How Christian of Maiden, North Carolina pastor Charles Worley to declare that the best way to "get rid of" gays and lesbians (in what is akin to Hitler's 'Final Solution') would be to round them up, intern them behind an electric fence, and let them die.
Apparently his recent 'sermon' was in response to Barack Obama's support of gay marriage:
"I figured out a way to get rid of all the lesbians and queers, but I couldn't get it past the congress. Build a great, big, large fence—150 or 100 miles long—put all the lesbians in there. Fly over and drop some food. Do the same thing for the queers and the homosexuals, and have that fence electrified so they can't get out. Feed 'em and you know what, in a few years, they'll die out. Do you know why? They can't reproduce!"
Regardless of one's feelings about homosexuality and gay marriage, Worley's comments are absolutely outrageous. He's basically advocating genocide, which is unconscionable. Is he any better than Hitler who interned and jailed mostly gay men, or Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who hangs them?
Since the following video went viral there has been a huge backlash, and the Providence Road Baptist Church website is obviously taking a break since, as of this moment, it's not up and running.
Not to be outdone by Kuwait's decision to ban churches from being built in that Gulf state, Saudi Arabia's head religious honcho, the Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, has called for the total destruction of "all the churches of the region." According to him, it's "necessary".
And yes, the Christians in the Middle East (especially Cairo and Beirut) are furious, but have they gone out on a rampage burning down mosques and killing Muslims? No, at least not yet. Had this been the Catholic Pope calling on the destruction of all mosques in the West, the Middle East would have been on fire, and the Pope would have a fatwa on his head.
But non-Muslims are a far more tolerant, civilized lot, and one Christian man in Beirut had this to say:
“I mean from a regular, end of the street mosque, this stuff happens all the time, but for the Grand Mufti of a country to say it is simply shocking.”
Because Islam is so tolerant, Abdullah believes (as do many Muslims) that their religion is the only one that should be allowed in the Arabian Peninsula, and he even encouraged Kuwaiti delegates (while speaking in that tiny country) to destroy all their churches, too.
Not all Muslims share those sentiments:
According to religious scholars, however, even during the Prophet Mohamed’s time, Christians and Jews were allowed to practice their faith openly and freely. Christians in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan largely have open access to churches and places to pray, although regulations in Egypt have been condemned by Christian leaders and activists.
“What we see with this is the turn toward ultra conservatism in the region,” said Egyptian Coptic Christian Noha, adding that “what we need to do now is bring together people and show this mufti that us Christians and Muslims can live and share the same street. And that it is a right granted by Islam for others to pray in their own place.”
Initially, Kuwaiti MP Osama al-Munawer had wanted to do the same thing with the churches in his country. Heck, he even announced those plans on Twitter, no less. But then changed his mind and said only new non-Islamic buildings of worship would be banned, the churches could stay.
I wonder if we should do the same thing in the West- ban all new construction of mosques.
Liberals love to blame the ongoing violence in the Muslim world on the "occupation". Well, we are no longer "occupying" Iraq and yet the bloodshed continues unabated. In fact it has actually increased since our troops pulled out of there at the end of last year. We're only eight days into 2012 and we've already witnessed a series of bomb attacks against Shiite Muslims which killed over 72 people and wounded scores more. Earlier in the week families of police officers were targeted and multiple bomb blasts killed four Sunnis, two of which were children. The bombings have everyone worried about renewed sectarian strife. Can't blame the West for that.
Then there's Nigeria. No occupation there. And yet Islamic militants 'Boko Haram' continue to wage war against the Christians in the northern part of that country. They want them out or dead, and they've been making sure they get the message. On Christmas day 2011 they bombed several churches, and haven't let up since. Just 8 days into 2012 and 20 more Christians were killed on Friday as they mourned the murder of three fellow Christians who had been killed on Thursday. Can't blame the West for that either.
This random violence in 'unoccupied' territories proves two things- that the whole theory of Western 'occupation' being the primary cause of Muslim violence is a fallacy, and that Islam is in no way a religion of peace, as so many proclaim. It's quite obvious they can't even get along with each other, let alone live peacefully with those of other religions.
