eChurch Blog

It is possible!

Global Arab Network

Atop a mountain in the Syrian heartland lies a monastery where the message of Christian-Muslim unity is alive and well.

Cooled by eastern-blowing winds from the mountains dividing Lebanon and Syria, Deir Mar Musa is perhaps an unlikely place to find the seed of intercultural and inter-religious understanding. Yet the monastery has been a bedrock of local and national movements for years.

Deir Mar Musa’s reputation and physical restoration is due much to the efforts, determination and belief of a single man. After completing a doctorate in comparative religion and Islamic studies at the Pontificia Università Gregoriana in Rome, Father Paolo Dall’Oglio single-handedly restored the site, setting the first stone in cement in 1982.

Speaking from a library in the monastery, Father Paolo displays a nuanced knowledge of contemporary currents in social and political affairs.

“I came here as a student of Arabic and lived in Lebanon and Syria beginning from the 1970s. I asked a priest in Damascus if he knew of a place where I could go to to study and pray. He suggested I come up here, and here I am today,” explained the priest who was awarded the Anna Lindh Euro-Mediterranean award for interfaith dialogue on behalf of Deir Mar Musa in 2006.

A Jesuit priest, Father Paolo does not see Christianity as being a superior religion. “I think globalisation has set in motion a series of events and established a new mindset. People are on the move, as you can see right here in this monastery every day. Ideas have new venues from where they can be exchanged and people are getting to see everything through the Internet. So we have had an explosion of information and as a result everyone in this region knows about the Danish cartoon episode and Iraq, etc.,” he said.

A physical presence lumbering around the monastery’s dining area, Father Paolo walks the mountains with a cane alone at night after mass and dinner. He makes himself known to all visitors and can mingle with foreigners and locals alike, in fluent Arabic.

The monastery was founded by Mar Musa al-Habashi, or Saint Moses of Abyssinia, who, as legend has it, was the son of an Ethiopian king. Refusing to accept his future as laid out before him, Saint Moses decided to become a Christian monk and later travelled to Syria where he founded the monastery. Although the monastery itself has been reconstructed over the last 25 years, with funding sourced locally and from Rome, its church is said to date back to the 6th century.

Almost entirely self-sufficient, the monastery’s community is comprised of 15 permanent staff, but can rise to more than 40, all of whom cater to the hundreds of pilgrims arriving during summer from Damascus and the central Syrian valleys, coming to cool off from the 40°C-plus heat.

Embracing the need to move with the times, the monastery employs a solar-powered water heating system and boasts wireless Internet in its three-room library.

Today, the monastery stands as an important local and national vehicle for interfaith initiatives, in addition to supporting environmental and other projects.

On its busiest days, with such an eclectic mix of backpackers, worshippers and teenagers, it is easy to forget that Deir Mar Musa is a religious site. Couples, even married, must sleep in separate quarters separated by more than a 200-meter mountainside walk.

As many headscarf-wearing Muslim women and girls come to the monastery for day trips as local Christians and western travellers. “Muslims in the Levant consider Deir Mar Musa a place of their own,” said Father Paolo.

In Syria, religiosity is also cultural. Christians in Syria say “Allah” to refer to God but in the West “Allah” is only associated with Islam.

Christians in Syria go to church on Fridays as it is a holiday, in addition to Sundays. Christians and Muslims are equally as religious and have managed to live alongside one another without issue. It is this kind of respect Father Paolo and the others living in the monastery have seen flourish at Deir Mar Musa.

Global Arab Network

* Stephen Starr is a freelance writer. This abridged article is distributed by the Common Ground News Service (CGNews) with permission from Qantara.de. The full text can be found at www. qantara. de. Image Source: Fadi’s blog at warwick.ac.uk Deir Mar Musa.

New York Times:-

Patriarch Kirill I, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, would be willing to meet Pope Benedict XVI, but wants disputes with Catholics in Ukraine resolved first, a senior Orthodox cleric said Tuesday. A meeting with the pope would begin to heal the 1,000-year-old rift between the Western and Eastern branches of Christianity, which split in 1054. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, Eastern Rite Catholics who owe their allegiance to Rome took back some churches that had been confiscated by Communist authorities and given to the Orthodox Church.

I rather enjoyed this post from The Young Mr Brown over at the Marmalade Sandwich blog, looking at faith schools from a Libertarian perspective.

Faith schools and libertarianism

Cristina Odone, (who has, at various times been editor of the Catholic Herald and deputy editor of the New Statesman), has a piece in the Telegraph entitled “Why does Labour hate faith schools?”

Now, I don’t know if Labour really do hate faith schools. Nor do I know if Miss Odone is correct in her assertion that Ed Balls “so loathes the notion of religious-based education that he prefers to tolerate Britain’s increasing social inequality.” But I do know that faith schools don’t go down well with some people.

The British Humanist Association is fairly representative of those who are opposed to faith schools. What do they want?

“An end to the proliferation of maintained faith schools; discrimination in admissions and employment in faith schools outlawed; a comprehensive curriculum across all subjects, including beliefs and values education, sex and relationships education, and citizenship education to be taught objectively in all schools.

Ultimately, all faith schools should be absorbed back into the secular schools sector, becoming inclusive community schools. We campaign against ‘faith schools’, and for an inclusive, secular schools system, where children and young people of all different backgrounds and beliefs can learn from and with each other. ”

I am most amused to read that they want to see all faith schools absorbed back into the secular schools sector. Back? The implication is that faith schools were once in the secular schools sector, and that in the good old days, all British schools were secular. This, of course, is not quite so. At one time, in fact, almost all British schools were, in some sense, Christian schools – and the trend has been for their Christian character to be eroded over the decades.

The hope that all subjects, should “be taught objectively in all schools,” is laudable, though somewhat naive. After all, who is to define what constitutes objectivity?

One also wonders if they really mean that “all faith schools should be absorbed back into the secular schools sector.” Does that mean that faith schools will be banned, and only secular schools will be permitted?

And their call for a comprehensive curriculum across all subject implies that they accept the received political wisdom that it is the job of the state to decide what is taught in schools. The implication is that it is the state that shall decide how children are educated, rather than parents. There may be some humanists who are libertarians, but they don’t seem to wield much influence in the BHA.

So, what do libertarians think about faith schools? Well, actually the LPUK manifesto doesn’t mention faith schools or religion. That is quite deliberate. We support a voucher system, similar to the one that was introduced in Sweden in the 1992, giving parents a free choice of what kind of school they send their children to. That is because we believe that it is parents, rather than the government, that should decide how children should be educated.

The hope that all subjects, should “be taught objectively in all schools,” is laudable, though somewhat naive. After all, who is to define what constitutes objectivity?

This is the bit that really makes me laugh with secularists and humanists. They seem to imagine that children can be taught in a kind of pure, sterilised objective environment, free from all subjective bias and indoctrination.

