Pat Robertson warns that voters in Penn. who voted against intelligent design being taught in the schools may face God's wrath. He claims that God may send a natural disaster to the area. This man is clearly psychotic. He's in it for the money, but he's nutso too. OY VEY!

Uh-oh. Religous fundementalist, threatening American cities, obvious danger to national securtiy.

Whoop, guess we have to bomb Pat Robertson.

Somehow I don't think the concept of a loving, caring God fits here.

And Bill O'Reilly invited Al Qaeda to bomb San Francisco this week as well because they voted to limit military recruitment. Nice!

What bothers me is when people protest the war the people like Robertson and O'Reilly and others call it un-patriotic and un-American. But encouraging God's wrath or an Al Qaeda bombing on an American town isn't un-patriotic or un-American?

Wish death and destruction on anyone is un-human in my opinion.

Great idea!!!

Wait a minute, I thought "ID" was about science, filling the gaps in evolutionary theory. You mean it's about getting God into the public schools? eek! Tell me it ain't so, Pat!

[ November 12, 2005, 09:33 PM: Message edited by: fenwayguy ]

What's that I hear? Oh yes, it's the religious right shooting themselves in the foot.

I think California should secede. We've got the 6th largest economy in the world. We can make in on our own.

Of course we'll have to elect someone other than Arnold to be our president. Or, maybe we can become a province of Canada, eh?

This guy pretends to know what God is going to do? Check your Bible, Mr. Robertson. You are violating the law of God.

My younger sister lives in York County, and she said there were good articles in the paper interviewing the local clergy, and they pretty much trashed him...

Pat Robertson is a fascist in my view. He would turn this land into a radical fundamentalist state. My Christian friends are against this kind of fascist mindset.

but someone is all in favor of it! there are plenty of people who continue to send the man their money.

If God sends natural disasters to discipline sinners, as Robertson suggests, then I want to know what those people in Indiana, Kentucy, and Iowa have been up to!

Kentucky

Indiana

Iowa? Maybe it was a warning, that's why it only clipped Ames. Then again, maybe God was just being ironic.

LOL, but isn't God a little slow on the smackdown? Kentucky: a year ago; Indiana: january 2005

Ahhh, but you forget God is a forgiving God. They were given the chance to overturn the law, they didn't, so they got the smackdown.

Not to downgrade the tragedy, but look at Mississippi and Katrina. They passed a gay marriage ban 91-9. Just saying....

so what was Pakistan doing?

Um....

Pissed off Ghandi's ghost?

Pakistan is Muslim. That's enough for Pat Robertson's god to hate them.

Hmmmm... a natural disaster... Maybe God will have Bush and Cheney retire to Pennsylvania. Mercy that would be horrible.

OR

Hershey Pennsylvania might spring a leak and everyone within a 50 mile radius will be swept away by a giant wave of chocolate. mmmmmmm......

OR

God may make the Steelers change their uniform colors to bright fuchsia and neon orange.

Pakistan is a country. Muslim is a religion. They don't always mean the same thing. My Catholic Pakistani boyfriend always gets pissed off when hears this. That and when people just start asking him questions about Islam, simply because he is from Pakistan.

For a person who rages against sexist statements you don't seem to mind xenophobic ones.

Perhaps we can send Robertson to an Institution for the Hopelessly Wrong.

I'm sorry if my comment sounded xenophobic. Please allow me to rephrase: the majority of Pakistanis are Muslim. And I believe, correct me if I'm wrong, Islam is the official religion of Pakistan, is that not so?
(BTW I am opposed to any official religion, no matter what it is.)

Is short Islam is the official religion of Pakistan, after all it was founded as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Then again the official language of Pakistan is English but most speak Urdu. There constitution declares Islam as the official religion but allows for other religion to practice. Pakistan has been politically troubled in its 50+ years of existence. Some of it has to do with how it was founded, others had to do with it attempting to be a relatively progressive Republic. After all you don't see any other countries with an official religion of Islam to have had a femal Prime Minister.

Christians make up 2.5% of the country. The lived relatively peacefully within Pakistan, till guess what? When Bush allied himself with Pakistan, Christians began to find themselves persecuted. (It actually started a little early in the 90s with the implementation of a form of shari's law (even though they are not supposed to be applied to non-Muslims).

So religious rights are slowly being degraded, but you also find vast differences depending on what region you are in.

My boyfriend grew up in a fairly liberal area, (for Pakistan, not the U.S.). He and his family had relatively frew problems. Actually he said he has had more problems here be discriminated against for what people perceive his religion to be, than for the religion he is in his native country. Kind of sad that it was easier for him to be Catholic in Pakistan, then assumed to be Muslim in the U.S.

