In FrontPage today I discuss another “What is Obama smoking?” moment, the latest example of governance by wishful thinking:
In his Easter message last Saturday, Barack Obama asserted that the “common thread of humanity that connects us all – not just Christians and Jews, but Muslims and Hindus and Sikhs – is our shared commitment to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.”
Even though he was registered as a Muslim in primary school in Indonesia and recounts in his first autobiography that he got in trouble there for making faces in Qur’an class, Obama apparently recalls little of the contents of the Qur’an. For if he did, he would know that it tells Muslims “take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors” (5:51), calls them “the most vile of created beings” (98:6), and calls the patriarch Abraham an “excellent example” for telling his unbelieving relatives: “There has arisen between us and you enmity and hatred forever unless you believe in Allah and Him alone” (60:4). It also says: “Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. Those who follow him are merciful to one another, and harsh to the unbelievers” (48:29).
Enjoining mercy to those who share one’s religious beliefs and harshness to those who do not is hardly tantamount to loving one’s neighbor as oneself, and this sharp dichotomy between believers and unbelievers is not just found in some random Qur’an passages to which no one pays attention. It runs all through Islamic scripture, doctrine and law. It is even an accepted principle in Islam that the life of a non-Muslim is worth less than that of a Muslim: a manual of Islamic law certified by Cairo’s prestigious al-Azhar university (from which Obama addressed the Islamic world in June 2009) as “conforming to the practice and faith of the orthodox Sunni community” declares: “The indemnity for the death or injury of a woman is one-half the indemnity paid for a man. The indemnity paid for a Jew or Christian is one-third the indemnity paid for a Muslim. The indemnity paid for a Zoroastrian is one-fifteenth that of a Muslim.” (‘Umdat al-Salik, o4.9)
The Iranian Sheikh Sultanhussein Tabandeh echoed and amplified that point in his Muslim Commentary on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Since Islam regards non-Muslims as on a lower level of belief and conviction, if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim — then his punishment must not be the retaliatory death, since the faith and conviction he possesses is loftier than that of the man slain…Islam and its peoples must be above the infidels, and never permit non-Muslims to acquire lordship over them.”
While this devaluing of the non-Muslim’s life is based on teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah, there is nothing in Islam that teaches that non-Muslims should be accorded the same rights and dignity as Muslims in an Islamic state.
There is no indication that Obama knows about such Islamic teachings, but even if he did, it is unlikely that he would say anything, since, after all, he has said that “the future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam” – and in Islamic law, “slander” is not telling a falsehood about someone, but telling a truth about someone that he does not want known. And after over five years of Obama’s presidency, it is abundantly clear that one thing he does not want Americans to know is that there are texts and teachings of Islam that Islamic jihadists use to justify violence and supremacism, and that jihadis are still trying to murder Americans in accord with those teachings.
As I detail in my book Arab Winter Comes to America: The Truth About the War We’re In, this willful ignorance at the highest levels has endangered Americans more than once, making for murderous attacks that could have and should have been prevented. The most notorious of these are the Boston Marathon bombing and the Fort Hood massacre.
Two years before the Boston bombing, Russian intelligence agents told the FBI that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a “follower of radical Islam” who had tried to join “underground groups” in Dagestan. That is tantamount to saying that Tsarnaev was an Islamic jihadist, which should have been enough for the FBI to keep him under constant or at least regular surveillance. It did not – and not coincidentally, right around the time the Russians gave the feds this information, the Obama administration (under pressure from Muslim groups with links to Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood) mandated the scrubbing of counter-terror training materials of all mention of Islam and jihad (and the dismissal of FBI trainers who spoke about the motives and goals of jihad terrorists, including me). Agents who still knew how to evaluate the Russian intel were probably afraid that to do so, in the prevailing politically correct climate, would have been career suicide.