Of course this is ludicrous and the reality is that all education systems are riven with political, cultural, commercial, intellectual bias, paradigms and indoctrination, however, not all biases and indoctrinations are equal in the secularist / humanist worldview.

Any positive bias towards the reality of a living God is not to be tolerated in education and the formal teaching of such is classed as akin to abuse.

(CNA).- As the day of the papal visit to the Synagogue of Rome approaches, another religious leader has decided to join the Pope for what looks to be a full itinerary.  On Jan. 17, Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem will accompany the Holy Father on his historic stop.

According to Vatican Radio, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal, the archbishop of the Latin Rite Catholic churches of Israel, Palestine and Jordan, will be with the Holy Father on his Sunday visit to the synagogue.

The Pope, the Patriarch and other officials from the Holy See will be met a short distance from the synagogue just before 4:30 p.m. by the Presidents of the Jewish communities of Rome and of Italy. The two Jewish leaders will lead them past two monuments where all will pay their respects to those deported from the Jewish ghetto of Rome on Oct. 16, 1943 and  remember a small child that was killed in an attack outside of the synagogue in 1982.

The Pope and his retinue will then be met by the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Riccardo Di Segni, on the central staircase leading into the synagogue. Once they are inside, the Catholic visitors will be welcomed by choral music.  Speeches and prayers will follow.

At the conclusion of these addresses, the Holy Father and the Head Rabbi will meet privately.  After the meeting, Benedict XVI will visit the synagogue’s gardens, where an olive tree will be planted in commemoration of his visit.

The afternoon visit will conclude with the opening of an exhibit in the Jewish Museum of Rome and a meeting with representatives of the Jewish community.

The visit will make Benedict XVI the second Pope to officially enter the Synagogue of Rome after Pope John Paul II first did so in 1986.

“That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death,
that is the devil” Hebrews 2:14

IN God’s original empire everything was happiness, and joy, and peace. If
there be any evil, any suffering and pain, that is not God’s work. God may
permit it, overrule it, and out of it educe much good; but the evil cometh
not of God. He himself standeth pure and perfect, the clean fountain out of
which gusheth forth ever more sweet and pure waters. The devil’s reign,
on the contrary, containeth nought of good, “the devil sinneth from the
beginning,” and his dominion has been one uniform course of temptation to
evil and infliction of misery. Death is a part of Satan’s dominion, he
brought sin into the world when he tempted our mother Eve to eat of the
forbidden fruit, and with sin he brought also death into the world, with all
its train of woes. There had been likely no death, if there had been no devil.
If Satan had not tempted, mayhap man had not revolted, and if he had not
revolted he would have lived for ever, without having to undergo the
painful change which is caused by death. I think death is the devil’s
masterpiece. With the solitary exception of hell, death is certainly the most
Satanic mischief that sin hath accomplished. Nothing ever delighted the
heart of the devil so much as when he found that the threatening would be
fulfilled, “In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” and
never was his malicious heart so full of hellish joy as when he saw Abel
stretched upon the earth, slain by the club of his brother. “Aha!” said
Satan, “this is the first of all intelligent creatures that has died. Oh how I
rejoice! This is the crowning hour of my dominion. It is true that I have
marred the glory of this earth by my guileful temptation; it is true the whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain by reason of the evil that I have
brought into it; but this, this is my masterpiece; I have killed man; I have
brought death into him, and here lieth the first — the first dead man.”
Since that time Satan hath ever gloated over the death of the human race,
and he hath had some cause of glory, for that death has been universal. All
have died. Though they had been wise as Solomon, their wisdom could not
spare their head; though they had been virtuous as Moses, yet their virtue
could not avert the axe, All have died; and therefore the devil hath boasted
in his triumph. But twice hath he been defeated; but two have entered
heaven without dying, but the mass of mankind have had to feel the scythe
of death; and he has rejoiced because this, his mightiest work, has had
foundations broad as earth, and a summit that reached as high as the
virtues of mankind could climb.

There is something fearful in death. It is frightful even to him that hath the
most of faith. It is only the gildings of death, the afterwards, the heaven,
the harp, the glory, that maketh death bearable even to the Christian. Death
in itself must ever be an unutterably fearful thing to the sons of men. And
oh! what ruin doth it work! It darkens the windows of the eyes; it pulls
down the polished pillars of the divine architecture of the body; it turns the
inhabitant the soul, out of its door, and bids it fly to worlds unknown; and
it leaves in place of a living man a corpse whose appearance is so wretched
that none can look upon it without emotions of horror. Now, this is
Satan’s delight. He conceives death to be his masterpiece, because of its
terror, and because of the ruin which it works. The greater the evil, the
better doth he delight in it. No doubt he gloats over our sicknesses; he
rejoices himself in our sin; but death is to him a theme of as much delight
as he can be capable of in his eternal misery. He, as far as he can, shouteth
for joy when he witnesseth how, by one fell deed of his, one piece of
treachery, he hath swept the world with the besom of destruction, and
hurried all men to the tomb.

And death is very lovely to the devil for another reason — not only
because it is his chief work on earth, but because it gives him the finest
opportunity in the world for the display of his malice and his craft. The
devil is a coward, the greatest of cowards, as most wicked beings are. A
Christian in health he will seldom attack; a Christian who has been living
near his Master, and is strong in grace, the devil will leave alone, because
he knows he will meet his match then; but if he can find a Christian either
weak in faith, or weak in body, then he thinks it a fair opportunity for
attack.

Now when death comes with all its terrors, it is usual for Satan to make a
fierce inroad into the soul. Usually with many of the saints, if not in the last
article of death, yet some little time before it, there is a ferocious onslaught
made by the great enemy of souls. And then he loves death, because death
weakens the mind. The approach of death destroys some of the mental
power, and takes away from us for a season some of those spirits by which
we have been cheered in better days. It makes us lie there, languid, and
faint, and weary. “Now is my opportunity,” says the evil one; and he steals
in upon us. Hence I believe for this reason he is said to have the power of
death, for I cannot conceive that the devil hath the power of death in any
other sense but this, that it was originated by him, and that he at such time
generally displays the most of his malice and of his power. For it is certain
my brethren the devil has not the power over death so as to cause death.
All the devils in hell could not take away the life of the smallest infant in
the world, and though we lie gasping and sick, so that the physician
despairs of us, it is nothing but the fiat of the Almighty that can cause us to
die, even in the extremity of our weakness As far as the cause is concerned,
the devil is not the cause of death. We rejoice to believe with Dr. Young,
that an angel’s arm cannot hurl us to the grave, even though it be the arm
of that fallen archangel Lucifer; and we rejoice to know that afterwards a
myriad angels cannot confine us there. So that neither for the unlocking of
the door, nor for the securing of it afterwards, hath the devil any power
whatever over the Christian in death.

