Migrants to the West #10 Religious freedom

In Migrants to the West #1 I mentioned that several white Christians do feel intimidated by the growing Muslim community. The industrialised countries are facing a world which is loosing ethics, moral and Judeo Christian values. Fundamentalist Muslims make use of this far-reaching degrading community. They find an apology to take draconic measures to make people more concious about the way they have to live according to the Creator of heaven and earth. The conceited and contaminated mind of human-hood should according to those fundamentalists of Islam and of Christianity be cleaned up.

The tousled mind should be put straight again, do think Muslim and certain Christian believers. Our society needs a remodelling to get it out of the disfigured condition where many people have left their own maternal religion, and forgot about the Only One God, Allah, Elohim, Hashem whose name is Jehovah, the Most High and only One God of gods.

Some right wing adherents say that some of the Americans happen to believe that when the founders of the United States of America talked about guarding their virtue and freedom, that that was important.

Whether it’s John Adams saying our Constitution was made only for moral and religious people … Ben Franklin, only a virtuous people are capable of freedom, as nations become corrupt and vicious they have more need of masters … We have been at war with the very pillars, the very foundation of this country.

In the Christian world we see a group growing who think they are the superior race to whom God has given supremacy.  They are obsessed about dominance, hatred and the triviality of the lives of any who aren’t directly supporting or promoting their goals. It is a form of Christianity that packages up all of the traits of their alleged adversary, “The Devil“, and coats them with a sweet veneer of victimhood, self-righteousness and superiority that makes it easy for them to swallow all that nastiness and keep it inside of them in the name of “faith”.

“Christian values” are transfigured by those who want to be ‘Dominionist Christians‘ . But when we look at those Christians we can more recognise some of the described ‘Seven Deadly Sins‘. In The Book of Proverbs, King Solomon describes the Seven Deadly Sins as:

1. A proud look.
2. A lying tongue.
3. Hands that shed innocent blood.
4. A heart that devises wicked plots.
5. Feet that are swift to run into mischief.
6. A deceitful witness that uttereth lies.
7. Him that soweth discord among brethren.

AdLib realizes we must regain community.

We should be able to come together as one people, one society and offer our hearts to our neighbors and their families who have been so terribly harmed. Faith should be a path towards being a better person and bringing about a more compassionate and just society. Those who use “their” God and religion to inspire division and hatred, in their single-minded pursuit of power are undeserving of being validated as people who have any connection to spirituality. These are all traits of greed and there is nothing divine about that destructive trait. {The Right Wing’s Psychotic Version of God}

Religious freedom should be a diplomatic priority in democratic countries, where the government should take care that everybody respects the different religions and opinions. this should be done by having the youngsters learn about other religions and getting to know the other cultures better. People should be aware that Religious freedom is essential for a stable, peaceful, and thriving society. It goes hand in hand with freedom of expression, freedom of speech and assembly, and when religious freedom is restricted, all these rights are at risk.

The European nations undergoing major demographic shifts have seen ‘growing xenophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim sentiment, and intolerance toward people considered ‘the other’. Jewish cemeteries and synagogues have been regularly desecrated and Hungary saw the rise of an anti-Semitic political party. Bahrain, Russia, Iraq, and Nigeria targeted minorities as “violent extremists”.

In Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Burma, where regimes had fallen or moved to less restrictive practices, people were taking the first steps in newfound freedoms. The transition path, however, is fraught with its own dangers, particularly for minorities.

Violence against Coptic Christians have increased in Egypt, for example, as had incidents against the Muslim Rohingya ethnic minority in Burma, who remain severely ostracised.

In the Eastern countries we also notice an expanded use and abuse of blasphemy laws to further restrict religious liberty and expression. In Saudi Arabia, blasphemy against the Wahabi interpretation of Sunni Islam is punishable by death; while in Indonesia, the penalty is imprisonment. In Pakistan, anyone blaspheming or criticizing blaspheming laws is vulnerable to assassination by extremists.

