Terrorism in America -2

Given that we Americans should really understand the basics of terrorism, what is there about Muslim Fundamentalist Terrorism that should be familiar to us?

We ought to recognize the familiar sound of sharia - Muslim religious law. Some American Christian fundamentalists regularly advance the idea that this country should be governed by biblical principles. Elected leaders, they believe, should subscribe to such principles and commit to governing by them. Inevitably such governments encounter the problem of interpreting or understanding ambiguous scripture passages. For guidance they turn to religious leaders. Then, we would have what the Muslims have in their sharia: not government of, by and for the people, but government by religious leaders. It is because of this dynamic that many Christians oppose Christian Fundamentalist efforts to govern by biblical principles.

Muslim fundamentalists declare a deep hatred for the United States and for its culture. This should not surprise us, either. Many Christians object to the values Hollywood and TV project. Many of us see our society as overwhelmingly secular. We object to the sexuality which pervades advertising. And that group includes those of us who are not particularly puritanical in our approach to life. Others are even more vehement in their opposition to our cultural values. Because Muslim fundamentalists are, from our point of view, extremely puritanical in their value system, their reaction to our values is stronger than ours.

We also ought to remember that Christianity is a missionary religion. So is Islam. The difference between the two is that the method used by fundamentalist Muslims is jihad - war against those who do not believe - the infidels. We are the infidels and the jihad is against us.

The principle of religious freedom which we hold dear guides us not to interfere with any person's religious practice - as long as that practice does not endanger the welfare of the nation. A jihad - a holy war - against us certainly endangers with the welfare of our country!

So let us not be fuzzy minded about this. These people are trying to kill us!!! They don't need to be understood, or pitied because of their poverty, not do we need to minimize their threat to us. All our law, our culture, and our religious values ask of us, other than that we defend ourselves, is that we pray for our enemies. There is an old Irish prayer that is appropriate to this situation:

May God bless our enemies and may he turn their hearts; and, if he cannot turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles, so that we may know them by their limping. Amen.

9/11

God grant rest to all who died on 9/11, and peace and healing to those who survived and mourne.

Terrorism in America

I don't know why we in America have so much trouble understanding the Moslem Fundamentalist Terrorists. We experienced a similar phenomena here in the 1920's and 1930's. The Ku Klux Klan dressed up and rode through mid-western and southern states. They were Christian, Fundamentalist Terrorists.They preached a message of hate of Blacks, Jews, and Catholics.The KKK burned crosses and homes and killed and terrorized people. They sought political control with the goal of forcing everyone to believe as they did. They were quite successful, completely controlling the State of Indiana at one point.

The 60's, 70's, and 80's were an era of Irish Terrorism. The Provisional IRA bombed and killed and terrorized in Northern Ireland and England, seeking political control, and preaching hate of Protestants and the English. Amazing amounts of money were collected in the United States and carried to Ireland secrdtly. Most of us Irish Americans either looked the other way or cheered the IRA on vocally and financially.

We know a lot about terrorists among us, we just haven't had a lot of experience with being the subject of terrorism.

Voting Principles - Eliminate the Incompetent

The next important principle of voting in elections is identify and eliminate the incompetents. What has the incumbent actually accomplished? This is particular useful in evaluating congressmen, senators, state and local legislators. All of these men and women are elected to maintain the welfare of the people, not to enrich themselves, nor to sponsor frivolous legislation, nor to support the party at all costs, but to maintain the welfare of the people. If they are not doing that, they are not doing the job for which they were elected.

Remember, however, that meeting the needs of the individuals in their home district is a valuable indicator. Not everyone can be a great leader, but everyone can work their district! That is a good reason to vote for someone.

The Hermeneutic - Voting Principles (so far)

1. Throw the scoundrels out.
2. Identify and eliminate the incompetents.

Voting

The silly season is now over in Florida. The Primaries are done and the real campaigning will be on us in full force.

The basic Hermeneutic principle of preparing for the fall elections is

Throw the Scoundrels out.

This is a thought worth your serious consideration.

The Laborer is worthy of his hire.

Some more thoughts on Labor Day.

I live in Orlando where our primary industry is tourism and most jobs offer only the minimum wage or something close to it. We talk about a "living wage" which ends up being a couple of bucks more than minimum.

The reality is that with employees there are certain unavoidable costs. Let's enumerate them: a place to live (shelter), food, clothing, utilities, transportation, health care. If you live in an area like ours, where the public transportation is minimal, you must have an automobile. All of these things add up and they must be paid for, if not in wages, then in taxes and donations.

When people have no insurance or resources they must turn to tax supported clinics and the emergency rooms. These things have to be paid for one way or the other.This means we can't run around saying no more taxes, when taxes are needed to pay for services provided for those whose wages are too low to pay for them.

This is a real problem and we have to get real and stop ranting the political slogans of the right and left. We need leadership that will focus on solving the problem.

Labor Day

Today is Labor Day. Yesterday the CBS magazine show, Sunday Morning, did a segment on workaholics and on those who had to work 2 jobs just to make a living. Both of these raise moral issues.

It was interesting that the workaholics often described themselves as addicts, unable to stop working 70 -90 hours a week. For some, it was clear that nothing - family - society - social responsibility - or even the vast sums of money they gained from their work was more important than working. We know how to arrest the addictions, but you do have to want to stop. None of these folk were remotely interested in stopping work.

You can tell what God you worship by looking at your life. Well?

Having to work two jobs just to make a living raises another whole stream of questions. What should the doing of work provide for the worker? This is not a free market, supply and demand issue. The free market concept is not a moral one, but one of power. Morally speaking, someone is profiting from the work. The one who profits from the work of others needs to pay them accordingly. If you don't make a profit, you probably ought to go out of business. The problem, of course, is not this simple, but those are the moral battle lines.

Did you ever think to ask whether what you do and how you do it is God's will for you? Honor the workern in you by asking and answering the question.
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