Why, there are many persons here present who have such notion of religion
that they conceive it to be a thing of happiness and pleasure, and delight,
and living near the fountain of all bliss, that is their God, their path is filled
with sunshine, and their eye sparkles with perpetual happiness. They bear
the trials of this life manfully as Christians should; they take afflictions from
the hand of God with all resignation and patience. Now the devil says, “It
is of no use my meddling with that man with doubting thoughts; he is too
mighty for me; he is powerful on his knees, and he is powerful with his
God.” “Hands off!” says the Christian to the devil then. But when we begin
to be weak, when our mind through the influence of the body begins to be
sad, when we have either been starving ourselves by some wicked religious
asceticism, or when the rod of God hath bruised us, then in our evil plight
the foe will beset us. And for this reason the devil loves death, and hath the
power over it, because it is the time of nature’s extremity, and therefore is
the time of the devil’s opportunity.

The subject of our discourse this morning is this. Jesus Christ through his
death, hath destroyed what power the devil hath over death. Ay, and to
add a second truth which shall be our second head, he hath not only by his
death destroyed the power which the devil had over death, but he hath
destroyed the devil’s power entirely in every respect by the death which he
died.

I. Let us begin, then, at the beginning. BY THE DEATH OF CHRIST THE
DEVIL’S POWER OVER DEATH IS TO THE CHRISTIAN UTTERLY DESTROYED.

The devil’s power over death lies in three places, and we must look at it in
three aspects. sometimes the devil hath power in death over the Christian,
by tempting him to doubt his resurrection, and leading him to look into the
black future with the dread of annihilation. We will look at that first, and
we will endeavor to show you that by the death of Christ that peculiar form
of the devil’s power in death is entirely removed. When the poor spirit lieth
on the verge of eternity, if faith be weak, and if the eye-sight of hope be
dim, the Christian will most likely look forward into what? Into a world
unknown, and the language of even the infidel sometimes rush into the lips
of the most faithful child of God.

“My soul looks down on what?
A dread eternity; a dreary gulf.”

You may tell him of the promises; you may try to cheer him by reminding
him of the certain revelations of the future; but apart from the death of
Christ, I say, even the Christian himself would look forward to death as
being a dreary goal, a dark cloudy end to a life of weariness and woe.
Whither am I speeding? An arrow shot from the bow of God’s creation!
Whither am I speeding? And the answer cometh back from blank
nothingness thou camest, and thou art speeding to the same; there is
nought to thee; when thou diest thou art lost. Or if reason has been well
tutored it may perhaps reply to him, “Yes, there is another world, but
reason can only tell him that it thinks so. It dreams of it. but what that
other world shall be, what its tremendous mysteries, what its gorgeous
splendors, or what its horrible terrors, reason cannot tell.” And the sting of
death would be to such a man, who had no view of immortality in Christ,
the thought that he was to be annihilated — not to exist — or if to exist
that he knew not how, or where. But, beloved, by the death of Christ all
this is taken away. If I lie a-dying, and Satan comes to me and says, “Thou
art to be annihilated, thou art now sinking beneath the waves of time, and
thou shalt lie in the caverns of nothingness for ever; thy living, leaping
spirit, is to cease for ever and be not.” I reply to him, “No, not so: I have
no fear of that; O Satan, thy power to tempt me here faileth utterly and
entirely. See there my Savior! He died — he died really and actually, for
his heart was pierced, he was buried, he lay in his grave three days; but, O
Devil, he was not annihilated, for he rose again from the tomb on the third
day, and in the glories of the resurrection he appeared unto many
witnesses, and gave infallible proofs that he was risen from the dead. And
now, O Satan, I tell thee, thou canst not put an end to my existence, for
thou couldst not put an end to the existence of my Lord. As the Lord the
Savior rose, so all his followers must. ‘I know that my Redeemer liveth,’
and therefore I know that though the ‘worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God.’ Thou tellest me, O Satan, that I am to be swallowed
up, and be a thing of nought, and sink into the bottomless pit of nonenity. I
reply to thee, thou liest. My Savior was not swallowed up, and yet he died,
he died, but could not long be held a prisoner in the tomb. Come, death,
and bind me, but thou canst not destroy me. Come on, O grave; open thy
ghastly mouth, and swallow me up; but I shall burst thy bonds another day.
When that all-glorious morning shall dawn, I having a dew like the dew of
herbs upon me, shall be raised up and shall live in his sight. Because he
lives I shall live also.” So, you see, Christ, by being a witness to the feet of
the resurrection, has broken the power of the devil in death. In this respect
he has prevented him from tempting us to fear annihilation, because, as
Christians, we believe that because Christ rose again from the dead, even
so they that sleep in Jesus will the Lord bring with him.

But now for a more common temptation — another phase of the devil’s
power in death. Full often the devil comes to us in our life-time, and he
tempts us by telling us that our guilt will certainly prevail against us, that
the sins of our youth and our former transgressions are still in our bones,
and that when we sleep in the grave our sins shall rise up against us
“They have many of them,” saith he, “gone before you unto judgment, and
others shall follow after.” When the Christian getteth weak, and his heart
and his flesh do fail him, were it not, I say for the great doctrine of the
death of Christ the devil would be able to tempt him thus “Thou art about
to die. I dare not tell thee that there is no future state, for if I do thou
replies to me, ‘There is, for Christ rose from the dead and therefore I
shall,’ but I will tempt thee another way. Thou hast made a fine profession,
but I charge upon thee that thou hast been a hypocrite. Thou pretendest
that thou art one of the Lord’s beloved: now look back upon thy sins:
remember on such-a-day how thy rebellious lusts arose, and thou wast led
if not quite to indulge in a transgression, yet to long after it. Recollect how
often thou hast provoked him in the wilderness, how frequently thou hast
made his anger wax hot against thee.” The devil takes up our diary, and he
turns over the page, and with black finger points to our sins; and he reads
scornfully, with a leer upon his countenance. “See here saint” he says.
“Saint! Aha! a fine saint you were. There! Sabbath breaking. There! evil
thoughts of unbelief. There! departure from the living God.” And he turns
over page after page, and he stops over some very black page, and says,
“See here!” And he twits the Christian with the thing. “Ah!” saith he,
“David, remember Bathsheba. Lot, remember Sodom and the cave, Noah,
remember the vineyard and the drunkenness.” Ah! and it makes even the
saint quiver, when sin stares him in the face — when the ghosts of his old
sins rise up and stare upon him. He is a man that has got faith indeed that
can look sin in the face, and still say, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth
me from sin.” But were it not for that blood, were it not for the death of
Christ, you can easily conceive what power the devil would have over us in
the hour of death, because he would fling all our sins in our teeth just when
we came to die, But now see how through death Christ has taken away the
devil s power to do that. We reply to the temptation to sin, “In truth O
Satan thou art right; I have rebelled, I will not belie my conscience and my
memory; I own I have transgressed. O Satan, turn to the blackest page of
my history, I confess all,

‘Should he send my soul to hell
His righteous law approves it well.’

