A Grain of Salt

Well, ain’t this cool news.

It seems that our friends in Britain have declared a fatwa against Islamic extremism. For those who don’t know, a fatwa is essentially an official statement by an Islamic ulema, a kind of religious legal expert, that someone or some practice violates the law of the Koran. This specific case is probably surprising to many people, especially those who view Islam as a religion of violence.

The document, written by Dr Muhammed Tahir-ul-Qadri, a former minister of Pakistan and friend of Benazir Bhutto, declares suicide bombings and terrorism as “totally un-Islamic”. It is one of the most detailed and comprehensive documents of its kind to be published in Britain.

The fatwa, which was released in Pakistan last month, uses texts from the Koran and other Islamic writings to argue that attacks against innocent citizens are “absolutely against the teachings of Islam and that Islam does not permit such acts on any excuse, reason or pretext”.

What many people (Including many Christians!) seem to forget is that Islam is, to most of it’s followers, a religion of peace. But that news is hard to bare with the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, where Islamic extremists are seen as our one enemy. Truth be told, Islamic extremists are more than likely the most common, if not only enemy we face. But this fact has led to a horrible increase in anti-Muslim sentiments across the western world. What these leads to is- to put it bluntly, horrible cases of hypocracy.

Most Christians today seem to be getting uptight and generally paranoid about the government forces that they see as being “unfair”, “anti-religious”, or “prejudiced”. But how can we complain about our own treatment when we harbor such hatred against others? Have we forgotten the Golden Rule? Or maybe we just think it only applies when we are treated unfairly? Maybe what we need to remember is- fairness applies to everyone, and we are ORDERED to love everyone as we love ourselves. So instead of passing the blame for our misfortunes around, maybe when we begin treating others fairly we will get the blessings we want.

Very original.

Woah, nelly.

According to that purply-looking text up there, 87% of people in the United States believe that “sin”, which was defined as something “that is almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religious or moral perspective.” Of course, that’s good news, in a way. But what I think is more important are the actual statistics behind that one.

The top-rated sin ( Wow, never thought I would say that) is adultery, with 81% of people saying they believe that it is still a sin. Strangely enough, however,  only 45% believe that premarital sex is a sin. What seems to be the difference? Well, if you were to ask me, I would probably give two reasons. First, I would say that it has something to do with our society’s disregard for the consequences of sex in a relationship. There’s an excellent article in The Week (one of my favorite magazines)  about the state of relationships among young people today that I thought explained the problem well. Without getting into too much detail, I’ll just say that without a permanent relationship, sex does nothing but provide a connection that will be torn apart.

The other is selfishness. People as a whole (myself included) are inconsiderate. We only like to think about ourselves, and what benefits us in the here and now. It’s as simple as that- we want what feels good, we want it now, and as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone know, go right ahead. Too bad for us, I guess.

I guess this isn't King James...

Ha ha. Wow.

For all of you who may have happened to miss the link… well, I’ll just copy the entire article.

CANTON, North Carolina (AP) — A North Carolina pastor says his church plans to burn Bibles and books by Christian authors on Halloween to light a fire under true believers.

Pastor Marc Grizzard told Asheville TV station WLOS that the King James version of the Bible is the only one his small western North Carolina church follows. He says all other versions, such as the Living Bible, are “satanic” and “perversions” of God’s word.

I just… wow. Again, I have two main points about this article. The first of which is, well, get over it. The King James version, while poetic, striking, and powerful is NOT THE ONLY VERSION OF THE BIBLE. You read that right. I do love me some King James, to be true, but when people claim it is the only REAL version that can be trusted, it gets to me. Sure, several other translations may leave out verses, making King James one of the most accurate. But to a new Christian, accuracy may take a back seat to readability. To anyone new to the faith, I recommend a read-through of John, in a version like NIV. But for later study, I cannot recommend King James highly enough. It’s accuracy is unparalleled. Now, this person has taken this thought process to it’s logical extreme- the versions that don’t match up with this one are from the devil… Offending anyone who reads them and deeply confusing new believers who rely on their language.

Secondly, this is exactly the sort of action that portrays Christianity as a fragmented religion. I can see nothing wrong with the books of Billy Graham, (though Rick Warren… meh.) and think he is one of the centuries’ greatest evangelists. If you’re going to do something like this, try something a little less…drastic. Perhaps a seminar on why you believe these things are wrong, a sermon, or maybe even your own book. But actions like this serve no purpose other than to rile people up and draw attention to yourself. So THINK BEFORE YOU ACT. The appearance of our religion is failing, and we need to set the public right about the world’s true religion of love.

A small side note- appearance isn’t everything. More on that later.

Hmm.

This article, from The Christian Post, involves the Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2009, or ENDA. Basically, the jist of the bill is it prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of “actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.” Now, to be fair, I have no hate for homosexuals or transgender people. I believe that we need to show them the love of Christ. That is not say I believe that homosexuality is not a sin, only that I believe we have no right to judge them more than any other sinner. And everyone belongs in that category.   But that’s outside the point.

I am more shocked by the wording of one part of the bill. It includes the phrase “perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.” I believe (oh boy, here it comes) that this leaves the bill to open to any sort of crazy person who claims that “I was born in the wrong body.” This could open the gate to allowing men into women’s restrooms simply because they believe they should be there. Again, no hate is involved. I simply believe it’s an open door to a very real security risk. A simple lie can get you the ability to attack women with ease. I;m not saying transgendered males are all rapists, only a few truly sick people would twist the weaknesses of the system in order to attain pleasure. “But that’s terrible, Granular!” you’re yelling. “How can you hate the transgendered? Tolerance!” See paragraph 1. Then, move on with me.

Mainly, this bill is too broad. Again, it could lead to several dangerous situations. Thankfully, it has a provision that allows religious organizations to be exempt- but only religious organizations. Imagine having a male with a different “perceived gender identity” for an elementary school teacher. It would be impossible to refuse him hiring for any reason without it being seen as discrimination. Again, I think it is only right for those who hate homosexuals (again, NOT ME.) to be punished for not hiring a well educated and highly deserving homosexual simply on those grounds , but with a bill such as this, it could be possible for reverse discrimination to become prevalent, and some people may resort to some despicable things just to get a job.  But hey, the bill has already failed 17 times in Senate… So I guess we can trust our Congress one more time. I can only pray.

A point of clarification. I believe homosexuality is wrong. Nothing can change that. I believe gender change will destroy God’s purpose in your life. I simply believe Christians should watch what they say to shield themselves from being called hateful and giving our religion as a whole a bad name.