Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM POOH-POOHED AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

George Weigle talks about the mentality regnant in the U.S. State Department and the Obama administration saying:

In his June 13 testimony before the National Security Subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Governmental Reform, Dr. Thomas Farr of Georgetown’s Berkley Center described the failures of U.S. international religious freedom policy over the past decade and a half and suggested some of the structural reasons for that failure: lack of strategic integration, such that religious freedom doesn’t “fit” with other U.S. foreign policy objectives; resistance in the Department of State to the very idea of an international religious freedom policy and a special ambassador for promoting religious freedom; little or no leadership from presidents and secretaries of state. 

And the dismal result? According to Dr. Farr, “it would be difficult to name a single country in the world over the past fifteen years where American religious freedom policy has helped reduce religious persecution or to increase religious freedom in any substantial or sustained way.”

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION PUSHES FOR MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD PARTICIPATION IN EGYPT; DANIEL PIPES DISAGREES

Daniel Pipes, the president of the Middle East Forum, is the man to listen to in this discussion.  He writes:

In the aftermath of the coup d’état in Egypt, a consensus has emerged, to cite an anonymous Obama administration official, that “trying to break the neck of the [Muslim] Brotherhood is not going to be good for Egypt or for the region.”  

The thinking behind this view is that (1) it’s better to have Islamists in the political process than violently rebelling and (2) participating in civil society has the potential to tame Islamists, making them see the benefits of democracy and turning them into just another interest group.

May I vociferously disagree?

Yes, we do indeed want to break the brotherhood’s neck because that is good for Egypt, the region, and (not least) ourselves. Both the above assumptions are wrong. (1) Islamists can do more damage within the political process than outside it. To put it graphically, I worry more about a Turkey, with elected Islamists in charge, than Syria, where they are engaged in a civil war to attain power. (2) Islamists have a history of using the political process for their own ends, and not of being tamed by it: See Mohamed Morsi’s year in power for one clear example.

No tolerance for the intolerant. Just as fascists and Communists are not legitimate players in a democracy, neither are Islamists. No matter how smooth-talking, they remain autocrats who disregard the popular will. Better that they be excluded entirely from participatory politics.

Me:  Will the Obama administration ever get its foreign policy right?

** Pipes on Israel's release of 104 murderers: Very bad idea

Pipes says:

Israeli leaders have a long history of making lopsided trades with their Arab enemies. These include:

1985: 1,150 prisoners for three captured Israelis

2000: 450 Arab prisoners for three Israeli bodies and a kidnapped Israeli;

2008: Five Arab prisoners (including the psychopath Samir al-Kuntar) and 199 Arab bodies for two Israeli bodies;

2011: 1,027 Palestinian prisoners for Gilad Schalit;

I strenuously opposed these unbalanced exchanges (e.g., the Schalit one), even as I acknowledged the honorable Israeli intent not to abandon soldiers.

MEDIA AND POLITICAL ELITE WILL SOON CALL ANY OPPOSITON TO SAME-SEX MARRIAGE "HATE SPEECH"

I find it scary and a portent of a very dark future when a formerly fairly civil, level-headed Democrat  characterizes anyone employing Biblical arguments against same-sex marriage in public as "shameful" and "obscene."  At least that's how I interpret Erick Mataxes' report of Lanny Davis' views.  Read on:

Listen Now | Download A few years ago, Lanny Davis, former strategist for Bill Clinton, called on members of Congress to sign a civility pledge. “I will be civil in my public discourse and behavior,” the pledge read. “I will be respectful of others whether or not I agree with them. I will stand against incivility when I see it.” Well, I have to wonder whether Davis signed the pledge himself, because just a few days ago he wrote some deeply uncivil things in his column, titled “Purple Nation,” about people who don't share his opinion about same-sex “marriage.” Davis was responding to a letter by N. Michael Nunn, a member of the Sinai Temple in Los Angeles. Nunn wrote that for the Temple to officiate over unions of homosexual couples and call such relationships “sanctified” “is unacceptable to a sound mind.” “Homosexuality,” Nunn added, “is explicitly condemned in Scripture.” It “has been categorically and passionately rejected by all classical Jewish legal and ethical thinkers as a cardinal vice in the same category as incest, murder and idolatry.” Nunn addressed this letter to fellow Jews who oppose allowing same-sex “marriage” ceremonies to take place in their Temple. Well, in his column, Davis called these comments “shameful” and “obscene.” He even compared Nunn's words to the writings of the fanatic Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini! That in itself is out of bounds, because Nunn and many of his fellow congregants are Persian Jews, some of whom may have been persecuted by the Khomeini regime. It's worth noting Davis did not respond to Nunn's assertion that Scripture condemns homosexuality—because the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, DOES condemn homosexual behavior, along with a host of other sexual behaviors. And Davis surely knows this.

