Category: Islam
Subject: Islam
Religious Fundamentalism
Fundamentalism, as it pertains to religion, is defined as “a form of religion, especially Islam or Protestant Christianity, that upholds belief in the strict interpretation of scripture.” In our day, the term is typically used as a criticism. Note this quote from Wikipedia: “Depending upon the context, the label “fundamentalism” can be a pejorative rather than a neutral characterization, similar to the ways that calling political perspectives “right-wing” or “left-wing” can have negative connotations.
Such a characterization is understandable, as Islamic fundamentalists often use force in an effort to make the world conform to their religious views. As an example, the Iranian government has recently come under criticism for its response to women who do not conform to the fundamentalist views of modesty. A “morality police” actively cited and arrested women for their violation of the code, and at least 508 protestors have been killed and another 19,000 arrested in recent conflicts over the laws. Continue reading “Religious Fundamentalism”
Islam – A Christian’s Perspective
Most are aware of the mass shooting in Orlando this past week. As of this writing, 49 are reported dead with 53 wounded. The shooter, Omar Mateen, claimed allegiance to ISIS in a telephone conversation with police prior to the SWAT team assault that ended the standoff.
Taking the man’s words at face value, there are several points I would like to make about Islamic terrorism and the religion of Islam in general, all from my perspective as a Christian.
In the News: Offending Islam
Over three years ago, Youcef Nadarkhani was cast into prison in Iran. His crime? Apostasy. Nadarkhani professes to be Christian, and serves as the Pastor of a Christian denomination in Iran. The authorities claim that he did not embrace his Christian faith until after he became an adult. It is a crime under Muslim law to reject Islam as an adult.
There were apparently inaccurate reports recently that Nadarkhani was executed for his “crime.” In fact, Iranian officials claim that Nadarkhani does not face the death penalty, but do not apologize for his imprisonment.
Sermon: The Religion of Islam
Wayne Goforth describes and exposes the religion of Islam as both false, and ultimately militarily aggressive (literal, physical jihad). He uses the Qu’ran itself to establish the truthfulness of these contentions, in a sermon that is well worth consideration.
In the News: Death Sentence for Blasphemy
(Image: 45 year old Asia Bibi of Pakistan)
Consider the unfairness of the following scenario. You are a single member of a minority religious group, working at your job as a farmhand in a field. You are asked by your supervisor to go and fetch water for the other workers. You do as asked, but when you bring the water, your fellow workers refuse to drink it, calling the water unclean because you are the one who fetched it. A few days later you are set upon by a mob, still angry over the initial incident. The authorities are called, and they take you away for your own protection. Later, some in the mob claim that you are guilty of blasphemy against their religion. So, the authorities arrest you, and imprison you on that charge. You go to court, and though no evidence is presented to show the charge is true, you are nevertheless found guilty and sentenced to death. You are married, and have five children.
Continue reading “In the News: Death Sentence for Blasphemy”
Sermon: A Contrast Between Christianity and Islam
The sermon is a simple comparison between the two faiths of Christianity and Islam. In the comparison, Islam is found greatly wanting.
Sermon Audio: Click Here .
In The News: Christians Get Suspended Jail Terms for Converting Muslims in Algeria
Four Algerian Christians accused of converting Muslims were each handed suspended jail sentences and fined Tuesday, according to reports.
The sentence is the latest to spark ire in the West, where Christian groups accuse the Algerian government of harassing Christians. The Higher Islamic Council, a state-appointed group, claims that Protestant evangelicals are secretly trying to divide Algerians for colonization, Reuters reported.
The four Christians, who admitted to converting to Christianity but contest the charges, said they planned to appeal the ruling.
“The verdict confirms an attitude of lack of respect for freedom of conscience,” defense lawyer Khelloudja Khalfoun, told Reuters.
A law passed in 2006 forbids non-Muslims from trying to convert Muslims and confines religious worship only to buildings approved by the state, according to the BBC. Under the law, more than a dozen churches have been closed in the past six months.
There are about 10,000 Christians in Algeria, the BBC reported.
FOXNews.com
Analysis:
We live in a country where religious freedom has long been respected. In fact, it is one of the founding principles of our society.
In The News: Muslim Extremists Arrested
Danish newspaper Jyllands-Poste reprinted a cartoon Wednesday drawn by Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard one day after Danish police arrested three people suspected in a plot to murder Westergaard for his characterization of Muhammad. [characterization at right] Westergaard was one of 12 cartoonists who published cartoons of the Muslim prophet Muhammad in 2005 that sparked widespread protests across the Islamic world. Several other Danish newspapers also reprinted Westergaard’s depiction Wednesday, accompanied by statements defending freedom of speech and the public’s right to see the cause of the backlash.
The Muhammad cartoon controversy led to a number of international lawsuits and arrests alleging defamation of character and disruption of the peace. A French court in March 2007 dismissed charges against Charlie-Hebdo magazine and its director after the court found that the defendants had not purposely meant to offend Muslims. In September, Bangladeshi authorities arrested cartoonist Arifur Rahman and suspended the publication of weekly satire magazine Alpin after it reprinted the cartoon. Last month, a former newspaper editor in Belarus was sentenced to three years in prison for reprinting the cartoons in the Zhoda newspaper.
The Jurist (Legal News and Research)
Analysis:
I appreciate and understand why Muslims would be upset about the characterization of Muhammad. While the cartoon is fairly innocuous compared to some of the obscene and blasphemous representations of Jesus Christ I have seen, it is easy to see why it would offend them. Similarly, I am disgusted about the way Jesus Christ has been represented in cartoons, movies, etc. It is blasphemous, and shows the ungodliness in the world today. I do not plot to harm these infidels, but I am distressed at the disrespect they show to my Lord.
Sermon: Christianity VS Islam
A comparison of the two religions, Christianity and Islam, finds Islam wanting, and Christianity the true religion from God.
Sermon PowerPoint: Click Here .
Sermon Audio: Click Here .
‘God’ Isn’t Only Source of Morality
OSAMA BIN LADEN’S quotation that “Islam is the only source of the rulings and laws” (editorial, Jan. 4) is frightening in its total rejection of the principle of separation of church and state. But we should not forget that his ideology is founded on the belief, which is central to most all deistic religions, that “God” is the only true source of morality and moral behavior.
That erroneous idea is a potentially dangerous source of rigidity and absolutism in moral thinking and behavior, and readily leads to efforts to impose one’s own group’s “true” morality on others, or to regard the “infidel other” as not worthy of the beneficence of that morality.
As is all too obvious these days, wars are fought under the self-righteous and self-justifying conviction that “God is on our side.”
The rational, secular view of morality is that it is generated only in human minds and is shaped over time in the real world by negotiating competing needs and shared benefits. There is no “Big Daddy” or “Big Mommy” up there, or out there, to tell us how to behave, or to punish us with natural disasters if we go astray. There is, however, good reason to believe that, along with murderous aggressivity, some fundamental altruistic urges have been built into the human genome by Darwinian evolution.
Given a framework of secular civil laws and enforcement, human compassion, conscience, and “the Golden Rule” of “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” will take us a good long way.
RICHARD H. WOLFF
The Boston Globe
Analysis:
The Preceding opinion piece which appeared in the Boston Globe on January 10, proclaims the typical secularist attitude toward morality.
Christianity VS Islam
We are aware of the conflict with Islam, leading the most fanatical of the Muslim sects to engage in acts of terrorism. We have felt their rage against “the infidels.” Their holy book, the Quran instructs them to lash out against those who do not believe as they do in physical battle. Notice the following passage:
