I've been out walking
I don't do too much talking
These days, these days.
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
And all the times I had the chance to.
I've stopped my rambling,
I don't do too much gambling
These days, these days.
These days I seem to think about
How all the changes came about my ways
And I wonder if I'll see another highway.
I had a lover,
I don't think I'll risk another
These days, these days.
And if I seem to be afraid
To live the life that I have made in song
It's just that I've been losing so long.
La la la la la, la la.
I've stopped my dreaming,
I won't do too much scheming
These days, these days.
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten.
Please don't confront me with my failures,
I had not forgotten them.
~nico
in my mind im gone to carolina, now listening to mr james taylor, i'll never forget listening to him and also tenacious d on the way to carolina.
you know when you laugh rather than cry?
i think what i hate about depression the most is that im really so grateful, so astounded by my life, my circumstances, but somehow that gets sucked away and
i forget
i forget
~its called irony
when you most need to move you got no energy~
yes im gone to carolina in my mind . . . im gone say nice things about me
ah no. the next song on james taylors greatest hits is fire and rain. oh this song.
there is a young cowboy who lives on the range his horse and his cattle are his only companions he works in the saddle and sleeps in the canyon . . . thinking about
There is a young cowboy, he lives on the range.
His horse and his cattle are his only companions.
He works in the saddle and he sleeps in the canyons,
waiting for summer, his pastures to change.
And as the moon rises he sits by his fire, thinking about women and glasses of beer.
And closing his eyes as the doggies retire, he sings out a song which is soft but it's clear
as if maybe someone could hear:
Goodnight you moon light ladies, rock-a-bye sweet baby James.
Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose, won't you let me go down in my dreams?
And rock-a-bye sweet baby James.
Now the first of December was covered with snow
and so was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston.
Though the Berkshires seemed dreamlike on account of that frosting,
with ten miles behind me and ten thousand more to go.
There's a song that they sing when they take to the highway,
a song that they sing when they take to the sea,
a song that they sing of their home in the sky,
maybe you can believe it if it helps you to sleep,
but singing works just fine for me.
So, goodnight you moon light ladies, rock-a-bye sweet baby James.
Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose, won't you let me go down in my dreams?
And rock-a-bye sweet baby James.
Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Saturday, October 21, 2006
Can a Muslim be a good American?
CAN A GOOD MUSLIM BE A GOOD AMERICAN?
I forwarded that question to a friend that worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years.
The following is his forwarded reply:
Theologically - no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia.
Religiously - no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256)
Scripturally - no. Because his allegiance is to the five pillars of Islam and the Quran (Koran).
Geographically - no Because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he turns in prayer five times a day.
Socially - no. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.
Politically - no. Because he must submit to the mullah (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and Destruction of America, the great Satan.
Domestically - no. Because he is instructed to marry four women and Beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34).
Intellectually - no. Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.
Philosophically - no. Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not allow freedom of religion and expression Democracy and Islam cannot coexist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.
Spiritually - no. Because when we declare "one nation under God," the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in The Quran's 99 excellent names.
Therefore after much study and deliberation....perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country. They obviously cannot be both "good" Muslims and good Americans. Call it what you wish....it's still the truth.
If you find yourself intellectually in agreement with the above statements, perhaps you will share this with your friends. The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country and our future.
Pass it on Fellow Americans. The religious war is bigger than we know or understand.
Besides the logic being utterly specious, fallacious, and rife with non-sequiturs and circular reasoning, (primarily relying upon the timeworn faulty "No True Scotsman" argument) it preys on the ignorance of the paranoid. A little bit of scrutiny and critical thinking will expose this propaganda for what it really is: hate masquerading as "patriotism".
Can a Good Muslim be a Good American?
Theologically -- How is one theologically American? Is God American? Is America a theocracy? Can not atheists be American? The Native Americans did not worship Jehovah, but I would propose that they are more "American" than many.
Thomas Jefferson said, "I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvres to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another." John Adams said, "this nation of ours was not founded on Christian principles." If the Founding Fathers intended for America to be an exclusively Christian nation, it is curious that they did not say so. Did not even their forbears, the Pilgrims and the Puritans, come to this land to escape religious persecution and intolerance?
There is no theological requirement for American citizenship. On the contrary, the First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". Therefore, the suggestion that there is such a thing as an "American theology" is fundamentally UN-AMERICAN.
