That’s All we needed to hear. Obama thinks he himself is a supreme being.

Vassar, brilliant as usual.

I truly look forward to the vast learning experience that goes part and parcel with each offering you run up here at RedState.

————

Now then, time for me to maybe get in trouble across the width and breath of the nation……………..

Here’s the ‘unless’ and you touched on it: The supreme being would be Allah and something called Taqyia.

Lie, cheat, deceive and do whatever is necessary all in the name of advancing Allah’s will.

There’s also Jizya – The payment – which I understand does not necessarily need to be made in monetary form.

I’m NOT saying that’s who he is or what he’s doing – or was ordered to be doing…….. plus being supported by more-than-willing sycophants and millions of abject fools.

We may be in a lose or lose bigger situation now, with a pray-to-God-that-we-have-a-real-chance of saving our nation without serious problems in the near future.

If somebody can PROVE it to be wrong, then DO IT. I pray that’s the case and he’s just a crazed Marxist who’s becoming more and more paranoid as the days unfold – which may make him and his people more dangerous than anyone realizes or wants to.

If somebody can PROVE it to be right, then DO IT. But God help us all if that’s the case, because I honestly see only one way out of that and nobody sane wants that to occur…… Nobody.

However……… In the mean time, he and those around him – including many who say they’re on the side of The Constitution – are purposely destroying our nation’s fabric from within at a daily exponential increase in rate of speed, which is expanding a real tangible growing aura of pending violent civil unrest on several levels (Race, Economic, Political, etc.).

important points in this essay; it is critical to understanding a number of things going on. What you’ve written here is scary if one looks at the underlying meaning and extrapolates it as you did.

I see several strong themes: 1) the concept of atheism–which has taken hold, and you’re right to note “dropped God from their Christmas List.” Perfect way to say it. The mainstream churches/denominations are filled with social engineering messages using God and Jesus to make it happen. I bet there is a correlation between this falling/moving away from their foundational theological beliefs to the decreased numbers they find in their pews on Sunday and the donation baskets. I do not know the situation with the Jewish denominations, but they have several divisions as well, branches created to accommodate their moves into secularism…

2) When you talk about the Left and control, and they “Always cast Him off,” that is critical for the Left. The Atheism which the Left adheres to is entwined totally with their political-social agenda for complete domination and control. They cannot achieve that without erasing faith in any other Entity, but them. Thus far they are still superficially giving faith and religious practice lip-service, but it cannot stand and they are continuing to move against the non-believers of their religious order-atheism. It seems that the atheism of the Left, with it’s not so hidden political-social agenda cannot exist side-by-side with established religions. A long time ago I once said to a poster here who was making a stand for atheism, as being practiced by the Left, not to be disingenuous. I said, “Your atheism, which is your religion, is trying to destroy mine.”

Then, you’re showing the connection of the dots with the militant “Muslim Religiosity” and the money and political implications. Thought provoking and educational post today, Vassar. You’re right there is no “Unless…” with Obama, something is afoot here…..

Another welcome morning read and many thanks for it.Yet again, I find myself hitting the Reco button before finishing the first paragraph.

I’d never assume to know anyone’s heart-beliefs. At this point, having listened to teh One for going on four years now, I simply choose to believe that 99% of what he & his tribe say are lies. On-purpose lies or oversights or whatever, I no longer care, they just lie, lie, lie.

My personal odometer has too many miles on it, and there are more important targets on my radar screen, so to conserve precious between-the-ears processing cycles, nearly everything they say goes directly into the junk-mail, they’re all liars, mental garbage can, their motivations notwithstanding. The one percent exception is when the mask slips a bit and the nasty evil blares out, most recently in the campaign speeches showing juvenile giggling at an opponent, “I can’t believe so-and-so actually said that” type of girlie-talk ad lib. The silly and evil man-child thing shows through.

I genuinely admire and appreciate both your insightful thought processes and writing skills; actually, I’m envious! (Same for you, Penguin!) Lacking your scalpel, my sledge-hammer philosophy is to: keep our gunpowder dry and husband our resources; elect those who’ll fight a war of attrition for a couple of years, and then demand and enact wholesale roll-back and repeal should we recover the car-keys in 2013. As to teh One’s underlying, aberrational belief system, I care about it as much as I do Lindsay Lohan’s fingernails: she’s a twit, and he’s a liar. In practical terms, I’ve hopped on ColdWarrior’s bandwagon and urge others to do likewise.

