What Do the Israeli Military, Jihadi and the West Have In Common?

In light of a recent opinion editorial in the New York Times about the Syrian refugees, I have reflected on the situation now facing the West. With the growing refugee crisis now at the border crossings in Eastern Europe, it is clear to me that millenarianism empowers the Israeli military, jihadists of all stripes, and Western influence in the Middle East.

For their millenarian sentiments bedevil them, leading them to unwittingly abandon a merciful God for the diabolical Anti-Christ, trading peace for warfare with a growing religious tone.

All parties fighting in the Middle East are confident that their warfare will usher in Armageddon, with millenarian Christians and Jews, both of whom are militant Zionists, pitted against radical Muslim fundamentalists (takfiri), who consider everyone else to be apostate.

Each side, be they Zionists or takfiri, sees themselves as God's chosen people and the other side as the Anti-Christ. On one side we have the Zionist army of God, consisting of pro-Israel Christian militants and their Zionist brethren, and on the other side,are the takfiri of Islamic State, al Nasrah Front, al Qaeda and associated militant groups - including Hezbollah and the radical elements of Hamas and ...

Historically, the Zionist militants and the takfiri have been fighting with each other over Palestine since the 1970s, when Israel launched attacks against the UAR, specifically Egypt and Syria, winning the Golan Height (West Bank) and the Gaza strip. At the time the Israeli military even occupied the Sinai peninsula, but later gave it back to Egypt because, being a desert wasteland, was not considered strategic territory by the Israeli government of the time.

Though the takfiri claim historical precedence that goes back to when Palestine was originally conquered by Muslims from 7th Century to 9th CE. In contrast, in recent years, radical Zionists in Israel have tried to rewrite history by denying Palestine ever existed, yet most Arab nations in the Middle East have referred to Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria as the Levant.

Meanwhile, in eastern Europe, the Ukraine has become a conflict between the West (secularism in the form of NATO representing the anti-Christ) and Russia (the Orthodox Church representing the militant Christ of Armageddon), even though this is a proxy war between American government and her NATO allies, and Russian government and her allies. In contrast, the radical Ukrainian militant nationalists adhering the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and Protestant evangelical fundamentalism consider themselves representatives of the same militant Christ fighting against the Anti-Christ (the Russian military). Though most Ukrainian nationalists are nominal Christians, adhering mainly to a neo-Nazi form of Christianity in which white power is associated with Christ.

IMHO the mainstream media is burying this story because they don't want to frighten their consumers to death with pointless end of the world stories of Armageddon, thus proving to me the old adage that few people can handle the truth, especially when religion has mixed with politics in the Middle East from the beginning over 2500 years ago. As for the Ukrainian conflict, the New Left and far right (neo-Nazi) organizations are nationalists first. If the far right in the Ukraine radicalize further, then there might be an internal struggle between the secular left and the far right radicals. However, the Ukrainian left and right are united against their common enemy, Russia.

Meanwhile, in Europe, refugees fleeing Syria are a mix of Shi'ite and Sunni Muslims and Christians while a few of the Sunni men in Syria have coalesced into rebel militant groups. This in part is due to the secondary proxy war between Sunni and Shi'ite participants with Iran supporting the Assad regime in Syria and the Gulf States supporting the Sunni rebels.

Last year, the Sunni jihadists formerly known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and briefly as Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, became a de facto nation called Da'esh (Islamic State). Consisting of a Millenarian jihadi force sponsored by the Gulf States (mainly Qatar and Saudi Arabia — due to the strong offensive by Syrian army in western Syria. Then their Western sympathizers came to eastern Syria via Turkey to the border with Iraq to fight on their side, while Western mercenaries went there and allied with the Kurds to fight the Jihadi of Da'esh.

Of course, the Shi'ite refugees from Syria bypassed Iran due to its police state. Their impression that Western Europe is the bastion of freedom fuels their walk to freedom via Turkey into Europe. For the problem with the Syrian refugees is not only the Middle East; it also has to do with European fear of Islam.

How ironic that both the refugees and most of Europe nominally believe in God, be they Christians, Jews or Muslims. Indeed, this is what is common to millenarians regardless of their faith: they worship God.

In response to the refugee crisis, my solution is to propose that the Christian politicians of the West practise two of Christ Jesus' commandments: love your enemy and practice charity towards them.

Any other solution may eventually prove that the West is not yet sympathetic to the plight of the Syrian refugees, especially in Hungary.

YMMV

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References:

Commentary about mainstream media hiding the Millenarian ideology common in the Israeli military: http://mondoweiss.net/2015/09/mainstream-Israeli-colonel

NY Times article mentioning the Israeli colonel's millenarian comment: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/08/06/opinion/thomas-friedman-revelations-in-the-gaza-war.html?referrer

The Catholic definition of millenarianism: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10307a.htm

Timeline of the name Palestine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_name_%22Palestine%22

Islam and Millenarianism: http://science.jrank.org/pages/7870/Islamic-Millenarianism.html

Russia-US talks on Syria do little to stem flow of refugees: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/russia-u-s-talks-on-syria-do-little-to-stem-flow-of-refugees-1.3236891

Quick facts: what you need to know about Syria crisis: http://www.mercycorps.org/articles/turkey-iraq-jordan-lebanon-syria/quick-facts-what-you-need-know-about-syria-crisis

UNHCR factson the crisis in the Syrian Arab Republic: http://www.unhcr.org/pages/49e486a76.html

Robust, coherent Europe response to Refugee crisis still urgently needed: http://www.unhcr.org/55f817399.html

The Hypocrisy of Christendom (satire)

To be a man of God as a Christian, and to hate Muslims, that is a sign of hypocrisy. For a Christian who hates Islam but professes to love God knows not that the God of Islam is the God of the Jews.

Yet that Christian is known to hate them equally, all due to the closed-mindedness and jealousy of Christian royalty and nobility.

How noble it is to think of oneself as more holy than a Jew or a Muslim.! How pitiful such pride is! Many a man and woman has fallen before theirs.

They who mock the Jews and revile the Muslims do not know their own Bible. For such folk are not unlike the rich man congratulating himself for not being poor.

God has greater reward for a Christian who unashamedly declares, "Kýrie, eléi̱són me ton amarto̱ló.*"

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* The Greek version of the quote "Lord, have mercy on me a sinner" from verse 13 in the Parable of the Tax-Collector and the Pharisee in Luke 18:9-14.

The Middle Eastern Situation is Both a Religious War and a Political One (satire)

Here in Canada I am still awaiting a terrorist plot in Rio de Janeiro , but it is not going happen since Brazil stayed out of the American game plan to mold the Middle East and Central Asia into democracies.

It is leading to blow-back incidents in the West, most recently in Paris, which adds to the two incidents in Ottawa, and a handful of bombings in London, and the purported bombing during the Boston Marathon a few years ago.

Without the historical precedence of the free-market capitalist system being forced on people there, we forget that the West meddled with the Holy Land from 1099 to 1194 CE, only see the Crusades evolve into petty fiefdoms where mercenaries were led by ruffians pretending to be royalty, who robbed caravans for booty.

How Christian of them!

IMO Saladin was too merciful in 1187 - he should have asked for more booty in exchange for letting the Christians flee Jerusalem. Better yet, he should have been less merciful.

Most likely, the now defunct Templar Knights were merely pawns of the intrigue arising from the Orthodox king and possibly a lot of espionage by clergy sent to the Holy Land from Rome.

IMHO we need the devotion that the Templar Knights showed, rather than the financial dealings that they made which might have led to their demise. Intrigue led to the Templar Knights being wiped out, possibly due to their power that came with the land holdings and their financial dealings.

Out of all of Catholic militarism during this period, only the Templars do I respect. No army today comes close to their devotion to God, due to the slide into secularism that has become popular today.

IMO the socialists wish to erase from history any mention that religion played a large part in the enmity between Christendom and Islam, which is evidenced by the fact that ignorance is bandied about by both sides with the usual propaganda in which the truth is stretched into unbelievable scenarios.

As for the Middle East today, and also Iraq and Afghanistan, the new "Crusaders" began their campaign of revenge upon Islam in 2003, rather than following a more enlightened path.

See what happens when Christendom wants to usher in the New Millenium with a bang? Will this situation in the Islamic State lead to more random terrorist attacks in the West? We shall have to wait and see.

In this 21st-Century Crusade, the West has become more fascist and Islamophobia has replaced anti-Semitism as a result of daily propaganda from the American mainstream media.

The Many Faces of God (satire)

"God is like three-in-one oil." — Eldridge Cleaver

Unlike trinitarianism, modalism is a complex way of saying that the Godhead has three faces (guises?): God, the Christ and the Holy Spirit.

Consider God to be an actor.

As a deity, He is. As the Christ, he is Messiah and all that implies. Yet as the Holy Spirit, we get into the supernatural since he is also known as the Holy Ghost.

After much thought on this topic, I asked myself: "What is God when he's not acting as a deity or as the Christ or as the Holy Spirit, remote from humanity?" To me the answer is obviously: God is the Absolute.

It serves no purpose for God to exist as a physical being in the physical world when the supernatural world is his domain.

Yet God is on the minds of his believers since it is through belief of his existence that he exists. Outside of that context, and for most people who don't believe in him, he does not exist.

As for his pre-existence, that is a wholly monotheistic supposition and may lead to endless debate on his existence.

If God exists as a belief, then the Buddha exists as fact. For the Buddha's existence is verifiable while God's existence is based on faith in the Bible alone. In contrast, the Buddha's existence is not only based on the sutras but also on historical records.

Though, no one can compare a man known as the Buddha, formerly the prince Siddhartha Gotama, to God, a monotheistic deity, since the Buddha is not a deity.

Yet Amida Buddha is almost a deity, though he exists as a metaphor for the boundless life of compassion and the boundless light of wisdom. In this context "boundless" means "transcending human limitations" and especially, "beyond mere sentience."

Because of the limitations that monotheism places on such philosophy, the discussion of God becomes moot in light of Buddhism. In some ways it is like comparing apples to oranges. For the Buddha is not another face of God. Rather, Buddhism is outside the realm of monotheism.

Even so, there are elements of modalism in the many Buddhas and bodhisattvas in Buddhism. In the example of Amida Buddha, it is said there was a prince named Dharmakara who meditated for a long time and envisioned the Pure Land. After making a series of 48 vows, he fulfilled them all and was reborn in the Pure Land of Bliss as Amida Buddha.

In the case of Amida, the Absolute is the refined essence of Buddha Nature. Indeed, the Pure Land is a reflection of the Absolute. As well, Dharmakara might be considered the incarnate form of the Absolute as a human of high standing (a bodhisattva) who was reborn as Amida Buddha.

Such an interpretation regarding Amida Buddha stretches the truth that Buddhism cannot be seen through the filter of Christian philosophy because the divine is viewed differently within Buddhist philosophy. For the deities of the God Realm are limited beings who live long lives but eventually die.

Indeed, the God Realm is one of the Six Realms of Desire. Thus the gods of Buddhism suffer.

Hence the birth of Siddhartha was the birth of the future Buddha who even the Hindu gods and goddesses would adore because he transcended the cycle of rebirth and became the Buddha.

My interpretation of the Christ story is that the Absolute relieves the sufferings of a Hellenized Jewish people subject to the laws of Judaism by having the deity known as God reborn as a mortal named Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph. This is revealed to her in a vision in which an angel named Gabriel tells her she shall conceive the Messiah through action of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus is born, he exposes Jewish ritualism as a fraud, makes enemies among the Jewish leaders, and is betrayed by one of the twelve of his beloved disciples. Then he is crucified, only to "die" and awaken as the Christ. Later he show himself to his disciples, and ascends to Heaven.

Thus, the story of the Christ is of God begetting the Christ in human form who is born to an unmarried woman named Mary as Jesus with his mortal father Joseph marrying her to legitimize his birth as "Son of Man". After his Crucifixion he arises as the Christ and eventually rises to Heaven. Thus he fulfills prophecy about himself.

In contrast, the Buddha's story begins with the dream by his mother of an elephant entering her womb. She dies shortly after childbirth, and Siddhartha is raised by his aunt. He is born into royalty. His father the King consults soothsayers, one of whom predicts that Siddhartha will either be a great king or a great wise man. Although his father tries to raise him as a prince, he learns all about suffering, abandons his royal status, and becomes the Buddha.