Furthermore, the word "ALLAH" does not refer to a god, but is a word that means THE (only) GOD. It is the same God (and the word derives from the same root) as the Hebrew ELOAH, which is the God of the Old Testament from which Christians derive their own concept of Deity. The fact that Muslims' concept of the ONE GOD differs from Christians' concept of the ONE GOD is irrelevant. There is no consensus even among American Christians regarding the attributes of the One God, merely that He is only One! In this, Jews, Christians, and Muslims are in complete agreement, and conceptually their monotheistic beliefs have the exact same origin!
Religiously -- Is there an American religion? It would seem that pesky Bill of Rights expressly would forbid such a thing. Americans did not invent Christianity, neither do they own some kind of a monopoly on the thing. America is NOT a Christian nation, though it may happen to be a nation inhabited by a large number of people who view themselves as Christians. Being a Christian doesn't make you American any more than being eating french fries makes you French. There is no religious requirement to being American.
Does the God of the Christian accept other religions other than that of the Christian? Does the God of the Catholic accept the religion of the Protestant? Does the God of the Baptist accept the religion of the Lutheran? Does the God of the Christian accept the Jew? If not, then it's rather difficult to cast aspersions on the God of the Muslim for prefering the religion of the Muslim.
Scripturally -- What are the scriptural requirements of Americanism? THERE ARE NONE. But pray tell, what are these frightful "five pillars of Islam"? They are:
1) faith in the Oneness of God and the prophethood of Muhammed,
2) five daily prayers,
3) concern and almsgiving for the needy,
4) self-purification through fasting,
5) pilgrimage to the holy site of Mecca for those who are able.
Sounds pretty terrible. And UN-American. Everyone knows REAL Americans don't give a crap about the needy or fasting.
Geographically -- What consequence does the direction one faces have upon one's nationality? Do we lose our citizenship upon facing east, or any other direction -- or even upon crossing the borders of our country into another? A person born on US soil and living his or her entire life outside the country can STILL be an American. Non-sequitur. There are no geographical (or directional!) restrictions on Americanism.
Socially -- Americans must be friends with everyone; you CANNOT be an American unless you are. That is one of our rules, in the Constitution, I think. There are, of course, exceptions. Republicans need not necessarily befriend non-Republicans, and if you are white, you don't have to be friends with non-whites.
Strange, though -- I HAVE had Muslim friends over the years, yet I am not Muslim. How to explain this? Perhaps they did not realize that they are "forbidden" from being my friend, just as 2 Corinthians 6:14 seems to suggest that Christians ought not to befriend non-Christians. 2 John 1:7 seems to suggest that anyone who does not believe in Christ is "a deceiver and and antichrist", which puts one in a bit of a quandary -- are Christians allowed to be friends with antichrists?
Politically -- What makes a person "politically" American? Are all Americans required to hold identical political views? Obviously not, but this person is not even talking about politics! Are there some mullahs that teach radical and anti-West rhetoric? Sure, and they happen to be mainly members of a hard-line fundamentalist sect known as the Taliban. But if you want to make assertions about 1.3 BILLION people by the actions or beliefs of a tiny little fringe group, then maybe you can tell us how say, the Branch Davidians are representative of Seventh Day Adventists, Americans, and/or Christians in general? These are the fallacies of " biased sample" and "hasty generalization".
Anyway, it's hard to understand why 8,000,000 - 10,000,000 Muslims would live in the United States if they all believed America was the "Great Satan".
Domestically -- This particular passage in the Koran makes no mention of the number of wives that a man may possess -- though Islam may permit up to four. Let us not forget that polygyny was endorsed by God in the Bible, and numerous prophets had multiple wives which God gave them. Christ said, "think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am come not to destroy them but to fulfill." (Matt. 5:17) Notably, Christ teaches the Parable of the Ten Virgins, where a bridegroom is to marry 10 women in Matthew 25:1-13. If he found something inherently wrong with or unusual about polygamy, it would be strange for him to use it as a the basis for this instructional narrative.