Cheers, and thanks again!

All I would add, as a humble footnote kind of thing, is to this magnificent insight, having lived in Europe a little while, I believe as best all my powers of observation can inform me, the Muslims in Europe in the multi-millions and now into 2nd and 3rd generations born there, came not just because of 1960′s decolonialization displacement, but because they were needed in the plants and factories and entry level jobs – to replace a lost generation of young native Europeans who never showed up for those job slots, because… they were aborted. You have to live over there a while to appreciate how rare married couples with young children are in proportion to those living in alternative lifestyles, and how few little children there are in proportion to Muslim families’ children. Abortion is so common it’s not even given a thought except in a few countries. But they needed the workers imported, to keep up the high standard of living so they let them in, and in and in and in. Western Europe & its culture is dancing on a volcano. Ironically its cultural salvation if there is any may come from…Eastern Europe

Good tying together of a number a strands As a first draft, though it does tend to meander a bit, which a second round would easily remedy.

I would note that I think you’ve subscribed to a number of common historical myths about the Middle Ages (Christian and Islamic) that historians like Rodney Stark are starting to unravel in conjunction with better evaluation of a wider scope of source materials.

As somewhat of an aside, the Inquisition has gotten undeserved bad press, as over its two centuries of so (?) of existance, it predominantly represent a effort to deal with heresy among those professing allegiance to the Church, not an effort to convert outsiders. Certainly there was an unholy alliance through which secular rulers with the sanction of some church leaders, did persecute non-Christians (such as Jews in particular, e.g. the charge of deicide), but the Inquisition was basically not involved in that sphere of activity.

More significantly, you seem to have (not unexpectedly) bought in to the prevalent myth of an “enlightened” Muslim reign concurrent with a “Dark Ages” in Europe – both of which are gross oversimplifications.

Stark’s “The Victory of Reason” as its subtitle indicates “How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism, and Western Success” does an excellent job of demonstrating how much of the underpinnings of our Western civilization were built during those so-called “Dark Ages’ (as well as debunking the “received wisdom” that the Enlightenment was the wellspring, arguing rather than the Enlightenment was a step backwards, not forward). He also gives a short discussion that debunks the myth of the enlightened Islamic world, noting at that time that the “advancements” of the Islamic world the reflection of the wisdom of non-Islamic foreigners, as Islam itself was a sterile field for these advances in science, etc..

Furthermore, you’ve understated the fragility of the position of non-Muslim residents, including the frequent “ethnic cleansings” of non-Muslims in Islamic nations concurrent with continued efforts to reconquer Europe up into the 18th century. These persections are more difficult to find historical documentation about than the history of Europe in that era, compounded I suspect by the characteristic Islamic propensity to rewrite history to demonstrate the superiority of Islam and to wipe out the historical record of non-Islamic peoples.

And I would also note the observation that the rise of modern radical Islam correlates well with the fall of the Ottoman Empire, puncturing with finality the myth of Islamic superiority over the West. Attaturk responded by trying to import lessons from the West, leading to his efforts to modernize Turkey, secularize the government (combined with a nationalism that lead to the Armenian genocide, alas). For other sets of Muslims, the shame and resentment of the fall of Islamic Ottoman reign at the hands of the Christian West provided fertile ground for the predecessors of radical Islam, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which soon became effused with a virulent anti-Semitism, as you’ve noted.

I’m not sure how much, then, that radical Islam traces its ancestry to Wahhabbism, but at this point the two are certainly acting in concert, whether by design or by convergence – and the money and influence that Wahhabbi money has bought in the West (as you note) is certainly as great a threat as Islamic terrorism, if not greater. Terrorism is the external threat, but the Wahhabbi (and now add in the emerging Shiite fundamentalism coming from Iran for instance, Hezbollah, etc.) triumphalism is spreading its roots internally to undermine our cultural values from within.