But O fiend, let me tell thee my sins were numbered on the scape-goat’s
head of old. Go thou, O Satan, to Calvary’s cross, and see my substitute
bleeding there, Behold, my sins are not mine; they are laid on his eternal
shoulders, and he has cast them from his own shoulders into the depths of
the sea. Avaunt, hell-hound! Wouldst thou worry me? Go thou and satisfy
thyself with a sight of that Man, who entered the gloomy dungeons of
death, and slept awhile there, and then rent the bars away, and led captivity
captive as a proof that he was justified of God the Father. and that I also
am justified in him.” Oh! yes, this is the way that Christ’s death destroys
the power of the devil. We can tell the devil that we care not for him, for
all our sins are passed away, covered in the thick cloud, and shall not be
brought against us any more for ever, “Ah!” said an aged saint once who
had been much teased by Satan, “at last I got rid of my temptations, sir,
and I enjoyed much peace,” “How did you do it?” said a Christian friend
who visited him, “I showed him blood, sir; I showed him the blood of
Christ.” That is a thing the devil cannot endure. You may tell the devil,
“Oh! but I prayed so many times.” He will sniff at your prayers. You may
tell him, “Ah! but I was a preacher” He will laugh in your face, and tell you
you preached your own damnation You may tell him you had some good
works, and he will lift them up and say, “these are your good works —
filthy rags: no one would have them at a gift.” You may tell him, “Ah! but I
have repented.” He will sneer at your repentance. You may tell him what
you like, he will sneer at you, till at last you say,

“Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;”

And it is all over with the devil then; there is nothing now that he can do,
for the death of Christ has destroyed the power that the devil hath over us
to tempt us on account of our guilt. “The sting of death is sin:” our Jesus
took the sting away, and now death is harmless to us, because it is not
succeeded by damnation.

Once more, you may suppose a Christian who has firm confidence in a
future state. The evil one has another temptation for him. .”It. may be very
true,” saith he, “that you are to live for ever and that your sins have been
pardoned; but you have hitherto found it very hard work to persevere, and
now you are about to die you will be sure to fail. When you have had
troubles you know you have been half inclined to go back again to Egypt.
Why, the little hornets that you have met have worried you, and now this
death is the prince of dragons; it will be all over with you now. You know
that when you used to go through a cart-rut you were crying for fear of
being drowned: what will you do now that you have got into the swellings
of Jordan? “Ah!” says the devil, “you were afraid of the lions when they
were chained: what will you do with this unchained lion? How will you
come off now? When you were a strong man and had marrow in your
bones, and your sinews were full of strength, even then you trembled at
me: now I shall have at you, when I get you in your dying-time and your
strength fails, and if I once get the grip of you

‘That desperate tug your soul shall feel,
Through bars of brass and triple-steel.’

Ah! you will then be overcome.” And sometimes the poor feint-hearted
Christian thinks that is true; I shall surely fall one day by the hand of the
enemy. Up gets the Arminian divine, and says, “that is a very proper sort of
feeling, my friend; God often does desert his children and cast them away.”
To which we reply “Thou liest, Arminian; shut thy mouth, God never did
desert his children, neither can he, nor will he.”

And having answered the Arminian we turn to answer the devil, and we say
to him, “O fiend, thou temptest us to think that thou wilt conquer us;
remember Satan, that the strength that has preserved us against thee has
not been our own; the arm that has delivered us has not been this arm of
flesh and blood, else we had long since been overcome. Look thou there,
fiend, at him that is Omnipotent: his Almightiness is the power that
preserves us to the end; and, therefore, be we never so weak, when we are
weak then we are strong, and in our last hour of peril we shall yet
overcome thee.”

But please to notice, that this answer springs and arises from Christ’s
death. Let us just picture a scene. When the Lord Jesus came down to
earth, Satan knew his errand. He knew that the Lord Jesus was the Son of
God, and when he saw him an infant in the manger, he thought if he could
kill him and get Him in the bonds of death what a fine thing it would be! So
he stirred up the spirit of Herod to slay him; but Herod missed his mark.
And many a time did Satan strive to put the personal existence of Christ in
danger, so that he might get Christ to die. Poor fool as he was, he did not
know that when Christ died he would bruise the devil’s head. Once, you
remember, when Christ was in the synagogue, the devil stirred up the
people, and made them angry; and he thought, “Oh! what a glorious thing
it would be if I could kill this man; then there would be an end of him, And
I should reign supreme for ever.” So he got the people to take him to the
brow of the hill, and he gloated over the thought that now surely he would
be cast down headlong. But Christ escaped. He tried to starve him, he tried
to drown him; he was in the desert without food, and he was on the sea in
a storm; but there was no starving or drowning him, and Satan no doubt
panted for his blood and longed that he should die. At last the day arrived;
it was telegraphed to the court of hell that at last Christ would die. They
rung their bells with hellish mirth and joy. “He will die now,” said he,
“Judas has taken the thirty pieces of silver. Let those Scribes and Pharisees
get him, they will no more let him go than the spider will a poor
unfortunate fly. He is safe enough now.” And the devil laughed for very
glee, when he saw the Savior stand before Pilate’s bar. And when it was
said, “Let him be crucified,” then his joy scarce knew bounds, except that
bound which his own misery must ever set to it. As far as he could he
revelled in what was to him a delightful thought, that the Lord of glory was
about to die. In death, as Christ was seen of angels, he was seen of devils
too; and that dreary march from Pilate’s palace to the cross was one which
devils saw with extraordinary interest. And when they saw him on the
cross, there stood the exulting fiend, smiling to himself. “Ah! I have the
King of Glory now in my dominions, I have the power of death, and I have
the power over the Lord Jesus.” He exerted that power, till the Lord Jesus
had to cry out in bitter anguish, “My God, my God, Why hast thou
forsaken me ?” But ah! how short-lived was hellish victory! How brief was
the Satanic triumph! He died, and “It is finished!” shook the gates of hell.
Down from the cross the conqueror leaped, pursued the fiend with
thunder-bolts of wrath; swift to the shades of hell the fiend did fly, and
swift descending went the conqueror after him; and we may conceive him
exclaiming —

“Traitor! this bolt shall find and pierce thee through,
Though under hell’s profoundest wave thou div’st,
To find a sheltering grave.”

And seize him he did — chained him to his chariot wheel; dragged him up
the steps of glory; angels shouting all the while, “He hath led captivity
captive, and received gifts for men.” Now, devil, thou saidst thou wouldst
overcome me, when I came to die. Satan I defy thee, and laugh thee to
scorn! My Master overcame thee, and I shall overcome thee yet. You say
you will overcome the saint, do you? You could not overcome the saint’s
Master, and you will not overcome him. You once thought you had
conquered Jesus: you were bitterly deceived. Ah! Satan, thou mayest think
thou shalt overcome the little faith and the faint heart; but thou art
wondrously mistaken — for we shall assuredly tread Satan under our feet
shortly; and even in our last extremity, with fearful odds against us, we
shall be “more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
You see that thus, my brethren, Christ’s death has taken away from Satan
the advantage which he has over the saint in the hour of death; so that we
may joyfully descend the shelving banks of Jordan, or may even, if God
calls us to a sudden death, glide from its abrupt cliffs, for Christ is with us,
and to die is gain.