After his Enlightenment, he teaches not only his fellow seekers about the Four Noble Truths of Suffering, but also forms a religious order that challenges the ritualism of early Hinduism. He helps change Indian life in the process, and lives a long life, only to die due to an unspecified illness. After his death, the blooming of flowers on a tree out of season in the midst of the winter monsoons leads to other stories of miracles. However, the evolution of the Buddhist society that follows helps transform Indian society in a positive way.

Thus the story of the Buddha only vaguely echoes the Christ story. The ritual of law in Hebrew society of Jesus' time contrasts with the ritualism in Hindu society where the priestly caste has become intercessor between the people and the Indian gods.

Additionally the Hindu gods and goddesses may be seen as a complex form of modalism. In the case of Hinduism, each and every god and goddess represents the different faces of God but are aspects of the Godhead so complex making a single deity the only god to worship seem restrictive and thus oppressive to freedom of worship. Thus, the gods and goddesses of Hinduism might be considered as a gem with many facets, each one representing the bright and shining qualities of their worshipers in their perfect form.

In this way are the many faces of God revealed as aspects of human qualities of good called virtues. When I compare this to the qualities often ascribed to God, it becomes apparent to me that it is the good of humanity that is reflected in God. Though, it could also be said that it is the good qualities of a patriarchal society is emphasized by God. This is also true of the Hinduism but Buddhism critiques this truth while acknowledging that for that period of time, speculation about God was moot.

Indeed, the legacy of monotheism is a history of warfare by his chosen ones. Great suffering came at the cost of plagues and other miseries, as depicted in the Bible. in contrast, the story of Hinduism is not all peace and love for one's fellow man either.

It is not until the Indian king Ashoka that we see Hinduism being given sway to Buddhism. Ashoka wins a great battle but sees the truth about suffering revealed to him after being advised by a Buddhist monk about his responsibility regarding the war in which he lost friends. In response, he becomes a Buddhist king who spreads the message of Buddhism far and wide.  As a Buddhist, he spread peace throughout India.

It isn't until the modern era that organized religion caused Buddhism to affect Sri Lanka and Burma, although in different ways. This is due to organized religion not Buddhism and it is not restricted to Buddhism either. It is because of organized religion that warfare has been the legacy of monotheism, be it Christian, Judaism or Islam.

Perhaps few people are patient enough to reflect on the deep spiritual meaning of their faith due to their belief in a higher power than themselves. Such humility has lost the respect of many people in the face of the distractions of every day life in the postmodern world. So many people have no time to consider the many faces of God for many reasons, be it a matter of convenience or an overall disbelief in God.

I as a Buddhist know that the belief in God and the associated faith in his existence should be tempered by knowledge. However, the limited knowledge of Christians is focused on the Bible. Thus the faces of God are limited to God, the Son and the Holy Ghost.  In a way, each part of the Trinity are merely the many faces of God, limited and simplified by Christian dogma.

It's simpler to consider three aspects of God than a handful of gods and goddesses of Hinduism, even though the Godhead of both Christianity and Hinduism are roughly the same.

Though the Christian will dispute this, the Hindu might agree.

As a Buddhist, I lean towards a nondual concept of God as the Absolute, the closest of which is the Pure Land of Bliss. In my eyes, Heaven and the Pure Land are similar in that they are ideals of their respective faiths. However, I prefer Buddhism over Christianity mainly because I prefer not to stay ignorant about other faiths.

For knowledge is only dangerous when the little that you know leads you to ignore the consequences of your ignorance.

YMMV

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Originally posted on February 28, 2014 at 02:02 AM

References:

Modalism - Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modalism

The Absolute - Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_(philosophy)

Make War no More (satire)

Regarding the Middle East, the utter madness of warfare is that the jihadi cult that is the West's enemy (Islamic State) is clandestinely trained by certain Western states (mainly the US, back before Saddam was portrayed in a negative light by the New York Times since 1996).

These jihadi cult members are clandestinely paid by the Qatar / Kuwait / Saudi hegemony in the Middle East and indirectly by US-led interests in the West, especially the Five Eyes through oil money.

Regarding the warfare in the Middle East, the purpose of staged conflicts in this region is to coerce the populace into total submission to the Islamic jihadi cult, which is Muslim in name only.

Yet the scare tactics of the West are no match for Muslim solidarity which too is a tool of coercion. However, most Muslims know the jihadi cult is sham Islam.

In America, the best analog in Christianity is Army of God which is a bigger threat to the US than the Islamic State, the major jihadi cult in eastern Syria and northern Iraq.

However, the two killings near Ottawa were not committed by homegrown terrorists but by mentally ill men who were attracted to the jihadi cult.

IMO the term jihadi cult is a more accurate term than Islamic militant since their violence is anathema to Islam as organized religion.

Indeed, the jihadi cult leaders of the Islamic State, al Qaeda, and Taliban and affiliates consider all organized religion and even secular government the cult of unbelievers because of the perceived willingness to compromise during nationalization.

When a cult believes itself so righteous in its highly esteemed belief in God Almighty, it breaks its covenant with Him.

These are no true saints of Islam, and their martyrdom only serves their devilish notion of worship through warfare.

By their actions, each side errs. It is sad that Judaism and Islam is misused like this, while Christianity too is tainted.

More than ever, it is time for all Muslims, Jews and Christians who believe love is the root of peace to decry the war by proxy being played in the Middle East.

posted from Bloggeroid

The Diamond Mind of Religious Pluralism (satire)

In the crystal clear diamond mind, the many faces of God are revealed, be it Mohammed, the Christ, Abraham, Zoroaster, Lao Tze, the Dalai Lama, and all prophets and sages throughout history.

For the diamond mind begins with the Buddha.

Each of these prophets are but lights Of the divine life whose message of unconditional love echoes throughout the ages as the Name-that-calls among Pure Land Buddhists, Kyrie Eleison among Christians, and many other chants and prayers of Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, Neo-Pagans, Taoists and all clergy, priests and shamans of all faiths.

When humanity worships in celebration of the spiritual, their religions reflect on the divine nature beyond the material world as though the whole world is in God's hands.