In the same way, Fort Hood jihad murderer Nidal Malik Hasan rose through Army ranks even as he justified suicide bombing and spouted hatred for America, and he did so with extraordinarily positive recommendations. In an evaluation dated March 13, 2009, just short of eight months before his jihad attack, Hasan’s superiors said that he should be put into a position “that allows others to learn from his perspectives” and declared that his “unique insights into the dimensions of Islam” and his “moral reasoning” could be of “great potential interest and strategic importance to the U.S. Army.”
And indeed, Hasan’s insights into Islam are of great strategic importance to the U.S. Army, but not in a way that Army brass is inclined to accept or admit. To do so would harm “diversity” in the military. And that, apparently, is more important than making sure that there isn’t another jihad massacre.
A large-scale change in the political and media culture is vitally necessary for the U.S. to deal realistically with the jihad threat. But it is not on the horizon. Instead, the willful ignorance and wishful thinking that Obama manifested yet again in his Easter message rule the day. And that means only that there will be more jihad massacres.
Wellington says
There’s much I don’t know. In fact, what I don’t know forms an almost infinitely larger body of fact and knowledge compared to what I do know (this used to bother me but it doesn’t anymore, especially after a beer or two).
But here’s something I do know: Barack Obama is not merely ignorant of so much of what is important to know, he is invincibly ignorant here. He will never learn. If I don’t know this about this man, then just assume I don’t know anything.
jihad3tracker says
Hello Wellington —
My dollars-to-doughnuts wager, even without swigging a beer or five :
Our Allah-Empathizer-In-Chief does what he does for two reasons —
1. Childhood emotions about Muslim friends & relatives, still too strong to discard, carrying forward now to current wishful thinking.
2. An illusional president deep in the Oval Office echo chamber, thinking he can re-channel 1400 years of history toward nonviolence.
Now, where did I put that new hops-prominent IPA which all my buddies are raving about ? It ought to be frosty enough to pour… see you later.
Jay Boo says
jihad3tracker
sounds like two good reasons
I Goggled Obama’s Holiday greetings around Easter and I have to admit that
Obama’s Easter and Passover comment was actually pretty good with praise to Christians and Jews. By Obama standards it was more than I expected. He should have stopped there.
However, he couldn’t resist adding a ‘word from his sponsor’ “Islam” lest any Muslims feel their Islamic supremacy is at risk.
The overall impression then is that his diluted praise was insincere from the beginning.
jihad3tracker says
A shout out to you, Dude —
“Word from his sponsor” is now in my backpack of borrowed gems. Giving proper attributive credit of course.
Creative Commons — license-free ? If not, the royalty landing in your P.O. box will be Confederate hundreds.
Wellington says
Enjoy that IPA, jihad3tracker. Ah, one of many pleasures the Islamic world would deny us if only it could.
Aardvark says
If it’s frosty, it’s far too cold! India Pale Ale should be served just below room temperature. (English room temperature, of course, which is about 50 degrees F).
Geordie says
Scottish and Newcastle Amber IPA. Nice thought. Do they still sell it?
Jay Boo says
@jihad3tracker
Reference to “Word from his sponsor”
Thanks, but no credit is needed.
It is possible that someone else at JW thought of it first in this context and even if not, I am always happy to share.
Regards Jay Boo
Kathy Brown says
Jihad3 I concur with your tremendously insightful comment. I’ve long thought-but never seen voiced-the emotional attachment of Obama, to Islam.
Added to this is of course his overweening pride (hello-one of the 7 Deadliest). This man believes his own press which, given its fulsomeness, is truly terrifying. He literally believes that he, and he alone, can best Satan (aka Islam).
Satan, only a little less brilliant than God Himself! Of all the angels the most like to God!
Only we all know what THAT ‘goes before’. And in his fall he’ll take our beloved country. God save these United States.
Januk36 says
I cannot read Obama’s mind but someone with his rhetoric capabilities can hardly be a moron. However, actions speak louder than words and so does the consistent inaction under some circumstances. He is may indue wilfully pursuing an islamic agenda or/and be suffering from severe hubris.
Still, I have always be wondering what he makes of the fact that the People of Egypt have ousted his muslim brother, a people with a clear muslim majority and patently sick of the likes of Mursi.