And increasingly successful as we see our universities and governmental agencies surrendering their birthright for bowls of poisonous porridge.

Again, not so much a criticism was I intending, but rather trying to broadenand refine the picture your drawing.

but I understate and oversimplify for a reason. This is not an academic forum, and there really isn’t time to convene a new Council of Trent to look into these matters and arrive at a new consensus. I don’t think I could ghost write an encyclical if you paid me…a lot.

I don’t know Stark’s book, and will try to get a summary, but I know a bit about medieval Islam, the various formulations of the Hadith, and the 9th-11th Century philosophers who contributed mightily to the learning of the day, often in disputations with the Byzantines, as there were no ones in the West to dispute with. My high regard for Islam of that era (which I didn’t lay out here) were the old holdovers of the Umayyads in North Africa and Spain, and less about the Abbassids in Baghdad and future generations in that region, With the moving of the seat of Islamic power to the Dardanelles, scholarship did not follow, so Stark would be certainly right if he was looking in that direction for any benefit to a revival in the West. In my view there was more scholarship in Spain and its universities than in all the fertile crescent in the 10th Century-19th Cent. And most western scholars agree that had there been no Salamanca and Toledo there would have been no Aquinas, for much of Aristotle and Greek scholarship returned to Europe across the Pyrenees.
As for the Osmanlis, I am aware of studies tracing the rise of radical Islam thru them, and I won’t doubt them. That issue really is academic to me. But I am really good at following money, and the money sponsoring most of radical Islam today is coming from those boys from Possum Hollow in Riyadh. If you told me a Turkish pack peddlar selling tin pots sold that idea to Wahhab back in the 1880s, I’d be the last to disagree with you.

My only real point here to say that stripped down radical Islam is bereft of religious content, and that in the end, it all comes back to the stark and murderous atheism of the Left. My writing can always use help, but until an editor who is signing my check actually sends my draft back for a rewrite, I doubt I’ll ever do a second. To what end? There’s a wahr on. Besides, when stated aloud, in front of a crowd of 50, I’m an absolute delight.

As always, thanks for looking in. I always appreciate your insights.
Cheers

Vassar

I’ve read this over a dozen times since 7 am today.
In fact, I had planned to finalize my revenue figures this morning, but the information contained here has made my little gray cells balk at crunching numbers.

I find this disconcerting and that unsettling emotion fear started to insinuate itself. Which I promptly stomped on with a great deal of vehemence. “Fear is the mind-killer” from Herbert’s Dune tends to pop in when required and it was required.

Keep people afraid, control the information, cause doubt. reduce or obliterate trust has been the mantra of the Left to the point the Left has morphed itself from a political movement into a quasi-religion with no true bedrock foundation.

As to the religion of peace, I shake my head that Big Guy upstairs hasn’t done something about those performing monstrous acts in his name and subjugating half of the followers under societal rules from the seventh century A.D. A religious movement that had few followers until it was militarized to spread the word. Accept or die.
Forced conversion into any religion has never sat right with me. Behave and follow without question in order to access heaven or paradise. I don’t think that was part of the original deal.

I have a bare bones belief. It’s Big Guy and me. Nothing gets in the way. To this day I am amazed at the wonder of our existence and the love freely given with no strings. Then I look at what has been done to our existence, wonder why it hasn’t been scraped already and started over. But then, maybe this is already an incarnation of the original.

I’ve never quite understood the rationals behind of the Religion of Politics or the Politics of Religion.
They seem to be minted with the same face on the coin.

Oh, have you ever watched a dragonfly dancing on motes of sunlight. It’s in that moment you can feel his presence.
Always seem to have a lot of dragonflies around.

This republic was not established by cowards; and cowards will not preserve it. ~~Elmer Davis

I am stone forged from the fires of creation into flesh ~~Pamela1631

The greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never forced.~~Maj. L. Caudill, USMC (Ret.)

The Concord Project: Fighting for Freedom in the Fall

….impeccable as well as thought provoking as usual, are we not pretty confident we know where this choice has been made and are we not further confident in doing all that we can do to stop it?

