Cardinal Burke Challenges Contemporary Religious Relativism

During a press availability to promote Hope for the World: Unite All Things in Christ (2016),  his new book length interview with French journalist Guillaume d'Alancon, Cardinal Raymond Burke opined that it was highly questionable if Christians and Muslims worship the same God and that Islam is a religion of peace.

Cardinal Burke is an American bishop whose pedigree carries a tremendous amount of credibility. Burke was the Archbishop of St. Louis who was called to be the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura (the Vatican's highest court) and is now the Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

It is Cardinal Burke's view that  Nostra Aetate (1965)  Vatican II's declaration on the Catholic Church's relationship with other religions, was not a dogmatic document. Many Catholics have found that the document was vague and were troubled as it seemed at odds with the precept that Catholicism is the one true faith.

Cardinal Burke believes that contemporary reactions to Islam are colored by a religious relativism that "we worship one God" and "God is love". If this is true, Burke wondered how Islam instructs to slaughter infidels and establish their rule by violence, where as people of the book (Christians and Jews) have a much different weltanschauung. 

Keeping true to his current role as Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, Burke noted that nothing has changed in the Islamic agenda from prior times in which our ancestors had to defend Christendom from Muslim attacks as Islam was threatening sacred truth.

h/t: LifeNews

Franklin Graham on Religious Freedom

On Assessing Religious Extremism and Apocalyptic Eschatology

 The Reverend Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam in America, took umbrage at Rudy Giuliani's assessment of Barack Obama's formative years.  In response,  Farrakhan launched into a pejorative racial ad hominem attack on America's Mayor as well as all Americans of European descent.

    

 This invective is rather ironic as President Obama's lineage does not include ancestry of slavery.  Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. was a Kenyan and  Stanley Ann Dunham was a white woman hailing from Wichita, Kansas. So the Reverend Farrakhan is conflating the struggle against someone who neither suffered from the disadvantages of slavery nor really lived in society which did not seek to redress those iniquities.

 Rudy Giuliani could point to Barack Obama's two autobiographies, which chronicle how the future President was raised in Indonesia during formative years in which the love of country tended to be instilled.

Where was Louis Farrakhan drawing for his assessments?  Well, it seems that the Rev. Farrakhan has again shifted from knowing Issa (Jesus) better than Christians back to a ministry of rage with a racially apocalyptic eschatology. 

Last week, the White House conducted a three day summit on Countering Violent Extremism, which contorted itself so as not to associate religious motivations to terrorism, especially towards Islam. However, at the same time voices from the Obama Administration  have been quick to point out the Lord's Resistance Army in Central Africa as an example of Christian militant terrorism.    And a 2014 PC DOD presentation listed Catholics, Mormons, Orthodox Jews, evangelical Christians and Islamaphobes along with Al Qaeda as examples of "extremists groups".

 No wonder why we currently have such a whacked weltanschauung in the District of Calamity (sic).

h/t: Michael Ramirez 

Duke Ditches Plan to Sound the Friday Call to Prayer Across Campus

Duke University announced that the Muslim Call to Prayer would be broadcast every Friday at 1PM. This was being done to promote religious pluralism for the 700 Muslim students on campus. Imam Adel Zeeb, the Muslim chaplain at Duke explained: "The adhan is the call to prayer that brings Muslims back to their purpose in life, which is to worship God and serves as a reminder to serve our brothers and sisters in humanity." 

 Off-campus, however, reaction to this news was swift and condemnatory.  The Reverend Franklin Graham took to social media to express disapproval of Duke's decision.  Although Muslim students had been meeting in the basement of the Chapel for years, Rev. Franklin felt that amplifying the adan was poisonous pluralism.  Franklin posited that: "You're taking that bell tower, and you're turning it into a Muslim minaret. I think it's a slap at the Christian faith."

The day after the Duke Call To Prayer idea was shared with the world, Duke University backtracked on the decision. Michael Schoenfeld, Duke's Vice President for Public Affairs and Government Relations, stated:

“Duke remains committed to fostering an inclusive, tolerant and welcoming campus for all of its students. However, it was clear that what was conceived as an effort to unify was not having the intended effect.”

