.: Islamic Militancy – Seed for the Next Dark Ages
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We teach our collegians well about the period known as the dark ages but do we thoroughly explain what brought on this horrible period across the globe? With little fanfare the answer to that question is an unequivocal no.
Let’s do the math here. The marriage of civil and ecclesiastical power is without dispute the singular cause of the horrors of the dark ages. When the authority of the state and the church are wed, people suffer. The equation goes like this. If I am a Muslim, Christian, Catholic or Jew I may practice my religion without fear of persecution, reprisal or rejection. I still must obey civil law but the judicial body won’t besiege me with charges for the beliefs I hold about God and faith.
When any particular religion becomes the state sanctioned religion then I can be prosecuted for my lack of compliance. Once Catholicism was the state sanctioned religion and for one thousand years the Pope ruled across the globe, with an iron hand. Some say the reformation ended that and some like to call it the recovery, that is, the recovering of the simple gospel message and the abandoning of the burgeoning religious rules and mandates of the church. Is Islam bringing this kind of terror into civilization again?
In America the idea of the separation of church and state is all that stands between us and that kind of tyranny. Of course the separation of church and state is mostly a perception and not actually a law. The law in America simply states that the congress will not make any laws governing religion. This is a law we can live with in the most literal sense of the word. In Islamically ruled nations not believing in the state sponsored religion can and does cost lives.
News agencies have reported that an Iranian man, Mr. Issa Motamdi has been arrested and charged with apostasy. His crime was giving his son a Christian name. Even before his trial which is not likely to be any more than a travesty there is talk of execution.
In the Central Sulawesi area of Indonesia it is reported by the BBC News that three girls were attacked on their way to school. The three who traversed through a cocoa plantation on their way to a Christian school were beheaded. Dozens of Christians have been brutally murdered in this region since 2001 as militant Muslims seek to set up another Islamic state there.
Most people in what still might be referred to as a civilized world take exception to this kind of brutality in the name of any religion. With all her faults, excesses and problems America could be counted upon to deal seriously with this kind of brutality especially toward children. No religious preference would keep the perpetrators of such crimes from being prosecuted and most likely jailed for life or executed.
To the Christian it is sad thing when someone turns to another religion or another God and misses the salvation that comes only from the Saviour of the world. Yet, no where in scripture are they called upon to execute any form of summary judgment against those who choose not to believe. Jesus Christ may have been many things but he is never any less than civilized, perhaps we could say he is a gentleman.
The constitution of the United States could also be said to be a gentleman if it had human attributes. It provides the security to believe the dictates of our conscience without fear of tyranny.
Most of the presidents in our history have been protestant and in the last twenty five years Protestants have met and surpassed the number of practicing Catholics in America. It would be hard to imagine the absurdity of making Protestantism America’s state religion. We would then be very busy prosecuting Catholics and those in other religions. We can only thank God that something this absurd has never been found appealing to even the most confused factions of our body politic.
Article keywords: Islam, Dark Ages, body politic, Indonesia, Central Sulawesi, Pope, Muslim, Iran, Iranian, Motamdi, militant Muslims, Christian, Catholic, religion, constition, governing religion, apostasy, United States, news, BBC News, BBC, Jesus Christ, prosecuted, persecuted, Christian books, president, presidents, religious preference, Islamic state, execution, beheaded, civilized
Article Source: http://www.articles32.com
Rev Bresciani is the author of two Christian books and columnist for several political news sites online. Visit www.americanprophet.org
.: New Commentary Articles
1). Impeach Bush now
Even a month ago, I was content to let the electoral system punish President George W. Bush for his incompetence in prosecuting the war in Iraq. Let him deal with more Democrats than he bargained for after the 2006 midterm elections, I thought. That would sufficiently punish him for his failures; anything more would set a dangerous precedent discouraging future presidents from launching big endeavors that might not work.
2). Why Are Politicians Corrupt?
Most politicians bend the laws of the land and steal money or solicit bribes because they need the funds to support networks of patronage. Others do it in order to reward their nearest and dearest or to maintain a lavish lifestyle when their political lives are over.
But these mundane reasons fail to explain why some officeholders go on a rampage and binge on endless quantities of lucre.