When each religion takes the unconditional love of a higher power and promotes peace on earth and good will to everyone, the mind of each of us is like the diamond mind of the Buddha, shining bright and clear with the radiant light of wisdom.

I am not Antisemitic (satire)

Today America is not strong and free. Rather the rich are strong and free, and the middle class is preyed upon by them until all that shall be left are the rich and the poor, like it was prior to Industrialization.

This is due to and is also the reason for free market capitalism. The trickle down theory is wrong; money actually is sucked up to the rich from the middle class, rendering them poor and eventually homeless.

All that will be left will be successful sociopaths such as the executives of Wall Street and the unsuccessful sociopaths including criminal sociopaths.

Only one thing will make what I write null and void: being sincere about the truth as has been. Indeed, the previous three paragraphs are what I hold to be truth, even though to the casual observer, it may be construed as opinion.

Here are more naked truths: the Ashkenasim have married into the returned Sephardim, who escaped the converso pogrom during the Inquisition. With America's help they return to Israeli to practice the same kind of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians that the American government committed against the First Nations people by putting them into Indian reservations. The end result will be an Israeli government that puts their mythology over common sense and decency.

Even the recent conflict between Hamas and Israeli government is due to America's hidden agenda. However, this agenda is so easy to uncover: support Israel while continuing to oppress Palestinians worldwide.

Israeli government has even manufactured the propaganda that Palestinians never were from Palestine. The truth is, most Jews in Israel never came from the Holy Land. The majority of them were originally Central Asians who were paid to protect Jews migrating into eastern Europe.

When the Muslims were prepared to invade their territory in Central Asia, rather than siding with Rome as Christians or submitting to the Muslims and accepting Islam, they chose the higher ground of embracing Judaism.

Yet the ADL rejects the Ashkenasim story as false, and claims they were a lost tribe. This historiography is manufactured, as is the current illegal misappropriation of Palestinian land by the Jewish right wing radicals.

IN my opinion, the only open-minded Jewish leader of Israel was Yitzak Rabin. All other Jewish leaders were conservative and to the right of the citizens of Israel. Indeed, the socialist Israelis are outnumbered by the conservative Israelis, thanks to their radicalization in America.

I deny that anything I have written is anti-semitic. It is merely a description of history and politics.

Reputation (satire)

So let me get this straight, in certain cultures, there is a tradition such that a man must not visit a young unmarried woman alone lest the neighbours gossip, her reputation tarnished by the rumors, and a mob forms to cast some stones on the woman but rarely punishes the man.

And somebody mistook this for Islam?

Anyone who looks closely at this tradition can tell it is not Islam. Nor is it Judaism or Christianity, even though both Christians and Jews were known to do the same to their women.

What this is is an ancient tradition that was accepted into a religion to control women under the guise of "family honor" or similar weasel words designed to protect the reputation of men at the expense of the lives of women.

Carrying out such a tradition is not democracy but a devilish form of oppression against women that would offend even Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Jesus, and Muhammed.

If I as a Buddhist know this, then why not a Christian, a Jew or a Muslim?

Yet this is the way I have as a kid: once when invited to a girl's place as a boy of 17, I objected to visiting her, saying, "What if the neighbours assumed the worst?" The girl replied "Nothing would happen anyway, so no one cares about the neighbours."

Because of the way I was raised, it was hard for me to visit her if she was unmarried and under 30. This is because before these post-modern times, society would think something was up if a man visited a young woman. Indeed, her reputation could be "ruined" by devilish gossip.

Today, people think nothing of such gossip and make light of rumors, because such talk is not inspired by any intention to protect both the man and the woman, but rather to make both of them look bad, just so the gossiper can look good.

Therefore, when a rumor is aimed to ruin a woman's reputation, it is hypocrisy to make it seem as though the man is some sex god. Such idle gossip is indeed devilish. As well, I condemn mainstream media when it does the same to celebrities.

FWIW IDC about Selena Gomez's chastity nor do I care about Justin Bieber's slide into the festivities that pass for modern life in Hollywood. Nor do I care about what passes for truth as broadcast by mainstream media. It is all propaganda designed to get people talking, so their own lives don't seem boring and dull.

Likewise, how can a religion be beneficial when it holds on to ancient traditions that oppress women in such a way?

A wise man once said "Let those who are without sin cast the first stone." This excludes men and women over the age of majority. Only children ought to be allow to stone that sinner. Surely this is a laughable suggestion, but is apt.

How does stoning make the participants become without sin? For murder is a sin, even when it is excluded as punishment for a crime concocted by rumors. It is a devilish thing to then make an exception to murder as capital punishment for a sin, when the only sin in most Abrahamic religions is to forget God Almighty.

Once does not forget God when one is stoning, for a representative of God commands his loyal flock to stone. It is thus not a sin to kill someone when God speaks through that representative. So then, could this be why Islamists kill? Could this be why David Koresh formed a cult?

And is this why the Hebrews slew Canaanites?

After careful consideration of the concept of such punishment for a sin, I am convinced that the punishment does not fit the crime since it promotes death and also the oppression of women. Additionally, it makes a man seem to be unable to control himself in the presence of a woman. As a result, I would not trust that man in a crowd of women. He could be the death of them yet.

Even so, I am not going to a young woman's place alone even if invited, because society might misunderstand my intentions.

La Lumière sur L'infidélité/The Light on Infidelity (satire)

Pourquoi ne pas les croyants -
hommes et femmes &mdas; quand vous entendu
parler de l'affaire, - mettre le meilleur
sur la construction dans leurs propres esprits
et dire «cette charge est un mensonge évident"?
Voici ...., vous avez reçu vos langues
et disiez de vos bouches
ce dont vous n'aviez pas connaissance,
et vous pensiez que ce soit
une question de lumière.

Et parmi ceux qui sont autour
de vous des gens du désert,
il ya des hypocrites,
et parmi les gens de Médine aussi;
ils sont têtus dans l'hypocrisie;
vous ne les connaissez pas;
Nous les connaissons;
Nous allons les châtier deux fois,
puis ils seront refoulés
à un châtiment douloureux.

