Posts tagged "Christianity"

Christian cleared of abusing Muslim

by Abdurrahman on Dec 9, 2009 Islam, Muslims, World News • Comments Closed • Akhlaaq, Christianity, Islam, Muslims, Women, world

A Christian couple who run a hotel in northern England were cleared on Wednesday of abusing a Muslim guest for wearing a hijab and then insulting her beliefs.

Benjamin and Sharon Vogelenzang were accused of launching a tirade against white British Muslim convert Ericka Tazi, 60, at their hotel in Liverpool where she had been staying while she attended a course at a local hospital in March.

Tazi, who converted to Islam 18 months ago, said they had laughed at her when she wore a hijab on the last day of her stay and Dutch-born Benjamin Vogenlenzang, 53, had called the prophet Mohammed a murderer and likened him to Saddam Hussein and Hitler.

Sharon Vogelenzang, 54, admitted suggesting that the hijab was a form of bondage but said her views were based on media references to Muslim women.

The couple also told the court that Tazi had insulted their religion by calling Jesus Christ a minor prophet and said the bible was untrue.

After a two-day trial judge Richard Clancy at Liverpool Magistrates Court dismissed charges the hoteliers had used threatening, abusive or insulting words which were religiously aggravated, the Press Association reported.

Mrs Tazi

He said Tazi’s claim she had been abused for up to an hour had not been borne out by other prosecution witnesses.

Prosecutors defended bringing the case, saying they believed there had been sufficient evidence for a realistic chance of a conviction.

“We would like to thank all those who have supported us over the last nine months — our family, our friends, our church, and Christians from all around the world and non-Christians,” Sharon Vogelenzang told reporters outside court after the verdict.”As Christmas approaches we wish everybody peace and goodwill.”

‘Hamas disinters Christians in Gaza’

by Asad on Dec 12, 2009 Christians, Israel, World News • Comments Closed • Christianity, Israel, Jewes, world

Majed El Shafie

Every three minutes a Christian is being tortured in the Muslim world, and in 2009 more than 165,000 Christians will have been killed because of their faith, most of them in Muslim countries, according to a human rights organization that is visiting Israel starting Sunday.

“Hamas digs up the bodies of Christians from Christian burial sites in the Gaza Strip claiming that they pollute the earth,” said Reverend Majed El Shafie, President of One Free World International (OFWI), who will head a delegation of human rights activists, members of parliament from Canada and religious personalities.

During their visit to Israel the delegation will hold a conference on human rights and persecuted minorities at the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem. The conference will provide new statistics on the persecution of minorities in Muslim countries.

El Shafie said that between 200-300 million Christians are being persecuted in the world, 80 percent of whom lived in Muslim countries and the rest in communist and other countries.

Members of the delegation will meet with Knesset Speaker Reuven Ri (more…)

Can a Christian learn from Ramadan?

by Abdurrahman on Aug 27, 2009 Islam, North America • Comments Closed • Christianity, Islam, Ramadan

Ramadan seen as ideal time to reflect on values shared by great Monotheistic religions, humanity.Â
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By Yvonne R. Davis

What can Christians learn from Muslims during Ramadan? Is there wisdom that can be obtained from the 30-day fast â€“ one of Islamâ€™s five Pillars?

Searching for articles, essays or thoughts written by Christians about Ramadan, I could not find any substantial writing from a Christian perspective on how Christians could receive a spiritual benefit from Ramadan. It seems to me, for Christians in the United States to embrace the practice of Ramadan and the rituals surrounding it perhaps may be seen as some form of heresy for acknowledging the beauty of such an observance or even attempting to do it for the same reasons Muslims do.