This passage does instruct a husband to physically punish his wife if she is disobedient. Who cares? The Bible is not noted for its particularly enlightened views on the equality of women to men, either, most familiarly with regard to the teachings of Paul. But, one might argue, the Bible was written by a patriarchal people 2000 years ago -- times have changed since then! Indeed they have. Yet perhaps the Founding Fathers did not intend EVEN INTEND for women to be equal to men, or else, would women have needed to wait until 1920 to earn the right to vote? Which is more "American" -- the way the Founding Fathers intended it originally, or the way it is today?
But if you want to pick and choose disturbing verses from ancient religious texts upon which to formulate your opinions about the faiths' adherents, I particularly like commandments such as the one that insists a son that curseth his parent be put to death by stoning (Ex. 21:17), a person be killed for defiling the Sabbath (Ex. 31:14), or that any person who touches something touched by a menstruating woman becomes ritually unclean (Lev. 15:19). No one makes a fuss about these bizarre commandments that Christians themselves ignore, though it seems, following the same logic, that a Christian's reverence toward the Bible, which demands the life of a Sabbath-breaker, is just as un-American IF NOT MORE as a Muslim's reverence toward the Koran, that mentions a woman may be physically punished (not killed, mind you!) for disobedience.
In any case, I'm afraid one's neither propensity for polyamory nor domestic abuse preclude one from being American.
Intellectually -- FALSE. The Constitution is not "based on Biblical principles", or if it is, which ones, exactly? Certainly not the Principle of Familial Division, taught by Jesus in Luke 12: "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father."
Probably not the Principle of Animal Sacrifice, nor the Principle of Tithing. Not even the Principles of Loving One Another or Turning the Other Cheek are mentioned in the Constitution, and those are pretty nice ones, even. One Biblical principle that the Founding Fathers DO seem to have provided for is that of Slave Ownership (Lev. 25:44) -- but since having abolished it in 1865, perhaps our country is no longer as Biblically-rooted OR as American as they Founding Fathers intended.
One need not be intellectual to be American. In many cases it seems to be a hindrance.
Philosophically -- FALSE. Or else we have to ask ourselves why Patriot Numero Uno GWB is trying to establish a democracy in Iraq; it seems like a mighty waste of time if "democracy and Islam cannot coexist". Ignore the rather inconvenient fact that Turkey is an Islamic democracy. Perhaps Asians and democracy cannot coexist either -- I notice that most Asians live in a communist country.
Spiritually -- There is no uniquely American spirituality. More importantly, one need not be a monotheist to be spiritual! Moreover, it makes no difference whether most Americans think God is "loving and kind", "has a physical body", "sports a fluffy white beard", or "loves the color pink". One's opinions about the attributes of God have no bearing on that person's spirituality, and most importantly of all, spirituality is not a prerequisite for being American!
Therefore, after much study and deliberation, perhaps we should be VERY SUSPICIOUS of overzealous paranoid pseudopatriots with shoddy logic and axes to grind. Call it what you wish -- IT'S STILL THE TRUTH.
The more people who start thinking critically, the better it will be for our country and our future.
As for religious wars, I'm not interested in fighting any. The enemy of ignorance is knowledge, and those who lack it don't need to be "fought", they need to be enlightened.
America is not a country of conformists. We love this country because it gives us the freedom to be ourselves -- Americans -- in whatever way we choose. Nothing could be MORE un-American than to insist that those with differing viewpoints from one's own cannot be "patriots".
I forwarded that question to a friend that worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years.
The following is his forwarded reply:
Theologically - no. Because his allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia.
Religiously - no. Because no other religion is accepted by his Allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256)
Scripturally - no. Because his allegiance is to the five pillars of Islam and the Quran (Koran).
Geographically - no Because his allegiance is to Mecca, to which he turns in prayer five times a day.
Socially - no. Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.
Politically - no. Because he must submit to the mullah (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and Destruction of America, the great Satan.
Domestically - no. Because he is instructed to marry four women and Beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34).
Intellectually - no. Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.
Philosophically - no. Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not allow freedom of religion and expression Democracy and Islam cannot coexist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.
Spiritually - no. Because when we declare "one nation under God," the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in The Quran's 99 excellent names.
Therefore after much study and deliberation....perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country. They obviously cannot be both "good" Muslims and good Americans. Call it what you wish....it's still the truth.
If you find yourself intellectually in agreement with the above statements, perhaps you will share this with your friends. The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country and our future.