It may not have just been Franklin Graham's moral suasion which won the battle for the bell tower. Franklin Graham's initial Facebook post suggested that alumni and donors ought to withhold support until the decision was reversed.

After University officials opted  against amplifying the adan, Rev. Graham posted his support for Duke's decision.

Omid Safi, the director of Duke's Islamic Studies program, disputed the notion that the Call to Prayer was an effort to supplant Christianity on campus.

"Every day from that same Duke chapel, church bells ring, and twice on Sunday. The cross is on the emblem of Duke University. The entire quad, and the entire campus of Duke University is laid out as a cross. And the Christian chapel is the very symbol of Duke University. So the kind of fanatical proclamation that Christianity is being erased from Duke’s campus is frankly a poor indication of the intelligence of that argument."

While it is true that Duke University was founded by Methodists and Quakers, the Blue Devil's campus has long been operating as a secular school.  It is facile reasoning that the church bell rings twice on Sunday at Duke Chapel as it ignores the symbolic importance of the adan.  Duke's Chapel is at the highest ridge on campus and one of the highest points in  Durham County.  Having the Collegiate Gothic Chapel broadcast the prayer Friday afternoon would be interpreted by radicalized religious as establishing the dominance of Islam over those academic ivory towers.

It is reminiscent of the controversy over the 2010 proposed "Cordoba House" at Park 51 near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan.  There was a great effort by Developer Sharif El-Gamal to plant a mosque in the area, even though there was not a large enough community to support it.  Three years after the mosque opened, El-Gamal announced that he aspired to build a three story museum dedicated to Islam near Ground Zero.  

What explains this obsession with establishing iconic Islamic edifices near prominent real estate?  As Robert Spencer speculated about the current Park 51 plans:

“The structure as you describe it would be as grotesque as a three-story museum dedicated to exploring the faith of Shintoism and emperor-worship, and its arts and culture, with a sanctuary for prayer services and community programs, at Pearl Harbor." 

We in the west seem like we are metaphobes who are incapable of appreciating the significance of symbolism or the political impact of Islam.  They fail to consider that Islam is a holistic system which incorporates law, governance as well as spirituality.  

Radicalized Islamists seek to impose sharia law through cultural jihad.  France is grappling with a suspicion the political correctness coupled with Islamic accommodations is creating an Islamicized France. While the majority of North American Muslims seem content to live in a secular society with a pluralistic polity, it is easy to understand why some are chary about allowing accommodations which can be seen as a primus entre pares situation.

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A Fatwa Against Snowmen?

A prominent imam in  Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa against creating snowmen or snow animals. This was to keep consistent with Quranic teaching of not depicting anything with a soul.  However, fashioning the snow to depict "lifeless" things, like buildings, ships or fruit is supposedly fine. 

This fatwa may also be animated by anti-Western sentiments.  A voice favoring the fatwa from social media suggests: “[Building snowmen] has no value in our traditions, and those who are fascinated by the West should emulate their inventions and sciences, not their culture.”

The fatwa against snowmen is not just an academic exercise for Saudis.  There was a significant snowfall in the  Province of Tabuk around 1500 kilometers northwest of Riyadh.  So someone crafting a snow camel festooned with a local soccer team's scarf was haraam. 

On the Lack of Religious Liberty in the Middle East

Sister Hatune Dogan is a Universal Syrian Orthodox nun who does field work through "A Helping Hand to the Poor" dedicated to aid persecuted Christians, especially in Syria and Iraq.  

Sister Dogan has been outspoken not only in calling out Muslims for their religious intolerance but also for Western complicity in not helping persecuted Christians.  Sister Dogan's perspective from living in Syria noted that 95% of what was reported in the West about the Free Syrian Army (from which ISIS sprang) was wrong.  

At the Defense of Christians Inaugural Summit in September, Sister Hatune decried the mainstream media's blindness to the slaughter, raping, ransoming, crucifying and killing of Christians in the Middle East. 