But the ice cold splash of your insight into Islam wasn’t enough to refresh the tepid stereotypical account of the Inquisition, or the “Black Myth” as it were. One would only have to refer to those copious and precise records to which you refer to get an exact account of the executions and their methods. The records are there. If the numbers were even an order of magnitude down from the “thousands” you mention, the European Union and the American Left would have long ago incorporated such facts in great detail in their textbooks. On the contrary, the accused actually sought out the Ecclesial courts of the Middle Ages (aka “Inquisition”) as a preferable alternative to the secular courts of the time precisely because of the due process you quite fairly pointed out.

Chesterton said (“Orthodoxy”, I think) that, if witches indeed existed as they were understood in the Middle Ages, we’d be morally bound to burn them and would be doing so with gusto today. You see, the whole thing was a phenomenon of the times, not so much a phenomenon of the faith, in particular the Catholic faith. The papacy had no truck in Salem, Mass. Nor did it carry much weight in The Great Hunger of the 19th century where a million or so died, solving Britain’s “Catholic problem” in Ireland.

You are so right in your thesis, that using religion to solve political problems (especially the religion of Atheism) has produced the blackest, bloodiest marks on human history. But please overcome the prejudice running through many of your opinion pieces claiming that Christianity “repented” of its crimes against humanity with The Reformation. The papal booty that was distributed among Luther’s sponsors – Germany’s principalities and dukedoms – in the wake of his political revolt might just make the plunder of the Russian Revolution look like petty shoplifting.

St. Francis De Sales, the patron saint of my alma mater, did a fair job of mitigating the damage done by Luther to the Church proper to the west. But he kept up his swordsmanship skills as they were still taking Catholic scalps in Germany and France in the 16th century.

None of this is to whitewash Papal atrocities or to disavow Catholic Christian participation in fundamentalist depravities. Conversely, I’m not calling you out as anti-Catholic or bigoted in the least. You are sharing what you know in the service of all that is good and holy. But good God, man, if we’re enlightened enough to read the Koran, Das Kapital, Mein Kampf, or Mao’s Little Red Book, perhaps we might be enlightened enough to read the Catechism of the Catholic Church or pay a visit to the Vatican website once in a while. Chesterton would be proud of you.

No really…

You won me over at:

Notice I didn’t say “you are shunned”, for many communities are famous for making a non-believer’s life miserable if they are not one of the flock. Mormon towns out west frown on beer and other vices, and Gentiles in general, yet Mormons can live among Gentiles easier than the reverse

Of all the insidious innuendo… Firstly I now know you’re uncomfortable around Mormons… that part is clear.

Secondarily… This entire post REEKS of vehement fearfulness of what you DON’T UNDERSTAND.

It’s entirely clear your worldview is no better than the Sharia Law Imams that assume all other religions are false and are as conquerable politically as they are economically.

I would that you have ears to hear this… You and nobody else will ever bend the will of God, or win political points that will mean anything purposeful when it comes to the Eternities and Judgement, by making enemies of those that understand the words of God differently than you.

My advice to you is to Preach unto them that have ears to hear, publish good tidings, declare the acceptable peace of the Lord… and you may indeed bring just one soul to Christ, even if it is yourself.

Convictions Obama has or espouses, I wish he would make up his mind and stick with it. The waffling on which belief system he follows or practices does a disservice to any of them.

Last I heard, Big Guy Upstairs takes a dim view on being used.
And Big Guy has been known to administer rather severe lessons.

This republic was not established by cowards; and cowards will not preserve it. ~~Elmer Davis

I am stone forged from the fires of creation into flesh ~~Pamela1631

The greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never forced.~~Maj. L. Caudill, USMC (Ret.)

The Concord Project: Fighting for Freedom in the Fall

It is just perfect. The Left loves to split hairs, invoke moral relativism , find shifty positions. This puts a bright light on one thing and forces him to choose. It also captures the high moral ground.
I also like in your article, you don’t just beat the He_ _ out of the President, but give him a clear choice. I think if anyone has been a bad actor in the last ten years, it is Congress. Dick Cheney showed very well how this is done. He used strong arguments, and criticized carefully. He had approval ratings in the high single digits, but won most of his fights. Like my Duwamish River, if you don’t like getting flooded, cut a good Waterway.