"Why did not the believers — men and women &mdas; when ye heard of the affair,— put the best construction on it in their own minds and say "this charge is an obvious lie"? .... Behold, you received it on your tongues and said out of your mouths things of which you had no knowledge, and you thought it to be a light matter".

"And from among those who are round about you of the dwellers of the desert there are hypocrites, and from among the people of Medina also; they are stubborn in hypocrisy; you do not know them; We know them; We will chastise them twice then shall they be turned back to a grievous chastisement." — Sura 24, "The Light", an-Nur, ayat 11-20

Once in the lifetime of Mohammad (pbuh), his caravan had carried on after stopping at an oasis. However, Aisha (as), noticing the loss of a necklace, a gift from the Prophet (sa), departed the caravan unnoticed in the early morning.

After finding her necklace, Aisha (as) was found by a kinsman who swiftly escorted her back to the caravan. On noticing this, Mohammad's companions' wives gossipped, saying "It is likely Aisha slept with her kinsman."

In response, Mohammad (phub) scolded the women and men of the caravan, thus sparing the lives of both his wife, Aisha and her kinsman.

If one believes the above anecdote to be about infidelity between man and women among Muslims, then one only knows of men and women. However, the metaphorical significance of this incident goes beyond conjugal relationships among the People.

This anecdote states firmly that, rather than listening to gossip and rumors about infidels, the Muslim should decry whatever one hears about infidels to be an obvious lie when he or she knows the character of the infidels is contrary to what other Muslims are saying.

This anecdote also says that the true Muslim is not only knowledgeable about Islam, he is also knowledgeable about infidels. Remember that most Muslims were also infidels before Mohammad (pbuh), even the Companions. When before they circled the Ka'aba in worship of idols, today they circle the Ka'aba in worship of only God Almighty.

Thus, to gossip and spread rumors about infidels is not unlike worshipping to idols. It makes the mighty as base as the people who talk about them.

It makes all of us hypocrites when we speak ill of others, even if they are infidels.

My argument also applies to religionists, who gossip about their brothers and sisters and then propagate an obvious lie about their target, thus sharing one thing in common with their target, that of being sinners also. Just as it is a sin to live together in common law, it too is a sin to gossip and spread rumors about couples living in sin and to prevent them from feeling accepted on holy and sacred ground. If you think you are so superior to sinners, then in believing thusly are you too sinning, being that of pride.

No one is free of infidelity, not even people who pray daily. No matter how many time you wash yourselves, your prayers cannot clean away the infidelity towards people towards whom you feel superior to. When a man deems another person a loser just because they do not believe in God as greatly as you supposedly do, then both men are losers of the faith and trust that binds humanity together.

How dare the Christians, the Jews, and the Muslims treat infidels in their midst as though they are pariahs! It is said that God Almighty is Merciful, but humanity often forget that.

Such infidelity is not apparent because those of God's people who think of themselves holy are often no better than a poor believer.

If I a sinner, an apparent apostate to Judeo-Christian faith, and an unbeliever of Salafi Islam, know this, why are the Abrahamic people of the Book so ignorant of their various infidelities?

Only God knows.

Prostitution is the World's Oldest Religious Activity (satire)

Our current attitudes towards prostitution are due to social pressures going back millennia regarding sexuality. Few people acknowledge the role that social control plays in determining our attitudes towards prostitution.

Prostitution only became an unsavory profession because of the lies about them made up by religious zealots as a means of social control. However, prostitution used to be a religious function of temple priestesses for the cult of Astarte. Thus, religion used to be the mother of prostitution.

Indeed, the religious zealots' defamation of prostitution was done to control female sexuality. Once religion and prostitution were in bed together, now monotheistic pressure has separated them.

Today's religious zealots also borrowed the idea of marriage and virginity from pagan Roman practice. Prior to marriage, the ancient Roman bachelor party sometimes consisted of deflowering the wife to be by the husband's male friends, which may be related to the Astarte cult.

Hence, the decadent orgies of today's hedonism are merely revivals of old-time religion popular before the "heresies" called Christianity, Islam and Orthodox Judaism arose.

That which is secular is subtly pagan. That which is pagan has been adapted to monotheism.

Today, few prostitutes know of the religious origins of prostitution due to centuries of historical repression.

Perhaps sacred prostitution was all a metaphor for hedonism made holy.

In any case, prostitution is a complex issue which is viewed by civil authorities as a social problem with medical risks such as sexually transmitted diseases in these post-modern times.

This is why most countries will keep prostitution illegal, and thus control sexuality as a commodity.

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Originally posted: June 4, 2007 10/00 PM

Prostitution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_prostitution

Sacred prostitution: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_prostitution

Astarte: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astarte

Canadian justice minister rules out legalization:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2014/01/20/peter_mackay_rules_out_legalization_municipal_regulation_of_prostitution.html

My Opinions on War on Terror (satire)

IMHO I think that both side of the war against terror are missing the point.

Since the enemy isn't eager to save their lives, IMHO the war on terror needs to be fought with less death as a result.

I'd be demanding that the US allow the Taleban to survive as captives and be treated with respect and dignity according to Geneva convention, especially when they might not give you the same respect IF you are captured and do not convert to Islam.

IMHO towards Muslims, I'd follow the path of Nanak. In front of Muslims he denied being Hindu; in front of Hindus he denied being Muslim. In the end, he died at peace. Yet the Muslims didn't get it, and they continued their forced conversion of India during Mughal rule, so that the Sikhs arose to defend their faith.

It was only in the face of oppression that the Sikhs became warriors, and forgot that Nanak had saved his life and countrymen by acting as he did.

It takes a wise person to understand this and realize that it isn't Islam that we are fighting but terrorists hiding behind religion who are nothing more than criminals.

In essence, we are fighting the terrorists to save them from their self oppression which leads to terrorism, oppression against women, and other evils.

Indeed, most people deluded by the glory of war ignore this truth: "A warrior may conquer 1000 foes, but one who conquers himself is the true warrior."

IMHO the war against terror arose because of apocalype propaganda both on the part of the Bush administration and on the part of the terrorists due to their obsession with religion, be it Christian or Islam.

Neither side sees the Dalai Lama or even peace activists as helpful because of the myopic beliefs held by Christians and Muslisms.

