Tuesday, March 24, 2009

GIVE FUNDAMENTALISM AN INCH AND IT WILL TAKE A MILE!

There is an interesting article entitled, "All homosexuals should be stoned to death, says Muslim preacher of hate" that I urge you to read.

Part of it reads as follows:

All homosexuals should face stoning to death, a Muslim preacher of hate declared yesterday.

Anjem Choudary, the firebrand cleric who wants to see Britain ruled by Sharia law, said such a regime was the only way to fix the country's ills.

Under it, adulterers and homosexuals would be killed by stoning.


The U.S. is far more tolerant of fundamentalism than is Britain, and from the above cited article, we see that unless fundamentalism is directly confronted, all Britons may well suffer for lethargy in the face of this danger.

The above cited article shows that the threats to Gay people are of one piece as are the threats to the very fabric of British society! The same is certainly true in the U.S!

As I've often written, if any one's civil rights are threatened, all of our civil rights are threatened!

We should make no mistake: Many, if not most, "Christian" fundamentalists have the same feelings as do these clerics, except that the former are usually not as honest about their feelings and agenda. An exception is the first and favorite child born of fundamentalism, "Dominionism."

In the U.S., the attempt to impose fundamentalist perceptions in the interpretation of our Constitution, as seen in Dominionism, is a very dangerous path that will allow the threats currently posed to Gay people to be posed to virtually everyone in the U.S.

And when fundamentalist biblical interpretations are inculcated in the electorate who then trust and use those interpretations to vote on the granting or removal of the Constitutional rights of a minority group, as seen in the vote on Prop. 8, that is Dominionism in action!

Moreover, we can expect that the uncertainties of the economy may well make fundamentalism and even Dominionism more seductive to increasing numbers of people who are disoriented by those uncertainties and who are captured by the need to grab on to simplistic ideas and sound bites in order to make sense out of the world and in a desperate attempt to feel better about themselves.

"Our job is to reclaim America for Christ, whatever the cost," [D. James] Kennedy says. "As the vice regents of God, we are to exercise godly dominion and influence over our neighborhoods, our schools, our government, our literature and arts, our sports arenas, our entertainment media, our news media, our scientific endeavors -- in short, over every aspect and institution of human society." [For the full article, see here.]

Give fundamentalists an inch, and they'll take a mile!
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2 comments:

DC HAMPTON JACOBS said...

Psychotic statements like this reflect poorly on Islam. Why aren't imams stepping up to publicly denounce this kind of hate speech? One can only assume from their silence that they agree with him.

I must confess, from all that I've seen and heard about Muslim religious practice over the years, it does not impress me as a legitimate means to salvation! I see a religion even more rife with racism, sexism, heterosexism and warmongering than the modern version of Christianity.

Frankly, I view Islam as false prophecy, but admittedly, I am not a student of Islam. Were I to investigate its doctrine as thoroughly as I've investigated Christian doctrine, I might find something to convince me that Islam's hateful reputation isn't justified. Rehabilitating Christianity, though, is enough of a chore.

Jerry Maneker said...

Thanks Don Charles. The silence of Muslims in the face of such hateful rhetoric is akin to the silence of professing Christians in the face of the haters and hate-mongers who claim to be "Christians." One must conclude that those who keep silent in the face of such hate agree with the statements made in their name, and even made in the name of God. And, speaking as a Christian, that is nothing short of blasphemy!