Iraqis claim Marines are pushing Christianity in Fallujah

U.S. Marines are handing out this coin,
imprinted with a Gospel verse, to
Fallujah residents. Jamal Naji / MCT
Now this's the way to win over hearts and minds.

At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.

Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked.

He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."

"They are trying to convert us to Christianity," said Anad, a Sunni Muslim like most residents of this city in Anbar province. At home, he told his story, and his relatives echoed their disapproval: They'd been given the coins, too, he said.

Fallujah, the scene of a bloody U.S. offensive against Sunni insurgents in 2004, has calmed and grown less hostile to American troops since residents turned against al Qaida in Iraq, which had tried to force its brand of Islamist extremism on the population.

Now residents of the city are abuzz that some Americans whom they consider occupiers are also acting as Christian missionaries. Residents said some Marines at the western entrance to their city have been passing out the coins for two days in what they call a "humiliating" attempt to convert them to Christianity.

...

"Local commanders are investigating since the military prohibits proselytizing any religion, faith or practices."

This would piss me off too and I'm not Muslim.

BTW did you notice how they always refer to the Marines as occupiers? Just asking.

Note: Headline links to source.

Irish Christian leaders barred from Western Wall for wearing crosses

Apparently tolerance/acceptance is a uni-directional thingy.

The rabbi of the Western Wall says officials barred visiting Irish church leaders from praying there because they were wearing crosses.

Note: Headline links to source.

Religion of nothing in particular

I've read about this shift in religion several places, but chose to link to The Goddess.

The rise of the unaffiliated does not mean that Americans are becoming less religious, however. Contrary to assumptions that most of the unaffiliated are atheists or agnostics, most described their religion "as nothing in particular." [emphasis mine]

I know I'm warped, but that fucking cracks me up. How does one have faith in nothing in particular? Just asking.

BTW, I believe my faith is in anarchy.

Via Echidne.

Karbala pilgrimage

I guess religious masochism in the form of self-flagellation, hair shirts and suicide bombs just never goes out of style.

Hundreds of thousands of Shiites are walking to Karbala. Many of the roads in the capital are blocked as pious Shiite Muslims make the about 50 mile-trek to the holy city where Imam Hussein, the grandson of the prophet Mohammed, was killed.

On Thursday they commemorate Arbaeen, the anniversary of the 40th day after Hussein's death. Imam Hussein, his family and his followers who were killed were beheaded. On this day over 1300 years ago their heads were returned to their bodies.

The most pious go on foot in memory of the slain figure. Since the 2003 invasion nearly every year there has been blood. This year is no different.

In Iskandiriya, a town within what was known as the Sunni triangle of death, the place where Al Qaida ruled and blood shed was the norm, at least 27 pilgrims were killed today and 50 were injured when a suicide bomber walked into the crowd. Police expect the death toll to climb by tonight. In Baghdad three were killed by grenade attacks. Arbaeen falls on Thursday, thousands more pilgrims will take to the street this week.

In Karbala, already throngs of Shiites had reached the shrine, pounding their chests in mourning for Hussein.

Tomorrow three of our staff members plan to walk. I asked them to stay, worried that another bloody bombing might take place. But the bombings won't stop them, it is their religious duty.

Hey, I don't understand it, but I do believe in religious freedom. If they wanna handle snakes its their choice. Its just not for me.

However, I do draw the line if the pilgrims take along their children which I would guess many do. Children aren't ready to decide they want to risk being blown to shit just to make a pilgrimage. Let them decide such things when they've reached, by my standard, 18 years of age at least.

OK, I guess I believe in limited religious freedom.

Courtesy link Baghdad.

Anglicans: England is not a Catholic nation

CHURCH FIGHT!! CHURCH FIGHT!!

Muhahaha.

The Church of England has rejected claims that the Roman Catholic Church has overtaken it as the country's dominant Christian denomination.

You might find it necessary to file this under: Who gives a shit?

Via Telegraph.

Occam's Razor

click for larger image

Via oomsa.

Islamic Academy in Virginia on Defensive

Nearly perfect example of 1984's Newspeak.

Its most virulent critics have dubbed it "Terror High," and 12 U.S. senators and a federal commission want to shut it down.

The teachers, administrators and some 900 students at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax County have heard the allegations for years - after the Sept. 11 attacks and then a few years later when a class valedictorian admitted he had joined al-Qaida.

Now the school is on the defensive again, with a report issued last month by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom saying the academy should be closed, pending a review of its curriculum and textbooks.

Abdalla al-Shabnan, the school's director general, says criticism of the school is based not on evidence, but on preconceived notions of the Saudi educational system. [emphasis mine]

We're all for religious freedom except for when we aren't.

Via Guardian.

When religions clash

Jesus H Christ with a Yo-Yo.

As if the elders in any religion ever "got along", but this is just plain silly.

Israeli rabbinic authorities have abruptly called on Jews to shun a major Christian tourism event, baffling and upsetting evangelical groups that traditionally have been big supporters of the Jewish state.

More than 6,000 Christians from over 90 nations are expected to arrive in Jerusalem this week to take part in the 28th annual Christian celebration of the weeklong Jewish holiday of Sukkot, or Feast of Tabernacles, according to the event's organizers, the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem.

I'm emphatically anti-proselytizing, but sometimes I think the rabbinic authorities and others are just trolling for things to be upset about and I have no idea why except its a cottage industry for them.

Yes, the Jewish people have suffered and are suffering now to some extent, but can they never let go? Will this litany continue for the next 5,000 years? Oy vey, enough already.

Take your shots.

I'm not antisemitic anymore than anti Democratic or anti clean air. I just get pissed off when people bitch about treatment suffered decades ago, not by them, and continually act as victims. I'm in a privileged position here, but...

This post is gonna leave scars.

Via Boston Globe.

Questions requiring answers

If only those who believe in Jesus will be saved what happens to the other billions of people?

God’s Numbers

Image found with
Google™ image search
for "atheist blogger"

From Newsweek we learn 91 percent of American adults surveyed believe in God. And only 3 percent claim to be atheists.

A belief in God and an identification with an organized religion are widespread throughout the country, according to the latest NEWSWEEK poll. Nine in 10 (91 percent) of American adults say they believe in God and almost as many (87 percent) say they identify with a specific religion. Christians far outnumber members of any other faith in the country, with 82 percent of the poll’s respondents identifying themselves as such. Another 5 percent say they follow a non-Christian faith, such as Judaism or Islam. Nearly half (48 percent) of the public rejects the scientific theory of evolution; one-third (34 percent) of college graduates say they accept the Biblical account of creation as fact. Seventy-three percent of Evangelical Protestants say they believe that God created humans in their present form within the last 10,000 years; 39 percent of non-Evangelical Protestants and 41 percent of Catholics agree with that view.

...

Although one in ten (10 percent) of Americans identify themselves as having "no religion," only six percent said they don’t believe in a God at all. Just 3 percent of the public self-identifies as atheist, suggesting that the term may carry some stigma. Still, the poll suggests that the public’s tolerance of this small minority has increased in recent years. Nearly half (47 percent) of the respondents felt the country is more accepting of atheists today that it used to be and slightly more (49 percent) reported personally knowing an atheist.

What I don't understand is why they didn't take the poll a little further. I'm sure they would have found among the 3 percent who say they are atheists , 99 percent have a blog.

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