Nearly 2-billion Muslims around the world commenced Ramadan at sunset on August 21. At this time, the Ummah Wahida (One Community) is fasting â€“ there will be no eating, no drinking of any liquid and no sexual relations from sunrise to sundown. During the day a Muslim is supposed to not engage in the usual secularity of life in their speech and action. They are to continue to give prayer and supplications five times per day at the Mosque, in the home or where ever a Muslim believer is facing the East towards Mecca bowing to Allah in the most prostrate position. Work days in Muslim countries are shorter and families tend to stay together throughout the day. In the evening the Iftar (dinner) is served to break the swam (fast) â€“ all and all the focus at this time is still on Godly things.

A moment of sincere reflection for Muslims on the status of the poor and downtrodden; the sacrifice of level one of Abrahamâ€™s Maslowâ€™s hierarchy of needs is a reminder to followers to give to the least of these, be thankful to Allah for his blessings and to pray for all people in a most troubled world. The greatness of Ramadan is manifested by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH â€“ Peace Be Upon Him) when he revealed the Holy Quran, it testifies: â€œRamadan is the month in which was sent down the Quran as a guide to mankind …(2:185).â€ (more…)

Change in Muslim-Christian relations

by Abdullah on Oct 12, 2009 Christians, Islam, Knowledge, Muslims, North America, World News • Comments Closed • Christianity, Islam, Knowledge, Muslims, North America, world

Islam and Christianity are far and away the two largest global religions (1.5 and 2.1 billion). Muslims and Christians together make up well over half of the world’s population. Today, more than ever before, they co-exist or encounter each other in 57 Muslim countries and in Europe and America and beyond. Despite significant doctrinal differences, they also they share much in common in matters of faith, values and interests. If religion has too often been part of the problem, it must also be part of the solution.

Share much in common in matters of faith, values and interests

In contrast to the past, the world of the 21st century is both transformed and threatened by the impact of globalization, a source of integration and fragmentation in international affairs, economic and social development, and inter-religious or multi-religious affairs. Today, President Barack Obama and European leaders are faced with the fallout from eight years of Bush legacy that led many Muslim critics of the US-UK war on global terrorism to charge it was a war against Islam and Muslims, an attempt to redraw the map of the Muslim world. Obama, in his inauguration and subsequent addresses to Muslims from Ankara and Cairo, has sought to recast America’s image among its Muslim and non-Muslim allies. His commitment to the importance of a multi-lateral approach with its emphasis on diplomacy in the pursuit of peace and justice — in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran, were among the reasons for the recent and surprising award of the Nobel Peace Prize as a recognition and encouragement of Barack Obama’s fresh international vision in American foreign policy. (more…)

Chilcot will change the way Muslims see the west

by Asad on Feb 5, 2010 Islam, Peace, Politics, Terrorism, World News • Comments Closed • Christianity, Islam, Politics, Terrorism, world

If there is any hint of whitewash in the Iraq inquiry, it will only exacerbate an already inflamed situation

Article By: Karen Armstrong

As we watch the unfolding drama of the Chilcot inquiry, we should be aware that this is not simply an act of domestic cleansing. Whatever the implications for our political and judicial institutions, it is crucial that the British people learn how we came to go to war. But Muslims are also waiting for the outcome of the investigation, and this makes the inquiry an opportunity that we can ill afford to lose.

It is simply not true that the current tension between the west and the Islamic world is due to an inevitable “clash of civilisations”. At the beginning of the 20th century, nearly every Muslim intellectual was in love with the modern west, which they found deeply congenial with their own traditions. Hence the famous remark of Muhammad Abduh, Grand Mufti of Egypt (1849-1905), who said, provocatively, after a trip to Paris: “In France I saw Islam but no Muslims; in Cairo I see Muslims but no Islam.” His point was that the modern European economy had created conditions of fairness and equity that came closer to the Qur’anic ideal than was possible in the pre-modern economies of the Muslim world.

