that all future generations will grow up knowing Him and seeking Him for themselves. He said that our failure to do so would produce another generation that would forget GOD and be as stubborn and disrespectful as the whining generation who had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years until all the rebellious ones had died out. Another way of saying that is we will always be doomed to repeat our historical mistakes if we won't learn from them the first time. If we don't teach our children, someone else will ... and look who is doing it without announcing it to the concerned parents and citizens.
May GOD finally fill His true servants with the Fire of His Passion to start standing up in public for Him!
Yours Sincerely In Our LORD'S Love & Service:
(Barry & Kim)
MAKE A DIFFERENCE MINISTRIES
Vista, California
Posted by: MAKE A DIFFERENCE MINISTRIES | 31 May 2006
I suggest, that you check THE REAL NAME (I AM) of our GOD, Father of Yeshua the Messiah. Ba’al is “Lord” (see hebrew dictionaries) - demonical deity. Rabinical Jews after destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem copyedited Scriptures and deleted proper name of God (YHWH, יהוה) and deriverates (Yah). Yahweh (Yahuweh) has a root in "hayah" meaning "existance" in hebrew. Yahweh means "I Was, I Am, and I Will Be (I Exist)".
The real name of our God was mentioned in pre-rabbinical period Scriptures almost 7000 times, now (probably even in your Bible), there are only few remarks about Shem (name) of GOD. Also notice that "Jesus Christ" (Yahushua - Yeshua the Messiah) means Yah Saves or Yah Saviour.
God Bless You.
Posted by: Slavomir | 02 June 2006
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