Posts tagged religion
“ Since time immemorial, the Black Hills in South Dakota have been a holy place for the Lakota Sioux – my people. And to the Lakota the Black Hills is where Life began. Although the story of creation significantly differs between Sioux and Christians (our messenger from The Creator came in the form of a woman) Paha Sapa is not unlike Christianity’s Eden in its significance. But here is where today’s debate over the mosque and my peoples’ sacred site come together: It didn’t matter to the Christians, those innumerable settlers who came west seeking gold, land, riches and religious freedom (ironically) that the Black Hills was our holy site, our sacred location, our Jerusalem. No. What mattered was that their monument – Mount Rushmore – be chiseled into it. And the key word here is “on,” not “near.” The American Muslim community wants to build their 13-story mosque near the World Trade Center bombing site, not on it. Only if we – American Indians – were lucky enough to have seen Christians build their much coveted religious institutions and monuments to their leaders near our holy sites, and not on them.”
Simon Moya-Smith, “Monuments & Mosques: The Debate Over What’s Sacred (an American Indian’s perspective)” (via tart-tart)
Christians obviously feel they have the constitutional right to build what they want, where they want, when they want. I find it most hypocritical that the same Christians who are for building edifices on sacred Indian sites are the very same voices of opposition regarding the erection of a Muslim mosque near Ground Zero.
Didn’t Paul Mooney recently comment on the (more than 2 blocks away, so near) Ground Zero “Mosque” (but really a community center) that “You mean kind of like carving big white mens heads into the mountains of native burial grounds?”
Sidenote, I like Paul Mooney.
(via afghanipoppy)
4fr:
These are posters from the No.Terror. Campaign, they are all over the UAE; news papers, magazines, and billboards. I don’t know if it’s in other parts of the Middle East, would be nice if it was. The site is still under construction though.
Mission: Our mission is to highlight the real face of terrorism and to highlight the true principles of Islam. And take upon us in this context to make clear to the people of the Arab and Muslim lies of the extremists who claim to belong to Islamic fundamentalism and are mired in the darkest darkness of misguidance. The site aims to make room for people and encourage them to reject the cancer of religious extremism, which feeds terrorism.This could be one of the best campaigns I ever witnessed and everyone has to see it. The Ads are made brilliantly, no doubt. This is for the people who automatically think “Oh Arab, terrorist”….”Oh you are Muslim? Terrorist!”. This campaign speaks the truth, and you should check out all the videos, heartbreakingly true. Here are some:
The Clown. If you are scared of clowns don’t watch this. Really.
powerful, powerful stuff.
and that kidnapping PSA; that was just….damn.
elzhibeth-deactivated20101205 asked: Ah, I really dont know I'm still a little confused on the matter. Trying to sort out things here and there haha, but thanks for your answer! (=
No worries, you know i actually had a nice long message typed out in response to this message of yours, but my FF just froze on me and i lost it so i’ll try to recreate it. But yes about your topic:
What i wanted to elaborate to you, because it helped me, was that indeed we are perfect but this perceived “imperfection” of making mistakes is a dimension of our perfection. It’s not necessarily a bad thing that we are able to make mistakes. Mistakes stem from our ability to choose, which comes from the notion that we have a free will. And Free Will, in addition to consciousness and mortality, are the essence of our humanity.
And all this no doubt connects religiously with how one views the “purpose of their life”, what exactly were we “commanded” to do, and so on. With this being said, consider that before God created Man He already created Angels, right? Aren’t Angels the truly “Perfect” beings? they don’t make “mistakes” but then again they don’t a have free will like we do, and their sole purpose is to worship Him and execute His will. I don’t believe God created us to have this same dimension of perfection as that of the Angels. Rather he created us to worship Him and carry out His will except we would have to execute it with a different means, namely Free Will. Our perfection in creation comes from the fact that we were created with the faculties of consciousness and Free Will thus turning our life ultimately into a test because we were created with this ability to think differently. To choose, to stray, all these manners of being; essentially He will judge us on how we chose to be, and to see if we still chose to worship God and be Angelic without actually being Angels. Well, that’s how we see it in Islam anyway. We believe that our free will and the choices we make with it will be the data with which we are judged to see whether we are worthy of being among those chosen to enter Paradise.
This is kind of related but a Muslim friend of mine once told me that the only way we’re getting into Heaven is if we become Angels. At first i thought this was ridiculous, “how are we supposed to be Angels?” i thought. but that’s exactly it. HOW are we supposed to be Angels when we aren’t perfect and have the ability to make mistakes? It’s in the struggle, of trying to be “perfect” and pleasing God like an Angel would. That is the true Jihad, some would say.
I hope this all helps. and don’t let anyone knock you on this quest of seeking knowledge and answers. I saw someone say don’t get caught up in this “fiction”. Well some call it a storybook but God is our Truth, i hope. Keeping asking questions and keep seeking knowledge on this kind of stuff, my friend; it’ll bring you closer to God and fill your life with a spiritual serenity and peace that those who hate desperately wish they had.
Peace!
