Posts Tagged ‘islam’

When you hear about the 1st century martyrs of the Church you sometimes wonder if you would have the same courage as them. Nobody has to wonder about these folks:

Saudi police raided a secret Catholic mass in Riyadh last week and arrested a dozen Filipinos and a Catholic priest

Considering that Saudi Arabia is well-known for its highly enlightened legal system it takes a lot of guts to attend such a mass and even more to be the priest serving it.

And if you think the time of Christian Martyrdom is long over think again.

“Has Massachusetts lost it?”

Posted: October 11, 2010 by datechguy in culture, oddities
Tags: , , , ,

For reasons I still can’t explain after a night of fast dancing and a fine wedding meal (there is nothing like fast dancing with a fedora) I ended up wide awake at 4 a.m. to be greeted by an e-mail from Barbara Espinosa from the American Freedom blog and host of blog talk radio’s hair on fire Thursday nights or anytime via this link asking the above question concerning this Globe story:

In a move that school officials believe is the first of its kind in the state, Cambridge will close schools for one Muslim holiday each year beginning in the 2011-2012 school year.

The school will either close for Eid al-Fitr or Eid al-Adha, also known as the Festival of Sacrifice, depending on which holiday falls within the school year. If both fall within the school calendar, the district will close for only one of the days.

Well I’m sure this isn’t the same as the situation with Wellesley schools segregating their students by sex and praying at a Mosque for a field trip (Still unsure when they will be scheduling their trip to St. Anthony di Padua for mass but I digress). They of course have a significant Muslim population and a ton of absences that day, don’t they?

Cambridge School Superintendent Jeffrey Young said the district does not collect information about the religion of its students. But Young said that there is a significant Muslim population in the city, and that, at least anecdotally, the Muslim population in the schools appears to be growing.

anecdotally? Cambridge is making its decisions in their schools based on anecdotal evidence? There’s gotta be more to it than that. There is:

Marla Erlien, chairwoman of the Cambridge Human Rights Commission, said the discussion about closing Cambridge schools for an Islamic holiday began several years ago when the commission conducted a survey at Rindge and Latin asking students about discrimination, and at a follow-up forum students raised concerns about how Muslims were a “discarded group’’ whose holidays weren’t recognized in the schools.

So Cambridge has a “human rights commission” and it was that commission that has been pushing for this change.

What do I say to this? Several things to several different people:

Soon to be agitating for Halloween off before the Cambridge Human Rights Commission

To Cambridge, hey it’s your city, the people there elect their school committee and their city council, if the taxpayers of Cambridge want to vote in these guys and they to close their schools because the “human rights commission” wants to accommodate followers of the Great Pumpkin it’s on them.

To Barbara’s e-mail? I answered it’s Cambridge if they didn’t do something like this I’d be shocked.

To Democrats: Congratulations, here is another gift for you just prior to election day. I’m sure that Cambridge the symbol of Massachusetts liberalism is happy to give you this gift in the year you need it the most.

and to followers of exotic religions everywhere, if your holy day is not a day off in Cambridge Mass, it’s only because you are agitating loud enough (like maybe one angry letter).

There was a big ta doo about a piece of “art” in Colorado that depicts Christ giving someone a BJ:

Many turned out in support of the piece and the Museum/Gallery. Some supporters of the art wore white patches on their chests that read: “Censored?”.

Well we aren’t going to take down this, this is ART, we aren’t going to be intimidated by those intolerant Christians

Nearby in the city of Denver, where residents are known for their liberal leanings, residents were more receptive to the artwork.

Denver resident Carol Ware called the piece “provocative and thought-provoking.” She added, however, that she would not want the artwork in her own living room.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Los Angeles Times weighed in on the debate, celebrating Chagoya’s controversial techniques and labeling him a respected artist. Of the provocative works of art he has created are pieces attacking President George W. Bush, Condoleeza Rice, and former California Governor Pete Wilson.

The obvious question has been asked

Field asked if Chagoya’s artwork would be accepted if it depicted the prophet Mohammed in the same poses. “There have been examples in the past of anti-Mohammed artwork. The Muslim community has been outraged-and rightly so-but there’s also been different actions taken against the artists.”

Funny you should mention that via Rhymes With Right:

Of course, there is a way to get this exhibit shut down immediately, the artwork destroyed, and the artist killed. Point out that the following is a part of the same work of art.

The image he is referring to is Mohammed kneeling before transvestite pigs, and lo and behold what has suddenly happened?

They seem to have scrubbed the site

Now here is the question. They did not scrub the site until someone pointed out the Mohammad image. I wonder what the art gallery has to say about that. Maybe I’ll give them a call later today.

Update: Don Surber has updated his post

Well via Memeorandum Newshounds is on the case:

Whenever the persecuted Christian right gets their pure white panties in a bunch about how evil libruls are disrespectful to Christianity, they frequently claim that these same libruls show deference to Islam when it comes to depicting images of Mohammed. The phrase, taken from a book, that “anti-Catholicism is the last acceptable prejudice” is bandied about by right wing Christians and Catholics. The absurdity of this position is demonstrated by the reality that the right wing, aided and abetted by Fox “News,” promotes prejudice against a number of groups deemed anathema – particularly atheists (atheist bus signs, “war on God”) and Islam. In addition to absurdity, there is also a double standard. When the evil, librul ACLU challenges a possible violation of the “Establishment Clause,” Jesus’ BFF’s claim that their First Amendment rights are being violated – yet, when artwork, that Christians don’t like, is presented, they’re all for censorship. And that’s when the comment about how liberals are more tolerant of Islam comes into play, as demonstrated by good Catholic Brian Kilmeade who, along with his Christian “friend’ Gretchen Carlson, is concerned about some artwork that their fellow good Christians are vaclempt about. It’s not a surprise that the morning Christian culture club would be “on” this issue as, earlier this year, they attacked a gallery owner over “sacrilegious” art in which a nun (not, as Gretchen Carlson said, the Virgin Mary) was depicted holding a pink rifle. There’s more irony in that this is the same krewe that supports Christian crosses on public land and bible verses on rifles. Go figure.

The big irony is of course they have a link to the site, which has now pulled the “art” since the Mohammad part of the cartoon is getting publicity. Read the self righteous comments I’ve left one of my own, not approved yet:

I note the same artwork also displays Mohammad kneeling before transvestite pigs, so I am assuming all the commentators on this tread and the writer are all cool with this too.

That being the case I presume I can send the link to American Muslim groups since we know how tolerant of dissent they are.

I’ll let you know if it goes up and if the comment thread is scrubbed.

Left a message at Shark’s ink the site that scrubbed the print once the Mohammad connection came up, I’ll let you know what they say.

Update 2: They are much too busy to allow my comments at Newshounds

Update 3 Shark Ink has not returned calls. I called the Loveland Museum and spoke to a very nice young lady who briefly informed me there is no additional security because of the drawing of Mohammad. The people taking calls are flat out and the employees are pretty occupied. I left a callback number but was told due to the situation they couldn’t guarantee it would be returned.

…on This week is obscene. He is being compared to the worst of the Islamists, how many killings has he called for?

There are a lot of different voices being heard from, the show isn’t as bad as it could be but the idea that Franklin Graham is the equivalent to a those who call for suicide bombings is simply nonsense.

Furthermore we hear the cry of the Spanish Inquisition of many centuries ago, ignoring numbers a bit more recent.

Take a look at the numbers. They speak for themselves.