Pass it on Fellow Americans. The religious war is bigger than we know or understand.
Besides the logic being utterly specious, fallacious, and rife with non-sequiturs and circular reasoning, (primarily relying upon the timeworn faulty "No True Scotsman" argument) it preys on the ignorance of the paranoid. A little bit of scrutiny and critical thinking will expose this propaganda for what it really is: hate masquerading as "patriotism".
Can a Good Muslim be a Good American?
Theologically -- How is one theologically American? Is God American? Is America a theocracy? Can not atheists be American? The Native Americans did not worship Jehovah, but I would propose that they are more "American" than many.
Thomas Jefferson said, "I am for freedom of religion, & against all maneuvres to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another." John Adams said, "this nation of ours was not founded on Christian principles." If the Founding Fathers intended for America to be an exclusively Christian nation, it is curious that they did not say so. Did not even their forbears, the Pilgrims and the Puritans, come to this land to escape religious persecution and intolerance?
There is no theological requirement for American citizenship. On the contrary, the First Amendment states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". Therefore, the suggestion that there is such a thing as an "American theology" is fundamentally UN-AMERICAN.
Furthermore, the word "ALLAH" does not refer to a god, but is a word that means THE (only) GOD. It is the same God (and the word derives from the same root) as the Hebrew ELOAH, which is the God of the Old Testament from which Christians derive their own concept of Deity. The fact that Muslims' concept of the ONE GOD differs from Christians' concept of the ONE GOD is irrelevant. There is no consensus even among American Christians regarding the attributes of the One God, merely that He is only One! In this, Jews, Christians, and Muslims are in complete agreement, and conceptually their monotheistic beliefs have the exact same origin!
Religiously -- Is there an American religion? It would seem that pesky Bill of Rights expressly would forbid such a thing. Americans did not invent Christianity, neither do they own some kind of a monopoly on the thing. America is NOT a Christian nation, though it may happen to be a nation inhabited by a large number of people who view themselves as Christians. Being a Christian doesn't make you American any more than being eating french fries makes you French. There is no religious requirement to being American.
Does the God of the Christian accept other religions other than that of the Christian? Does the God of the Catholic accept the religion of the Protestant? Does the God of the Baptist accept the religion of the Lutheran? Does the God of the Christian accept the Jew? If not, then it's rather difficult to cast aspersions on the God of the Muslim for prefering the religion of the Muslim.
Scripturally -- What are the scriptural requirements of Americanism? THERE ARE NONE. But pray tell, what are these frightful "five pillars of Islam"? They are:
1) faith in the Oneness of God and the prophethood of Muhammed,
2) five daily prayers,
3) concern and almsgiving for the needy,
4) self-purification through fasting,
5) pilgrimage to the holy site of Mecca for those who are able.
Sounds pretty terrible. And UN-American. Everyone knows REAL Americans don't give a crap about the needy or fasting.
Geographically -- What consequence does the direction one faces have upon one's nationality? Do we lose our citizenship upon facing east, or any other direction -- or even upon crossing the borders of our country into another? A person born on US soil and living his or her entire life outside the country can STILL be an American. Non-sequitur. There are no geographical (or directional!) restrictions on Americanism.
Socially -- Americans must be friends with everyone; you CANNOT be an American unless you are. That is one of our rules, in the Constitution, I think. There are, of course, exceptions. Republicans need not necessarily befriend non-Republicans, and if you are white, you don't have to be friends with non-whites.
Strange, though -- I HAVE had Muslim friends over the years, yet I am not Muslim. How to explain this? Perhaps they did not realize that they are "forbidden" from being my friend, just as 2 Corinthians 6:14 seems to suggest that Christians ought not to befriend non-Christians. 2 John 1:7 seems to suggest that anyone who does not believe in Christ is "a deceiver and and antichrist", which puts one in a bit of a quandary -- are Christians allowed to be friends with antichrists?
Politically -- What makes a person "politically" American? Are all Americans required to hold identical political views? Obviously not, but this person is not even talking about politics! Are there some mullahs that teach radical and anti-West rhetoric? Sure, and they happen to be mainly members of a hard-line fundamentalist sect known as the Taliban. But if you want to make assertions about 1.3 BILLION people by the actions or beliefs of a tiny little fringe group, then maybe you can tell us how say, the Branch Davidians are representative of Seventh Day Adventists, Americans, and/or Christians in general? These are the fallacies of " biased sample" and "hasty generalization".