–
Yes, there is hope,.
richard Sherman says
If your mentor was someone who revered Stalin and believed in the violent overthrow of the United States( Frank Marshall Davis), …and in elementary school you revered( as a registered Muslim) a sociopath named MUHAMMAD who PERSONALLY DECAPITATED 900 UNARMED JEWS,…and as an adult your closest friends were terrorists ( Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dohrn)..why is it a surprise that this person is enthusiastically doing nothing as KORANIC killers slaughter Americans at Ft Hood, Little Rock and Boston?..He loves it..Don’t kid yourself…There is not a patriotic bone in his background.
Bezelel says
obaMUD needs to know that by his saying something,doesn’t make it so.
In fact, the more I hear him say, the distance there is in reality. Weird, like onions on ice cream.Deport the freak somewhere.
Bezelel says
“the more distance there is from reality”. It’s hard to type when I’m nauseous.
Mike McCafferty says
You said it right the 1st time, there is a lot of distance in dudes reality. So much so he got lost in it.
Bezelel says
It’s easy enough to accept that he”obaMUD” is delusional enough to believe his own sh!!!t but the bugger has so many cosigners it’s pathetic. obaMUD to date has managed to escape the consequences for his stupidity.
Caligula says
to the gilotin!
and… ObaMED, not Obamud
EYESOPEN says
Excellent article Robert! Thank you. You pulled no punches there, but just tols the absolute, unvarnished truth.
EYESOPEN says
Ooops! Sorry. I tried to correct error after I hit “post”. That was supposed to be: “You told the absolute, unvarnished truth.”
EYESOPEN says
Yes. Sad, isn’t it?
mortimer says
Very sad. The SADDEST part is that Obummer really doesn’t care for the facts! He has made up his own facts. Without any EVIDENCE, Obummer introduces a Golden Rule into Islam which was never there!
boakai ngombu says
“common thread of humanity that connects us all – not just Christians and Jews, but Muslims and Hindus and Sikhs ….”
there is another thread common to all humanity and that is DEATH
some fear DEATH because they don’t know that a ransom price has been met for them, and the price has been fully met, even for the Muslim (enslaved to SHARIA as well as by DEATH).
the value of each human to the Unique God, whom we are to Love and serve only Him, is shown by the atonement sacrifice, a blood sacrifice, of the Christ of God. The Living God knows that value and desires to send no one to oblivion.
the blood shed by this sacrifice achieves far more than the blood of a thousand chickens or a hundred goats, a donation to the imam, a support given for the jihad. it accomplishes righteousness in the hearer and the Unique God is pleased
and the value of even a Muslim’s life be they male, female, grown or baby, is met, although adherents to SHARIA are ignorant of this, normally.
POTUS has shown little to signify he knows that aspect of Christian knowledge and that illustrates another common thread: because of what brings DEATH many are in ignorance of the Loving God and all that He does and will do through the Christ.
Kasey says
And Humanists and Atheists just don’t rate a mention!
Jax Tolmen says
Does it really matter?
I personally never feel offended when Atheists aren’t mentioned during these kinds of things; it’s not done intentionally to marginalise non – devout people.
Geordie says
Considering the fastest growing group is non-believer, we should be first on any list. I’m sure many atheists side with muslims simply to stick two fingers up to the Christians who have always treated them badly in the past. The wrong and short sighted application of; The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
I’m with Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Prof. Dawkins, Aaron Ra and the late great Christopher Hitchens on this one. There is a league table of religions ranking in order of threat posed to western civilisation and to our species as a whole. Since the defeat of Hitler’s christian based ideology, the various cults of Islam re-established a huge lead at the top of the table.
Bezelel says
” Since the defeat of Hitler’s christian based ideology, the various cults of Islam re-established a huge lead at the top of the table.”
Having read the Holy Bible and Mein Kamph, I would like to point out the two are not in agreement at all. Whatever conclusions you’ve come too regarding either one are in desperate need of more study.
Geordie says
Bezelel wrote: “Having read the Holy Bible and Mein Kamph, I would like to point out the two are not in agreement at all. Whatever conclusions you’ve come too regarding either one are in desperate need of more study.”