So I don’t see how any action or omission on the part of any human being can “prove” that they don’t believe in the existence in God.

I don’t think as a general matter that the line of thinking in this diary is particularly helpful. The religious beliefs of a particular politician are important in the sphere of public policy because they can reveal the morals and worldview of the individual. However, we should not do what the Islamist states, and focus on the religious status of a person.

Countries like Egypt, Indonesia, and other “moderate” Islamic states actually require that one’s religion be listed on government ID cards. Conversions from Islam to Christianity are not allowed, and thus Christian converts are forced to walk around with ID cards inaccurately stating their religious affiliation. Some have even tried to sue in court. Absolute mess.

People can call themselves whatever they want. God will judge us all in the end. I think we are better off focusing on what Obama asserts his values are versus what his actions show his values to be.

And Conquer is how we are undone.

Our differences are our greatest strengths and our ultimate undoing.

Like the bread and circuses of old to keep the populace mollified and compliant, until those no longer held sway, the minutiae of how words are defined and utilized, who’s on top, in charge or will garner the glory must be set aside.

Our current lives, and how we and future American generations live and prosper, are at risk.

I for one do not want outside/inside forces directing how I will live my life, what form of God to worship, if I choose to worship, where to live, what I can purchase, what to eat or how to die or when.

Unlike computer games, there are no reset buttons.

To be honest, it does not matter to me who or how a person worships. What matters, is will you stand for freedom or enslavement, or annihilation.

Will you stand for freedom
Will you give forced obeisance
Or will you man the funeral pyres

This republic was not established by cowards; and cowards will not preserve it. ~~Elmer Davis

I am stone forged from the fires of creation into flesh ~~Pamela1631

The greatest civilization is one where all citizens are equally armed and can only be persuaded, never forced.~~Maj. L. Caudill, USMC (Ret.)

The Concord Project: Fighting for Freedom in the Fall

Not a good idea to post anything on Redstate as to religion. You and the history as you know it will always be challenged. I learned long long ago that you don’t talk politics and religion in polite company, no?

There are some here that just can’t seem to get beyond their particular religious beliefs, it seems to be ingrained in their fiber as people. You will never win any argument against what faithful believe they are the most faithful, no matter what religion. Age old argument.

I do admire your replies to many, as you have maintained the civil discourse, and have stood by your position that the Diary is not meant as a religious discussion, but to point that Obama has yet to declare just who or what he is publically. It makes no difference what religious beliefs Obama holds, it is written in stone what policy he promotes. There is little question as to what positions he takes, over and over.

Vassar., my biggest problem has been with how each of us post and communicate. I am sick and dang tired of attacks, no you are wrong posts, and, disparaging those that are on our side. That must stop as there have been many ridden off the site for having different ideas/opinions, but, are still on our side.

I tend to think Obama is a non-philosophical Nietzchean. Now that’s a pretentious mouthful as a subject line, so I deserve to have to explain that.

He’s Nietzchean in that he reflexively holds anyone who would argue that morals and ethics restrict expediency in contempt. His non-philosophical in the sense that he has no genuine curiosity as to where these morals or ethics originated. It’s “above his pay grade,” but he knows if it pisses off NARAL, he’s handsomely paid to oppose it. Who cares where it came from? He has his marching orders.

You said:

“Terrorism is the external threat, but the Wahhabbi (and now add in the emerging Shiite fundamentalism coming from Iran for instance, Hezbollah, etc.) triumphalism is spreading its roots internally to undermine our cultural values from within.

And increasingly successful as we see our universities and governmental agencies surrendering their birthright for bowls of poisonous porridge.”

***

Well, I’ll tell you. Seeing this was a refuge for me this morning.

We live in a smallish bedroom community — and last evening, we took the kids to the park before sunset. There were the usual soccer players there. We’d seen them there for the past 2 weeks. We’d go to the park randomly, but they were always there. It was my husband who had the 6th sense that they were Muslim.

Yesterday, that was confirmed as we were walking to our car when they did their Maghrib.

We’d never seen this in real life, nor had any of my children. Again, we live in Suburbia. The youngest were oblivious, but the eldest knew — they’ve grown up post-911.