II. But now, I want just a moment or two, whilst I try to show you that
not only has Christ by his death taken away the devil’s power in death; but
HE HAS TAKEN AWAY THE DEVILS POWER EVERYWHERE ELSE OVER A
CHRISTIAN. “He hath destroyed,” or overcome, “him that had the power of
death, that is, the devil.”

Death was the devil’s chief intrenchment: Christ bearded the lion in his den,
and fought him in his own territory; and when he took death from him and
dismantled that once impregnable fortress, he took away from him not only
that, but every other advantage that he had over the saint. And now Satan
is a conquered foe, not only in the hour of death, but in every other hour
and in every other place. He is an enemy, both cruel and mighty, but he is a
foe who quakes and quails when a Christian gets into the lists with him; for
he knows that though the fight may waver for a little while in the scale, the
balance of victory must fall on the side of the saint, because Christ by his
death destroyed the devil’s power.

Satan, my brethren, may to-morrow get much power over you, by
tempting you to indulge in the lusts of the flesh, or in the pride of life; he
may come to you and say, “Do such-and-such a thing that would be
dishonest, and I will make you rich; indulge in such-and-such a pleasure,
and I will make you happy. come,” saith Satan, “yield to my blandishments;
I will give you wine to quaff that shall be richer than ever came from the
wine-vats of Holy Scripture; I will give you bread to eat that you know not
of. Eat thou the tempting fruit; it is sweet; it will make thee like a god.” .
“Ah!” saith the Christian, “but Satan, my Master died when he had to do
with thee, and therefore I will have nothing to do with thee. If thou didst
kill my Lord, thou wilt kill me too if thou canst, and therefore away with
thee! but inasmuch as thou layest down silver for me, and tellest me I can
have it if I do wrong, lo, Satan, I can cover thy silver with gold, and have
ten times as much to spare afterwards. Thou sayest I shall get gain if I sin.
Nay, but the treasures of Christ are greater riches than all the treasures of
Egypt. Why, Satan, if thou wert to bring me a crown, and say, ‘There!
thou shalt have that if thou wilt sin.’ I should say, ‘Poor crown! Why,
Satan, I have got a better one than that laid up in heaven, I could not sin
for that, that is a bribe too paltry,” In he brings his bags of gold. and he
says, “Now, Christian, sin for them.” The Christian says, “Why fiend, that
stuff is not worth my looking at. I have an inheritance in a city where the
streets are paved with solid gold; and, therefore, what are these poor
chinking bits to me? Take them back!” He brings in loveliness, and he
tempts us by it. but we say to him, “Why, devil, what art thou at? What is
that loveliness to me? Mine eyes have seen the King in his beauty and the
land that is very far oft; and by faith I know that I shall go where beauty’s
self, even in her perfection, is excelled — where I shall see my Savior, who
is ‘the chief among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely.’ That is no
temptation to me! Christ has died, and I count all these things but dross,
that I may win Christ and be found in him.” So that you see, even in
temptation, the death of Christ has destroyed the devil’s power
“You will not yield, will you?” says the devil “You cannot be tempted! Ah!
well,” says he, “if you cannot be drawn aside, I’ll pull you aside. What are
you, that you should stand against me? A poor puny man! Why, I have
made angels fall, and I am not afraid of you. Come on!” And he puts his
foot to our foot, and with his dragon yell he frights the echoes till they dare
not reply. He lifts his blazing sword, and thinks to smite us to the ground.
You know, my brethren, what the shield is that must catch the blow. It is
the shield of faith in Christ that died for us. He hurls his darts, but his darts
hurt not, for lo, we catch them also on this all-powerful shield, Christ and
his cross. So that, let his insinuations be never so direful, the death of
Christ has destroyed the devil’s power either to tempt or to destroy. He
may be allowed to attempt either the one or the other, but he can be
successful in neither. The death of Christ has “destroyed him that had the
power of death, that is, the devil.”

Some people say they don’t believe in a devil. Well, I have only to tell them
I don’t believe in them because if they knew themselves much they would
very soon find a devil. But it is quite possible that they have very little
evidence of there being any devil; for you know the devil never wastes his
time. He comes up a street, and he sees a man engaged in business,
hoarding, covetous, grasping. He has got a widow’s house in his throat, he
has just swallowed the last acre of a poor orphan’s lands. “Oh,” says the
devil, “drive by, I shall not stop there; he does not need me; he will go to
hell easily enough.” He goes to the next house: there is a man there, a
drunkard. spending his time in riotousness: he marches by, and says,
“There’s no need for me here; why should I trouble my own dear friends?
Why should I meddle with those whom I am sure to have at last? There’s
no need to tease them.” He finds a poor saint upon his knees, exercising
but very little power in prayer. “Oh!” says the devil, “I shant have this
creature at last; I’ll howl at him now.” There is a poor sinner just returning
from his evil ways and crying, “I have sinned and done evil in thy sight;
Lord, have mercy upon me “ “Losing a subject,” says Satan; “I’ll have him;
I’m not going to lose my subjects like this.” So he worries him. The reason
why you don’t believe there is a devil, very likely is, that the devil very
seldom comes to you because you are so safe that he does not take any
trouble to look after you, and you have not seen him, because you are too
bad for him to care about, and he says, “Oh no, there’s no need for me to
waste time to tempt that man, it would be carrying coals to Newcastle to
tempt him, for he is as bad as he can be, and therefore let him alone.” But
when a man lives near to God, or when a man’s conscience begins to be
aroused, then Satan cries, “To arms! to arms! to arms!” For two good
reasons: first, because he wants to worry him, and secondly, because he
wants to destroy him. Well, we bless God that though the devil may direct
his utmost scorn and craft and malice against the Christian, the Christian is
safe behind the rock Christ Jesus, and may rest secure.

And now, in conclusion, suffer a word or two of comfort to the people of
God, and a warning to those that know him not.

O children of God! death hath lost its sting, because the devil’s power over
it is destroyed. Then cease to fear dying. Thou knowest what death is: look
him in the face, and tell him thou art not afraid of him. Ask grace from
God, that by an intimate knowledge and a firm belief of thy Master’s death,
thou mayest be strengthened for that dread hour. And mark me, if thou so
livest, thou mayest be able to think of death with pleasure, and to welcome
it when it comes with intense delight. It is sweet to die: to lie upon the
breast of Christ, and have one’s soul kissed out of one’s body by the lips of
divine affection. And you that have lost friends, or that may be bereaved,
sorrow not as those that are without hope; for remember the power of the
devil is taken away. What a sweet thought the death of Christ brings us
concerning those who are departed! They are gone, my brethren; but do
you know how far they have gone? The distance between the glorified
spirits in heaven and the militant saints on earth seems great; but it is not
so. We are not far from home.