Among the "thousands of stories" of Christian persecution, Sister Hatune recounted:

“I met an Iraqi girl, five-and-a-half-years maybe, and they kidnapped her. I met her at seven-and-a-half-years. Until today, she [will not] say, no one knows, what happened to her, because she was misused. They [were] paid $30,000 dollars to release her. They released her, but under that condition. I am sorry for her. That was the youngest girl that I met. She was misused.”

Paying a ransom is no guarantee of being freed from a hell on Earth. A 21 year old Jordanian woman was abducted and repeatedly raped her.  When these savages were not satisfied the ransom money, they cut her face in different ways.  Sister Hatune saw with her own eyes 280 girls who were kidnapped and misused by Muslim men and then had their breasts and "other sensitive areas" cut. Sadly, these stories of horrific brutality were ignored in the American Mainstream Media  to instead focus on the Ray Rice NFL reinstatement saga. 

Moreover, Sister Hatune inveighed against the open immigration policies in Sweden favored Muslims rather than the persecuted Christians from the Middle East. 

As we reflect upon the year that has past and make new year's resolutions, we ought to contemplate the lack of religious liberty and our collective lack of reaction to such deplorable deprivations in the Middle East and to a lesser extent at home in the West. 

h/t: Media Research Center 

Sydney Siege Terrorist Advised Obama on Apostasy

The perpetrator of the Sydney Siege, Man Haron Monis (ne Mohammad-Hassan Manteghi Borujerdi and a.k.a. Ayatollah Manteghi Boroujerdi) has been portrayed as damaged and unstable individual who was facing a raft of criminal charges.  Alas, this is only part of the picture. The 50 year old self self styled imam and spiritual healer had immigrated to Australia from Iran claiming political asylum in 1996. Moreover, Monis had  converted from  Shia to Sunni Islam and pledged himself to the ISIS cause.

What ought to be interesting to Americans is Monis' correspondent to 2008 Presidential candidate then Senator Barack Obama (D-IL). In the missive, Monis urged "Brother Barack Obama" that:

"Shariah law doesn’t allow you to do so, your reason for hiding your religion Islamically is not a legitimate reason. You must rely on Allah (SWT) and avoid the satanic style of politics. You will be apostate by denying your religion, I advise you to avoid such a big sin."

Even though candidate Barack Obama has once mistakenly referred to "My Muslim faith" and was quickly corrected by ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, this seemed like a slip of the tongue.  News reports have indicated that Mr. Obama was baptized in 1988 at the Reverend Jeremiah Wright's Trinity United Church of Christ.  There is no reason to question this profession of faith.

The problem is that Islam attributes the faith of one's father to the scion.  Barack Huissan Obama, Sr. may have been a Marxist who did not believe in any spiritual religion but he was born a Muslim.  Thus a radicalized Muslim would be offended by such person being baptized as a Christian and then denying their proscribed faith.

Obviously, Mr. Obama gave little heed to crank letters from Australia during the Presidential general election campaign.  But Islam is not just a faith system, but a holistic philosophy which encompasses faith, law (shariah) as well as polity.  As seen practiced by ISIS, slavery and sexual submission is permissible under shariah law.

Radicalized Muslims, such as ISIS and Al Qaeda do not appreciate freedom of religion or politically correct secular pluralism which tolerates the so called freedom of worship outside of the public square. This was quite evident in Mosul, where "Narzarines" were expropriated and evicted from a place where they had lived (Ninevah) for two millenia.  Then the extermination of the Yazidis in Iraq.   Islamic activists even agitate over saying  "Merry Christmas" as a friendly season's greetings.

As radicalized salafists who seek to bolster a Caliphate call for lone wolf attacks in the West, it is important to understand what enflames such a psyche.  While occidental sociology tends to encourage tolerance and free will, these norms are abhorrent to many members of the so-called religion of peace (even though Islam actually means submission).

During Christmastide, westerners usually revel for peace and Earth and good will towards men.  It is key to remember that these noble sentiments may not be reciprocated by faith filled radicals.

