Via euronews: What do people in other countries think of the Brexit?
Read also:
Showing posts with label Compatibility. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Compatibility. Show all posts
7/10/18
EU - Christian Community Wake-up Call - Trump visit - Join and encourage protests against Trump's visit to the EU and show that Christian revolutionary compasion is still alive and well
 |
| Bozo is in town - please give him a "warm" welcome |
In the sense that he refused to be a narrow political leader that would just make Judea (todays Israel) politically powerful.
His mission was worldwide to benefit all mankind; leveling the importance of power and wealth.
He was equally compassionate and attentive to: women, tax collectors, foreigners inclusing Roman Centurians, Lepers, those crippled, those blind, insane Gentiles, Samaritans, Pharisees (though he brought some of them up short for their hypocrisy), Sinners, Rulers of the Synagogue, and very rich people, including Nobility.
Unfortunately today his doctrine is only given "lip service" in many Christian Churches around the world, in particular the US and Europe.
What has
happened to the revolutionary Spirit of compassion and involvement Jesus
spoke about ?
Case in point. When in recent weeks the US government’s abusive and widely condemned policy of separating migrant children from their families was publicly criticized, the attorney general Jeff Session of the Trump Administration responded, by quoting the New Testament writer Paul, who in the book of Romans calls on people to obey the laws of the government. Really?.
That this would have ruled out the actions of Jesus himself, was
seemingly lost on Sessions, as indeed was the fact that Jesus’s family
were forced to escape across borders.
Or the fact that Psalm 202.28 states: "The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you", and as we read in Mark 9:42: "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it
would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck
and he were thrown into the sea".
But the Sessions incident highlighted the problem that Christianity has and
the problems that are still being created.
To put it bluntly: in
the 2016 presidential election a majority of practicing Christians in
the USA voted for the most racist and misogynistic candidate going, and in
so doing helping Donald Trump to the position of the most powerful
person in the world.
Against such a background it’s easy to forget that the movement
from which Christianity emerged was one that shared possessions in
common, renounced war and at least in some ways modelled more
progressive understandings of gender than was generally accepted in those days To use
some words that weren’t around at that time in history; human rights, democracy, pacifismt and pro-feminism..
Trump’s ‘America First’ ideology has many similarities with those of other dangerous nationalist- populists around the world..
Trump has also not attempedt to conceal his admiration for other populist movements around the world. He openly supported the Brexit movement, and populist Marianne Le Pen's campaign in the French Presidential election against President Emmanual Macron. He also hails authoritarian 'strongmen' like Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and Vladimir Putin. He obviously, secretly, envies their freedom of action, and
probably wonders why the restraints of this "bourgeois democracy" continuously tie his
hands behind his back.
In the relatively short time period the current Trump administration has been in power,Trump pulled the US out from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Paris agreement on climate change and the Iran deal. He also withdrewn the US from the United Nations' top human rights body and plans to end NAFTA -- while his recently announced tariffs affecting the EU, China, Mexico and Canada, are on the verge of starting a global trade war.
These International actions, however, are only the top of the Iceberg, in comparison to the changes his administration has already made on the home front, negatively affecting peoples health, immigration policies, taxes, and personal freedom.
And now.... Donald Trump has arrived in Europe, arrogant and cocky as ever.
Check out your local press and social media for additional details of the Donald Trump visit to the EU, and where demonstrations will be held in your area---and please attend.
Trump's program which starts this afternoon July 10 in Brussels, where Trump will meet with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, before participating in high-level sessions with the 28 allies on Wednesday July 11. and Thursday July 12th at the NATO headquarters.
On the 13th of July he will be in Britain where he will meet Prime Minister Theresa May, Queen Elizabeth II and business leaders, before heading to the Trump resort in Scotland on Friday evening, where he’s expected to play some golf over the weekend.