With respect, I don’t see any similarities either but that’s not the issue. Neither your conclusions or my own on that subject are relevant. I was referring to the motivation of the psychopath Hitler who used his belief in a christian deity to justify attempted genocide. Years before the holocaust event he wrote:
“How many of my basic principles were upset by this change in my attitude toward the Christian Social movement!
My views with regard to anti-Semitism thus succumbed to the passage of time, and this was my greatest transformation of all.”
“Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord.”
-Adolf Hitler (Mein Kampf) Volume 1, Chapter 2, Years of Study and Suffering in Vienna
Then again in a recorded speech.
“My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Saviour as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded by a few followers, recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them and who, God’s truth! was greatest not as a sufferer but as a fighter. In boundless love as a Christian and as a man I read through the passage which tells us how the Lord at last rose in His might and seized the scourge to drive out of the Temple the brood of vipers and adders. How terrific was His fight for the world against the Jewish poison. To-day, after two thousand years, with deepest emotion I recognize more profoundly than ever before the fact that it was for this that He had to shed His blood upon the Cross. As a Christian I have no duty to allow myself to be cheated, but I have the duty to be a fighter for truth and justice… And if there is anything which could demonstrate that we are acting rightly it is the distress that daily grows. For as a Christian I have also a duty to my own people.
-Adolf Hitler, in a speech on 12 April 1922 (Norman H. Baynes, ed. The Speeches of Adolf Hitler, April 1922-August 1939, Vol. 1 of 2, pp. 19-20, Oxford University Press, 1942)
Do not forget that it is a matter of historical fact that he was baptised, confirmed and educated as a Roman Catholic. Please tell me how the above quotes can be interpreted in any other way. Remember we are discussing Hitler’s mind-set, not our own.
Unless you can find passages in Mein Kampf that contradict those above OR in a recorded speech, then the argument is cut and dried.
You should also consider that anti-Semitism was rife in Europe at the time. He was influenced by it and quite obviously the product of it. The top RC bishop in Germany held a special mass every years to celebrate Hitler’s birthday.
To indicate just how well Hitler and many (not all) of his henchmen was supported by the admittedly split catholic church. I strongly recommend you research the activities of the Austro-German Bishop Alois Hudal by reading a translation of his book: The Foundations of National Socialism. With an imprimatur from Archbishop Innitzer. It was a glowing an enthusiastic endorsement of Hitler and his anti-Semitism.
If contemporary Israeli Nazi hunters are to be believed, war criminals were smuggled out of Europe to South America using a network run by German priests working with those in Croatia. (See Ratlines (World War II aftermath)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratlines_(history)
Please do not assume it is I who needs more study. I researched this extensively to refute claims made by a right wing neo-Nazi and was left very disappointed. Not only was he right in his assertions but he had actually understated the case.
Sincere best wishes to you and thanks for the chance to explain things in more detail.
Bezelel says
Rev. Wright, Mr obaMUD’s spiritual adviser claims to be a Christian as well yet his remarks cannot be reconciled with Scripture. Neither can Hitler or any of his cosigners regardless of their position. If it cannot be justified by Scripture then it is self justification and nothing more.Medicine is considered good and valuable yet there are certain doctors who commit malpractice in the name medical treatment. The Nazi’s were not Evangelists carrying the Gospel, but surely you know that.
Jay Boo says
@Geordie
Name=dropping names of
“Sam Harris, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Prof. Dawkins, Aaron Ra and the late great Christopher Hitchens on this one.” in no way detracts from the mindless proselytizing vanity of some smug atheists as displayed here.
Geordie says
So Jay Boo, you do not agree that there is a league table of religions ranking in order of threat posed to western civilisation and to our species as a whole.
Perhaps for you it’s all about your imaginary sky friend being better than theirs!
Bezelel says
@JayBoo, Geordie as in Star Trek?
Jay Boo says
Kasey,
{And Humanists and Atheists just don’t rate a mention!}
I think that you are overlooking the point.