From those countries where people do feel more the restrictions on their believes, those capable to leave their home-country try to find a better place to live where they could freely continue their own worshipping like they want to worship. The Western countries do seem to offer them that opportunity, and most of those immigrants are willing to settle down in the new country quietly. They do not want to run in the focus or to get attention. But because of some extremist minority their religions often are looked at with a wrong magnifying glass, presenting the thoughts of a minor group as the standard ideology of that religion.

It are the media who should take care that everything is nuanced and placed in the right balance, while the government should seriously tackle the shift of fear for other religions and cultures, which is working as a virus and contaminating the political field as well.

The Christian countries should be the most open countries when they would follow the teachings of their master Jesus Christ. The Nazarene Jew Jeshua, better known today as Jesus, was a preacher of understanding, humbleness,  tolerance and peace. Never did that rabbi looked down on others. Jesus was not afraid of coming in surroundings where others did not want to be seen. He surrounded himself with sinners, believers in all sorts of things and atheists. He not only told stories or parables to show how people should behave. He showed them the way how to follow Jesus his heavenly Father’s Words and how to bring them in practice. Christians should show the world the Peace of Christ. In everything Jesus did he showed a divine character. He showed the love of his Father. He showed others how his Father was prepared to take them all up in His Kingdom when they where willing to follow the words of Christ and changing their character as well. We too have to work at our character and blend it in with the Law of Christ and with the Law of God and show to others that we are part of the body of Christ, willing to become like Christ.

The Christian world should be framed by the Word of God. It should be formed by people who are trying to live according to the Laws of the Most High Creator of heaven and earth. Belief in the superiority of one’s own ethnic group or ethnocentrism is contradictory to the way a Christian should feel. He should be aware that we are all created in the image of God. He should know that we are just tenants on this earth with each our own limitations. He should know his limitation but also that of others.

The desecularization should not frighten the one who stands strong in his shoes and who is sure of his believes. those who want to change of their believe probably would have a good reason for that, and the other members of their community should respect his or her choice. Christians who are afraid that they are loosing followers should wonder why they are loosing members in their community. They may not blame the other faithgroups for their losses. It is also easy to blame others for the problems that go on around of us. When we do see more strangers around us many of get frightened they become in the minority and would be pushed further in the corner, loosing their rights.

The increase in bullying and family troubles are not caused by the foreigners entering the country. It are problems also by the natives. And the crisis coming after crisis is not brought on by the immigrants, but by the internal regulations and bad governance. The religions disputing with each other and even getting up against each other, burning churches, bombing mosques, beheading and dismembering others is something caused by the people themselves, but is also something predicted to happen when the time of the end would come closer. As such, Christians should not be afraid to face those changes which were prophesied in the Holy Scriptures. The signs predicted in the Bible about the times coming to an end should assure Christians that the Return of Jesus would be coming near.

In the Law of God, God demands people to make the choice and He does not force them. Though there are many people who want to force their ideas of Christianity, what to believe, what to chose  and how to behave  on others. It are them who do not allow freedom of mind, though they often call onto the constitution to say that provides for Freedom.

If we want to have freedom we do have to give others also the freedom and show respect for each others thinking. those who call themselves Christian should not be limited on what their love should extend to. They should love everyone, even their enemies and those who may have hurt them.

Self control part of the self to be regulated by the self

We should also react against the stereotyping of people. Namely the negative stereotyping wields a lingering impact on those who experience it. People are more likely to be aggressive after they’ve faced prejudice in a given situation. They are more likely to exhibit a lack of self-control. They have trouble making good, rational decisions. Therefore we should avoid such negative influences in our society.

Lisa Legault, a study researcher from the University of Toronto Scarborough says:

“Controlling prejudice reduction practices are tempting because they are quick and easy to implement. They tell people how they should think and behave and stress the negative consequences of failing to think and behave in desirable ways. But people need to feel that they are freely choosing to be non-prejudiced, rather than having it forced upon them.”