“One gentle sigh the spirit breaks,
We scarce can say ‘tis gone,
Before the ransomed spirit takes
Its station near the throne.”

We measure distance by time. We are apt to say that a certain place is so
many hours from us. If it is a hundred miles off and there is no railroad we
think it a long way; if there is a railway, we think we can be there in no
time, But how near must we say heaven is? For it is just one sigh and we
get there. Why, my brethren, our departed friends are only in the upper
room, as it were, of the same house; they have not gone far off; they are up
stairs, and we are down below.Yea, more as the poet says,

“Ten thousands to their endless home,
This solemn moment fly,
And we are to the margin come,
And soon expect to die.”

And then he describes them.

“Part of the host have crossed the flood.”

There they are, on the other side the banks. Here is another part, deep in
the stream. Here are we on the margin, just about to step down. They are
all one army; there is not one gap, right down from Abel to the one that is
now departing; and they never shall be but one, till the pearly gates are shut
for ever, and they are all secure.

“E’en now by faith we clasp our hands
With those that went before,
And greet the blood-besprinkled bands
Upon the eternal shore.”

And now I close by saying this word to the sinner O thou that knowest not
God, thou that believest not in Christ, death is to thee a horrible thing. I
need not tell thee that; for thine own conscience tells it to thee. Why, man,
thou mayest laugh sometimes at religion; but in thine own solitary moments
it is no laughing thing. The greatest brags in the world are always the
greatest cowards. If I hear a man saying, “Oh, I am not afraid of dying, I
don’t care about your religion,” he does not deceive me; I know all about
that. He says that to cover up his fears, when he is alone of a night. You
should see how white his cheek is if a leaf falls against the window When
there is lightning in the air you should look at him. “Oh that flash” he says.
Or if he is a strong man perhaps he does not say a word, but he feels in
such horror all the time the storm is on. Not like the Christian man: not like
the man who has courage. Why, I love the lightnings; God’s thunder is my
delight. I never feel so well as when there is a tremendous thunder and
lightning storm. Then I feel as if I could mount up, and my whole heart
sings. I love then to sing —

“This awful God is mine
My Father and my love,
He shall send down his heavenly powers
To carry me above.”

Yes, you are afraid of dying I know; and what I shall say to you is this —
You have good need to be afraid of dying, and you have good need to be
afraid of dying now. Because you have escaped many times you think you
shall never die. Suppose we should take a man and tie him to that pillar,
and a good marksman should take bow and arrows and shoot at him. Well,
one arrow might glance and strike some one that sits at the right, and
another might glance and strike some one that is to the left; one might go
above his head, and another beneath his feet, but you cannot suppose that
man would laugh and mock, when the arrows were flying about his ears,
and if he was quite certain that it only wanted the marksman to take an aim
at him, and he would be shot, then, my friends, you cannot conceive how
he would tell you what terror he would experience. But certainly there
would be no laughter. He would not say, “Oh! I shall not die, see, the man
has been shooting all these others.” No, the risk of dying would be enough
to steady him and the thought that that marksman had an eye so true and a
hand so steady that he had but to pull the string, and the arrow would
certainly reach his heart, would be enough at least to sober him, and keep
him always watchful; for in a moment, when he thought not that arrow
might fly. Now, that is you to-day, God puts the arrow to the string: your
neighbor is dead on the right, and another on the left; the arrow will come
to you soon, it might have come before, if God willed it. Oh, mock not at
death, and despise not eternity, but begin to think whether you are
prepared for death, lest death should come and find you wanting. And
remember, death will make no delays for you. You have postponed the
time of thought: death will not be postponed to suit you, but when you die,
there will be no hour allowed for you in which then to turn to God. Death
comes with its first blow; damnation comes afterwards, without the hope
of reprieve. “He that believeth and is immersed shall be saved; he that
believeth not shall be damned.” Thus do we preach the Gospel of God unto
you as God would have us. “Go ye into all the world and preach the
Gospel to every creature.” “Go ye and teach all nations, immersing them in
the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Behold, I tell
you, faith in Jesus is the soul’s only escape; profession of that in immersion
is God’s own way of professing faith before men. The Lord help you to
obey him in the two great gospel commandments, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Cross post by Mariano over at the Atheism is Dead blog:-

One of the most ubiquitously employed atheist talking point is to basically use the word “atheism” and “science” in the same sentence whilst expressing anything at all related in any way to any discussion of atheism / theism (same goes for “atheism” and “evolution” but that is another issue).

Yet, what is the relation of atheism with science or science with atheism?

Atheism is Dead has already determined that science has nothing to offer atheism in the post Omni-Science. Yet, it seemed appropriate to focus on the specific question of what is the conclusion of having many atheists claim that they base their atheism on science or that science implies an atheistic universe.

What is science? There are many definitions. Within the comments section of Atheism is Dead an atheist even included feelings in their definition of science. There is science as method, science as profession, science as co-opted by atheism, science as supposed know it all, science as only providing the best guess thus far, science as an operational process, science as a body of knowledge, science as a thing to be manipulated via schools of thought and professional rivalries, forensic science, hard science, soft science, etc., etc., etc.[1]

Let us consider common definitions of what people generally mean by “science” particularly within our context: science denotes a series of fields of study which apply certain methods—such as observation, testability and repeatable experimentation—which seek to ascertain, to the best of our current ability, the workings of the physical world / nature / the material realm. True science functions within limits, admits these limitations and does not pretend to go beyond them.

Many great and influential scientists, those who established the methods and fields of science in the first place, were theists of one sort or another—mostly from the Judeo-Christian tradition. These scientists premised the scientific endeavor upon their belief that there was a God, that this God is a rational being, that thus this rational God had created a rational creation and that therefore, the creation functions upon certain established laws which ensure a continuum which allows us to explore, observe and reproduce experiments—they believed in the heuristic God. Sans such rational consistency; one scientist would observe ice melting into water and another would observe ice melting into a dyslexic chinchilla.

The main point here is that those great scientists who established the methods and fields of science were intelligently designing a manner by which to explore God’s creation—the physical world, nature, the material realm—they believed that God created the material realm and thus, that therein there functions a system of material causes bringing about material effects. Some atheists seem to think that the more we uncover material causes for material effects the more that God becomes a superfluous concept. This may be a good defeater for certain theologies.

Yet, speaking from a Judeo-Christian perspective: material causes for material effects are only expected. This is a scientific prediction made within the Bible itself as God created the material realm, created time in which it functions and ceased from His creation activities (this was a biblical prediction of the first law of thermodynamics) so that it may function as tuned.