When we got home, I told them there was nothing to worry about, but that as young adults who are partly responsible for their own faith formation (as we guide them, go to church, etc.), their impulse should be fall down on their knees and praise God the way Christians should .. or that their faith formation should develop to that point of *impulse*, but not necessarily carried out.

We should be wise and not just full of religious fervor that causes us to act in ways that are scandalous and may be dangerous.

No, we’re not religious fundamentalists. We’re just Catholic. We also think we’re “hip” dorks — but I said this for two reasons:

1st — we’re called to holiness, and if we’re not committed to our relationship with Jesus Christ, there’s always the chance (should the opportunity or mood strike) that we could begin to slip away … we need to be prepared and immovable.

2nd — there’s a movement to take the soul of our country. Marxist/atheist/communist/islamic. We need to counter it. Our souls should be stirred to defend it.

Kneeling and praying in public in front of these guys — no, it shouldn’t be done. We don’t know who they are. I don’t advise it, and I didn’t advise it to my eldest children. I told them they should be *moved to* for love of Christ and country .. and added that it would be dangerous to do so, just the same as it would be dangerous to do so in any other public venue.

Because to me, terrorism has now become like any other random public threat — like theft, rape, mugging, assault.

But, for us, this doesn’t mean that it has been reduced to what society might consider “common.”

We just refuse to be afraid. We also refuse to be unprepared, so we’re vigilant.

No staying out after dark without company, no hanging out with bad crowds, and now, no sticking around after sunset at the park.

Because those guys were activists. They were trying to make their point, push the issue and assert their right to expression — which is fine.

I just don’t need to be around to see it, same as I don’t need to be in San Francisco during their gay pride festival. Nor do my impressionable kids.

Are we raising my kids our way? Damn straight.

Are we tolerable of others? Yep. In the adult world.

The state already tries to control what my children think, how they’re taught, what they believe, how they should behave, who to interact with, who not to be best friends with.

Maybe I’m old school, but I birthed them, I raise them, not the Educator-in-Chief of Islam or anyone else.

I find the right mix of “environment,” interpret, teach and explain. That’s my job, not the President’s.

I am their first teacher, my husband and I.

And I won’t have his or the left’s cohorts force anything on us.

Save for my little venting on this post, we will also sit in silence. If we make noise at city council, we know they will push for tolerance, set up some sort of “Know about Muslims Day” and it will be worse. Would they do the same for Christians?

Am I prejudiced? I don’t care how you worship. What you worship.

But I know you’ve taken down the statues of the Ten Commandments and public Crosses. I also know that not much can be done about free speech — which is why as an adult, yeah, I may find myself on my knees, if only to preserve my right to.

Now — can I try to convince you that God is within us? Right now my only Christian advocacy is in the life we lead. I leave everyone to find their direction and their journey; it’s personal. Maybe someday we will become more active in the church, but we have our domestic church here at home and are busy establishing a foundation for future generations. It’s even more important that we get it right now because of these perilous times.

And Vassar, I would venture to say that they’re near “join us or die” times — because if we don’t unearth our commonalities and dust off our faiths, any “American orthodoxy” we’re trying to touch base with only be temporary.

I understand and agree with the gist of your post — I”m sorry I can’t respond better to it , I am just so appreciative of finding solace in this discussion — in hindsight, I think the Muslim episode at the park is a symptom of the America Obama is trying to create, where we live in Bizarro World and it’s the white man who needs to be conquered, the white man who needs to be enslaved, the white man who needs to make reparations.

I think remembering our faith is the way to do it.

We don’t need to be big worshipers, but we can’t forget Him like we have done in the past.

I think as a country, we have forgotten him — abortion has been legal for nearly 40 years, it was instituted over what now are baseless reasons and even poorer understanding.

We’ve been lax — and now it’s considered preventive care in our socialized healthcare.

And our political party is letting this stand?

When we allow the death of the living, you bet our morality and our moral standing will be compromised and vagrants like Obama will rise to power.

Anyway, I better stop before I go on.

Thanks so much for your post. Your narrative style is very warm and welcoming — I felt compelled to respond with what’s been on our mind.