One of the greatest gifts we can have is self-control

A study published in the journal Psychological Science showed that participants exposed to the controlling messages showed more prejudice afterwards than those who received the explanative messages or none at all. [I Feel Your Pain Unless You Are From A Different Race]

Humans tend to empathize by default unless prejudice is at play, so no matter of which religion somebody may be, if not ‘brainwashed’ or mis-configured by certain teachings. In studies the lack of empathy that volunteers showed for people of other races was learned and not innate.

Social neuroscientist Joan Chiao at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. says:

“In case of war or even a friendly competition like a football game, it could be adaptive to feel less empathy for people we consider our opponents.”

Therefore the community should try to get to see that everybody living in the community, no matter which colour or religion, can contribute evenly and should not be considered as an opponent but as a co-worker in a co-operative system.

Joan Chiao says also that “one can reduce empathy, but one can also promote it, learning positive associations with another group.”

We should teach our children to become more universal and to see the global picture of people living together on this globe in unison with nature and in accord with each other.

Share as much of yourself with others, breathing the goodness of this earth.

Unite with other Bloggers for Peace

+

Preceding articles:

1. Migrants to the West #1
2. Migrants to the West #2
3. Migrants to the West #3
4. Migrants to the West #4
5. Migrants to the West #5
6. Migrants to the West #6
7. Migrants to the West #7
8. Migrants to the West #8
9. Migrants to the West #9

++

Kozo asks you to meet with other Bloggers For Peace

Additional literature to read:

1. Muslims should also Fear God
2. An Ex-Muslim’s Open Letter
3. A god between many gods
4. God of gods
5. Only One God
6. Fear of God reason to return to Holy Scriptures
7. Follower of Jesus part of a cult or a Christian
8. Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #3 as a Christian
9. Liberal and evangelical Christians
10. Conservative and Communist Climate Change Scam
11. Re-Creating Community
12. Separation of church and state
13. Right to be in the surroundings
14. Faith related boycotts
15. Leaving the Old World to find better pastures
16. Men of faith
17. Creator of heaven and earth and everything around יהוה
18. Creator and Blogger God 2 Image and likeness
19. Glory of God appearing in our character
20. Being thankful for the Peace of Christ
21. The World framed by the Word of God
22. A world in denial
23. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
24. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #5 To meditate and Transform
25. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #6 Words to feed and communicate
26. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #4 Transitoriness #1 Prosperity
27. Signs of the Last Days
28. Bad things no punishment from God

