Posted on 12/06/2002 12:33:51 PM PST by robowombat
Bush praises Islam for its 'morality' By Bill Sammon THE WASHINGTON TIMES
President Bush yesterday removed his shoes, entered a mosque and praised Islam for inspiring "countless individuals to lead lives of honesty, integrity, and morality."
For the second time since the September 11 terrorist attacks, the president yesterday visited Washington's oldest mosque, the Islamic Center, where Muslims from 75 nations gather to worship. Mr. Bush marked the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan by praising Islam as a hopeful religion of mercy and tolerance.
"Islam affirms God's justice and insists on man's moral responsibility," said the president, flanked by a half-dozen imams. "Islam gave birth to a rich civilization of learning that has benefited mankind." The overture to Muslims came four days after religious broadcaster Pat Robertson said Mr. Bush "ignores history" by not acknowledging that Islam is "violent at its core."
In an interview with The Washington Times last month, Mr. Robertson said he understood the president's political need for support from the Muslim world in the war on terrorism, but said the president should not speak about Islam as a religion and that he "is not elected as chief theologian." The conservative commentator accused the president of succumbing to "political correctness" by praising the religion of terrorists who attacked America on September 11.
Mr. Robertson repeated that accusation on ABC's "This Week." The host, former Clinton aide George Stephanopoulos called the disagreement "a theological dispute which is driving a political wedge between President Bush and some of his conservative Christian allies."
That characterization was disputed yesterday by the White House. "This may be an area where they disagree," a senior administration official said of Mr. Bush and his conservative Christian allies. "But there are areas of agreement."
The director of the Islamic Center, Abdullah Khouj, praised the president's visit and told him that it demonstrated "the value of human tolerance, a virtue taught by Islam and practiced here in America."
The president's visit came one day after a Pew Foundation poll found widespread anti-Americanism in some Muslim nations. With the United States preparing for war with Iraq, the administration is eager to mitigate rising tensions on the "Arab street."
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Mr. Bush "acknowledged the United States has a job to do and we have to bring people together between the United States and the Muslim world."
To that end, Mr. Bush praised American Muslims for "upholding our nation's ideals of liberty and justice in a world at peace." "Millions of our fellow Americans practice the Muslim faith," said Mr. Bush, a born-again Christian. "They lead lives of honesty and justice and compassion."
Mr. Robertson first criticized Mr. Bush in The Washington Times interview last month. When Mr. Stephanopoulos reminded him of this quote, Mr. Robertson refused to back down from his assessment of the president's view of Islam. "It ignores history," he said. "Any student of history knows that it's not a peaceful religion." "It's violent at its core," he said. "There is absolute virulent hatred of Jews, and the idea that every Jew has got to be killed before the culmination of the age. That's what Islam teaches, and I think that's violent."
Other conservative religious figures have spoken out in recent months against Mr. Bush's frequent statements about the peaceful nature of Islam, including the Rev. Franklin Graham and the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the latter of whom called Islam's prophet Muhammad a "terrorist."
Deputy White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan disagreed. "The president believes that America is a nation that welcomes people of all faiths — Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh and many others," he told The Times. "He's made it very clear that the war on terrorism is not a war about religion. It's a war about good vs. evil."
Mr. Bush is not the only administration official making overtures to Muslims in recent weeks. Others who have participated in Ramadan events include National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell, Commerce Secretary Donald L. Evans and Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill.
/1/ Your facts are totally false on slave ship survival. In fact, a far higher % of free Irish died in the "coffin ships" in the 1850s than black slaves coming from Africa prior to that. The Irish paid in advance for a ticket, and the brokers purchased virtual derelict ships for the stormy North Atlantic crossing, they had no incentive to do more, and even provided no food etc.
OTOH, the funders of slave voyages paid up front all of their costs for ship and slaves, and only made a profit if their cargo made it across the gentle mid Atlantic safely and in health. The famous drawings of slaves packed in like sardines are misleading, this only happened after the slave trade was outlawed by Britain in the 19th century, and the slaves were packed this way for a short time while the ships snuck away from West Africa snd the British Naval patrols. After that slave went on deck in shifts, and kept their below decks clean and fresh.
Keep in mind, sickness below would literally wipe out the entire investment, a large fortune in gold already paid in full. Only live healthy slaves could be sold to make the profit, the reverse of the Irish experience where wrecks of ships broke apart, and ships that made it often came into harbor to quarantine with half the passengers dead of influenza. They had already paid in Ireland, the brokers did not care if they lived or died en route. The voyage brokers back in Ireland made MORE money by using rotten ships bought cheap that were nearly sinking in order to save their costs.
/2/ More slaves crossed the Sahara under the Islamic lash than crossed the Atlantic, and the Islamic slave trade in black has never ended.We did not invent slavery, it had existed in every nation from prehistory. But to our credit, we did abolish it. Islam NEVER DID.
And what does the Holocaust say about our society?
Well, it says that we spilled a lot of Nazi German blood, as well as American GI blood, to crush the Nazis and stamp it out. That's what it says about our society.
Gee, are Indonesians Africans now? Why do the Laskars in Sulawesi hold down Christian girls and have their muslim women cut their clitorises off with razors? I will provide you articles on these islamic barbarities thousands of miles from Africa if you wish.
What is the most popular toy in islamic nations this year? Osama Bin Ladin.
Anyway, how exactly do you tell a covert al-queda terrorist from a "moderate muslim"? Answer: you can't, until you hear the explosion.
Mohammed Atta was outwardly a "moderate muslim" on 9-10-2001.