To reiterate: it is not surprising to theists and not deleterious to theism when scientists discover material causes bringing about material effects. Yet, this is too generalized as there certainly are theologies which claim that god(s) do things such as directly and constantly causing natural phenomenon such as a lightning god/dess, rain god/dess, wind god/dess, etc.

Thus, various theologies of these sorts may actually be discredited through scientific methods. However, others may not. For example, Judeo-Christian theology specifically denies that God is busy causing each and every natural phenomenon. It may claim that God is ultimately responsible for the whole of creation and may even act during specific events to cause certain supernatural phenomenon to occur but that God established the natural phenomenon and yet is not part of them; does not have to constantly cause them to occur (for example, the Bible describes the hydrological cycle[2]).

In fact, the Bible presents an interesting anti-pantheistic example:

Then He said [to Elijah], “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the LORD.”
And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD,
but the LORD was not in the wind;
and after the wind an earthquake,
but the LORD was not in the earthquake;
and after the earthquake a fire,
but the LORD was not in the fire;
and after the fire a still small voice (1st Kings 19:11-12).

In any regard, let us clearly note that science is about exploring and understanding the material realm; it considers the one corner of reality to which it has access. Science is specifically restricted from even considering the vast majority of what is claimed to be supernatural. Now, since science is relatively very young it may evolve to the point where it can, for instance, develop the ability to detect the signs of design.

Scott C. Todd, Department of Biology, Kansas State University wrote,

Even if all the data point to an intelligent designer, such an hypothesis is excluded from science because it is not naturalistic.

The reason that this sentiment is fallacious is because it amounts to worldview adherence. If all the data point to an intelligent designer, science would thus change in order to accommodate the new evidence. Excluding evidence because it does not fit the theory is unscientific (Todd’s fuller statement is dissected in Omni-Science).

Atheists who claim to base their particular worldviews on science are tantamount to horses wearing blinders (aka blinkers or winkers). Blinders allow some vision but restrict the ascertaining of the complete view: they allow vision directly ahead of the horse but restrict the side and backwards view.

Science is the atheist’s blinders since through it they do get a reasonably clear view of that which is directly in front of them, but they simply cannot see anything else and thus, they conclude that there is nothing else.

The more we hear atheists claim that they base their atheism on science the more we are being alerted to the fact that what they are really admitting is that they are purposefully restricting that which they consider acceptable to consider. This is the very opposite of freethough; this is restricted well-within-the-box-group-think adherence.

They are purposefully restricting their vision and then concluding that there is nothing more to see.

Brian Cox, prominent scientist with the University of Manchester’s Particle Physics Group notes,

Scientists should be able to draw a line between things we do and don’t know – they should be comfortable in doing that. We can’t rule anything out as being impossible, including the existence of God or a greater being.[3]

With regards to Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorem it follows that science cannot fully comprehend nature in terms of nature—such knowledge cannot be self-referencing.

Generally stated atheists of the science=atheism or atheism=science school would claim that they accept only that which is scientifically verifiable.

The very first question to ask is whether this premise is scientifically verifiable. Moreover, has it been scientifically verified that scientific verification is the only true method by which to discern reality? Is it the only way to know what we ought to accept?

If it has not, and it has not, the premise is faulty and the statement disproves itself and must be discarded.

The next question to ask is if, indeed, absolute materialism been scientifically evidenced.

If it has not, and it has not, then the atheist co-option of science as somehow pointing to atheism is faulty, the statement disproves itself, and must be discarded.

You want to say something like, “Maybe not—but it is the best.” That is fine, but science is the best only at doing what it was intelligently designed to do—within parameters, no further and nothing more.

Again, consider the sentiment of accepting only that which is scientifically verifiable—since the only things that science verifies are material then such a view guarantees, a priori, a materialistic conclusion. Yet, science has no way of determining that there is nothing beyond the material, at least not at this level in its development.

Atheists who take this view are purposefully blinding themselves by accepting one narrow view of reality. They are purposefully taking a view that was specifically designed to make materialistic observations and come to materialistic conclusions about the material. Then they are telling themselves something that science does not tell them and that is that the material is all that there is—something which is not scientifically verifiable.

This is tantamount to putting on eyeglasses with red tint, looking around and concluding that the only color that exists is various shades of red. Someone may challenge such a conclusion by pointing out that there are other colors. They may urge the red bespectacled to take off the glasses and have a look around. Yet, the bespectacled simply states that the red glasses are the best way to look around the world and there is no reason to take them off. Yet, the bottom line is that they are only seeing red because they purposefully put on red glasses and refute to look through any other color.

Atheist of the rosy colored sort are purposefully staring at one little corner of reality, telling themselves that the little corner is all that there is, and refusing to turn around to see the full glory of creation.

Thus, they end up defining science as strictly materialistic; not merely in its methods but in its conclusions—conclusion which they mistakenly take to be absolute (tentative in its details but absolute in its materialism).[4]

[1] Stephen C. Meyer comments on this issue thusly (from Signature in the Cell; DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design, beginning at p. 400):

“scientists in different fields use different methods…historical and structural geology use distinct (if partially overlapping) methods…
Some sciences test their theories by making predictions; some test their theories by assessing their explanatory power; some test their theories by assessing both explanatory power and predictive success.
Some methods of scientific investigation involve direct verification; some employ more indirect methods of testing.
Some test theories in isolation from competing hypotheses.
Some test theories by comparing the predictive or explanatory success of competing hypotheses.
Some branches of science formulate conjectures that cannot yet be tested at all.
Some sciences study only what can be observed.
Some sciences make inferences about entities that cannot be observed.
Some sciences reason deductively; some inductively; some abductively.
Some use all three modes of inference.
Some sciences use the hypothetico-deductive method of testing.
Some use the method of multiple competing hypotheses.”
[2] See Job 36:27-29; Psalm 135:7; Jeremiah 10:13
[3] Douglas Walker And Peter Hutchison, “In the beginning there was God AND the Big Bang (well, maybe, says top scientist),” The Scotsman, 10 April 2007
[4] Consider the observations of Richard Lewontin (Harvard University Professor of zoology and biology) as he observes that scientists have purposefully concocted an apparatus that will produce the results that they desire:

Our willingness to accept scientific claims that are against common sense is the key to an understanding of the real struggle between science and the supernatural…we have a prior commitment, a commitment to materialism. It is not that the methods and institutions of science somehow compel us to accept a material explanation of the phenomenal world, but, on the contrary, that we are forced by our a priori adherence to material causes to create an apparatus of investigation and a set of concepts that produce material explanations, no matter how counter-intuitive, no matter how mystifying to the uninitiated. Moreover, that materialism is absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door.