So 45-year-old Australian Mansor Almaribe took the mandatory pilgrimage to Mecca this past November to fulfill one of the five pillars of Islam. Every good Muslim is expected to take that trek (Hajj) at least once in his/her lifetime as long as he/she is physically able to, and can afford to spend those 6 days away from home.
Now, one would think as a devout Muslim (and he appears to be if you look at the photo of his hijab-covered daughter) that this would be the highlight of his spiritual life, but his journey to Mecca turned out to be a nightmare when he was arrested in Medina for, of all things, blasphemy. He was accused of "...insulting companions of the prophet Mohammed", whatever the heck that means, since no-one is acknowledging what exactly it was that he said or did to warrant being charged. But Almaribe was arrested by those infamous religious virtue and vice police on November 14th while reading and praying with a group of other pious ones. Perhaps he was the 'wrong kind' of Muslim, which can land you in trouble in any Muslim-majority country, but I can't begin to imagine what else it might be, since he was doing what all good Muslims do, praying.
So, for all his efforts to fulfill one of his Islamic duties, traveling almost 8,000 miles from Shepparton, Victoria to Makkah, Almaribe was just sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in jail. Originally, he was to spend 2 years in prison, but out of the kindness of the Saudi court's heart the sentence was reduced to a mere one year for this terrible thing he said or did that was deemed blasphemous.
The father of five (from 2 to 24) has some major health issues and his family doesn't " think he'd survive 50." Apparently the Australian Embassy will try to intercede on his behalf. Good luck with that.
I wonder what he thinks of Saudi Arabia and his religion now?
I thought this country had moved well beyond the Jim Crow- mentality days, but I'm sadly mistaken. There are still racists out there who fail to look beyond the color of someone's skin, and some of those racists are living in Pike County, Kentucky.
The Freewill Baptist Church in Gulnare, Kentucky, has made a decision
"... not to accept interracial couples as members or let them take part in some worship activities."
It all started with Dean Harville's smart 24-year-old daughter Stella, who is studying at an Indiana university for her master's degree. Optical engineering. Although Stella is not an actual member of the church, Dean has been for a very long time, after all, Stella was baptized in that church. Dean also happens to be a clerk and the Church secretary. Stella is engaged to 29-year-old Ticha Chikuni, from Zimbabwe. But he's obviously not the right color for this particular Baptist church, because after Stella brought her fiancé to a service in June, and he sang "I Surrrender All" while she accompanied him on the piano, some very racist decisions were made.
Dean Harville said Melvin Thompson, who had been pastor for many years, told him in August that his daughter and her fiancé couldn't sing at the church again.
Thompson stepped down as pastor in August, citing health issues, but he refused Harville's requests to drop the issue, Harville said.
The new pastor, Stacy Stepp, said the couple could sing at the church if they wanted, Harville said.
In early November, Thompson proposed the church go on record saying that while all people were welcome to attend public worship services there, the church did not condone interracial marriage, according to a copy of the recommendation supplied by the Harvilles.
The proposal also said "parties of such marriages will not be received as members, nor will they be used in worship services" or other church functions, with the exception of funerals.
The recommendation "is not intended to judge the salvation of anyone, but is intended to promote greater unity among the church body and the community we serve," the copy supplied to the Herald-Leader read.
Funerals? How generous. And what's this about greater unity? Barring certain people is the antithesis of unity.
Hardware store owner, Thompson, claims it was all taken out of contest but refused to elaborate further. And of a 40 or so membership, only 15 voted- 9 of those are obviously racist, 6 are not. Some cowards abstained.
Dean himself believes it's racism.
Harville said the resolution was motivated by racism and has given the church, the community, the county and even God a black eye.
"It sure ain't Christian. It ain't nothing but the old devil working," Harville said.
Thankfully, they seem to be in the minority, since many have voiced outrage at what is a blatantly racist decision.
Johnson, with the local ministerial association, said the reactions have included heartbreak and disbelief.
"Most of us thought that we'd moved well beyond that," he said.
Obviously not.
Not very Christian of them!
UPDATE 12/7/11:
Looks like there was such an outcry, the Kentucky Church decided to reverse its decision to ban interracial couples. Whether their decision was based on the fact that it's against state and federal laws to discriminate or they found it was the Christian thing to do is debatable. But Pastor Stacy Stepp said that this time around, the congregation voted to "accept all people regardless of race, creed, or color and to accept everyone into the fellowship of Christ."
