From Chuck Colson’s Breakpoint article “One-Way Sympathy” (8/15/06)

“Since the start of the Danish cartoon controversy earlier this year, Vatican officials have expressed sympathy with Islamic outrage over the depictions of Muhammad. This sympathy comes from knowing what it’s like to have your beliefs treated with disrespect and even contempt. Yet in much of the Islamic world, that sympathy isn’t a two-way street.

That’s why the Vatican issued a statement “urging Islamic countries to reciprocate by showing more tolerance toward their Christian minorities.” As Angelo Soldano, the Vatican’s Secretary of State put it: “If we tell our people they have no right to offend, we have to tell the others they have no right to destroy us . . . “

Destroy is not too strong a word. The anger originally directed at Denmark is increasingly being directed at Christians. In Turkey, a priest was murdered in an attack that the Turkish media has connected to the cartoon controversy. In Pakistan, protesting mobs have ransacked churches and beaten Christians. In Beirut, which, unlike Pakistan, has a large Christian population, a Christian neighborhood was attacked by a Muslim mob.

By far the worst attacks have occurred in Nigeria. In the state of Borno, attacks left as many as fifty-one Christians dead, including a priest. The Christian property destroyed included at least six churches, both Catholic and Protestant, the Bishop’s home, and a Christian bookstore.

The rioters, who went on a rampage after hearing a Muslim cleric denounce the cartoons, sent a clear message with their choice of targets: These are our true enemies, the Christians. This led to a deplorable, yet predictable, response: Nigerian Christians retaliated against Muslims, killing one and burning a mosque. This is tragic…”

This blog seems to gravitate towards religious freedom and I appreciate the awareness created by Colson.

LONDON, Aug. 12 — As a Muslim, Qadeer Ahmed says, he believes that violence against civilians is never justified. But as a British Muslim, he is not surprised to find the country once again at the center of a reported terrorist plot by homegrown extremists.

“When people say it’s Bush and Blair against the world, it’s difficult to argue with them,” said Mr. Ahmed, 37, a leader of the largest mosque in High Wycombe, where half a dozen young British Muslims were among the 24 arrested Thursday in what the authorities said was an elaborate plan to blow up planes on trans-Atlantic routes.

Despite government efforts over the last several years to reach out to community leaders — a tricky proposition, given that Muslims hardly speak with one voice — many Muslims have hardened their resentment of their country…”

Identity is defintely part of the problem. As a first-generation American-born Middle-Easterner, I believe my family raised us to be proud of our heritage but integrating with our new home. It probably also has something to do with the fact that my parents didn’t hate the country they were immigrating to as many Muslim immigrants seem to indicate.

If you are a Muslim in pursuit of a better life, that’s great. May you be welcome to whatever country you desire. However, you must contribute to that new society, help it, build it and at the very least not be a burden to it. (Or at the very, very least, not destory it but this is not the intention of this post).

It’s a NY Times article, it’s not anti-Muslim and I am not implying that all those Muslims polled are in terrorists (but some obviously are). But I am surprised of the attitude that they have towards their new countries and I suspect this is major part of the general problem, part of the attitude behind the “clash of civilizations” we discuss.

Found another related to the subject in today’s emails.
Young Muslim Rage Takes Root in Britain

Watched “World Trade Center” tonight. Found it to be touching. As odd as it sounds, the movie isn’t really about Sept. 11th, meaning you don’t really “learn” anything new aside from seeing it from teh rescuers’ perspectives. The story focuses on the lives of two men and their families.

Seeing this in New York was part of the experience (and about 20 miles from where the Towers were). There were a lot of tears and there was no talking. Eveyone knows someone who was affected. Even us. We have an aunt and a cousin that were in World Trade 1 and are grateful to the Lord that made it out but even so, it was difficult to watch.

I only recommend this movie to those who know they feel they want to see it.
If this movie bombs at the box office, fine. But I am glad Oliver Stone made this movie. I love going to the movies to laugh and to be moved so as long as we are making Scary Movies and Pirates … we ought to make movies that are about us too.

Christianity Today’s review of WTC

So barbaric. Nauseating.
I don’t see many thngs black and white but this seems rather obvious to me.
Though I don’t know why an 18 year old girl expecting to give birth goes to an abortion clinic to begin with, did no one in that building have a concept of life? How about law? Conscience? I wonder if the investigation will reveal if the “doctors” and “nurses” have slaves too.

If you read the article, read the comments too.

“OVER the last dozen years, the view from Gemima Mukashyaka’s small coffee garden in the lush emerald-green hills of southwestern Rwanda has changed. In 1994, after the genocide that killed 800,000 people, it was a site of devastation, chaos and abandonment. Five years ago, when worldwide coffee prices spiraled downward, her neighbors in the densely populated region near Butare were uprooting their coffee trees and planting quick-growing food crops to survive.

But today, there’s a clean coffee processing station nearby, and sprouted around it are two restaurants, a pharmacy, a bank, six hair salons, and just last week, the village’s first Internet cafe.

“My coffee gave me hope for a better future,” Ms. Mukashyaka, 29, said. At last harvest, her coffee, sold through a farmers’ cooperative to a gourmet coffee roaster in the United States, fetched three times the price it did five years ago.”

(link may require registration)

Highly recommend Sufjan and he’s going on tour this fall so check him out if you can. Saw him last fall and bought my tickets to see him again. I haven’t been reading as much as I was, but I am still listening to music. I’ve posted a couple things about Sufjan before and I am very excited about his latest release. These were the outakes of his last cd, Illinois. Further evidence that he is not only an amazing songwriter but an incredible arranger.

I haven’t actually read any of the Left Behind books (and God-willing, never will) but this article cracked me up.