Abu Musaab Wajdi Akkari on Saying "Merry Christmas"

It would seem that this Muslim Imam is immune to sharing glad tidings during this holiday season from infidels and people of the book who do not profess faith as he does.

It seems dubious that even a politically correct holiday greeting would suffice.  Should American society accommodate seemingly lone voices of perpetual offense, especially in sharing a Christmastide greeting?

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Find the True Islamic Scholar

Former U.S. President George W. Bush

Former President George W. Bush (Harvard Business School, MBA '75)

   The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam.  That's not what Islam is all about.  Islam is peace.  These terrorists don't represent peace.  They represent evil and war.

     When we think of Islam we think of a faith that brings comfort to a billion people around the world.  Billions of people find comfort and solace and peace.  And that's made brothers and sisters out of every race -- out of every race.  

                          ~ President George W. Bush,  Islamic Center September 17, 2001 

U.S. President Barack Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama as law student (J.D. Harvard '91}

Now let’s make two things clear:  ISIL is not “Islamic.”  No religion condones the killing of innocents.  And the vast majority of ISIL’s victims have been Muslim.  And ISIL is certainly not a state. 

                           ~   President Barack Obama, The White House September 10th 2014

British Prime Minister David Cameron 

Caricature of British Prime Minister David Cameron (M.A. Brasenose College, Oxford '88)

"They [ISIS] boast of their brutality; they claim to do this in the name of Islam. That is nonsense. Islam is a religion of peace. They are not Muslims, they are monsters.” 

                                    ~ British Prime Minister David Cameron September 14, 2014 

Self appointed ISIS/ISIL/IS Caliph Abu Bakr al Baghdadi

                                       Abu Bakr al Baghdadi (B.A., M.A., PhD Islamic Studies, Islamic University of Baghdad}

Here the flag of the Islamic State, the flag of tawhīd (monotheism), rises and flutters. Its shade covers land from Aleppo to Diyala. Beneath it, the walls of the tawāghīt (rulers claiming the rights of Allah) havebeen demolished, their flags have fallen, and their borders have been destroyed. Their soldiers are either killed, imprisoned, or defeated. The Muslims are honored. The kuffār (infidels) are disgraced. Ahlus-Sunnah (the Sunnis) are masters and are esteemed. The people of bid’ah (heresy) are humiliated. The hudūd (Sharia penalties) are implemented – the hudūd of Allah – all of them. The frontlines are defended. Crosses and graves are demolished. Prisoners are released by the edge of the sword. The people in the lands of the State move about for their  livelihood and journeys, feeling safe regarding their lives and wealth. Wulāt (“governors”) and judges have been appointed. Jizyah (a tax imposed on kuffār) has been enforced. Fay’ (money taken from the kuffār without battle) and zakat (obligatory alms) have been collected. Courts have been established to resolve disputes and complaints. Evil has been removed. Lessons and classes have been held in the masājid  and, by the grace of Allah, the religion has become completely for  Allah

  ~  Declaration of Islamic State by Abu Bakr al Baghdadi (a.k.a. Caliph Ibrahim ibn Awwad)  July 1, 2014

It would seem that someone who constantly quotes the Quran and interpretive sharia texts and has several advanced degrees in Islamic studies would be the best bet in that bunch.  While we may vehemently disagree with Bakr al Baghdadi's interpretations and implementation of sharia law, it seems incredulous that secular Western leaders insist that ISIS is not Islamic. Former President George W. Bush was closer to the mark in his comments that the face of terror is not the true face of Islam, but that may be more wishful thinking that comparative theology. 

In a faith of 1.57 billion believers throughout the world, Islam can have many different expressions and emphases.  America has been blessed by a Muslim community which freely practices their faith in a peaceful manner.  Across the Atlantic Ocean, Europe has a more acrimonious experience. Many nations have colonial ties with Muslim majority nations, like Britain (Pakistan), Netherlands (Indonesia), France (Algeria).  Other European nations invited Islamic immigration as guest workers, like Germany (Turkey) but the cheap labor never moved back home. Now that there are significant European Muslim populations in concentrated enclaves which are adverse to assimilation.  Consequently,  there are no go zones where the police avoid and the Islamic communities semi-formally administer Sharia law, which often conflicts with the jurisprudence of the rest of the state. 

Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby has condemned the brutality of ISIS in beheading hostages and killing unbelievers (be they Jewish, Nazarenes a.k.a. Christians, and even other Muslims who do not adhere to their Salifist jihadism) as a" unique evil".  Alas, this is not historically accurate, as the victory of the Knights Hospitaller in Great Siege of Malta (1565),the Holy League's victory at sea in the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and the defeat of the Ottomans in the Siege of Vienna (1683) marks efforts by Muslims to expand their caliphate by the sword. 

Islam is more than a religion but is also a holistic political system with its own jurisprudence. Political Islam is a manifestation of this theocratic thread in Islamic thought. Bakr al Baghdadi's declaration demonstrated point by point how ISIS was incorporating its interpretation of sharia law. Time and again, we in the West are told that Islam is a religion of peace. But the root of the word Islam means submission.  Perhaps by submitting to the five pillars of Islam, a believer is said to gain peace.  Another myth is the CAIR-full instruction that jihad simply means "interior struggle".  The word jihad means struggle.  In the Muslim world, jihad means Holy War.  If it were just the interior struggle, why would Qu'ran 4:94 exempt the elderly and children from jihad?

Many Muslims live out their faith peacefully.  But to deny that the so called Islamic State is not Islamic because it does not comport to our sensibilities as outsiders of what Muslims ought to believe is ludicrous. While we should not mistake all Muslims as radical Islamists, it seems silly to inculcate a cognitive subterfuge. 

Jonah Goldberg offered a challenging point to our secular Islamic scholars entrenched in the corridors of power:  "Instead of Americans trying to persuade Muslims around the world that terrorism is un-Islamic, why shouldn't Muslims be working harder to convince us?"

CBS Late Night Spotlights Strident Iconoclast Alternative Rock Singer

CBS' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson recently gave alternative rock singer Kristeen Young her American network television debut singing "Pearl of a Girl".

For those who found Young's singing to be more discordant disharmony rather than what NPR shills as "beguiling and visceral" singing, here are the lyrics to "Pearl of a Girl":

I never knew I was a girl until they stopped to tell me. 

I never knew I was disturbed until they dropped three volumes on me.

But in the Bible/Torah/Quran there are really no good roles for me except concubine and wash woman.

I used to be the sad one now I just want to stab them it's so severe, it's brutal.

They've needed to have the law so they can legally bind us.

They've needed the church so they can morally ground us.

They've needed to make the dough they've must be so scared of us.

So their stories are of ghosts.

I only wish the virgin would've had an abortion.

 Young's iconoclastic lyrics sought to condemn all major religions for centuries of religious persecution and keeping women in subservient roles.  Yet fashion and imaging for "The Knife Shift" goes out of its way to insult all of the Abrahamic faiths. And she does the Knife Shift to suggest that the Virgin Mary should have aborted the Christ child. 

For example, Young prides herself on creating her own fashion.  Young proudly describes a skirt that she designed which she painted on symbols of the three major religions which she intentionally defaced.  The cross and the crescent moon were positioned upside down and the Stars of David looked like it was a shirukin throwing stars.  

The iconoclast artist also claimed: "I feel like making and wearing something Satanic". This provocative fashion and lyric is a marked contrast to her avowed approach to art "the freedom and diversity of many styles grouped together".  Young not only felt compelled to shout her song from the rooftop but to insult all with whom she disagrees. So much for coexist. 


"The Pearl of a Girl" was not the 37 year old strident chanteuse's first foray into what charitably can be seen as clashing with religious and cultural constraints. In her six album discography, her tracks include "No Other God", "Commit Adultery", "Devil Girl", "The Devil Made Me", "Son of Man",  and "Protestant".  Somehow, it seems unlikely that one would hear tracks from "Music for Strippers, Hookers and the Odd On-Looker" (2009) on  a Praise music channel. 

