Why can’t Muslims laugh at Mohammed?

David P. Goldman May 5, 2015

In Mel Brooks’ comedy “History of the World Part I,” Moses is shown descending from Mount Sinai with three stone tablets in hand. As he declares, “I give you the Fifteen Commandments,” one falls and breaks, and Moses corrects himself, “er, Ten Commandments.” Jews, including the observant, find this funny rather than offensive. As we learned once again in Garland, Texas, Muslims do not laugh at jokes about Mohammed, the purported author of the Koran (as Moses is the author of the Torah). Two wannabe Jihadists with assault rifles and body armor were no match for an off-duty Texas traffic cop with a sidearm, but the incident might have turned into a massacre worse than the murder of the Charlie Hebdo staff in January.

Why do Jews as well as Christians–but not Muslims–laugh at jokes about the founders of their faiths?

The answer is that radically different deities are in question. Judaism begins with a covenant between God and human beings–Abraham and his descendants–that is a partnership in which God is normally, but not always, the senior partner. As Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks observes, the Jewish sages of antiquity envisioned Moses acting as a judge for God, permitting God to annul his earlier vow to destroy the Jewish people after the sin of the Golden Calf. This is unimaginable in Islam, just as unimaginable as the Christian God who humbles himself on the cross.

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Doing Church on the Streets of Baltimore

May 05, 2015 – The New York Times – Ron Nixon and Scott Shane

The Rev. Warren Savage, a former gang member, is trying to persuade members of several gangs to direct their energy away from violence. (Gabriella Demczuk for The New York Times)

For the past few days, as a rare national media spotlight has shined on this city’s troubles, the Rev. Warren Savage has taken the opportunity to meet with self-described members of the gangs that many residents blame for some of those woes: the Crips, the Bloods and the Black Guerrilla Family.

He has found them on the streets, sat down with them in churches, and talked to them about their anger and their aspirations, urging them to redirect their energy from crime and violent feuding to more productive ends — including tamping down unrest that followed the death of a young black man, Freddie Gray, who suffered fatal injuries in police custody two weeks ago.

In Ferguson, Mo., community leaders seemed unable to come together to stem the violence after the police killing of Michael Brown in August. But in Baltimore, an array of pastors, politicians, community leaders and even gang members have repeatedly taken to the streets to calm crowds, effectively helping the police impose a curfew so far.

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Say NO to legalising ‘Gay Marriage’ in Australia / Live webcast 31st May

Dear family & friends in Christ, 1) It seems like many nations are rapidly slipping away from God’s divine order of marriage between a man & woman, and embracing gay…

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Mother of two ‘abandons her children to travel to Syria and join ISIS’ after being recruited by infamous jihadi bride

26 May 2015 – Daily Mail Australia A mother of two has reportedly abandoned her children to travel to Syria and live under the rule of ISIS. Jasmina Milovanov is…

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After Devastation and Death, Nepali Church Returns to Worship

May 06, 2015 – Baptist Press – Susie Rain

Members of a small Kathmandu church gather at an alternate place of worship one week after their building was damaged in the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Nepal on April 25. IMB Photo

The small Nepali congregation started worship Saturday (May 2) right where they left off the previous week — singing.

Two dozen voices gained momentum, clapping hands, dancing and raising their faces to heaven in song: “Still I will love You and spread Your love to the people.”

The congregation breaks into prayer, for this is the moment when the song was interrupted by Nepal’s 7.8-magnitude earthquake a week earlier, on April 25.

They shed tears and cry in reliving the moment together: … The congregation grabbed hands and crouched against an inner wall of their fourth-floor room. Someone prayed aloud and others joined. The pastor, Rajaan Tamang*, looked up and saw the outer wall shaking. He looked over his shoulder and saw a crack form across the wall where they had sought shelter. He knew that if they didn’t get off the fourth floor, they all might die. They lurched down the stairs and gathered in the field outside. A few moments later, a building across the street crumbled and killed seven people. They were safe and together….

A lone voice gently leads the Kathmandu congregation back to the present by finishing the song: “Heaven has seen me. The cloud of testimony is surrounding me. Soak me with Your anointing power.”

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Ex-Muslim: Qur’an revealed a religion I did not like

May 1, 2015 – By Robert Spencer – Jihad Watch

Mona Walter grew up a Muslim in Somalia. When she moved to Sweden, she started studying Islam, and found that she did not like what she was learning. Now she has left Islam and is called an “Islamophobe” and worse.

What should she have done? Stayed in a religion she disliked and believed to be false so as to avoid threats and opprobrium? What should she do now? Stay silent for fear of charges of “Islamophobia” that inevitably come to everyone who dares utter a critical word about Islam and jihad?

In the West today one must like Islam, or is considered to have some kind of moral defect. One need not like Christianity or Judaism, or socialism or capitalism or democracy or communism, but one must like and respect Islam, or you will be considered to be “hateful,” “bigoted,” and “racist,” as well as “Islamophobic.”