MILITARY CENSORS CHRISTIAN CHAPLAIN, ATHEISTS CALL FOR PUNISHMENT

See what you think of the following news report.  If it doesn't make you angry, you don't have an appropriate appreciation for  the role of chaplains in the U.S. military or the free speech protections afforded by the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  What is particularly galling is the collusion between the Defense Department and President Obama in kowtowing to militant atheist groups.   Can anyone imagine Ronald Reagan kowtowing to atheists?   Ken Klukowski writes:  (HT: Drudge)

A Christian chaplain in the military is being officially censored for engaging in free speech, and anti-Christian activists are demanding he be punished.  

Lt. Col. Kenneth Reyes is a Christian chaplain currently serving in the U.S. Air Force. He is stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Alaska. As an ordained clergyman whose duties are to provide religious instruction and spiritual counseling, he has a page on the base’s website called “Chaplain’s Corner.”

Reyes recently wrote an essay entitled, “No Atheists in Foxholes: Chaplains Gave All in World War II.” This common saying is attributed to a Catholic priest in World War II, made famous when President Dwight D. Eisenhower said during a 1954 speech: "I am delighted that our veterans are sponsoring a movement to increase our awareness of God in our daily lives. In battle, they learned a great truth that there are no atheists in the foxholes."

As reported by Fox News’s Todd Starnes, when Reyes referenced this famous line in his essay, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) contacted the base commander, Col. Brian Duffy, demanding he take action on Reyes’s “anti-secular diatribe.”

MRFF’s letter says that by Reyes’s “use of the bigoted, religious supremacist phrase, ‘no atheists in foxholes,’ he defiles the dignity of service members.” They accuse him of violating military regulations.

LIBERAL MEDIA LOVE NEW JESUS BOOK "ZEALOT", FAIL TO MENTION REZA ASLAN, THE AUTHOR, IS MUSLIM

Update 7/29/13 - Rez Aslan has been getting quite a bit of press recently.  From First Things: "Reza Aslan Misrepresents His Scholarly Credentials";  World Magazine: "Fawning Over Falsehoods";  Pamela Geller - "Reza Aslan is Academia's Anwar Awlaki"

(Original article) - I found this news maddening.  John S. Dickerson writes:  (HT: Drudge)

Reza Aslan, author of the new book, “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth” has been interviewed on a host of media outlets in the last week. Riding a publicity wave, the book has surged to #2 on Amazon's list.

 

Media reports have introduced Aslan as a “religion scholar” but have failed to mention that he is a devout Muslim.

His book is not a historian’s report on Jesus. It is an educated Muslim’s opinion about Jesus -- yet the book is being peddled as objective history on national TV and radio. . . .

 

As a sincere man, Aslan’s Muslim beliefs affect his entire life, including his conclusions about Jesus. But this is not being disclosed. “Zealot” is being presented as objective and scholarly history, not as it actually is—an educated Muslim’s opinions about Jesus and the ancient Near East.

"Zealot” is a fast-paced demolition of the core beliefs that Christianity has taught about Jesus for 2,000 years. Its conclusions are long-held Islamic claims—namely, that Jesus was a zealous prophet type who didn’t claim to be God, that Christians have misunderstood him, and that the Christian Gospels are not the actual words or life of Jesus but “myth.”

 

I am really bothered by media dishonesty.  The media loves to pounce on the latest negative assertions towards Christianity, yet fail to provide due diligence in gathering essential background information.  As Dickinson notes, Aslan's assertions represent standard Muslim fare.  Doesn't anyone in the media know this?  I'm not sure.  But surely they could at least introduce Aslan as a Muslim, which he is.