Anyway, it's hard to understand why 8,000,000 - 10,000,000 Muslims would live in the United States if they all believed America was the "Great Satan".
Domestically -- This particular passage in the Koran makes no mention of the number of wives that a man may possess -- though Islam may permit up to four. Let us not forget that polygyny was endorsed by God in the Bible, and numerous prophets had multiple wives which God gave them. Christ said, "think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets; I am come not to destroy them but to fulfill." (Matt. 5:17) Notably, Christ teaches the Parable of the Ten Virgins, where a bridegroom is to marry 10 women in Matthew 25:1-13. If he found something inherently wrong with or unusual about polygamy, it would be strange for him to use it as a the basis for this instructional narrative.
This passage does instruct a husband to physically punish his wife if she is disobedient. Who cares? The Bible is not noted for its particularly enlightened views on the equality of women to men, either, most familiarly with regard to the teachings of Paul. But, one might argue, the Bible was written by a patriarchal people 2000 years ago -- times have changed since then! Indeed they have. Yet perhaps the Founding Fathers did not intend EVEN INTEND for women to be equal to men, or else, would women have needed to wait until 1920 to earn the right to vote? Which is more "American" -- the way the Founding Fathers intended it originally, or the way it is today?
But if you want to pick and choose disturbing verses from ancient religious texts upon which to formulate your opinions about the faiths' adherents, I particularly like commandments such as the one that insists a son that curseth his parent be put to death by stoning (Ex. 21:17), a person be killed for defiling the Sabbath (Ex. 31:14), or that any person who touches something touched by a menstruating woman becomes ritually unclean (Lev. 15:19). No one makes a fuss about these bizarre commandments that Christians themselves ignore, though it seems, following the same logic, that a Christian's reverence toward the Bible, which demands the life of a Sabbath-breaker, is just as un-American IF NOT MORE as a Muslim's reverence toward the Koran, that mentions a woman may be physically punished (not killed, mind you!) for disobedience.
In any case, I'm afraid one's neither propensity for polyamory nor domestic abuse preclude one from being American.
Intellectually -- FALSE. The Constitution is not "based on Biblical principles", or if it is, which ones, exactly? Certainly not the Principle of Familial Division, taught by Jesus in Luke 12: "Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father."
Probably not the Principle of Animal Sacrifice, nor the Principle of Tithing. Not even the Principles of Loving One Another or Turning the Other Cheek are mentioned in the Constitution, and those are pretty nice ones, even. One Biblical principle that the Founding Fathers DO seem to have provided for is that of Slave Ownership (Lev. 25:44) -- but since having abolished it in 1865, perhaps our country is no longer as Biblically-rooted OR as American as they Founding Fathers intended.
One need not be intellectual to be American. In many cases it seems to be a hindrance.
Philosophically -- FALSE. Or else we have to ask ourselves why Patriot Numero Uno GWB is trying to establish a democracy in Iraq; it seems like a mighty waste of time if "democracy and Islam cannot coexist". Ignore the rather inconvenient fact that Turkey is an Islamic democracy. Perhaps Asians and democracy cannot coexist either -- I notice that most Asians live in a communist country.
Spiritually -- There is no uniquely American spirituality. More importantly, one need not be a monotheist to be spiritual! Moreover, it makes no difference whether most Americans think God is "loving and kind", "has a physical body", "sports a fluffy white beard", or "loves the color pink". One's opinions about the attributes of God have no bearing on that person's spirituality, and most importantly of all, spirituality is not a prerequisite for being American!
Therefore, after much study and deliberation, perhaps we should be VERY SUSPICIOUS of overzealous paranoid pseudopatriots with shoddy logic and axes to grind. Call it what you wish -- IT'S STILL THE TRUTH.
The more people who start thinking critically, the better it will be for our country and our future.
As for religious wars, I'm not interested in fighting any. The enemy of ignorance is knowledge, and those who lack it don't need to be "fought", they need to be enlightened.
America is not a country of conformists. We love this country because it gives us the freedom to be ourselves -- Americans -- in whatever way we choose. Nothing could be MORE un-American than to insist that those with differing viewpoints from one's own cannot be "patriots".
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