The US president is due to spend his first and only night in London at the US ambassador’s official residence, Winfield House, in Regent’s Park. Over the weekend he will be going to Scotland for some golf and probably stay at his luxury hotel he owns in Ayrshire, the Trump Turnberry
On Sunday evening July 15, Trump will fly further north to Helsinki, Finland for a one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Given the backdrop of international trade tensions following Trump’s tariff increases; the litany of retaliatory measures announced by U.S. allies including the European Union (EU); Trump’s criticism of NATO; and close scrutiny of his administration’s links to Russia — some of these encounters are bound to be less congenial than others.
The role that we as individuals can each play is to join in demonstrations, wherever they may be held in in Europe.
You might feel this does not add up to much, but
together it can add up in
disrupting the US president’s hoped-for, and loved media PR opportunity, by showing an alternative to what he stands for.
But that is only a first step.
The bigger job is, after acknowledging the problem, to dismantle the scaffolding of
structural racism, and economic inequality, that allowed Trump to
get where he is today, and which allow comparable policies to happen in Europe and around the world.
If you live or have family or friends in the areas where Trump is visiting please pass this article along and encourage them to demonstrate.
Make Trump understand his Administrations policies are not acceptable in the EU.
9/7/16
Democracy and Islam: Muslim writer explains why Islam and democracy are incompatible - by Bob Taylor
We in the West love to philosophize and fantasize about bringing democracy to the Middle East. Like Christian missionaries who venture into remote corners of the world to bring the word of God to uncivilized cultures, Westerners believe that if we can just get Muslims to understand the democratic way of life, then all our problems will vanish.
Muslim writer Salem Ben Ammar completely refutes that idea, and his explanation is crystal clear. In fact, it is so simple that if everybody read it, especially those in authority in Washington, there would be no doubt why a true Islamic democracy is an oxymoron.
“To hell with democracy! Long live Islam!,” writes Ammar. “These two competing political systems are antithetical to each other. You can’t be democratic and be a Muslim or a Muslim and be a democrat. A Jew can’t be a Nazi and a Nazi can’t be a Judeophile.”
When you consider the last sentence of Ben Ammar’s opinion, the complex is simplified in a matter of 13 words.
Ammar continues, “Islam is the brain and the spinal fluid of all Muslims. Outside its path, there’s no salvation for them. Now, it’s rather hard to imagine Muslims abandoning Islam to embark on the democratic path. They’ll be the first to take advantage of benefits in the West, right up till the day when they become masters of the political game and with democratic legitimacy be able to impose the dictatorship of Islam and put to death individual and collective freedoms. It won’t be an Islamic republic that’ll see the light of day…that’s just an optical illusion as in the case of Iran…it’ll be a caliphate to govern the Muslim Reich, the Ummah.”
Here the key to Ammar’s statement is that Muslims do, indeed, enjoy the creature comforts of their Western foes. When they have the financial resources, Muslims thrive on all things Western; nice cars, air conditioning, fast food, high definition television. You name it, wealthy Muslims will purchase the West’s top of the line products in virtually every situation.
Once in control, however, all bets are off, because Islam takes over. It is the “controlling legal authority” for Muslims to paraphrase an old quote by former presidential candidate Al Gore.
Westerners rationalize that the Middle East will one day embrace what we know as “Jeffersonian democracy.” True, some Muslim countries may hold elections but, as Ammar clearly points out, “Democracy is not a simple matter of elections by universal suffrage. It needs to be neutral to all influence by religion, and making laws mustn’t be conducted in the name of Allah.
“In a real democracy, justice is not done in the name of Allah. Muslim countries are condemned to live under the tyranny of Islam. Such experiences of democracy are just mirages that evaporate at the first call to prayer.”
And there you have it, Salem Ben Ammar nails it in two simple paragraphs. Democracy and Islam are incompatible. So long as we believe in the West that we can somehow reorganize the Muslim world adapt to our way of life we have no chance of ever coexisting with them.
That, in a nutshell, explains the futility of the nuclear arms agreement with Iran. When a Muslim society is forced to make a choice between Islam and democracy, Islam will win every time. The only way Western ideas can prevail is for Muslims to completely renounce their beliefs.
