Posted on 02/02/2003 10:09:51 AM PST by RCW2001
God punished the space shuttle Columbia because its crew, which included an Israeli astronaut, was on an espionage mission against the Arab and Muslim nations, some Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip told The Jerusalem Post today. Many did not share the feelings of their leaders, such as Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat who offered his condolences to the US over the Columbia tragedy. "They were sent to space to spy on the Arabs and Muslims,"said Rudainah Salman, a 28-year-old schoolteacher from Ramallah. "I have no sympathy for the astronauts because they were doing something bad to us. Allah punished them because of their bad intentions. I hate the Americans and the Israelis because of what they are doing to our people." Salim Najjar, a mosque preacher from a village near Jerusalem, told a group of Muslim worshippers that a "divine omnipotence" was behind the tragedy. "This is a message from God to America and Israel that they must stop their aggression against the Arabs and Muslims," he said. "Israel and America are trying to control the world through their arrogance and with the help of military force. On Saturday they were reminded that God is there to protect the believers, the people of the Prophet Mohammed, God s blessing and peace be upon him." At the Kalandya refugee camp south of Ramallah, a group of young men sitting in a small restaurant said they felt happy when they heard the news of the space shuttle explosion. "We heard that the Israeli was a pilot in the Israeli air force who had participated in the attack on the Iraqi nuclear reactor," said Jamil Shehadeh, a 22-year-old mechanic. "God is great because this pilot has now been punished for the crime which he committed. I wish we will have more disasters like this in the US and Israel. Who do the Americans and Israelis think they are?" One of his friends, Ayman Dweik, 19, said he heard "somewhere on TV" that the Columbia explosion was the first in a series of disasters that are expected to hit the US. "They said on TV that the next strike is going to be when the sea opens and swallows one of the American warships that s on its way to attack Iraq. This is the will of Allah, that all the enemies of Islam shall be destroyed. People here say that the shuttle was on an espionage mission to gather information on the Arab and Muslim countries," Dweik said. A Christian shopkeeper in the Old City of Jerusalem said he was stunned to see that many of his colleagues expressed their joy at the tragedy. "I can't understand many of these people who say they are delighted that the space shuttle exploded," he said. "This isn't a political issue. So what if an Israeli astronaut was on board. We need to deal with this subject on a human and scientific basis. This is a tragedy to all mankind."
Was one of them named Willis Carto?
We think we are, and we are, Civilized people, Jamil. We do suffer much less from disasters. We have floods, earthquakes and fires just like the rest of the world, but the same disasters that routinely produce hundreds or thousands of casualties elsewhere, here produce few or none. The difference stems from wealth, technology, and the rule of law (building codes, disciplined behavior of victims and responders, etc). The difference is the result of living in the 21st Century rather then the 7th. You should try it yourselves, once you manage to get over your willful embrace of violent, nihilistic and inhuman barbarism.
Well, I don't catch your exegesis, but attempts at theology are one thing; they can be concocted very quickly and cheaply.
Discipleship is another thing, though.
People will worship whatever they exhalt the most. May you do so accurately.
Then again... ;-`
I read the thread, too. Unless I missed a post or two, those assertions were made by the same person. I get really tired of this attempt to tar the entire board with the opinions of a handful of vocal people. Opinions on FR are not institutional.
We have a coterie of posters who repeatedly assert that God is withdrawing "his cloak of protection" - or perhaps even "punishing" - America for various infractions of their gross versions of theology.
No coincidence that this is precisely, exactly, what the Islamists say.
As I said, "comic book."
I didn't notice that today, but there were a whole flock of them on a thread last week.
You are quite arrogant and presumptuous, but you do not understand me.
Let me say it again, more clearly this time: a theology which asserts that God caused the Columbia tragedy or 9/11 - through omission or commission, through "removing his cloak" or by direct intervention - is the theology of comic books.
It is also blasphemy to make such an assertion, no matter what the event.
A believer would understand that.
Again, the Islam version of Jerry Falwell.
Yup, that would have been a big monkey wrench in the works.
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