ISIS members holding guns and their flags
A 19th-century depiction of Galileo before the Holy Office, by Joseph-Nicolas Robert-Fleury
It is high time that the lies, the propaganda and the subliminal messages of hate towards Islam be confronted with facts and a reality check.
As I read and listen to the constant barrage of reports and commentary concerning the barbaric groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda I am forced to put it in a historical context. This forces one to compare them to their Christian counterparts present & past. While some would like to negate Christianity's past that is just denial.
My task here is to systematically expose the lies, the misinformation while destroying the prejudice produced by them and their propagators.
Where should I begin? With some facts of course. We have a group called ISIS which kidnaps and beheads mostly foreigners in certain Middle Eastern countries. As well they are committing acts of violence against citizens is these countries. These countries happen to be Islamic.
Far to much do I hear false claims made about Islam that it's holy book the Qur'an tells the Muslims to kill people. They say that it has verses which say that Christians and Jews should be killed. This is not true. What they are misquoting are verses pertaining to defending themselves from Christians, Jew or any one who attacks them. The Qur'an specifically says to never transgress. This means that firstly, ISIS is not following al-Islam while carrying out their acts of violence no matter how much they claim to be doing it in the name of God and Islam.
While the violence is real, the fear and hate being spread because of it is being amplified by media hype and Christian rhetoric. The following is a perfect example.
President Obama recently said in speech directed mostly at Christians,“And lest we get on our high horse and think this is unique to some other place – remember that during the Crusades and the Inquisition committed terrible deeds in the name of Christ,”
As well President Obama made reference to the United States stating,“Slavery and Jim Crow all too often was justified in the name of Christ,”
Robert Jeffress, the pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas and the author of the upcoming book, “Countdown to the Apocalypse: Why ISIS and Ebola Are Only the Beginning,” said there are two problems with Obama’s comparison.
“When Christians act violently they are acting in opposition to the teachings of their founder, Jesus Christ,” Jeffress told me. “They cannot cite a single verse in the New Testament that calls for violence against unbelievers. On the other hand, radical Islamists can point to a number of verses in the Koran calling for Muslims to ‘crucify the infidels.’”
On Wednesday a United Nations watchdog group reported that Islamic militants were crucifying Iraqi children and burying them alive. Others had been sold as sex slaves and boys as young as 18 had been used as suicide bombers, Reuters reported.
“They are following the example of their founder Muhammad who slaughtered and beheaded those who opposed him,” Jeffress said.
While the Crusades were terrible, Jeffress pointed out they were a response to hundreds of years of Muslim aggression – an issue he writes about in his book.
As you might imagine – the president’s remarks did not go over well among conservatives. My friend Michelle Malkin put it nicely:
"ISIS chops off heads, incinerates hostages, kills gays, enslaves girls. Obama: Blame the Crusades," she tweeted.
I was puzzled by something else President Obama said: "We are summoned to push back against those who would distort our religion for their nihilistic ends."
What did he mean by “our religion”? Whose religion? And why did he compare the Crusades to ISIS?
The Crusades ended some 700 years ago. Perhaps the president should be a bit more concerned with the Islamic jihad being waged in this century.
Robert Jeffress and Michelle Malkins problem is that they uses no facts in their reply to President Obama's speech.
The Bible directly says to stone and kill people for various sins. In Leviticus 20:13 it states "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them."
Therefore this notion that the Bible does not call for violence while Islam does is an out right lie.
President Obama did not blame the Crusades for what is happening now. The Crusades were not initiated in response to hundreds of years of Muslim aggression. They were started because they wanted to push back the advances of Muslims who were expanding their territories and building learning institutions. The Christians started it and that is a fact. Crusades
The Inquisition(s) were just as bad if not worse than what ISIS is doing. It might be better if you understood them yourself to decide if they are comparable. Just go to the following links: Inquisition, Spanish_Inquisition, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inquisition
There seems to be a campaign to demonize all Muslims because of the horrible actions of a minority. This minority does not embody nor represent Islam. Despite this fact there are those on the outside who because it is now the trend want to demonize Islam, Muslims and the Qur'an.
The question has arisen, "Why doesn't President Obama want to call ISIS Islamic extremist/radicals/terrorist? Simply because it opens the door to prejudice towards Muslims, Arabs, Africans and anyone who certain non Muslims thinks fit the bill. Already we are seeing hate crimes against Muslims because of this. It is easy to use scapegoats when you are doing the pointing, but let the situation reverse and see how you feel.
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