I suppose if Muslims deserved a mention in the first place that would make sense.
If Obama wants to give praise to Muslims at Ramadan I would not expect him to praise Christians and Jews and Hindus as well.
Because Muslims are so narcissistic Obama feels a need to ‘include’ them in praise at Easter and Passover and cover up his deception with the clever inclusion of (Hindus and Sikhs) as if Islam pandering was not his real focus of his intent
mortimer says
Koran 48.29 (“Muhammad is the apostle of Allah. Those who follow him are merciful to one another, and harsh to the unbelievers”) is a CONTRADICTION of the Golden Rule!
The word ‘harsh’ is ‘ashiddaa’ in Arabic. Richard Bell translates it as ‘VIOLENT against the unbelievers (kufaar)’.
The Golden Rule is nowhere suggested in the Koran. ‘Compassion’ is for Muslims only…and only if they support JIHAD! Non-observant Muslims are ‘hypocrites’ who should be murdered before the kafirs!
mortimer says
FACTS TO TEACH PRES. OBAMA:
The Arabic Word ‘ASHIDDAA’
The Arabic (aSHiddaa3u) word covers a very broad semantic field and the specific meaning depends on the context in which the word is used. It’s usual meanings include powerful, sharp, ardent, extreme, strong, intensive, rigorous, severe, vehement, quick, violent, and vigorous. The above adjectives make the ayat even more severe and discriminatory. If the verse in question is to be understood in the context of self-defense against physical attacks by unbelievers, then words like harsh, terrible, implacable are probably correct. If the verse is to be understood in a broader, religious context, then a better choice would be made from words like strong, ardent, severe, stalwart, unmoved, unremitting, uncompromising, etc.
A recurring theme in the Qur’an is opposition to disbelief and mutual support within the community of believers. There may be, however, a problem with the translation of this verse. The key word is rendered as “harsh” in your version. Other translators use
other words. Yusuf ‘Ali uses “strong”. Rodwell uses “vehement”. Dawood uses “ruthless”. Palmer uses “vehement”. Pickthall uses “hard”. In French, Grosjean uses “dur” (harsh or hard) and Kasimirski uses “terrible”. Ben Mahmoud uses “implacable”.
But in any context, the ayat implies the application of a double standard whenever one is wronged by a non-believer as opposed to a believer.
Davegreybeard says
No one will teach any “facts” to Obama. He already knows them all.
As has been pointed out numerous times, virtually all his mentors as a boy and young man were America hating totalitarians. They came in various flavors, from Islamist, to Communist, to “Black Liberation Theology.” He has taken their poisonous sermons to heart – and locked them in.
And he has learned to lie, reflexively, enthusiastically and with polish and skill. Obama and THE BIG LIE have become one seamless and shameless creature, strutting across America’s political landscape.
Behold the foolish choice of an ignorant populace, in its decline into corruption
John C. Barile says
Very instructive. “Harsh, severe” intensified by “implacabl[y].” Islam at its core, then, is rigoristic to the extreme–and deadening to human empathy and compassion. Schizoid two-faced duplicity toward non-Muslims will thus follow. Humanism is obviously incompatible, quite anathema, to this all-pervading attitude–the Mufti’s conscripts into the Waffen SS surely possessed a double-dose of this ethos.
John C. Barile says
The Mufti’s recruits, rather.
Geordie says
Sad it may be. But it is also testament to the nature of a free democracy that one can be elected president. If Americans do cherish what they have then it should never be proposed to change.
The greatest strengths of democracy are also it’s weaknesses. That is, unless all people take an active role or at least a passing interest in making their informed vote count.
Voting should be made mandatory. Thoughts, anyone.
Ebeyjeeby says
Voting should not be mandatory. It should be reserved for property owners only. Otherwise, people will vote themselves largess from the public treasury.
Geordie says
“Voting should not be mandatory. It should be reserved for property owners only. Otherwise, people will vote themselves largess from the public treasury.”
That would lead to feudalism, a return to rule by the landed gentry. Do you really think that is a good idea?