I picked up my local paper this morning and discovered that those harbingers of peace and enlightenment were busy this past weekend, as per usual.
Boko Haram, Islamic extremists-cum-terrorists, had a field day attacking Christians, burning down eight churches, a bank (which they robbed), a police station and several local businesses in Geidam, in northeastern Nigeria.
"The Geidam divisional police headquarters and First Bank were bombed on Saturday evening by Boko Haram and fire was exchanged into the night between police and Boko Haram members," a police spokesman told reporters. "Four policemen were killed, 20 wounded, eight churches and 20 market stalls as well as Geidam council secretariat are completely destroyed."
No-one knows the exact casualty count, yet, but they managed to kill over 100 people during an attack the beginning of November, in the capital of Damaturu.
Even though southern Nigeria is mostly Christian and the north is predominately Muslim, Boko Haram, which means "Western education is forbidden" is hell-bent on establishing Shariah Law in all regions of the country.
Then we have the bomb blast that literally blew off the roof of a modest two story hotel in Zamboanga, Philippines. Although not directly linked to a local Christian wedding that was being hosted there on Monday, it is being blamed on one of that country's small but deadly Islamic terrorist groups Abu Sayyaf. At least 3 people were killed and over 27 wounded in the blast, two seriously injured. Apparently, Abu Sayyaf had planned two attacks, one in Isabela City where a bomb was defused near a local business. Authorities believe the owner was being extorted and refused to pay. The owner of the hotel in Zamboanga denies any extortion threats. Abu Sayyaf are bucking for an independent Islamic state in Mindanao.
Interesting to note that not only are they religious extremists, they're also common criminals.
All in a weekend's work for the religion of peace.
Pakistan has no tolerance for those of other religions including their own minority Muslim sects, but that's just part and parcel of a predominately Muslim nation. Minority religions are persecuted, discriminated against and marginalized. And often they are killed for no apparent reason other than the fact that they don't happen to be Muslim.
Take Dr Ashok, Dr Ajeet Kumar and Dr Naresh- three Hindu brothers who were attacked and murdered in Sindh province. A fourth doctor, Satya Pal, was injured but survived the attack.
There have been the obligatory condemnations of the attack, but that is small comfort to a mother who lost 3 sons in one fell swoop.
Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has strongly condemned the killing of Hindu doctors by armed assailants in Pakistan's Sindh province.
Khan, chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), in a satement [sic] issued by his party's central secretariat, said that the murder of Dr Ashok, Dr Naresh and Dr Ajeet Kumar marked a sad day for Pakistan, as PTI (Paksitan Tehreek-e-Insaf) believed in peaceful and harmonious co-existence of all religious and ethnic groups and an indiscriminate practice of the rule of law, Daily Times reported.
It's nice to know that one political party in Pakistan believes in unity and co-existence, but words are cheap and until words are put into action nothing will change.
Human rights groups are planning a rally to protest the killings, but that too won't change things.
Unfortunately, as long as the 'Sharia law', 'non-Muslims are infidels' mentality pervades, and laws are not enacted to protect minority religions in countries like Pakistan, those minorities will continue to targets.
On Thursday, condemning the brutal murder of Hindus in Shikarpur, civil society and human rights organisations announced they would stage "Fill the Besant Hall Road against Religious Intolerance" rally in front of the Theosophical Society's interior Sindh centre in Hyderabad Nov 14.
Stating abdication of governance by the corrupt ruling mafias had resulted in an increase of violence in the society that needed to be checked immediately, Khan condemned the role of the law-enforcement agencies that tended to side with the criminals.
On Monday and Tuesday of this week, intelligent agents raided the houses of two Christians in Shahriar, Karaj, and arrested one and summoned the other individual.
According to a report by Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), on October 17, 2011, intelligent agents raided a citizen’s house in Shahriar but were unable to detain him since he was not home. This individual has been identified as “Mohammad N.” Security agents searched the house and confiscated a computer, books and CDs containing religious teachings and summoned Mohammad N. to the Intelligent Agency.
Similarly, on October 18, 2011, intelligent agents raided Fariborz A.’s house in Shahriar and arrested him. Fariborz A. is a newly converted Christian. During this raid, security agents searched the house and seized his personal property.
