Happy New Year! And, the World Ends on 21 May 2011...

I really do hate to be the one to put a downer on your New Year's celebrations, but it is time to get a does of cold hard reality and understand that you have about six months left to get your life in order. Judgment Day is coming. In fact, it is coming on 21 May 2011. According to Family Radio Worldwide, the Bible guarantees that the End of Days will start on this very date. So, I am guessing that there is no need to be making any plans for 2012, right?

Seriously, though, the end of the world has to happen at some point. That is a scientific fact. As I recall, something about the ever expanding sun that will slowly burn up the earth. Assuming that global warming does not get us first. Or is that what global warming is? Whatever.

Anyways, back to May 2011.

Family Radio Worldwide is a "loose" organisation of believers. The name of the group sort of indicates haw the loose works. It is a hot potch of believers that are mostly kept in contact through radio broadcasts. And, thanks to modern technology, these believers are also keeping in touch with each other through dedicated websites and the like. To be fair, loose might not be quite the right term. They are a well-organised bunch. So much so that there are plans afoot to have groups of believers taking on mission work to spread the end of days message in both Latin America and Africa.

The date is important, 21 May 2011. This is the start of the ""Rapture" or the beginning of judgment of all those on earth. Ultimately, the "good" people will ascend to heaven and the rest of us will remain here on earth. You might be thinking that remaining here on earth is not such a bad gig in comparison to hell. Well, you should then be thinking of hell on earth. The idea is that those of us left behind here on earth will be destined for God-sanctioned torment and torture. This torment and torture will end only with the end of time. Perhaps heaven does not seem like such a bad option after all.

People have been trying to unravel the Bible for an end of days scenario for pretty much as long as the Bible has been around. Fortunately, no one has got it quite right and the world continues on. If I was a betting man, I would be tending to lean towards the probability that this is not going to be the end of days. The world will go on, life will go on. In 2012, I expect that Dyah, Will and I will be in Collarenebri and into the second year of my three-year commitment (it may even be longer).

It seems strange that an all-loving and all-caring God would want to get the Judgment Day happening when there is still so much good that can be achieved. I guess I have never really understood religion or God. It makes no sense to me to just arbitrarily end the world on 21 May 2011 as the Australian footy season would not have finished! Although Arsenal might have just enough time to claim the English Premier League title for the final time.

See you next year?

Religion -- A Warning...

From here.

Yemen and the Qur'an

I have been reading this interesting piece in TheAtlantic.com which dates from 1999 and discusses the discovery of fragments from early versions of the Qur'an and suggests that the Qur'an is no different from other religious texts. Specifically, the claim seems to be that further academic study of these fragments will lead to an ability to place the Qur'an into a historical context...

Interestingly, there appears, at least to the author of the article, similarities between the Qur'an and the Bible. Of particular note is that the Qur'an was not in a written form at the time of the Prophet's death and that there are Suras that were not included (kind of like the "missing" gospels - Dan Brown and the Da Vinci Code anyone?).

Unfortunately, further Internet search has only turned up minimal articles and comments on this of note. I will do more reasearch and perhaps post again.

The idea of frank, open, transparent debate on this subject is intriguing. I just do not see how serious academic debate can be had without it being labelled anti-Islam or some kind of Zionist conspiracy to belittle Islam and the Muslim experience. In this regard it is similar to Jewish claims of anything that questions the Jewish experience as being anti-semitic.

Religion and academic study and debate; are they compatible?

I am, albeit slowly and surely, learning more about those things that interest me. Islam is one of those things...The above photo is of some of the Yemeni Fragments and can be found at this link.

Have a good week!

The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)

Is this a blatant attempt to attract site traffic, not really, I swear! I am reading this book and the title happens to be the same as the title to this post. Therefore, it could just be a plain old book review or it could be something else! You will have to read and see...

I am writing this in part as context to the recent Geert Wilders and Fitna controversy and the now defunct attempt to ban access to certain sites that were making the film available. The quick turnaround on this might bring the most cynical parts of us out that the whole banning thing was nothing more than a charade and lip service to appease some vocal dissent. Or it could have just been early electioneering in an attempt to ward off any future criticism of being a do nothing government!

However, the book does the same thing that Wilders has done; focus on particular passages or Suras of the Qur'an that highlight extremism or violence and place this into the context of history and historical occurrences from the origin of Islam through to the present day. Why is this interesting you might ask; this is interesting because I bought this book at the Kinokuniya Book Store in Plaza Senayan in Jakarta in Indonesia. The obvious question is that if the government is so sensitive to this issue and needs to protect the masses from material that is likely to disrupt social order and harmony on a global scale then how is it that I can buy this book in Indonesia?

The book compares passages from the Qur'an and the Bible as a means of highlighting the violence in Islam and the peace in Christianity. Undoubtedly, many would beg to differ on those characterizations. The book is not designed to be a tool to preach to the converted but rather a tool designed to sway those swing voters who are still out in terms of what they know and understand of religions.

One such comparison is this one:

Jesus (from Matthew 5:44) "Love your enemies and pray for those that persecute you."

is contrasted with,

Muhammad (from Qur'an 8:60) "Against them make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror into the hearts of the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others besides, who ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know."

Then the book uses other Suras to highlight Islam as a misogynist religion that not only devalues women but explicitly notes that women were created to be inferior to men and subservient to them...

"Men have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other" (Qur'an 4:34);

"Your women are a tilth for you to cultivate so go to your tilth as ye will" (Qur'an 2:223);

"Get two witnesses, out of your own men, and if there are not two men, then a man and two women, such as ye choose, for witnesses, so that if one of them errs, the other can remind her" (Qur'an 2:282);

Allah thus directs you as regards your children's inheritance: to the male, a portion equal to that of two females" (Qur'an 4:11); and

"Good women are the obedient, guarding in secret that which Allah hath guarded. As for those from whom ye fear rebellion, admonish than and banish them to beds apart, and scourge them" (Qur'an 4:34).

So, what's the point of this post; it is many-fold:

First, is it possible to have constructive, reasonable, and measured debate where religion is involved and views seem so diametrically opposed?

Second, why in light of the recent controversy surrounding Fitna can books such as this one be found in Indonesian book stores? I am not advocating censorship or a round of book burning, rather to the contrary I am asking where is the consistency here?

Finally, has the drive to political correctness made us more tolerant or has it just served to push the simmering tensions under the carpet as people are forced to be politically correct in public but mutter there less than political correct views in private and among friends.

By the way there is also a "Politically Incorrect Guide to the Bible" but when I asked the Kinokuniya staff member if they had a copy or whether I could order one she thought I was trying to be funny...oh well! The pictures above are as big as I could make them...