As well, both sides of this struggle hide behind God which prevents people from realizing that it is the West's dependence on oil and the West's aim to profit from Americanizing the Middle East that motivates the US.

IMHO ending this war will not stop the terrorists from trying to control the Middle East again.

Fanaticism excludes the ability to fight to save the other person's life, because at its root it is excluded by the obsession with forcing ultraconservative Salafi Islam as way of life on everyone else, due to the fanatic's belief that everyone else are unbelievers (kaf'r) and worthy only of death and not mercy.

For all terrorists who revere the Salafi way of life believe themselves to be the only True believers. Even the worst of Christian fundamentalism is not as criminal as the Salafi way is.

If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam, I'd choose Chassidic Judaism because of its emphasis of the joy of loving-kindness.

Only both Gnostic Christianity and Sufism are close to solving conflict.

However, my Buddhist heritage would promote moderation of monotheism, lest its excesses lead my astray from Life's true objective: peace of mind.

When I think about the typical Muslim terrorists, it reminds me more of a zombie Apocalypse especially when in Christian apocalyptic propaganda, the Christian dead are supposed to rise up out of their graves to fight in God's army against Satan and his minions, both demons and everyone living and dead who chose the left path over the right path of Jesus.

Indeed, the End of Days looks like a zombie Apocalypse.

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Originally posted June 23, 2010 at 1:07 PM

Debunking The Metaphors of Permanence (satire)

Theists got it wrong about God being a metaphysical divine being that exists in reality.

God is a Germanic adjective that translates as "good". Therefore "god" means "all that is good," and does not represent a real divine being.

Instead, the divine being is a anthropomorphic metaphor made in the image of man. Thus the phrase "man is made in the image of God" is actually a declaration of humility designed to control the ego lest a person think himself a god due to a perverted egocentricity known as egomania.

Instead the line in Genesis which declare mankind to have been made into the image of God actually means that all human beings are born basically good. It does not refer to an actual divine being, contrary to the dogma of the monotheists.

Rather God is a metaphor for all that is good in humankind.

As for the soul, there is no soul that is permanent and immortal, for the only living soul is that of the body-mind.

Likewise, just as speculation about gods is moot, so too is speculation about the afterlife.

However, the cult of Amida Buddha is based on a metaphor about wisdom and compassion (endless life of compassion and endless light of wisdom).

In the context of Buddhism, "endless" actually implies a long moment in time that begins in the distant past and ends in the distant future.

Likewise for the terms "forever", "immortal", and "never": "Never" represents an ideal reality; "Immortal" represents an ideal state; and "forever" represents an "infinitely" long time. For these terms are but metaphors of permanence which represent abstract reality as opposed to physical reality.

In the abstract world, everything lasts forever and God exists. This world is a metaphysical one, and thus is not tangible in the physical world.

Even the adjective term "infinitely" is an abstract term that implies an ideal reality in which an object lasts forever. In reality, the term "infinite" is inaccurate because nothing in reality lasts forever. Indeed, "infinite" actually means an indeterminately long time which eventually ends.

Therefore, "life eternal" does not represent "immortal soul", for "pneuma" as the soul is not the same as "life".

Nor does "eternal" equivalent in meaning to "immortal". "Eternal" refers to a state of eternity, which still represents a very long time that eventually ends, and is vastly longer than human life itself.

"Life eternal" then does not mean human life is eternal when you place your trust in Jesus. Rather it subtly says "the Christian way of life values family;" and your progeny bring you "life eternal" e.g. you and your descendants as Christians bring you life eternal.

It's not about immortality; it's about human propagation. Immortality thus is a metaphor for such propagation.

For the metaphors of permanence which the monotheists use, be it "immortal soul" and "life eternal", actually are euphemisms for human propagation and thus guarantees "life eternal."

Only in the abstract world does God and the terms which represent an infinitely long time exist. They are actually reified (made to exist as a material thing) by the mind alone. Even when monotheists say "God exists", what they really mean is that their belief in God reifies the abstract thing called "God".

Monotheists deny this interpretation, and claim that in the beginning, God existed. Thus the abstract world is assumed to have pre-existed before the creation of the physical world. Only if the mind is made real by reified beliefs can it become a permanent object which is a separate object from God. In the physical sense, they do not exist as physical objects. Rather, the mind and God are both abstractions of what we call "the mind".

To a materialist, such abstractions do not exist outside of the mind. To a Buddhist, speculation about such abstractions are moot. The mind still exists even when my concept of it refers to an abstract term called "the mind" that is reified until the mind has a purported physical existence, even though it does not.

When a person is asleep or dead, the physical world does not exist. Yet there are some people who believe Dreamtime is the true reality. Yet the world of dreams is akin to the abstract world, because once awake, they both do not exist.

Thus it is possible that the beliefs of the monotheists puts their minds to sleep, and they awaken to the abstract world within where their God exists along with His heaven and hell that He created.

At the same time, what the previous sentence means is, the monotheists are asleep to the physical world and the worldliness that arises from living in this reality. They only know of God as depicted in the Bible. Yet monotheists live in their own Dreamtime and know not of the physical world.

No one can awaken a Christian to the reality of the physical world, because his beliefs isolate him from true reality. He only sees the reality of his own making, which is but a benign delusion that allows him to function in the real world without being tainted by worldliness.

Through his prayers and rituals, the Christian purifies his soul. I only object to the non-Christian concept of the immortal soul that a few foolish Christians accept as true though it is not Biblical. Instead, the conception of an immortal soul is blasphemous within context of the Bible.

On this point, both the primitive Christian and I do see eye to eye regarding the reification of an immortal soul as blasphemy. In Buddhist thought, such a soul violates the principle of no-soul, that all is impermanent in the physical world and nothing lasts forever. Christians who cling to such a concept will then argue that "life eternal" implies an immortal soul. This is a fallacy because a soul is only alive for a limited time, from birth to death.

As well, the adjective term "eternal" is not a synonym of "immortal". As I stated before, both terms refer to the cycle of human life and human propagation. Thus "eternal life" refers to the propagation of human life and "immortal soul" refers to human generations of one's ancestors and descendants.