  

   A few minutes of moderate research on Reza Aslan has taught me a great deal.  His arrogance is quite breathtaking.  He ridicules Pamela Gellar, Emerson, and Robert Spencer, each of whom deserve enormous respect for their warnings of Islamism and jihadism.  In an interesting article (11/2/2012), Spencer notes that Aslan

has recently been unmasked as a Board member of a front group for Iran’s bloody Islamic regime. Aslan is also a Left-fascist who has called for obstruction of our freedom of speech by means of vandalism of our pro-freedom ads. He has tried to pass off Iran’s genocidally-minded President Ahmadinejad as a liberal reformer. He has called on the U.S. Government to negotiate with Ahmadinejad himself, as well as with Hamas – that is, with two of the most barbaric and murderous adherents of Sharia. Aslan has even praised the jihad terror group Hizballah as “the most dynamic political and social organization in Lebanon,” as well as the Jew-hating, women-hating, kuffar-hating Muslim Brotherhood, which is dedicated in its own words to “eliminating and destroying Western civilization from within.” Aslan wrote: “The Muslim Brotherhood will have a significant role to play in post-Mubarak Egypt. And that is good thing.” We see now just how “good” things are becoming for non-Muslims and women in Egypt under Brotherhood rule.

Elsewhere Spencer says,

Aslan is lionized and respected because he holds the proper politically correct opinions: contemptfor America, hatred for Israel, and endless justification for Islamic supremacists and jihadists.

Reza Aslan, author of the new book, “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth” has been interviewed on a host of media outlets in the last week. Riding a publicity wave, the book has surged to #2 on Amazon's list.

 

Media reports have introduced Aslan as a “religion scholar” but have failed to mention that he is a devout Muslim.

His book is not a historian’s report on Jesus. It is an educated Muslim’s opinion about Jesus -- yet the book is being peddled as objective history on national TV and radio. . . .

 

As a sincere man, Aslan’s Muslim beliefs affect his entire life, including his conclusions about Jesus. But this is not being disclosed. “Zealot” is being presented as objective and scholarly history, not as it actually is—an educated Muslim’s opinions about Jesus and the ancient Near East.

 

“Zealot” is a fast-paced demolition of the core beliefs that Christianity has taught about Jesus for 2,000 years. Its conclusions are long-held Islamic claims—namely, that Jesus was a zealous prophet type who didn’t claim to be God, that Christians have misunderstood him, and that the Christian Gospels are not the actual words or life of Jesus but “myth.”  . . .

QUOTE OF THE DAY - THE POWER OF A WOMAN TO BRING A MAN TO REPENTANCE

From Robert L. Short's dedication of The Parables of Peanuts: 

         For My Own Sweet Ellen Kay . . . of whom Professor Barth must have been thinking when he wrote,

              "If there is a way of bringing man to repentance, it is the way of the woman who refuses to let herself be corrupted and made disobedient by his disobedience, but who in spite of his disobedience maintains her place in the order all the more firmly . . ."

HUNDREDS OF COUPLES PLEA FOR CHANCE TO ADOPT A DOWN SYNDROME BABY

Ed Morrissey writes:

Allahpundit mentioned this story in his post last night, but it’s worth a post of its own.  In a world where the dominant culture divides children into the wanted and undesired for the convenience of others, it’s worth noting when a news story demonstrates the power of hope, love, and life:

A Virginia church says it has received hundreds of calls from people around the world offering to adopt an unborn child with Down syndrome who otherwise would have been aborted.

After the unborn child came to the attention of Rev. Thomas Vander Woude of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Gainesville, Va., an urgent plea was posted Monday on the church’s Facebook page. …

An adoption agency has narrowed down the hundreds of families to three, Drennan said, and is working with the birth parents to determine the best home for the child.

“Our culture says some babies aren’t wanted and that is not true. This proves there are hundreds of families,” Drennan said. “It was so fast and from all over. It’s a beautiful use of social media that something like this could spread all over the US.”