Richard Lewontin further points out the following with regards to Carl Sagan:

…he believes that “a proclivity for science is embedded deeply within us in all times, places and cultures”…He does not tell us how he used the scientific method to discover the “embedded” human proclivity for science, or the cause of its frustration. Perhaps we ought to add to the menu of Saganic demonology, just after spoon-bending, ten-second seat-of-the-pants explanations of social realities…Sagan believes that scientists reject sprites, fairies, and the influence of Sagittarius because we follow a set of procedures, the Scientific Method, which has consistently produced explanations that put us in contact with reality and in which mystic forces play no part…if the exhortation is to succeed, then the argument for the superiority of science and its method must be convincing, and not merely convincing, but must accord with its own demands. The case for the scientific method should itself be “scientific” and not merely rhetorical. Unfortunately, the argument may not look as good to the unconvinced as it does to the believer.

He references Carl Sagan and his Saganic demonology due to the fact that these comments were made within his review of Sagan’s book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (read the full text here).

This essay is copyrighted by Mariano of the “Atheism is Dead” blog at http://atheismisdead.blogspot.com.

It may be republished in part or in its entirety on websites, blogs, or any print media for whatever purpose—in agreement or in order to criticize it—only as long as the following conditions are met:

1) Give credit to “Mariano of the ‘Atheism is Dead’ blog at http://atheismisdead.blogspot.com”
2) Inform me as to which essay is being reproduced and where it is being reproduced via the comments section at this link

PART 2 CAN BE FOUND HERE

PART 3 HERE

Gone and won’t be missed! Some Internet links:-

BBC -Government to ban Islam4UK under terror laws

Jerusalem Post – UK moves to ban ‘Islam4UK’ group – Britain’s government said Tuesday that it will ban an Islamist group whose proposed protest march through a town known for honoring British soldiers drew national outrage.

Guardian – Islam4UK to be banned, says Alan Johnson – Membership of Islamist group Islam4UK and al-Muhajiroun to become criminal offence punishable by up to 10 years’ jail

Telegraph – Wootton Bassett protest group Islam4UK to be banned – Islam4UK, the Islamist group which provoked outrage with its plan to march through Wootton Bassett will be banned under counter-terrorism laws, Home Secretary Alan Johnson has announced.

Harry’s Place – Whack-a-Mole With Islam4Uk

Times – Home Secretary bans Islam4UK group that threatened Wootton Bassett rally

SKY – The radical islamist group that sparked outrage with its proposed march through the Wiltshire town of Wootton Bassett is to be outlawed. Home Secretary Alan Johnson will use anti-terror powers to proscribe the organisation Al Muhajiroun and its latest offshoot Islam4UK.

Edmund Standing – Islam4UK scum to be banned – but what took so damned long?

Previous Posts:-

U.K.: March through Wootton Bassett by Anjem Choudary’s Islam4UK canceled, group to be banned

Islam4UK an Islamic group said to have links to the Islamic extremist group al-Muhajiroun is planning to march through the Wiltshire town of Wootton Bassett.

A RADICAL Muslim group sparked outrage last night as it launched a massive campaign to impose sharia law on Britain. The fanatical group Islam4UK has ­announced plans to hold a potentially ­incendiary rally in London later this month.

A modest proposal for wootton bassett: islamists love underpants!

Rather than being appalled at the recent horrific machine-gun slayings of Christians in Egypt and the recent church fire-bombings in Malaysia, some Islamic extremists in Algeria are actually being inspired by it!?!

It would appear that some Islamists are determined to ‘cleanse’ Muslim lands of all Christians for the first time in 2000 years.

New York Times

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) — Islamists looted and burned a Protestant church in Algeria, the congregation’s leader said Monday, suggesting they were inspired by a recent spate of religious intolerance in the Arab and Muslim world.

The church — hosted in an apartment block in the city of Tizi Ouzou some 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Algiers, the Algerian capital — was ransacked and set ablaze on Saturday night, several Algerian newspapers said.

The independent El Watan daily published a picture of a smoldering pile of pulpits and desks that had been brought outside for destruction. It quoted the pastor of the local Pentecostal community, Mustapha Krireche, as saying worshippers fled the temple because local police had left a gathering of anti-Christian rioters unchecked.

The congregation was worshipping in the apartment block because it had not received official government approval to operate a church.

Mustapha Krim, the head of the Algerian Protestant Church association, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Monday that looters also set fire to a pile of Bibles and religious textbooks, and desecrated Christian crosses.

He said the looting showed ”Islamist intolerance considers there is no room for Christian religious practices in Algeria,” and alleged it was ”fueled by what just happened in Egypt,” where six people were killed in a church shooting during Christmas celebrations. In mainly Muslim Malaysia, nine churches have been attacked recently — the assailants used firebombs and in one case, paint — amid violence against the country’s Christian minority.

The Protestant Church in Algeria filed five separate complaints for arson and looting with local authorities, Krim said Monday.

”Authorities don’t want to get involved because they’re worried of getting in trouble with the Islamists,” Krim said.

There was no official comment from Algeria’s government on the church looting. A senior police officer in the town of Tizi Ouzou confirmed the police hadn’t intervened, despite the complaints. He said authorities couldn’t intervene because the church hadn’t been authorized as a place of worship.

”What happened is appalling, but the apartment wasn’t an authorized house to practice a religion,” the police officer said, requesting anonymity because Algerian law bars security forces from talking to the media.

The officer said local authorities had ordered the church to shut down in November because the apartment hadn’t received approval to function as a place of worship.

The officer denied police were caving in to Islamist pressure, pointing out that security forces regularly battle Islamist militants in the mountains around Tizi Ouzou, considered the stronghold of the local al-Qaida offshoot.

Krim said the 300 Pentecostal practitioners in the area used the apartment because authorities had refused to provide them with another venue.

An overwhelmingly Muslim nation where Islam is the religion of state, Algeria allows the practice of other faiths in authorized venues. A few Roman Catholic churches are still open, left over from the French colonial era.

But small Protestant groups have been accused of proselytizing, or trying to convert Muslims to Christianity, which is illegal in Algeria. Several Protestants were prosecuted last year for illegally carrying Bibles or converting people to Christianity.

Krim said the Algerian Protestant Association was officially registered in 2003 and is tolerated by authorities, but often turned down by the Ministry of Religious Affairs when it files requests for houses of worship.

Edmund is spot on with this post in my opinion, as our ‘freedoms’ come with responsibilities. The proposed march by Islam4UK through Wooton Bassett was a prime example of abusing this freedom and ignoring the responsibilities that come with it.

Some folks want to destroy our freedoms by abusing them and then have the cheek to cite them in their defense.

Cross-Post Edmund Standing

No free speech for those who would destroy it

Peter Tatchell is dead wrong here, where he writes opposing the conviction under the Public Order Act of five al-Muhajiroun Islamists who insulted British troops in Luton.

These people are traitors and should be treated as such. We are at war with al-Qa’eda, whether you believe it or not, and these are al-Qa’eda’s British wing. Oswald Mosley and his fascist followers were interned during World War 2 as they sympathised with Nazism. Frankly if we had any sense we’d be locking al-Qa’eda sympathisers up as well.