Thus have I debunks the metaphors of permanence that delude the monotheists. For the truth is, nothing exists forever. Yet to a Buddhist, this frees him from permanence. The resulting freedom is the liberation of the consciousness from the detritus of the material world.

Throughout his liberation from such delusional metaphors of permanence, the Buddhist will come to realize that anything is possible, even a world of impermanence. For impermanence makes the material world possible. Indeed, the physical world is always in flux.

My Personal Buddhist Anarchist Creed

The following commandment is the Buddhist Anarchist creed:
Control thyself then no one controls thee.

Both the Sufis and the Ch'an/Zen Buddhists know about self control. In Islam, it is the greater jihad, greater than the lesser jihad aka "the holy war".

If the People, be they Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Neo-pagans, La Vey Satanists or even Wicca, were to practise this commandment in addition to their doctrines & dogmas, then the State would have little reason to go to war.

Corporations would be kinder, and CEOs would become patrons of artists of all stripes, be it audio, visual or kaleidoscopic AV.

Control thyself is the antidote to know thyself.

In knowing thyself, you might be blinded by the ego; merely controlling the ego is enough to see it for what it is: the root of anger, fear, and the handmaidens of desire, lust and passion.

Yet the hedonists amongst the People ask "What's wrong with desire? You sound old-fashioned."

To that, I reply "But there is much to be said for romance, and to court your lover. It helps make lust more interesting and passion become compassionate!"

If a warrior controlled himself, then no one would control him. Then he would make a fine monk to contemplate the end of war and a place for Pax Terra, which is a utopia called World Peace.

Then the military spending could be curtailed and the military men become paid volunteers to help when disaster strikes and to aid the police in ensuring the safety of the People, great and small.

Thus is it my sincere wish that the People learn to control themselves individually, so that no one controls them. In this way, the State will be the People's instrument to help perpetuate this peace to the stars.

Until then, space travel is folly because for every space walk for the People there is another for the State in secret for the good of the nation, so says the Military Industry Complex.

When the People practice self control, they will control the State and turn the swords of the Military into the instruments of peace.

How do you control yourself? First we begin with the only mind control, for the fake mind control ignores the fact that brain-washing succeeds when its victim decides to be controlled by her oppressor.

What is this mind control called? Meditation.

How is it practiced? Just Google "meditation", and with practice of it, you shall be free to control and empower yourself in harmony with the greater good.

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Originally posted: November 4, 2012 at 1:52 AM

Further Thoughts on Good and Evil

For the record, I refuse to believe the devil or satan or whoever you call this dark angel, created by God represents evil. In my eyes, even the devil's original nature is good.

For God is actually the creator of good and evil. Check the Old Testament.

As well, neither the devil nor satan actually are mentioned to in the New Testament except as statement made by Jesus and others e.g. "Satan get behind me" which implies an internal moral struggle to control egoistic impulses with respect to power and control that Satan promised if Jesus were to exercise his divine powers to control others and become "King of the Jews".

Ergo, this duality of God as representative of Good and the devil as representative of Evil is neo-Platonian and thus was influenced Christian doctrine to the point of becoming dogma. The sames goes for the concept of an immortal soul, which has almost become a doctrine which is non-Biblical.

As well, Good and Evil never existed before human existence. Rather, good and evil are concepts thought up by men, and this includes the thought of good and evil existing before man's existence. Thus, I am sympathetic to the Jewish God.

Perhaps the real reason for Jesus was God's way of making up for all the violence he either meted on humanity or got his followers to mete on other people. However, I refuse to be a martyr for Christ.

As a Buddhist, I object to the violence done in the name of Jesus. This includes child abuse done in the name of Jesus, which is not Christian.

For any fundamentalist Christian parents who subject their children to violence in the name of their God, but call it discipline do not know what discipline actually means. Indeed, discipline done in anger too is violence.

Hopefully from this little rant of mine you can understand that a parent who disciplines their child in anger is not doing God a favor.

What has this to do with good and evil? Well, I tend to believe that a person is capable of great evil yet also of great good.

Even so, I also believe that if a person who is good shall become a good person, so too may a bad man, once he turns over to the cause of good, be it as a Christian, Jew, or Muslim, as well as a Buddhist, a Hindu, a pagan, a Wiccan, or even a La Vey Satanist.

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Originally posted December 20, 2012 at 0310H

Homegrown Terrorism Not Just Militant Islamic Terrorists

Militant Christianity is no different from militant Islam. The OKC bombing is one example that terrorism isn't exclusively Muslim.

If Joel's Army can be considered a Christian cult, then what is militant Islam but cultic?

While it can be said that Tamil Tigers was an example of Hindu militancy against State oppression by the Sri Lankan government, it was due to enforcement of Theravada Buddhism as state religion. This is an example where subtle State terrorism is proven to be the mother of all terrorism.

White supremacist terrorism was inspired by Waco, which has become a paramilitary organization due to the ideology of the church David Koresh took over at gunpoint. This too is a form of terrorism.

In Israel, Jewish militants are found among the Hasidic Jews, who are the reason why the Hamas are in West Bank. Strategically, Israel has called the militants "fellow Jews" and labelled the Hamas an extremely dangerous terrorist organization dedicated to wiping Israel off the maps.

After 9-11, mass media focused on militant Islamic terrorism and rarely compared it to the radical homegrown Christian terrorism in America. This includes the assassinations of abortion doctors by Christian militants.


It is these kinds of terrorists who are now ignored by mass media, to the point where they are deemed "mentally ill" and/or "probably on drugs" rather than as the terrorist they truly are.

In contrast, social activism that verges on terrorism is diabolized as domestic terrorism, when not one so-called "terrorist act" by such a group has killed a single person since 1999.

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Reference:
Joel's Army: the new face of militant Christian terrorism? : http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2008/fall/arming-for-armageddon#.UcMuslRDubU

Commentary on the Burning House Parable

Enshrined in society is the belief that truth telling is highly esteemed, provided the truth being revealed promotes harmony in that society.

However, absolute truth is promoted by taking the natural abhorrence to lying to extremes which promote intolerance and ultimately the practice of shunning the liar.

This however may be due to logical fallacies involved in shunning which creates pariahs and may also condone scapegoating.