++

1. Race: The First Principle
   Race is superior to any other foundational principle, including religion, ideology, or economics as the basis of a society. A sophisticated understanding of race is in and of itself sufficient to ensure the survival and perpetuation of a society. In the end, this is the only test that really matters.
   +
   Race is the key building block of any real community and the farthest meaningful grouping to which we can give our loyalty. We know that genetic similarity and kinship patterns affect our behavior every day, even in ways we don’t expect. We know that children are race conscious as early as nine months. We know that people are mentally healthier in ethnically homogenous societies. We know diversity destroys social trust, eventually, even within members of the same ethnic group. The ancients knew this, and modern science confirms it.
2. Multiculturalism
3. What is multiculturalism?
4. Multiculturalism what a great thing
5. Circumstances of Multiculturalism
   Western European democracies underwent a process of nation-building. Minorities were also included in this process and were gradually integrated into mainstream society. Of course, these transformations were not easy for the minorities and special policies were implemented to ease and mitigate the process of integration. Reaffirmation of particular identities has often challenged democratic mechanisms of social integration, calling for resolution on both the national and international level. Policies have been discussed under the scope of multiсulturаlism, human rights, and more recently, cultural diplomacy as well.
6. The Myth of the “Multicultural” Society
7. Is Immigration bad?
   immigration is just simply not worth it, especially not when considering the detrimental consequences of its long-term use.
8. Mosaic or Melting Pot?
9. The Virtue of Nations
10. Do One Thing for Diversity
11. A nation needs to foster unity not just diversity
12. The Conditionality of Citizenship
13. Why we should stop calling people “aliens”
14. Transitional Life: Migration
15. Immigration is not the enemy of love… but the challenge
16. The New America
17. Immigrants in the U.S. Military: Sacrificing All for a Country that May Not Yet Be Theirs
18. The EU: Making the going good for getting Out
19. Does multiculturalism have a future in Britain?
20. Is Korea’s multiculturalism working? (An article for Korea Times)
21. Call for Papers: Multiculturalism and ‘Asia’
22. Multicultural Melbourne
23. Immigrants Often Better Educated than Germans
24. Spain still wrestles with immigration
25. France’s Growing Islamist Problem
26. Switzerland: Multicultural Paradise?
27. Multiculturalism in Glen Eira at an all time high
28. Islamic Supremacy Or Drugs: As Hillary Would Put It: What’s The Difference?
29. Islamophobia is Normal; or at least it ought to be!
30. Islamophobia Contra Racism.
31. How Islam and the west can exist side by side
    Is it racist to say multiculturalism has failed? The answer is simply no.
    +
    There are of course the majority of Muslims in European countries who are moderate, who are not extreme or radical like the animals we are forced to hear about week in week out. I have many moderate Muslim friends who were just as disgusted as I was when hearing about the brutal act of Barbary that was committed in London yesterday (22nd March 2013), however it would be argued by these extremists that moderate Muslims betray the faith
32. Racism, Immigration and Profit
33. Let’s Move On To Immigration
34. An Answer To Immigration
35. Religious freedom: US not fit to preach
36. World Backsliding on Religious Freedom US State Department delivers annual International Religious Freedom Report
37. The Indigenous People of Canada
38. Early Canadian Immigration
39. Immigration to Canada
40. Immigration to Canada Guidelines
41. European Immigration to Canada
42. The history of Chinese-Australians
43. Chinese Immigration to Canada
44. Peices of Canada
45. Change is in the air
46. Multiculturalism in Canada
47. Other Immigration Incidents
48. The Real Inconvenient Truth: Sharia Law Will Be A Problem For The Maldives Not Global Warming
49. What do we Live for?
50. Hypocrisy
51. Negative Stereotypes Stick With You
52. I Feel Your Pain, Unless You’re From a Different Race
53. (Video) Noni Darwish talks about living in a Muslim society, and the fear, racism, aggression and hate it entails
54. Islam’s War of Annihilation Against Hindus
55. A river of blood
56. “Moderate” Muslims Rewriting The History Of Islam
57. Muslim Brotherhood’s Plan for America
58. Fake Moderate Muslims: I Respect All Religions; Shut Up Freedom I Hope Your Family Members Die!
59. In Defence of the ‘Backlash’.
60. Swedish Multiculturalism Goes Awry
61. Sweden’s multicultural rave continues into 5th night.
62. They’ll Take Sweden
63. Trouble in the Workers’ Paradise
64. The Religion Of Peace’s Latest Attacks In Europe
65. Leftist Diversity and Cultural Enrichment in Europe
66. British Elderly People On Multiculturalism
67. Europe vs. the West.
68. YouGov and Islamophobia
69. “How have you worked with diversity?”
70. How to Improve Your Self-Control
    One of humanity’s most useful skills, without which advanced civilisations would not exist, is being able to engage our higher cognitive functions, our self-control, to resist these temptations. Psychologists have found that self-control is strongly associated with what we label success: higher self-esteem, better interpersonal skills, better emotional responses and, perhaps surprisingly, few drawbacks at even very high levels of self-control (Tangney et al., 2004).
    +
    Self-control is not just affected by how we are thinking at a specific moment, that would be too easy. We have each developed different amounts of self-control. Some people seem to find it easy to resist temptation while others can be relied on to always yield to self-gratification. To a certain extent we have to accept our starting point on the self-control sliding scale and do the best we can with it.
    +
71. Self-Control Instantly Replenished by Self-Affirmation
72. The Merest Thought of Money Replenishes Self-Control
73. Top 10 Self-Control Strategies
74. How to Increase Your Self-Control Without Really Trying
75. How TV Can Boost Your Self-Control
76. One of the greatest gifts we can have is self-control
    Sometimes when life spins out of control, we don’t know how to bring it back, which causes more spinning out of control, and more frantic behaviors.  Sometimes an out of control thought or action creates a situation in which other things spin out of control and it causes a rippling effect.  Talk about a downward spiral!
77. The causes of prejudice
    The fact that prejudice is so widespread has led to a popular belief that it is inevitable and universal. Even among social scientists the view has occasionally been expressed that human nature involves a “dislike of the unlike,” although what is “unlike” has never been adequately defined; or it has been suggested that “in-group” feelings are invariably accompanied by dislike of the “out-group,” but this, too, has never been demonstrated.
    +
    One form of learning turns out to be less important in causing prejudice or hostile attitudes than is usually believed, namely, that resulting from actual contact with other ethnic groups. It may of course happen that an extremely dramatic or traumatic experience—such as being attacked on a lonely street or being saved from drowning by a member of a particular ethnic group —may result in a generalization regarding the characteristics of the group concerned; it may also happen that repeated experiences of a similar nature may create, and even appear to justify, such a generalized attitude. Research has shown, however, that such experiences are not necessary for prejudices to develop.
    In one study, students showed a high degree of “social distance” from Turks, even though most of them had never seen a Turk. Other students rejected imaginary groups, such as the Wallonians, Danireans, and Pirenians, even though no one could have had any unpleasant experiences with any representatives of these nonexistent populations (Hartley 1946). Contact and experience may cause prejudice to develop, but they probably play no important role in many cases.
    +
    Religious factors. In the case of one variety of prejudice which in recent times has been exhibited in the most virulent and extreme form, namely anti-Semitism, it seems clear that in its origins religious considerations have played a dominant role. (Negro slavery, too, has been justified by an appeal to the Bible.) The story of the New Testament as told to succeeding generations of children has left an imprint of ancient Jewish wickedness which has frequently been extended to the Jewish group as a whole (Glock & Stark 1966). This is true to some extent even in religious teaching today, although many attempts are being made to present a less biased and more objective picture (Olson 1963). [SeeAnti-Semitism.]
    Religious identification may be relatively less significant to most people now than it was in the Middle Ages, but the climate of opinion created by past teaching is removed with difficulty even when circumstances have changed. Here, as elsewhere, the strength of “social lag”—the continuance of institutions and traditions even when they are no longer appropriate—is not to be discounted.