Unfortunately, too many self-interested western policies in the Islamic world have soured that early enthusiasm. But not all Muslims have given up on the west. Gallup’s unprecedented study of more than one billion Muslims, conducted between 2001 and 2007 in 35 countries, revealed, for example, that what many Muslims admire most about the west is its political liberty and freedom of speech. (more…)

Florida Students Sent Home After Wearing ‘Islam Is of the Devil’ Shirts

by Asad on Aug 28, 2009 Islam • Comments Closed • Christianity, Islam

Islam is of the Devil

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 FOX NEWS

A handful of students were sent home from Florida schools this week after showing up in shirts proclaiming that “Islam is of the Devil,” part of a fiery church campaign to “expose” Islam as a religion of violence.

Three high schoolers were forced to leave Tuesday for wearing the shirts made by the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., where school officials say violated the district’s dress codes.

A middle schooler was also asked to change clothes because of the shirt, which got a 10-year-old fifth grader sent packing on Monday, when the incidents began.

“Students have a right of free speech, and we have allowed students to come to school wearing clothes with messages,” school district staff attorney told the Gainesville Sun.

“But this message is a divisive message that is likely to offend students. Principals, I feel reasonably, have deemed that a violation of the dress code.”

Wittmer told the paper that the school district is obligated to protect all students from religious discrimination regardless of their faith, and had to ensure equal treatment for all students.

“The next kid might show up with a shirt saying ‘Christianity is of the Devil,’” Wittmer said.

The Dove center has come under fire already for posting a sign with the same message, which it says will help “expose” Islam as “a violent and oppressive religion” that is trying to deceive and destroy society.

“It is time that all Christians unite, stop being passive and selfish and stand up and fight for the truth,” says a posting on the church’s Web site.

Muslim advocates have pressed the church to remove the sign and say the anti-Islam message should not be accepted when “schools are supposed to be teaching tolerance for others,” the Gainesville Sun reported.

“It’s pretty offensive, isn’t it?” said Saeed R. Khan, president of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida.

“Particularly in a school setting where you are trying to create an atmosphere where people are supposed to respect each other and live with each other, where we have people of every ethnicity and every religion,” he told the paper.

Hate crimes on rise in Canada

by Khan on Jun 14, 2010 Canada, Christians, Islam • Comments Closed • Canada, Christianity, Islam

Hate crimes in Canada increased 35 percent in one year, with more than half of them motivated by race or ethnicity, government figures show.

Police departments reported 1,036 hate crimes in 2008, 35 percent more than in 2007, with 55 percent motivated by race, 26 percent by religion and 16 percent by sexual orientation, a report released Monday by Statistics Canada showed. While all three categories of hate crime increased in 2008, the biggest jump was in crimes motivated by sexual orientation, which doubled from 2007 to 2008. The category also had the most violent hate crimes, with 75 percent motivated by sexual orientation.

Police-reported hate crimes refer to criminal incidents that, upon investigation by police, are determined to have been motivated by hate toward an identifiable group. The incident may target race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation, language, sex, age, mental or physical disability, or other factors such as profession or political beliefs, the report said.

About two-thirds of religiously-motivated hate crimes were committed against Jews. There were 165 hate crimes targeting the Jewish faith in 2008, up 42 percent.

Police reported 30 hate crimes against Catholics, double the total in 2007. The 26 incidents against the Muslim faith represented a slight drop from 2007.

Among the hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity, almost 40 percent were committed against blacks. Police reported 205 hate crimes against blacks in 2008, up 30 percent over 2007, but still lower than the 2006 total of 238.

Irish church knew abuse ‘endemic’

by sufisahab on Dec 4, 2009 Abuse, Child Abuse, Christians, Church • Comments Closed • Abuse, Child, Christianity, Church, Irich

An inquiry into child abuse at Catholic institutions in Ireland has found church leaders knew that sexual abuse was “endemic” in boys’ institutions.

It also found physical and emotional abuse and neglect were features of institutions.

Schools were run “in a severe, regimented manner that imposed unreasonable and oppressive discipline on children and even on staff”.

The nine-year inquiry investigated a 60-year period.

About 35,000 children were placed in a network of reformatories, industrial schools and workhouses up to the 1980s.