The mother had less than a week before she would no longer have been able to have an abortion, but allowed the church time to find an adoptive couple if it could.   [Morrissey  continues...]

A commenter helpfully  provided two memorable quotes from Mother Teresa:

“Any country that accepts abortion, is not teaching its people to love, but to use any violence to get what it wants.”

“It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.”

A MAJOR REASON WHY I AM NOT AN ORGAN DONOR

Patient Wakes Up as Doctors Prepare to Remove Organs

 

AYAAN HIRSI ALI EXPLAINS WHY PRESENT ARAB PRESENT MUSLIM CULTURE WILL NEVER ACCEPT AN AGREEMENT WITH ISRAEL

If only Western nations would absorb the truths Ayaan Hirsi Ali explains in this important interview, their approach to Israel and the Arab world would be drastically different.   The bold emphases are my own.

Israel Hyom interviews Ali:

There is something dignified in the quiet, determined manner of Ayaan Hirsi Ali as she rises from the audience and walks towards the podium to deliver her lecture. Ayaan Hirsi Ali's intricate history starts in Somalia, where she was born to a Muslim family. At the age of five she underwent female genital mutilation. By her teens she was a devout Muslim. In her early twenties, upon learning of plans for an undesirable arranged marriage, she made her way to Holland, where she applied for asylum. Hirsi Ali studied at Leiden University and began publishing critical articles about Islam, the condition of the Muslim woman, and so forth.

She wrote the script for the Dutch movie "Submission" for director Theo van Gogh, who was subsequently murdered by a Muslim assassin. Hirsi Ali joined the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and in 2003 was elected to the Dutch parliament. A few years later she moved to the United States, where she became a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute. She published some books; notably, an autobiography titled "Infidel" that became an international bestseller. Already in 2005, Time magazine named Hirsi Ali among the 100 most influential people in the world. The internet abounds with information about her, with articles and videos of her lectures.

She is doubly courageous: in her stand against Islam, leading to threats on her life, and vis a vis the Western liberal elite, which disapproves of criticism of multiculturalism and the blindness afflicting Western society in grasping the strategic threat to its existence as a free society.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali was visiting Israel for the recent Presidential Conference in Jerusalem.

Israel Hayom: In your lectures you made numerous references to the situation in the Middle East. You claim that people in the West do not understand that what is taking place in the Middle East is not a dialogue.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: More than one issue is at stake here. Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian context, the main problem is that you may speak of a peace process, but what you get is a process, not peace. And why is this process so prolonged? Because for the Israelis this issue is a territorial problem. For the Palestinian negotiators, on the other hand, it is not a territorial problem but a religious and ethnic one, It is not only about Palestinians but about all Arabs. Most of all, it is a religious problem. From the perspective of the Arab leaders, reaching a two-state solution is to betray God, the Koran, the hadith and the tradition of Islam.

Israel Hayom: Even though they are portrayed as secular?

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: The presumption that the Palestinian negotiators are secular is not supported by facts. Were they secular, there would already be a settled territorial agreement of some kind. But there is no agreement as of today, because on one side it has become religious jihad of all or nothing, while on the other side it is still a territorial issue. Of course I know that there are Israelis who also perceive this as a religious problem; but their numbers pale in comparison to the Muslim side. Reaching a settlement that brings about two states is a religious betrayal -- not only for the leadership but for most Muslims today. The West does not understand this.

Israel Hayom: Why? After the many years you have lived in the West, how can you explain this?

Ayaan Hirshi Ali: The conception of religion in the West in the 20th and 21st century differs from that of Middle Eastern Muslims. The West successfully separated religion and politics, but even in places in the West where there is no distinct separation, still the concept of God and religion, even in the 13th or 15th century, differs to the current reality in the Middle East. Islam is an Orthopraxy, Islam has a goal. So if you are a true Muslim, you must fight for that goal. You can achieve a temporary peace or truce, but it is not ultimate, not everlasting. It is not just about the territory. Because the territory does not belong to the people; it belongs to God. So for a Palestinian leader -- even if he is secular, even an atheist -- to leave the negotiating room with the announcement of a two-state solution would mean that he would be killed the minute he walks out.