Some interviews with Kristeen Young intimate a woman who was troubled by her youth in St. Louis where she struggled with religion and non-conformity.  But instead of fashioning these inclinations like Madonna, they manifested themselves like her estwhile mentor Morrissey with a panache of Lady Gaga.

It is not uncommon for rock musicians to push the envelope of taste and engage in épater le bourgeois.  After all, a famous Rolling Stones song is "Sympathy for the Devil" (1968) which attributes the tumult of the 1960s to the hellish anti-hero.  In addition, the Rolling Stones also issued a record: "Their Satantic Majestic Request" (1967), which was their only attempt at psychodelia.  Mick Jagger summed it up best: 

 "There's a lot of rubbish on Satanic Majesties. Just too much time on our hands, too many drugs, no producer to tell us, 'Enough already, thank you very much, now can we get just get on with this song?'"

Rather than adopt a anti-hero narrative or compose a session stoned, Kristeen Young consistently follows a world view that it ardently iconoclastic and anti-religious as most people of faith would understand it.

So why give Young the publicity which she cravenly covets?  It shows how CBS has stooped to conquer. When The Doors appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1967, they were asked to change the Robbie Krieger lyrics to "Light My Fire" so as not to sing "Girl we could get much higher".  Of course, Jim Morrison flouted this promise and The Doors got banned.  That same year, the Rolling Stones--the bad boys of rock and roll--changed the lyrics to a popular song to "Let's spend some time together" to not scandalize audiences.   

The CBS "Pearl of a Girl" spot exemplifies the mainstreaming of alternative lifestyles which the great silent majority finds alien and mildly offensive. This is a nation which is tolerant of a wide variety of views and lifestyles, but the Lamestream Media and the cultural intelligentsia is pushing a weltanschauung which excludes all but the politically correct perspective of the moment.   The episode underlines why Christians feel like they are under attack, albeit in this instance culturally. To change this cultural assault, the faithful must recognize the challenge in order to peacefully confront challenges. 

Considering his choice in guests, it is no wonder why Craig Ferguson was not fingered to be David Letterman's replacement.

Rand Paul on Christianity

The remarks in full of Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) at the 2013 Value Voters Summit sponsored by the Family Research Council.  

The metal barricades seen in front of the dais reflected the Government Shutdown Theater, when the Obama Administration went to the trouble to "barry-cade" (sic) public monuments on the National Mall during the Government Shutdown in October 2013.  

Islamic Shotgun Weddings on Rise in Pakistan

Grandmother of Hindi women abducted for marriage

The Los Angeles Times remarkably reported a story about an alarming trend where young Hindi women are abducted in Pakistan and forced to convert to Islam and marry their warrior "wooers". The victim is taken to areas where Muslim overlords have extensive pastoral property where they wield great influence over law enforcement and the judiciary.


The pattern is that the young Hindi women is seized by the kith and kin of these feudal overlords and is taken to a mosque where she is greeted by the groom’s family which threaten her life and that of her family. When the threatened bride to be complies, she is brought to a courthouse for a Muslim judge to rubber stamp the forced conversion and the marriage. Often, the wedding party has an armed escort. Even if an unwilling bride to be balks or there are Hindi witnesses that object, it is a handful of dissenters against an armed crowd of hundreds for the groom. Little question as to which side prevails.




L-  Azra Fazal Pechuho

There have even been calls by Pakistani Muslims to check this practice. Azra Fazal Pechuho, he sister of President Asif Ali Zardari testified before Parliament that there is a growing number of Hindi women who are being taken and being held in madrassas where they are forcibly converted.


This sort of shotgun wedding is barbaric and deplorable. It seems like a fusion between tribal culture, power politics and aggressive abuse of sharia. Yet when writing about religion, the popular press is content to make hay over Georgetown Law co-ed who wanted the taxpayer to pick up the tab for her contraceptive needs instead of concerning itself about religious liberty.

h/t: Los Angeles Times