Ammar explains further that, “In a democratic system, religion cannot codify the life of its citizens and dictate to them the conduct to be followed in the management of public affairs and their individual liberties. Using the excuse that it’s a Muslim country, the sale of alcohol is prohibited on Friday. Forbidding women to marry a non-Muslim or to force fasters to hide to eat during Ramadan is proof of the pre-eminence of religion above private human business.”
Like it or not, accept it or not, believe it or not, Salem Ben Ammar’s article summarizes the crux of the dynamics between the West and the Islamic world. Sadly, there is nothing we can do to change it until Muslims themselves are willing to alter 14 centuries of revelations by a man named Muhammad.
Read more: Muslim writer explains why Islam and democracy are incompatible | Communities Digital News
Muslim writer Salem Ben Ammar completely refutes that idea, and his explanation is crystal clear. In fact, it is so simple that if everybody read it, especially those in authority in Washington, there would be no doubt why a true Islamic democracy is an oxymoron.
“To hell with democracy! Long live Islam!,” writes Ammar. “These two competing political systems are antithetical to each other. You can’t be democratic and be a Muslim or a Muslim and be a democrat. A Jew can’t be a Nazi and a Nazi can’t be a Judeophile.”
When you consider the last sentence of Ben Ammar’s opinion, the complex is simplified in a matter of 13 words.
Ammar continues, “Islam is the brain and the spinal fluid of all Muslims. Outside its path, there’s no salvation for them. Now, it’s rather hard to imagine Muslims abandoning Islam to embark on the democratic path. They’ll be the first to take advantage of benefits in the West, right up till the day when they become masters of the political game and with democratic legitimacy be able to impose the dictatorship of Islam and put to death individual and collective freedoms. It won’t be an Islamic republic that’ll see the light of day…that’s just an optical illusion as in the case of Iran…it’ll be a caliphate to govern the Muslim Reich, the Ummah.”
Here the key to Ammar’s statement is that Muslims do, indeed, enjoy the creature comforts of their Western foes. When they have the financial resources, Muslims thrive on all things Western; nice cars, air conditioning, fast food, high definition television. You name it, wealthy Muslims will purchase the West’s top of the line products in virtually every situation.
Once in control, however, all bets are off, because Islam takes over. It is the “controlling legal authority” for Muslims to paraphrase an old quote by former presidential candidate Al Gore.
Westerners rationalize that the Middle East will one day embrace what we know as “Jeffersonian democracy.” True, some Muslim countries may hold elections but, as Ammar clearly points out, “Democracy is not a simple matter of elections by universal suffrage. It needs to be neutral to all influence by religion, and making laws mustn’t be conducted in the name of Allah.
“In a real democracy, justice is not done in the name of Allah. Muslim countries are condemned to live under the tyranny of Islam. Such experiences of democracy are just mirages that evaporate at the first call to prayer.”
And there you have it, Salem Ben Ammar nails it in two simple paragraphs. Democracy and Islam are incompatible. So long as we believe in the West that we can somehow reorganize the Muslim world adapt to our way of life we have no chance of ever coexisting with them.
That, in a nutshell, explains the futility of the nuclear arms agreement with Iran. When a Muslim society is forced to make a choice between Islam and democracy, Islam will win every time. The only way Western ideas can prevail is for Muslims to completely renounce their beliefs.
Ammar explains further that, “In a democratic system, religion cannot codify the life of its citizens and dictate to them the conduct to be followed in the management of public affairs and their individual liberties. Using the excuse that it’s a Muslim country, the sale of alcohol is prohibited on Friday. Forbidding women to marry a non-Muslim or to force fasters to hide to eat during Ramadan is proof of the pre-eminence of religion above private human business.”
Like it or not, accept it or not, believe it or not, Salem Ben Ammar’s article summarizes the crux of the dynamics between the West and the Islamic world. Sadly, there is nothing we can do to change it until Muslims themselves are willing to alter 14 centuries of revelations by a man named Muhammad.
Read more: Muslim writer explains why Islam and democracy are incompatible | Communities Digital News
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)