J.P. MORELAND EXPLAINS TO HIS DAUGHTER WHY WE CAN'T SEE A PERSON OR GOD

Moreland tells the story of his fifth grade daughter asking him during family prayers, "Dad, if I could see God, it would help me believe in him."  To which Moreland replied:

"Well, honey, the problem isn't that you've never seen God.  The problem is that you've never seen your mother."   And her mother was sitting right next to her!

"My daughter said , 'What do you mean, Dad?'  I said, "Suppose without hurting your mom, we were able to take her apart cell by cell and peek inside each one of them.  We would never come to a moment where we could say, 'Look -- here's what Mommy's thinking about doing the rest of the day.'  Or 'Hey, this cell contains Mommy's feelings.'  Or 'So this is what Mom believes about pro football.'  We couldn't find Mommy's thoughts, beliefs, desires or her feelings.

"Guess what else we would never find?  We'd never find Mommy's ego or her self.  We would never say, 'Finally, in this particular brain cell, there's Mommy.  There's her ego, or self.'  That's because Mommy is a person, and persons are invisible.  Mommy's ego and her conscious life are invisible.  Now, she's small enough to have a body, while God is too big to have a body--so let's pray!"

"The point is this, Lee:  I am a soul, and I have a body.  We don't learn about people by studying their bodies.  We learn about people by finding out how they feel, what they think, what they're passionate about, what their worldview is, and so forth.  Staring at their body might tell us whether they like exercise, but that's not very helpful.  That's why we want to get 'inside' people to learn about them."

"So my conclusion is that there's more to me than my conscious life and my body.  In fact, I am a 'self,' or an "I,' that cannot be seen or touched unless I manifest myself through my behavior or my talk.  I have free will because I'm a 'self,' or a soul, and I'm not just a brain."  - From in J.P. Moreland, ch. 10,  "The Evidence of Consciousness," in Lee Strobel, The Case for a Creator, pp. 260-261

Hugh Ross: Stronger and More Comprehensive Tests Affirm the Universe’s Unchanging Physics

Astrophysicist Hugh Ross of Reasons to Believe explains recent advances:

"Recent advances in astronomy and physics provide yet more support for the idea that the laws of physics have remained unchanged throughout the universe’s history.

"For thousands of years, the Bible has been on record stating that the physical laws governing the universe do not vary. For example, Jeremiah 33:25, God declares that he “established the fixed laws of heaven and earth” (NIV, 1984). In Romans 8:20–22, Paul states that “the whole creation has been groaning” as a result of its “bondage to decay” (NIV, 1984).

The constancy of the laws of physics, if proven, would establish the Bible’s reliability in describing nature and predicting future scientific discoveries. It would also refute young-earth creationism and global flood geology as well as significantly constrain speculations about string theories and the possibility that variable scalar fields alter the character of dark energy. Also, physicists and astronomers hope that high-precision measurements of the constants of physics might reveal that “variations” can be explained by as-yet-undiscovered additional constants of physics.

As I described in previous articles¹ and in my book More Than a Theory,² physicists and astronomers have devoted several decades of research to building an arsenal of tests for constant physics. During the past few years they have developed far more powerful tests. Also, thanks to the first data release from the Planck satellite this past March, for the first time researchers can test for spatial variations on the scale of the entire universe.  [more . . ]

THE DISASTROUS OBAMA "AGE OF HILLARY" FOREIGN POLICY

Andrew C. McCarthy brings us up to speed on Obama's foreign policy regarding Egypt, as does David French.  As usual, Obama sides with the anti-American, anti-Christian forces and seems unable to comprehend basic realities. 

Victor Davis Hanson surveys five years of Obama rhetoric:

After five years of empty loquacity and procrastination, the world—in scary places like Iran, Syria, Russia, China, and North Korea—has caught on that when Obama pontificates about a redline or a deadline, these are mere suggestions for further discussion and hardly guaranteed by the power of an unpredictable and dangerous United States.

He makes a further observation:

Obama’s background as a long-time student, lawyer, law lecturer, and politician has led him to live in a world of words rather than of those concrete consequences found more often in the private sector or in the landscape of the self-employed. . . .