I would have thought an IQ test to eliminated the simpletons and those who think the earth is 10.000 years old, could be justified.
Transfinite Cardinal says
EBGB,
That is not possible given today’s climate and i also do not think that is right. Do you also want to deny women the right to vote?
dumbledoresarmy says
It already *is* mandatory, in Australia. And we have pretty good turnouts. (You get fined, not cripplingly, but still enough to make you stop and think, if you *don’t* vote).
That way, we know *exactly* how many fools we have at any given time, among those of voting age.
Lynn says
I can only go by my reactions to him. First time I saw him on TV, there was a gut reaction. I leapt to my feet as the hair rose on the back of my neck. I heard myself shouting “NO!” at the TV. I closed my humble business day he was elected.
He’s never fooled me.
He’s merely a MB loving muzzie, practicing Taqiyya with every breath. Period.
Fr. Basil says
Apparently, Obama’s experience with the nominal Christianity of First Christian Church of Chicago never taught him the real message of Pascha (Easter).
Our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ rose from the dead in His glorified physical body, trampling down death by His death, on that first Paschal morning.
Mahomet’s body, on the other hand, rots in Medina as a sign of what is happening to his soul if he did not repent.
John Sstefan Obeda says
Yes, Fr.Basil, very true. May God the Holy Trinity be successful somehow to get the ignorant people that voted for Obama
and everyone else in America to repent of their sins and to come to their Saviour so that God by His mercy in Christ will forgive the American people their public sins and continue to bless them with democracy and liberty and freedom with which He has blessed America in the past. But I’m worried for my descendants and the future of my dear country which I love.
Clare says
“A large-scale change in the political and media culture is vitally necessary for the U.S. to deal realistically with the jihad threat.”
Vitally necessary. This sentence has brought my prayers for our country into clear, sharp focus. (Is it unrealistic to think that anyone in Congress will begin the Articles of Impeachment?)
Hummer says
One of the most enlightening books I’ve read is Nomad by Ayaan Hirsi Ali . We must understand what is happening in America and this is as educational as it gets. Easy to see how and understand the implanted ideas from clans,grandparents,ect. even if you are born in America, that over time are developed by radical leaders in mosques bringing it forward in steps until you have jihadi terrorists. This is a wake up book.
Kepha says
@Wellington & jihad3tracker:
I picked up my younger son at college the other day. On the way home, he stated he was bothered that so many people simply don’t care to know things. He was shocked that many of his peers at a reputable public university in our state don’t even know who Ayatollah Khomeini was.
I note that when I was a teen, and years later, when I taught in Taiwan, I was surrounded by curious young people. We all wanted to learn at least something. Now, as a teacher, I’m appalled at the incuriosity of my charges towards anything substantive (what Beyonce wore on such and such a weekend is not substantive, in my book).
This, I suppose, is why so many of the young voted for the O. He’s basically one of them–ignorant, and unwilling to learn.
Bezelel says
Television; idiot box,electronic baby sitter,chewing gum for the brain,propaganda and indoctrination tool. It has given the social engineering behavior modification fanatics access to the homes of the masses, to the degree it is the benchmark for the credibility of all information worth knowing,at least in the minds of the afflicted. I can’t even discuss the topics from this site with many people.
Wellington says
Did you see, Kepha, that, with one exception, no student at Harvard (yes, Harvard) knew the capital of Canada? The sole student who did is a Canadian. At American University in DC, not one student interviewd could name a single United States Senator, but many knew a new hit song and who composed it. And many more examples along these lines could be provided demonstrating what has happened to education in America (not that facts alone represent education but without facts theories quickly devolve into chaos).
