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POPSBarack is a survivalist
A few months ago, when the Rev. Jeremiah Wright first came to national attention, Obama was nearly demure when he said: “I can no more disown (Wright) than I can disown my white grandmother.” He may not have disowned his white grandmother, but Obama didn’t exactly paint a sympathetic — or loving — portrait of her either. He essentially threw her under the bus, saying that she had made racist remarks while he was growing up, a statement that served only to highlight Obama’s own remarkable transcendence. After several weeks of balancing his professed love for Wright with the controversial statements of his chosen father figure and spiritual mentor, Obama eventually left his church of 20 years. But why then, after all those years, did Obama finally find the door? What changed was the degree of his self-interest. As long as Wright was helping Obama burnish his bona fides within the African-American community, it didn’t matter that the minister’s rhetorical flights of fancy border
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POPS"Clash of civilizations" - a misnomer Christians perpetrated the crusades, the inquisition, the slave trade and imperial adventures too numerous to mention. It may be comforting to pat ourselves on the back and consign those behaviors to past centuries. We are living in the 21st century after all. Who would use the name of the Christian God to justify mass killing? A majority of modern day American Christians, that's who. Perhaps the argument used against Muslims should be applied to Christians instead. Their religion has been hijacked by fundamentalist fanatics while the non-fanatics remain silent. The term clash of civilizations is definitely a misnomer. There can be no clash unless both sides are in fact civilized. Any assertion of American civilization is clearly open to question. (L.c.)
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POPSHitchens Responds One thousand letters is not enough to convey his response. Link to the article for the full flavor.
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POPSThomas Jefferson on Islam
There's this ludicrous idea floating around the right-wing blogosphere lately claiming that Thomas Jefferson owned a Quran because he had to fight "Islamists" and wanted to learn about their religion. As evidence, a statement from the Algerian ambassador during the Tripolitan War is quoted (though so far, I haven't seen a source listed). WorldNetDaily and others conclude that Jefferson understood how violent and dangerous Islam was, and they even call the Muslim rulers of the day "Islamists" (as if such a thing existed under the Ottomans). In fact, Jefferson was skeptical of Islam just as he was skeptical of Christianity, but he had no special animus towards the religion. Jon Rowe quotes a 1809 letter where Jefferson gives his position on religion in general, mentioning Islam. It'll make more sense if you read the original source. Ironically, WND discusses slavery as if it were a Muslim invention, never mentioning that it took another 50 years to eliminate it in the U.S.
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POPSBlasphemy Challenge At first this challenge appeared a bit childish, however, gaining public recognition and pointing out flaws and demerits in the Christian church (as the church constantly attempts to do) can only be a good thing.
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