This is one reason why AFDI and Jihad Watch are co-sponsoring the Muhammad Art Exhibit and Cartoon Contest in the Dallas area Sunday. The point is not mockery of Islam. The point is not poking religious people in the eye. The point is defending the principles of free speech and free inquiry, without which society and human beings are not free, but are slaves to the people in power. Those who wield the real power are not necessarily those who hold office. Those who wield the real power are those whom one dares not criticize, to say nothing of mocking, on pain of violent reprisal: if they’re allowed to frighten people into silence, then essentially they can do whatever they wish, knowing that no one will dare to cross them.

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Nigerian bishop: Hillary must think she’s a ‘god’ if she wants us to abandon our pro-life values

May 5, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com)

An African Catholic bishop has said he thinks Hillary Clinton believes she is a god, someone who doesn’t value others’ morals, and he hopes Americans will wake up to what sort of people are running to be their president.

“I believe there are three groups of people in this world,” said Bishop Emmanuel Badejo. “Those who believe in God, those who do not believe in God, and those who think they are gods.”

“Hillary Clinton I think is one of those who thinks she is a god,” he said. “And I’m not obliged to believe that.”

In an April 29 interview with the Catholic website Aleteia, the Nigerian bishop was asked about Clinton’s recent statements at the Women in the World Summit, where she said, “Deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed” to give women access to “reproductive health care and safe childbirth.”

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UKIP vows to defend Britain’s Christians in new election platform

Hilary White – May 5, 2015

LONDON, May 5, 2015 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In sight of this month’s general election, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) has issued a manifesto of its adherence to Christian values, saying that there must be a more “robust” defence of Christianity. The party’s leader, Nigel Farage, stated that the political class in Britain has lost sight of the nation’s Christian roots.

“We will uphold robustly the rights of Christians, as well as those of other faiths, to worship as they wish and to espouse their beliefs openly, within the limits of the common law,” the party said in its “Christian manifesto,” thus far, the only such document produced by any British political party.

UKIP says the party is “proud of Britain’s Judaeo-Christian heritage,” which it says “underpins our culture, our legal code and our system of governance.”

“We will stand up for it because we believe it is as integral, relevant and important a part of life in Britain today as it has ever been.”

“Sadly, I think UKIP is the only major political party left in Britain that still cherishes our Judaeo-Christian heritage. I believe other parties have deliberately marginalised our nation’s faith, whereas we take Christian values and traditions into consideration when making policy,” Farage said.

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Reinhard Bonnke, Evangelist Who Clashed With Muslims in Africa to Win Millions of Converts for Christ to Get Lifetime Award for Global Ministry

The Christian Post – 4 May 2015

Reinhard Bonnke, a longtime and once hardline global evangelist who clashed with Muslims in Africa to win millions of converts for Christ on the continent, is set to get a Lifetime Global Impact award at the Global Congress of Empowered21 in Jerusalem for his trailblazing ministry next month.

Bonnke will be honored alongside other veteran evangelists Morris Cerullo, Jack Hayford, Marilyn Hickey, David Manise, and Vinson Synan at the 2015 Global Congress to be held May 20-25. Empowered21 seeks to push a “Global Spirit-empowered movement throughout the world by focusing on crucial issues facing the movement and connecting generations for intergenerational blessing and impartation,” according to the organization’s website. This is the first time the organization will hand out lifetime awards.

All have served the Lord in various avenues and were chosen because they are “Spirit-empowered ministry leaders who have made a huge impact in the world. They have also shown a desire to invest in the next generation or implement a ministry succession plan,” Jeremy Burton of Empowered21 told The Christian Post.

“Reinhard Bonnke has totally dedicated himself to soul-winning for 50 years now. He has a laser-sharp focus on winning souls. Through his ministry, Christ for All Nations, over 73 million people have made registered decisions to follow Jesus Christ. To be recognized and honored by the Christian community for this service is an honor for which we give the glory to God,” a Christ for All Nations spokeswoman told CP.

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Great news with 2nd round of Reclaim Australia Rallies – Brief video from Daniel Nalliah

Dear friends & family in Christ, You may click the link above to watch a 3 minute video of Rise Up Australia National President Daniel Nalliah promoting Reclaim Australia Rallies…

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Police, PM reject bid from Victorian ISIL fighter to warn others of peril, in exchange for being allowed home

May 19, 2015 – AAP

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says Australian foreign fighters seeking to return home will be arrested and prosecuted.

Lawyers are seeking leniency from the government in seeking to return their clients who have been fighting with Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, arguing that they could help with deradicalising Australian youths.

“If you go, and you seek to come back, as far as this government is concerned you will be arrested, you will be prosecuted and you will be jailed,” Mr Abbott told reporters in Sydney today.

“We are hardly going to welcome you back into the country. You will be arrested and jailed.”

A lawyer representing the Australian is refusing to identify his client, saying only that he is a Victorian man who wants to return home.

“We’re trying to engage the Federal Police particularly, in a program that might see him benefit the community here, both in terms of deradicalisation and probably intelligence,” Rob Stary told 3AW radio.

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