One of the saddest, most tragic developments, is that ancient and medieval history are basically not taught at all anymore at any level of education and so it’s all post-1500 stuff and this “stuff” is almost always on special topics (and often with a PC agenda) rather than on basic history. We are now raising an entire generation ignorant of their own civilization’s historical record. Well, I’m sure you know that famous quote from Santayana to the effect that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
Oh, but this young generation is tech savvy, but my theory here is that the more technology we get the more destruction of great things occur, for instance the telephone killed the art of letter writing, TV has made many into zombies and modern communication devices and computers have allowed full throttle for banality to manifest itself at the expense of real learning and wisdom. A new Dark Age dawning perhaps. Coupled with a resurgent Islam in full parasitic, scapegoat and self-pitying mode, this does not bode well for Western Civilization, though I still remain optimistic long term because of the stubbornness of truth. Nonetheless, it’s going to be a rough ride for a while to come.
Kepha says
The loss of biblical religion is a huge reason why kids today are so disinterested in history and more and more into themselves. Indeed, the whole worldview of our current era is one of self-indulgence and a quest to fulfill it. This, perhaps, is why secular liberalism has made abortion and sexual perversion its current sacred cows.
The large part of the Bible is history (I know many will quibble, but the fact is that the whole section Genesis-Esther at leas purports to give us the history of the Israelite nation, and I. for one, accept that it actually does). Further, the Israelite nation was one set in the midst of a whole lot of other nations, so the Bible also gives us a way of looking at a diverse world.
As we shift to the New Testament, we have the Gospels and Acts which are historical in character (a middle finger to the 19th century Tuebingen School and the purveyors of a “historical Jesus” who was merely a reflection of themselves). As a missionary religion from the outset (think Paul), the New Testament all but requires us to be curious about the rest of the world.
What of Greece and Rome? Christianity, not Islam, preserved that heritage. The “Islamic” scholars who translated Aristotle and the other Greeks more often than not depended on Dhimmi Christians to accomplish the task. Christianity also invented the science of Archaeology due to its curiosity about the ancient Near East from whence its sources had come.
A man named Vishal Mangalwali (an Indian) has some interesting observations on Christianity and the development of national languages. His work can be found online. Certainly from the standpoint of the West, the role of the Protestant Reformation in doing so is clear. But I also note that one of the first books published in Vernacular Chinese in the wake of the May Fourth Movement’s call for abandoning the Wen Yan Wen for Bai Hua Wen was the Guoyu Union Version of the Bible that is commonly used today. While many think of the Roman Church clinging to Latin, I note that in ancient and early medieval church history we have a plethora of translations from Greek and Hebrew into Latin, Coptic, Armenian, Syriac, Nubian, Georgian, and Sogdian. There is even record of a Tang-era Chinese translation of Christian Scripture, but this version is lost.
I don’t think that Christianity could’ve avoided the original humanism (the 16th century kind). It’s deepest instincts fostered it.
From where I stand, it seems that so much so-called “education” is in fact time-serving and misinformation. Perhaps our young may even sense that they are being swindled, and hence are tuning out. Too bad they can’t see that the O is a part of the swindle.
Geordie says
As Ruth Hurmence Green once wrote, “There was a time when religion ruled the world. It is known as The Dark Ages,” yet the Church did little in regards to science. Although the Church educated their male clergy, in Western Europe the majority of women, the poor, and and serfs remained ignorant. The first schools didn’t appear in Europe until around 400 years after the beginning of the Dark Ages. King Charlemagne started the schools, and over time the schools fused with the church to become cathedral schools, but these schools taught mostly to male students for careers in the church, not for scientific investigation into nature. Degree-granting universities didn’t appear until centuries later.
Although the Church did not initially purposely set out to destroy scientific works, the atmosphere of faith over reason stymied much scientific thought. The few Christians that did any science during the early Dark Ages had little or no impact on later Renaissance scientists.”
BlueRaven says
I agree with Robert, the Boston bombing could been prevented if certain measures were in place. Nevertheless, I believe that several Islamic attacks been pre-empted by the FBI. The FBI been actively deceiving Muslims (beating them at their own game!) since years and we convicted several Muslims before they had any chance of blowing us up. I am not big on Obama but I give him credit where it is due.
Wellington says
BlueRaven: The Feds led by Obama are only saving us from some of the worst Islamic nut-jobs, much as the Saudis do with fellow Muslims who have drunk the Islamic Kool-Aid to the max, but the principal problem, an enormous one, remains and that is the rottenness of Islam to its very core and here Obama and his minions are giving a complete pass to this——-just as the Saudis do.