3). Heal Our Republic: Change Our Electoral System
Consider the presidential election system we have today: Every state has a number of electors, equal to their amount of representatives and senators, who vote for the President of the United States. In most states, every elector goes to the candidate who achieves the most popular votes, regardless of his margin of victory. This means:
1. Presidential candidates have little reason to campaign to the whole country.
4). Gun Control Will Solve Nothing
Statistics from the National Federation of State High School Associations reveal that, in 1999, 15 students perished while playing in high school football games. This fact received little to no coverage in the national media. Angry parents did not parade into Washington, D.C., in order to demand stricter regulation of high school football. Politicos feigning intense anguish did not bemoan football’s domination of most learning institutions’ sports programs.
5). America the Narcissist
The majority of worldwide respondents to the last two global Pew enter surveys (in 2002 and 2006) regarded the United States as the greatest menace to world peace - far greater than the likes of Iraq or China. Thinkers and scholars as diverse as Christopher Lasch in "The Cultural Narcissist" and Theodore Millon in "Personality Disorders of Everyday Life" have singled out the United States as the quintessential narcissistic society.
6). " The Failure is Sundered Within"
The failure is sundered within each of us, it festers as blame to others, a manifestation of the shame that belongs not to ourselves but of the participants of a deadlier game. Yet innately the affectation begins with our own visceral manumission of guilt, and sadly, empirically lies buried in our own personal failings.
We ponder all that which seems inherently wrong.
7). Prohibition's Other Ending Remembered On April 7
While Prohibition's repeal came on December 5, 1933, American brewers celebrate the end of that era with "Brew Year's Eve" on April 7. It seems the country's brewers were back in business on this earlier date, when Americans enjoyed beer as their first legal drink in 12 years.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt's support for repeal helped him win the 1932 presidential election.
.: Top Commentary Articles
1). Is Communism Dead Yet?
There are a handful of countries that are still considered communist regimes. Yet communism doesn't really exist. These countries are more like dictatorships with authoritarian type leaders who operate under the very thin veil of non-existent communism.
These groups or individual leaders that have near absolute power cause great harm to their country's populace on a continual basis.
2). Genes and the Mind
People with a strong will to live understand that when they take life-enhancing measures, their health and longevity will be favorable affected, regardless of their genes. They take responsibility for their lives instead of being victims of events. Each and every one of us has the resources within to affect our health and longevity.
3). America Beware, Hillary Clinton May Run For President
America is the greatest country in the world. Our citizens are caring, generous, trusting and forgiving. Those are some of the traits that make our country so great and so strong. Those traits can also be some of our biggest weaknesses. We are always willing to give people a second, third or even a fourth chance. We want to believe in the goodness of others even when they have shown us time and again that they are not good.
4). " The Failure is Sundered Within"
The failure is sundered within each of us, it festers as blame to others, a manifestation of the shame that belongs not to ourselves but of the participants of a deadlier game. Yet innately the affectation begins with our own visceral manumission of guilt, and sadly, empirically lies buried in our own personal failings.
We ponder all that which seems inherently wrong.
5). Containing the United States
European intellectuals yearned for the mutually exclusive: an America contained and a regime-changed Iraq. The Chinese are more pragmatic - though, bound by what is left of their Marxism, they still ascribe American behavior to the irreconcilable contradictions inherent in capitalism.
The United States is impelled by its economy and values to world dominion, claimed in March 2003 an analysis titled "American Empire Steps Up Fourth Expansion" in the communist party's mouthpiece People's Daily.
6). A democracy? What have we wrought?
One of the great fallacies abroad is thinking that any regime today can lay claim to being democratic. None are. Though we say they are democratic and that they are democracies, they are actually republican government—representative democracies. This means that certain people are elected to serve the interests of the people at large. These representatives make the decisions for the people rather than the people making them.
7). Thanks Mankind!
I got to thinking today and i have to say, we rock! Humans I mean. For some reason, as I sat there, eating my McDonalds, I started thinking about technology. Man was I impressed! We have so much, and we dont think about it enough. I suppose it really doesnt make much of a difference to think about it anyways, but life would just be so much harder if it wasnt 2005.