+++

 

Related articles

• The Bipartisan Folly of Our Islam Delusion (lacykitkat.wordpress.com)
  many of my Muslim friends long for Western-style democracy and freedom. But they are always thwarted (and always will be) by the majority view. That is why even those friends of mine would admit that democracy is incompatible with Islamic ideology.Knowledgeable people will agree that democracy and freedom is a delicate rose that was planted in the soil of the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation turned the people of the dark ages back to the Bible, with its deeply-rooted respect for the individual.
• Religious Freedom & Tolerance of Radical Islam (kelle75.wordpress.com)
  For those who recall Jonestown you will recall how Jim Jones manipulated hundreds of people into a cult surrounding himself and persuaded those followers that the government was evil and out to get him. He had trained security who would seek out members who quit the group hunt them down and kill them. The basis of his message was that he had a direct link to god and that everyone must do whatever he says or they will be punished by god. This is one example of radicalism in religion and a cult.
  +
  There are a large number of people whose faith is in Islam this does not make them Jihadist or terrorist. However; the limited condemnation of these radical elements of Islam displays some level of tolerance for the Jihadist.Radicalized Islam is a cult, and we are supporting and ignoring Islamic radical Imam’s who give sermons regarding how to beat your wife, hatred of America, the defeat and destruction of the west by conversion or elimination of infidels. An infidel is anyone who does not support the faith, or refusing to convert to Islam.
• Religions are like farts. (extraordinoory.wordpress.com)
  Religion is an organized collection of beliefs, cultural systems, and world views that relate humanity to the supernatural, to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values.
  +
  So, religions are there to impose rules and moral values.. a sense of right and wrong.. a way to deal with others on a daily basis within what each religion specifies is right.
  So, religions are there to impose rules and moral values.. a sense of right and wrong.. a way to deal with others on a daily basis within what each religion specifies is right.
• Religious Freedom? (vineoflife.net)
  A staggering 100,000 Christians are killed annually because of their faith, according to the Vatican — and several human rights groups claim such anti-Christian violence is on the rise in countries like Pakistan, Nigeria and Egypt.