Ayatrollah says
Bad movie yes.
The end is a picture of the White House. Someone screams “get them out of here”‘ as boxes of qurans tumble out the front door, followed by Muslims poring out of all doors and windows leading to the front lawn. They scramble to pick up the noble books and disappear into Washington, D.C.. They live to fight another day and next summer you can see the sequel.
Kepha says
@Geordie:
Thanks for letting me know what an absolute ignoramus and discredit to the scribbling class Ruth Hurmence Green is.
There was no such thing as the “Dark Ages” save in the minds of fools like Francois-Marie Arouet (a playwright rather than a real thinker) and Edward Gibbon. Since you invoke that holy mystical symbol of “science”, between Alaric’s sack of Rome in 411 and, say, 1492, Christian Europeans developed wagons with springs, three field rotation in agriculture, watermills, improvements on cranes, iron ploughs that turned rather than merely scratched the soil, as well as Romanesque and Gothic architecture (you do the math to figure out how those vaults are going to support the weight they need to carry, please).
In philosophy, Thomas Aquinas, Maimonides, Ibn Roshd, etc. did not recover the Hellenic tradition. They merely brought the Aristotelian tradition to the fore when before, the Platonic tradition had been dominant in philosophy.
Add to this the development of national vernaculars in a number of languages (which, of course, got a major boost later, with the Reformation); the establishment of parliamentary governments; codification of law (under Justinian in the 500’s, not under the Pagan Caesars).
I suspect you may be one of those who thinks Ferdinand of Aragon was skeptical about supporting Columbus because he thought the world was flat (as I was miseducated to believe, when young). In fact, Ferdinand and his clerical advisers were well aware of Eratosthenes’ measurements, and worried that their loyal subjects would die of thirst or hunger long before reaching the indies (indeed, their understanding of the length of a degree of latitude was better than Columbus’–had the Americas not gotten in the way, their fears would’ve been realized).
R. Hooykaaas of the Free University of Amsterdam once made the observation that while the forms of the physical sciences may have been classical, their vitamins and hormones were biblical.
And, in our own day, the Vienna Circle, those builders of the logical positivist school of philosophy, had one member, Joseph Schachter, who observed that his philosophy left no way to get from the empirical _is_ to the ethical _ought_. Sort of a weakness for something trying to build a holistic system of ethics, philosophy, and science, no?
Geordie says
Thank you Kepha. That was well presented and gives much food for thought.
The point I was eluding to and the quote from Ruth Hurmence Green in context referred to, is this. That period in time oft called the Christian Dark Ages when the atmosphere of faith over reason hindered open discussion and much scientific thought. Not all scientific though, only that which challenged religious dogma. I assume building techniques for churches and growing crops would be safe from heresy claims. However, Cecco d’Ascoli, Giordano Bruno, Galileo Galilei and their treatment by the RC church are well known examples of free thinkers persecuted by the church. Sadly they represent the tip of a large iceberg of unknown magnitude. History cannot record those who thought it best to say and do nothing despite the urge to ask searching questions.
The policy was well established by 450 when Pope Leo the Great commended the Emperor for torturing and executing heretics on behalf of the Church. In theory heresy was the denial of some essential Christian doctrine, publicly and obstinately . In practice any deviation from the currently orthodox line could be judged heretical.
Papal infallibility; the preservation of institutionalised power and of course great wealth, have a way of stifling open discourse. Particularly when backed by the inquisition, torture and death.
Kepha says
I recommend Rodney Stark’s _Triumph of Reason_.
Geordie says
Thank you and in return I recommend Richard Dawkins – The God Delusion and seriously as a matter of some urgency, “Letter to A Christian Nation” by Sam Harris.
thomas_h says
I am sure you will enjoy the “Last Superstition” by Edward Feser. His dealing with the breathtaking ignorance of the “New Atheists” specifically Dawkins, Harris, Dennett, Hitchens is both fascinating and most entertaing.