Happy Christmas, tossing out the bad nuts, Islam, Unitarianism, being a 'progressive,' and fighting sociopathy and psychopathy

Merry Christmas. Happy Christmas. Merry Solstice. I don't have a problem with these really.

After leaving Mormonism around 1994 I did have more of a preference for the solstice idea, and I made note of Saturnalia and Mithra. Here's a related video by Stephen Fry: 

Recently I happened across the facebook page for the First Unitarian Church in Salt Lake City. Back in August there was some rather high unpleasantness at a Sikh church in Wisconsin. 

In response to the violence by some nut a lady named Shahla Khan Salter posted an article on a Candian Huffington Post site. Then this Unitarian person found the article & posted it.

This is from a fellow Unitarian and our Muslim sister for Progressive Values and friend, Shahla Khan Salter, 

"And many of us believe, that in creating all of humanity God placed upon us responsibilities to our fellow human beings regardless of faith -- a duty to love and look after our neighbours and not just our neighbours of the same faith, a duty to speak out for justice and not only to help those of our own faith, a duty to work towards peace for all of humanity and put an end to war, famine and oppression, without regard to faith.

God doesn't care if you are Muslim or Christian, Jewish or Hindu, Jain or Buddhist, B'hai or Sikh -- or any of the other classifications by which we categorize ourselves to better understand our journey here on earth.

God only cares about the way in which we treat one another.

"Do you know what is better than prayer, fasting and charity? It is keeping peace and good relations between people." -Prophet Muhammad

So to our Sikh brothers and sisters in North America and beyond we say this: The shooting of members of the American Sikh community at gudwara in Milwaukee, Wisconsin yesterday was a tragedy that has shocked us all. We offer our condolences to you at this time and hope and pray that your communities -- your loved ones, families, friends, priests, and places of prayer and reflection -- remain safe now and in the future. 

Sat Sri Akal. God is the Ultimate Truth. Yes. Salaam. Peace."

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/shahla-khan-salter/miliwaukee-temple-shooting_b_1747360.html

And here's an additional article by the woman:


http://sjpaderborn.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/no-banning-innocence-of-muslims-is-not-the-solution-by-shahla-khan-salter-on-the-huffington-post-canada/

...where she says: 

1. Merely because the depiction is suggested doesn’t make it true;

2. Because there is no coercion allowed in Islam according to the Holy Quran, human beings are free to believe as they choose; and

3. Our Prophet Muhammad practiced a virtually super-human degree of patience, which we are supposed to emulate.

----


Response:


There's always a certain number of nuts in the world. It is rather unfortunate that Sikhs were targeted as noted. But, it's also important to not conflate & whitewash & mix things up in confusing ways. Nor is it good to use the crazed acts of some nuts as a means of glossing over actual history about a separate religion from Sikhism.

Unitarians don't have a creed, supposedly, and so as a 'member' of two local congregations I'm not bound to any dogma that states that I have to adhere to the Reza Aslan school of Islamic thought.

A related blog post from the past:
Unitarian Universalist fawning appreciation of Mohammad and Islam
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2010/12/unitarian-universalist-fawning.html

With the more recent violence at a school, here's some more recent thoughts:
http://jonathanshome.blogspot.com/2012_12_01_archive.html

As for Islam, one need only click on what he wrote as shown in the Skeptic's Annotated Quran, on the following categories:
Injustice
Intolerance
Cruelty and Violence
Women

As an atheist having a certain god threaten to burn off your skin, put it back on, and then burn it again, is not a particularly pleasant prospect. Quranic quote:

"...4:56 Lo! Those who disbelieve Our revelations, We shall expose them to the Fire. As often as their skins are consumed We shall exchange them for fresh skins that they may taste the torment. Lo! Allah is ever Mighty, Wise..."
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/4/index.htm#56

So, I'm definitely against nut jobs hurting people. Baring genetic manipulation of future generations there's always going to be a certain percentage of potentially violent nut jobs. Maybe we can spot them easier and fight them more, and keep guns away from them. But let's not mix apples & oranges, ok?

And, here's an interesting video about charismatic charlatans taking advantage of people:

So, as for Muslims for progressive values, it seems to me it's a bit easier for Christians to redefine Jesus into a nicer guy since a.) Jesus probably never existed (additional site), and b.) Jesus never went on theocratically inspired war campaigns. Mohamed did on both fronts.

Maybe being a 'progressive' religionist involves just as much whitewashing as the people who painfully try to apologize for the evils in the Old Testament of the Bible? When I read the words of people who actually believe that Mohamed was such a great progressive, I am not only shocked and amazed, I'm also saddened, because I know what the words in the Quran actually say. Death and murder are very hard to transmute into peace and love. The words are right there, in the Quran. The increasingly more frequent violent actions of psychopaths at chuches & schools has nothing to do with "religion only being about love." Religion, much of it, hasn't been about love at all. And being a "progressive" shouldn't mean being a liar nor a whitewasher about a charismatic charlatan who had sex with a 9 year old and who engaged in religious warfare, peace be upon him.

Anyway, as for Christmas, really it's about the Real New Year - with the days getting longer after winter solstice. Gift giving. Love. Family. That's all good. But we aren't going to be children either, not solely. So let's tell the truth also.