  “Credible research has reached the shocking conclusion that an estimate of more than 100,000 Christians are violently killed because of some relation to their faith every year,” Vatican spokesman Monsieur Silvano Maria Tomassi said Tuesday in a radio address to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

  “Other Christians and other believers are subjected to forced displacement, to the destruction of their places of worship, to rape and to the abduction of their leaders, as it recently happened in the case of Bishops Yohanna Ibrahim and Boulos Yaziji, in Aleppo [Syria],” Tomassi said.

  While several human rights groups could not comment specifically on the Vatican’s number, organizations, like Persecution.Org, said the persecutions of Christians have been on the rise in places like Africa and the Middle East over the last decade.

• The Sunday Bulletin (nebraskaenergyobserver.wordpress.com)
  We can talk about the grievance industry, CAIR, etc., trying to hype up the threat of Islamophobia. Islamophobia is very minor. You want to talk about religious bias? You convert to Christianity in Saudi Arabia, you’re murdered. You convert from Islam in so many Muslim countries, it’s the death penalty. Why are Muslim societies so afraid of missionaries? Why are Muslim societies so afraid of freedom of speech? Why are Muslim societies so afraid of the Gospel? Why are Muslim societies so afraid of the message of Jesus Christ? If you believe Islam is the truth, why don’t you believe Islam can compete in the marketplace of ideas? Obviously you don’t, or you wouldn’t kill people that convert to Christianity and put missionaries in jail.
  +
  Wherever two or three Christians are gathered, Christ is there. (Mt 18:20) But wherever eight or nine Christians are gathered, then you’re going to start needing formulas, and rites, and agreements, and a supper roster. Now, expand that out to over a billion (just in the visible Catholic Church alone), and you are going to have something that looks suspiciously like a religion.
• Arab Spring Has “Legal” Persecution (vineoflife.net)
  Criminalizing blasphemy was enshrined in the country’s Islamist-backed constitution that was adopted in December. Writers, activists and even a famous television comedian have been accused of blasphemy since then. But Christians seem to be the favorite target of Islamist prosecutors.
• Epiphany: Having a child led me to a religious awakening. | Babble (babble.com)
  It took a forced conversion to Islam on the day of my wedding to my Muslim husband to make me realize how much I missed Christianity, my childhood faith. Islam is a great religion, but it didn’t feel right to be mandated to change my religion in order to get married. A West African immigrant, my mother was a Protestant for a number of years and then a Quaker. There were certainly some months where she did not go to church every Sunday, but my mother always spoke with me about the spiritual aspects of nature, social issues, equality and inequality, doing the right thing.
  +
  In the years to come, I’m hoping my son and I will have some good conversations about religion and culture and society and politics. I expect there may be some frustrating conversations as well. For now, we’re hardly at the point of discussing the Sunni-Shia divide in the Muslim world or analyzing the Black Liberation Theology Movement in the 1960s and 1970s. Recently, though, my son asked me, “Who is that man?” and he pointed at an image of the disciples surrounding Jesus. It was all beautifully etched onto the stained glass windows of our church.

  “Who do you think he is?” I asked my son. And he just smiled back at me, a beautiful smile, as if he suddenly knew the answer.

• Muslims Slaughter 100,000 Christians Per Year Over Faith (patdollard.com)
• MURDERED OVER FAITH:100,000 Christians Killed Each Year, Vatican Says (foxnews.com)