I guess all those slim sleek Saudi boys and men walking about market holding hands are just.... close and dear friends.
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MARINA Rumakur had two choices: renounce her Christian faith and convert to Islam or be killed. "They told us we must convert or they would cut our throats," recalled the shy 14-year-old. Like hundreds of other Christians she fled into the jungle when her village on the tiny Indonesian island of Kesui was attacked by Islamic militants.
The threat to Marina’s life was genuine. Two teachers from a neighbouring village had already been beheaded when they refused to convert. "So we knew we had no choice."
Worse, however, was to come. More than 900 Christian men, women and children from all over Kesui were forced to submit to ritual circumcision as part of a campaign to purge the island of its entire Christian population.
The brutal forced conversions mark a new low in the religious war that has raged through Indonesia’s Spice Islands for the past two years, claiming the lives of more than 5,000 civilians. Christians say the the attacks on the village were led by the feared Laskar Jihad, the self-styled "holy warriors" who arrived here from Java last year to take up arms on behalf of their beleaguered Muslim brothers. As they descended on Karlomin village, the white-robed warriors let out a cry of "Allahu Akbar" or "God is Great", the trademark battle cry of the Laskar Jihad.
After surrendering, Marina and the other villagers were marched to a mosque in the Muslim village of Amarlaud where they were ordered to wash in preparation for conversion. The few belongings they had brought with them were searched, and their Bibles and prayer books were taken away and burned. Marina fought back tears as a small gold cross, her confirmation gift, was ripped from her neck.
Outside the mosque, warriors stood guard with rifles and spears as the Christians knelt and recited the simple prayer marking a convert’s entrance into the Islamic faith. Glancing up, some saw the barrel of a gun aimed straight at them as they stumbled through the unfamiliar words.
For the next week they were kept prisoner in the mosque as the imam observed them praying five times a day.
Despite that, they were told their performance had not been satisfactory and that they would have to undergo a further ceremony. No one dared ask what it entailed. Men and women were separated and led away to a curtained area at the side of the mosque. When Marina’s turn came, she was told to remove her lower clothing and made to sit in the lap of one Muslim woman while another performed the circumcision.
The rusty razor blade she used had already been used on several other women without being disinfected.
"The razor was covered in blood," Marina recounted. "I was trembling and crying so they told me to close my eyes." The women told her that the cut would be "no more painful that an ant bite." That turned out to be a lie.
"The blade was so blunt that they had to cut again and again. It was so painful that I cried out," said Marina softly, hiding her face with her hands. Her six-year-old sister, Emiliana, was the youngest to be circumcised. "It was worst for her because she is so little. She cried and cried from the pain."
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This is the way your fascist "religion of peace" managed to spread at the speed of galloping jihadists' horses in 100 years from Arabia to Spain: at the point of a sword.
Trust me when I say that we do understand your insane murder cult, and that you jihadists are marching for the cliff like lemmings, because Americans will NOT accept Marina Rumakur's fate without fighting back on a level the German Nazis and Japanese Imperialists understand. If you cannot or will not grasp this fact, you will meet the fate of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945.
(Anyway, what kind of a sick twisted "religion" promises those who blow up innocent "infidel" women and children a reward of an eternal orgy in "paradise" with 72 virgins?)
Kandahar comes out of the closet
The Sexual Rage Behind Islamic Terror
The insanity of murdering one's daughters, even rape victims, for the "honor" of the family is spreading to Europe as well. See Tolerating Intolerance: The Challenge of Fundamentalist Islam in Western Europe
U.S. hostages in Saudi Arabia: Joseph Farah asks readers to help return children to mother -- see more links at 5
Bush is playing his Caesar role splendidly. Praise the good Muslims, encourage them to remain good and peaceable. And drop BLU-82s on the zealots.
I've known muslims and that statement is horseshiite.
According to tradition, the heavens "tremble with rage" when such an act is committed.
Too bad for the one who let himself be used (the technical homo in islam). There is that one reference, but most muslims think of things in relative terms. "This is more sinful than that", etc. The more references to something being wrong, the more wrong it is compared to something with fewer references to being wrong. Islamic relativism.
In Iran they still execute people for buggery.
In Iran, yes. In Iran there are strict shias. Most muslims are sunni. And not in Iran.
I don't know much about the heinousness of masturbation.
Masturbation is forbidden since it would be included in the instructions to not touch your penis. That is discussed and forbidden in the writings more than homosexuality. That infers to many muslims that masturbation is worse. "It is better to do this than that." Islamic logic in action.
Frankly, I don't know where you sad little monkeys get this stuff.
This sad little monkey gets his info from muslims. Muslims told me. Existing and former muslims. The muslims told me, that's where I got it. You should talk to some.
Perhaps, it's the same source that the Wahabbis get their information about Christians and jews.
Not exactly, but close. The wahabbis get their info from the koran and their teachers. Sunnis and shias get their info about Christians and Jews from the koran and the hadith and the sunna. The hadith is especially violent about Christians and Jews. That's why sunnis and shias that truly practice their faith are just as much a threat to Christians and Jews as wahabbis are. Luckily, most sunnis and shias are like most Christians and Jews, they don't really practice their faith.
Let me put it this way-- if you gave the Klan about 1200 billion dollars in disposable income over 30 years, what do you think would happen?
As far as your point about Imperial Islam in Spain, that phase of history merely about conquest and empire-- the brutality of Wahabbism didn't exist in Islamic society back then. Besides, Europe would still be in the dark ages if it weren't for all that to and fro.
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