Yet within religious communities, be it Eastern or Western, truth is either based on one work of faith or many works of faith, be it belief or works. However, the logical fallacy regarding truth is sometimes used to promote absolute truth despite the natural human tendency to obscure truth and tell a white lie.

When taken to extremes, even a white lie is deemed a lie, and the the believers of absolute truth ignore liars using logical fallacies to justify their ignorance.

Thus white lies and even myths are viewed as lies, rather than as the moderate view that both white lies and myths contain hidden truths which are revealed through careful analysis of the "lie"/myth.

Buddhism is different because I can tell a white lie to persuade you to meditate on an important topic in Buddhism. In order to meditate on this topic, first you concentrate on being conscious of your breathing to stay alert and calm, Then you meditate on the topc (the burning house parable) to develop clarity of mind that results in peace of mind.

The parable of the burning house teaches one about the history of Buddhism, and shows its primary purpose of relieving spiritual suffering is also useful in achieving peace of mind.

For the image of a burning house, and the efforts of a father to help his children escape, is a theme to which most people can relate. As well, the intent of the parable is to relieve a person from mental suffering caused by what the devout among the Christians, Jews and Muslims call decadence (the moral decay of Western society) and hedonism (the practice of carefree enjoyment of the pleasures inherent in such decadence).

Indeed, meditation helps one to manage one's life. More importantly, meditation helps a Buddhist to prepare for the afterlife, because when one is calm, one can understand the three sutras of the Pure Land of Bliss, and guarantees that if I respect the Buddha, practice the Five Precepts, practice the sutras, and meditate on their meaning, I prepare for that afterlife,

For meditation helps a person to develop clarity of mind to act and behave in a harmless manner.

While it can be said of Christians, Jews and Muslims that their religion helps their people behave in a harmless manner, might it be the nominal believers who forget such harmless behavior should happen 24/7 that sectarian violence happens?

Dear Monotheists, Be it Christian, Jewish or Moslem

Your denial that Christianity is a syncretistic religion overlooked the fact that much of Christendom believes in the neo-Plastonic, and inherently pagan, concept of an immortal soul.

Truth is, nothing, not even the soul, lasts forever.

So my Buddhist truths make your holier-than-thou and anti-Nature view of man a form of terrorism.

The same goes for any monotheism that pretends good and evil are in eternal conflict. I have no apologies to fanatics from Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Your actions terrorized people in the past, and they continue to terrorize innocent people today throughout the world.

This is because of a positive acceptance of egotism, and because of it, Christians have fallen, Jews have been persecuted, and Muslims have burned embassies and killed ambassadors.

It is said that the greater jihad is not in killing the unbelievers but in controlling your desires.

Please meditate on what I have written before you reply.

Signed
A Buddhist

Loving-kindness: the Mercy of God

Loving-kindness originates with the Hebrew word, chesed (or Hesed, Heb. חסד). It means kindness or love. The Latin translation (misericordia) are: pity, compassion, mercy, sympathy, and humanity.

This implies empathy for a person suffering in misery. Thus, this quality of God is a reflection of the good in humanity. -- Chesed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chesed#Translations

Does God Exist?

The short answer is, "only for the monotheists and their apologists."

The long answer is: within the dualist paradigm of Deists and Christians, God exists but the existence of Satan only proves the duality of good-and-evil as practised by monotheists, be they Christian, Jew or Muslim (or even monotheistic practises outside the Judeo-Christian/Muslim practice).

Clearly, any religion that uses the symbol for evil, Satan/Shatain, for controlling its masses has fallen into the dualist delusion called "good-and-evil", and thus perpetuates the very suffering which its only savior (or salvatory method) is supposed to save its believers from, be it the Christ, God or Allah. However, religious leaders have said that works alone is not enough, and that worship consists of more than faith (such as belief in the dogmas and doctrines of a particular sect, which is expressed as "faith in God/Jesus/Allah/Guru Granth Sahib").

Yet it is by faith alone that one is closer to the state called "being saved" than if one dedicates one's life purely to works alone. "Works" in this case is used in its religious sense, i.e. actions which help one become closer to a Higher Power.

Because of the duality employed here, probably monotheists are wholely deluded, and thus prone to ego distortions that mimick "demon possession" which may require methods of social control. For religion, like politics, is a form of social control - and often the two are in bed together. This is the way it has been since time immemorial.

Yes, God exists, but not in the sense that humanity exists.

As well, math can prove the existence of God. If "1" is used to denote "existence" and "0" to denote "non-existence", and if God == 1 and Satan == -1, then if the absolute value of God is 1 and the absolute value of Satan is 1, then God has the same value as Satan and Satan, God i.e. they are of equal worth and existence. Therefore both God and Satan exist, but only within the same paradigm.

Ergo there is no God or Satan outside monotheism. Within Buddhism such hair splitting distracts from the pursuit of spiritual awareness, that all people are one, and that all things are impermanent, even God. Furthermore, Buddhism states that good-and-evil depends more on the situation than on some dogma or doctrine. However, contrary to what monotheists state, Buddhism is not anathema to God. Rather, it points at a method to uncover truth without expecting one to suspend disbelief or examine how many angels are dancing on a head of a pin!

For the methods employed in Buddhism can be applied to monotheism to prove if God exists.

If by faith alone we judge a person of faith to be right, then all believers are right. However, the existence of God and the proofs used to defend that existence is neither right nor wrong. Most of them are just opinion only, and opinion based on a shallow concept of the Bible and on other opinions of other men, all of whom are fallible and prone to err.

God may exist, but debating his existence is moot and extremely boring. However, only man truly exists, for warfare proves his existence. For it is said "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they are sons of God."

Since the existence of God is debateable, discussion about God's existence is rendered moot.

War and Violence Neither Muslim nor Christian

War and violence of any kind is a great disrespect to Allah and God.

Any person who represents a religion whose members preach violence do not know of Allah and God. Any Muslim faith that uses violence to promote their religion dishonors Allah. Any Christian or Jewish faith that uses violence and condones war dishonors God.

Thus any Muslim leader who wishes violent death upon anyone offends Allah. And any Christian political leader who starts a war offends God.

Even Buddhists know better than to promote discord, and always value harmony and peace. Small wonder people are discovering Buddhism.

May all Christians, Jews and Muslims come together in peace.