With recent headlines of protests and animosity surrounding a "Community Center" aka mosque, being built at Ground Zero and a Preacher (Terry Jones) organizing a burning of the Quran, it is clear that we are witnessing a resurrection of religious tensions more publicly.
Blair discusses his concern for his atheist father's fate, telling a teacher: "I'm afraid my father doesn't believe in God." Amazingly the child received a healthy response: "That doesn't matter. God believes in him. He loves him without demanding or needing love in return."
Blair continues:
"...faith matters because it inspires people to act and raise their sights beyond themselves. Sadly, religion can be distorted into violent extremism. Having spiritual beliefs has never rendered a person incapable of doing wrong or evil. But far more often, faith can be a force for good."
As the fervor surrounding the Quran burning stirred throughout the week, I discussed it with several individuals and my Pastor send me the response from the Assembly of God (my denomination) Superintendent, George O Wood:
Assemblies of God denounces burning of Qur'an
In what has become a national furor, a small non-denominational church, Dove World Outreach Center, in Gainesville, Florida, has announced plans to burn copies of the Qur'an on Saturday, September 11 ‹ the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.
As the church has reportedly made claims of Pentecostalism, the Assemblies of God, the overall ninth largest denomination in the United States and one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the United States, has made it clear it has no ties with the church and has publicly objected to the burning.
"I don't believe that [burning the Qur'an] is respectful toward the
very people we want to love into the Kingdom," states AG General Superintendent George O. Wood. "It only drives Muslims farther away from the Lord Jesus and reinforces the false notion that followers of Jesus are crusaders from the Middle Ages."
Just as Blair calls for find "common values to bring us together", we need to strive to bridge gaps not divide people further.
Wood continued:
"Such actions as these only make it more difficult to effectively
witness to Muslims. Our focus should be on sharing the
amazing love of God that brought Jesus into this world to die for
our sins, not engaging in activities that only drive people farther away from Christ."
Amen.
Read more at "State of the Nation" on DeskofBrian.com:
http://deskofbrian.com/2010/09/why-faith-matters-burning-quran-ground-zero-mosque-tony-blair-how-to-make-sense-of-it-all/
Showing posts with label tony blair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tony blair. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
Sean Penn: Journalists who call Hugo Chávez a dictator should be jailed
Originally posted at Desk of Brian.com http://sites.google.com/site/thedeskofbrian/state-of-the-nation/seanpennjournalistswhocallhugochavezadictatorshouldbejailed
Sean Penn on the media depiction of Hugo Chavez:
Sean Penn on the media depiction of Hugo Chavez:
"Every day, this elected leader is called a dictator here, and we just accept it, and accept it. And this is mainstream media. There should be a bar by which one goes to prison for these kinds of lies." - Penn on Bill Maher's HBO show March 10, 2010
- The Organization of American States recently accused Chávez of intolerance and authoritarianism in a 300 page report.
- Spanish judge accused Venezuela of cosseting Farc and Eta terrorists
- "Dictator for Life" article (Penn says Chavez should be applauded for the free and open elections)
Jail them all for their lies. The reports are widespread so Washington Post, Telegraph and CNN reporters - you should be leery of spreading these biases...er...lies.
Well, BIASES is you read the reporting in South Carolina: WisTV
He (Penn) says that "there should be a bar for which one goes to prison for these kinds of biases."
Penn is already being misquoted. "LIES" have become "BIASES" - how dare they? Put them in prison, there must be a penalty!!!
"The devil came here yesterday and it smells of sulfur still today." - Hugo Chavez on President Bush at a UN General Assembly September 20, 2006
Chavez continued:
"As the spokesman of imperialism, he came to share his nostrums to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world. An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario. I would even propose a title: 'The Devil's Recipe.' "
Chavez held up a book by Noam Chomsky on imperialism and said it encapsulated his arguments: "The American empire is doing all it can to consolidate its hegemonistic system of domination, and we cannot allow him to do that. We cannot allow world dictatorship to be consolidated."
Can we jail Chavez for discussing our President in this manner? He made these comments on our soil at a UN meeting.
"George W. Bush is a dictator in all but name, surrounded by a coterie
of men and women as single-minded and devoted to their leader as the
Goerings and Himmlers of the Third Reich." - envio.org March 2003 (source here)
"He's the only one of those leaders who goes in there with a commanding
popularity among his own people, because he is perceived to be an
effective dictator. What we have in this country is a dictator who's
ineffective." - Newsweek's Eleanor Clift on the McLaughlin Group, July 2006
"Tony Blair is a dictator." - Dai Davies June 2006 reported by the Guardian (Read here)
of men and women as single-minded and devoted to their leader as the
Goerings and Himmlers of the Third Reich." - envio.org March 2003 (source here)
"He's the only one of those leaders who goes in there with a commanding
popularity among his own people, because he is perceived to be an
effective dictator. What we have in this country is a dictator who's
ineffective." - Newsweek's Eleanor Clift on the McLaughlin Group, July 2006
"Tony Blair is a dictator." - Dai Davies June 2006 reported by the Guardian (Read here)
So I guess it's not a manner of what you say, but what you believe. Penn's sentiments for Chavez has led him to believe we should limit free speech as long as it fits his perceived truth.
Chavez good...Bush and other conservatives bad.
I love the Hollywood left in America.
Organization of American States story:
Spanish judge on Chavez: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/01/hugo-chavez-venezuela-spain-eta
Dictator for Life:
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