More than 2,000 told the Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse they suffered physical and sexual abuse while there.

The leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Cardinal Sean Brady, said he was “profoundly sorry and deeply ashamed that children suffered in such awful ways in these institutions”.

“This report makes it clear that great wrong and hurt were caused to some of the most vulnerable children in our society,” he said.

“It documents a shameful catalogue of cruelty: neglect, physical, sexual and emotional abuse, perpetrated against children.” (more…)

Ladies and Gentlemen! Terrorism is on the rise

by Abdurrahman on May 9, 2010 Islam, Muslims, North America, Pakistan, Terrorism, World News • Comments Closed • Christianity, Islam, Muslims, Pakistan, Terrorism, world

By Zahid Malik:
Terrorism cannot be measured by the number of suicide bomb blasts in Pakistan and abroad because such a yardstick may be quite misleading. In my view terrorism is a state of mind and you never know that there may be a person in your office or near your home or maybe in your own home, having some traces of terrorism. If we consider operations Rah-i-Raast and Rah-i-Nijat in Swat and FATA and ongoing operations in Afghanistan and the rest of the world, it is difficult to identify a terrorist until he physically acts openly and that is why such operations though eliminate the hard cores, yet one never knows how many remnants still exist there. After a great deal of soul searching and exchange of views with academicians and scholars, I have come to the conclusion that this state of mind cannot be changed unless and until the causes of terrorism are not duly addressed.

I curse Samuel P Huntington who floated the dangerous and divisive theory of “clash of civilizations” nearly fifteen years ago which explicitly refers to terrorism as the conflict among the Islamic civilization and other civilizations, particularly the West perhaps on behalf of neocons which was not only picked up but magnified around the world. Huntington replaced conflict among classes by conflict in civilizations, eventually even amongst religions. This disastrous and catastrophic theory was overblown to such an extent that a stage has now come that when a baby in Washington is born, it is imbibed with the inherent notion of equating Islam with terrorism. There is a hidden sense of fear in the United States and some people suddenly wake up during sleep fearing terrorist attack because of the highly biased notion floated by Huntington. (more…)

Lessons On How Not To Fight Terror

by Abdullah on Dec 9, 2009 Islam, Knowledge, Muslims, North America, Terrorism, World News • Comments Closed • Christianity, Islam, Knowledge, Muslims, North America, Terrorism, world

77-year-old Richard T. Antoun. The professor was stabbed in his campus office.

The assassination of State University of New York-Binghamton Middle East anthropology professor emeritus Richard Antoun, on Friday, December 4, in which a Saudi Arabian graduate student named Abdulsalam Al-Zahrani has been charged, once again highlights the issue: how to distinguish between Islamist extremists and moderate Muslim believers, both of whom have come to live in the West?

An official British government project titled “Preventing Violent Extremism”–with “Prevent” as its abbreviation, but also known as “PVE”–has received much attention on its home soil, but is seldom mentioned elsewhere. Yet the conception, difficulties, and, finally, the probable destruction of the program by Muslim radicals abetted by “anti-racism” activists, offer numerous lessons to Americans.

In the aftermath of the July 7, 2005, London metro bombings, Labour government officials developed a counter-terrorism strategy called “Contest” (emphasis on the second syllable), intended to mobilize anti-radical elements among British Muslims. “Prevent” was introduced in 2006 as one of four alliterative aims: “Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Prepare.” Early in 2007, the UK Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) specified its goals and methods in a paper titled “Preventing Violent Extremism: Winning Hearts and Minds.” That set of guidelines declared that in contending with terrorism, “while a security response is vital it will not, on its own, be enough. Winning hearts and minds and preventing individuals being attracted to violent extremism in the first place is also crucial.” Definitions of these worthy goals were, however, vague–they comprised little more than “promoting shared values, supporting local solutions, building civic capacity and leadership, and strengthening the role of faith institutions and leaders.” (more…)

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