Guess what, that is happening in Iraq as well. I saw a report on, I think, Basra? not sure if I have the right city, but talked about how it was very cosmopolitan. As repressive as the Saddam Hussein regime was, it was secular and pretty much just ignored the Christian community. Now it is much more repressive, Christians are being persecuted and many churches now hold their services on Friday, the Muslim sabbath, instead of Sunday. Funny, we don't hear the Christians who think they are persecuted if a store clerk says "happy holidays" talk much about their brethren and sisters in "liberated, democratic" Iraq.

[quote]Ms. de Blazer:
[QUOTE] Now it is much more repressive, Christians are being persecuted and many churches now hold their services on Friday, the Muslim sabbath, instead of Sunday. [/quote]Ummm...throughout much of the Middle East (and clarifying that Pakistan is not in the Middle East), particularly the Arabian Gulf, it's pretty much custom for Christian religous observances to be held on Friday. A small service might be held on Sunday evening, but generally, Friday.

[quote]PennState4Ever:
[quote]Ms. de Blazer:
[QUOTE] Now it is much more repressive, Christians are being persecuted and many churches now hold their services on Friday, the Muslim sabbath, instead of Sunday. [/quote]Ummm...throughout much of the Middle East (and clarifying that Pakistan is not in the Middle East), particularly the Arabian Gulf, it's pretty much custom for Christian religous observances to be held on Friday. A small service might be held on Sunday evening, but generally, Friday. [/quote]It probably has to do with Friday being the weekend (only one day) in that part of the world. Having services on Sunday would conflict with a business day.

Actually, non-muslims have been increasingly persecuted in muslim countries not only because of the U.S. One the most startling things happening in East Asia are the astounding number of new mosques staffed with Saudi prayer leaders. Most Saudi prayer leaders do not, however, have any experience in ... community relations with minorities.

Or prayer leaders return from Saudi-funded scholarships with a very strict outlook on religion. The U.S. foreign policy isn't really helping things along either. But, there really needs to be an open discussion about how indigeous cultures are under assualt. And not just by Western values.

Getting back to Rev. Pat, here's an amusing yet thoughtful take on his not-so-neither rant. Link to story.

Sidebar: how many of us wear a lucky shirt and yell at the TV when watching games of interest? No on the first, yes on the second for me.

Saudi prayer leaders practice a form of Islam called Wahabbi'sm. It is an extremely fundementalist, anti "people of the book", very backwards looking form of Islam, that is on part with the Islam that was practised by the Taliban. One of the main tenets of Wahabbi'sm is that it encourages martyrs of the faith, as well as the violent overthrow of "heathen" governments, and the forced conversion to Islam, or face death.

But then this is also the form of Islam that the ruling House of Saud practices, and encourages throughout Saudi Arabia.

Nice best friends for Bushie to have

Edited to add: "People of the Book" refers to Christians and Jews. In the early teachings of Mohammed, he stated that as Christians and Jews shared a common religious book with Islam (parts of the old testement), that they were to be left alone in the forced conversions of the 8th to 14th centuries. It was Mohammed that called them "People of the Book". His views later on in his life were much less tolerant, and included Christians and Jews in the forced conversions. Depending on which sect of Islam you follow, will determine if you follow the early teachings of Mohammed, such as Ismaili Muslims do, or the later much more intolerant versions, that Sunni, Shia and Wahabbi Muslims do.

[ November 16, 2005, 10:19 AM: Message edited by: Lksimcoe ]

just saw that the Muslim character in A Touch of Pink, Alim, is an Ismaili

3 Weeks ago, I went to a funeral at an Ismaili Muslim Mosque. The son of a co-worker of my husband had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he and his cousin were shot to death.

I will say that it was an experiance. The funeral was long (1.5 hrs) but the most uplifting part was that the prayers were led almost equally by men and women. Also, while women sat separately from the men, they were only separated by a symbolic ribbon on the floor.

The other thing that surprised me was that Wayne and I were welcomed into the Mosque. This surprise me for 2 reasons. 1, Our friend knows we are gay, and a couple, and specifically asked us to come. We were seated in the Mosque, with the family, while most non-muslims sat in an ante room.

There were no speeches, no ranting, no raving, just a family saying good bye to 2 members. Afterwards, the men all go to another room, and the coffins are passed around the room so everyone can say a private good bye.

Very interesting, and kind of uplifting.

Not the anti everything western I had expected, but it was explained to me that it was because it was Ismaili.

News Headline: "Pat Robertson warns gays of hurricanes, meteor."

News Headline: "Pat Robertson calls for U.S. to 'take out' Venezuelan president."

News Headline: "Pat Robertson warns town it risks disaster for supporting evolution."

News Headline: "$14 million in federal faith-based money goes to Pat Robertson."

I've got an idea. How 'bout we cut off funding for this idiot?