Clarity and Resolve links to war passages from the Koran. I don’t know their historical or textual context, so likely many aren’t as ugly as they appear. But reading the list does put the "religion of peace" thing into context, and make the idea that jihad just means "moral struggle" seem a little silly.
Gideon Strauss has a series of typically insightful posts on the New Urbanism and the community of faith: here, here, and here.
Desert Rat covers the new how-to book for illegal immigrants put out by the Mexican government. That's a rather novel Good Neighbor policy.
Hog on Ice covers the latest DDOS attack against Hosting Matters (also host to Le Sabot). This time it was Arab nerds going after an Israeli site.
Posted by Discoshaman at janvier 13, 2005 12:20 AM | TrackBack
¡ A, señor Discoshamanhombre! Thanks for the reference. Readers might also be interested in What Is Jihad?, especially the brief definitions at the end from Islamic sources.
I'm on Hosting Matters too. What a bunch of jerks, who have nothing more constructive to do than knock sites off line. It was really bad for Charles Johnson's LGF—he was off for a day.
¡ Y tambien, viva la libertad en Ucrania!
Posted by: patrickafir at janvier 12, 2005 11:10 PMHaven't read the Koran (and I'm told it doesn't count anyway unless you read it in the original Arabic), but I'm sure you must be aware of numerous alarming passages in both the Old and the New Testament. Context does matter.
None of your links here seem to be working....
Posted by: Michael at janvier 13, 2005 06:33 AMPatrick-
Good to see you, man. :-)
Michael-
Hi again!
"Haven't read the Koran (and I'm told it doesn't count anyway unless you read it in the original Arabic),"
Count? Unless you actually believe he was "the Prophet", then his pronouncements that it can only be read in Arabic mean nothing. The Koran is no different than Homer or the Bible in this -- a good translation is a good translation.
"but I'm sure you must be aware of numerous alarming passages in both the Old and the New Testament. Context does matter."
Yes, I considered that when I wrote the post. The "alarming passages" in the OT deal generally with a one-time act of judgement by God upon Canaan. The rest of the wars of Israel were largely defensive in nature. No where does God call them to ongoing, relentless physical warfare to bring the rest of the world under subjection.
In the NT, Christ calls upon us to bring the world into repentance and faith through preaching. Christianity is like a peaceful mirror image of Islam -- converting the world through persuasion and acts of mercy, rather than the sword.
Paul and others use a LOT of metaphorical militant imagery in the NT. But it is always made clear -- "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, principalities. . ." Our warfare is a spiritual one, not a physical one. Which is why Paul says, "our weapons are not carnal."
The one time someone picks up a sword with which to defend the Kingdom in the NT, Jesus rebukes the individual and heals the person he injured.
Thanks for weighing in on this. I've fixed the link, thanks for pointing it out.
Your pal,
John