George Mamishisho Lamsa (Syriac: ܓܝܘܪܓܝܣ
ܠܡܣܐ) (August 5, 1892 – September 22, 1975) was an Assyrianauthor. He was born in Mar Bishu in what is now the extreme east of Turkey. A native Aramaic speaker, he translated the Aramaic Peshitta (literally "straight, simple") Old and New Testaments into English. Lamsa was a member of the Assyrian Church of the East. He was a strong advocate of one of that Church's beliefs: Peshitta primacy (a form of Aramaic primacy). His hypothesis was that for the New Testament, the Peshitta was the original text, and the Greek version was translated from it. In support of this, he noted that Aramaic was the language of Jesus and the earliest Christians, because of the historical fact that, according to Lamsa, "Aramaic was the colloquial and literary language of Palestine, Syria, Asia Minor and Mesopotamia, from the fourth century B. C. to the ninth century A. D."

Lamsa further claimed that while most of the Old Testament was written in Hebrew, the original was lost and the present Hebrew version, the Masoretic text, was re-translated from the Peshitta.

Lamsa produced his own translation of the Bible in the form of The Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts, which is commonly called the Lamsa Bible.^[4]
A notable difference between Lamsa's translation and other versions of the New Testament occurs in the fourth of the Words of Jesus on the cross – Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. This is regarded by more conservative scholars as a quotation in Aramaic of the opening of Psalm 22, which in English is "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" This is similar to how the psalm appears in the Aramaic Peshitta Old Testament and it appears in earlier Aramaic Targums. Lamsa believed that the text of the Gospels was corrupt, and that it is not a quotation but should read /Eli, Eli, lemana shabaqthani, which he translates as: "My God, my God, for this I was spared!" An accompanying footnote in Lamsa's English version of the Bible explains Jesus's meaning as "This was my destiny."

Aramaic grammars and dictionaries,^[5] disagree with Lamsa's assertion about Jesus' last words, as the word שבקתני [shvaqtani] in Aramaic is the perfect 2nd person singular form of the verb שבק [shvaq] which means "to leave, to leave s.t. left over, to abandon," or "to permit"^[6] with the 1st person singular pronoun affixed. This would, in turn, cause the phrase to translate as "why have you left me?" "why have you let me be?" "why have you abandoned me?" or "why have you permitted me?" Where many scholars hold that the sources of the New Testament and early oral traditions of fledgling Christianity were, indeed, in Aramaic, the Peshitta appears to have been strongly influenced by the Byzantine reading of the Greek manuscript tradition, and is in a dialect of Syriac that is much younger than that which was contemporary to Jesus.^[7]

Critics of Lamsa assert that he, like many native speakers Aramaic, extend the semantic areas of words beyond the evidence of existent texts.^[8]

Bruce Chilton, scholar and prominent Aramicist, has said:

"A still less defensible tendency confuses Aramaic of the first century with Syriac, a different form of the language. The approach of George Lamsa, who used the Peshitta Syriac version as an index of replicating Jesus' teaching in Aramaic, has been taken up and popularized by Neil Douglas-Klotz. This approach willfully perpetuates a basic confusion of language, since Aramaic and Syriac come from different centuries and areas (although they are closely related Semitic languages), and is based on uncritical treatment of the Peshitta, a Syriac version of the Gospels."^[9]

In 1989 the Christian Evangelical apologetics research ministry Christian Research Institute asserted in a published review that several of Lamsa's theological positions and interpretations were not supported by the Bible. The review concludes by saying:

"On the surface, Lamsa appears to be a revealer of biblical truth and culture and a friend of evangelical Christianity. Closer study, however, has revealed that Lamsa promotes metaphysical, not evangelical teachings which have led him to inaccurate interpretations and translations of portions of the Bible. As an ambassador of Nestorian, not biblical culture, Lamsa became a cultic figure in his own right."

The Writings of George Mamishisho Lamsa

• Life in the Harem. Washington, D.C: [s.n.], 1921.
  
• The Secret of the Near East: Slavery of Women, Social, Religious and Economic Life in the Near East. Philadelphia, PA: Ideal Pr., 1923.
  
• Emhardt, William Chauncey, and George Mamishisho Lamsa. The Oldest Christian People: A Brief Account of the History and Traditions of the Assyrian People and the Fateful History of the Nestorian Church. NY: Macmillan, 1926.
  
• Did 'the Jews' Kill Jesus? NY:[s.n.], 1930.
  
• Key to Original Gospels. Philadelphia, Pa: John C. Winston Co, 1931.
  
• My Neighbor Jesus: In the Light of His Own Language, People, and Time. St. Petersburg Beach, Fla: Aramaic Bible Soc., 1932.
  
• The Four Gospels According to the Eastern Version. Philadelphia: A.J. Holman, 1933.
  
• Gospel Light: Comments on the Teachings of Jesus from Aramaic and Unchanged Eastern Customs. Philadelphia: A.J. Holman, 1936.
  
• The Book of Psalms, According to the Eastern Version. Philadelphia: A.J. Holman, 1939.
  
• Modern Wisdom. New York: Association Pr., 1939.
  
• The Shepherd of All: The Twenty-Third Psalm. Philadelphia, Pa: A.J. Holman, 1939.
  
• Josephus and the Greek Language. New York: [s.n.], 1940.
  
• The New Testament According to the Eastern Text: Translated from Original Aramaic Sources. Philadelphia: A.J. Holman, 1940.
  
• Second Reader in Aramaic. Philadelphia: [s.n.], 1942.
  
• New Testament Commentary from the Aramaic and the Ancient Eastern Customs. Philadelphia: A.J. Holman, 1945.
  
• New Testament Origin. Chicago: Ziff-Davis, 1947.
  
• The Short Koran, Designed for Easy Reading. Chicago: Ziff-Davis, 1949.
  
• The Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts: Containing the Old and New Testaments. Philadelphia: [s.n.], 1957.
  
• Was Jesus an Essene? A Comparative Study of Jesus and the Prophets; a New Light on the Hidden Years. Pontiac, Mich: Charles R. Hocklin, 1959.
  
• A Brief Course in the Aramaic Language. [s.n.], 1960.
  
• Old Testament Light: A Scriptural Commentary Based on the Aramaic of the Ancient Peshitta Text. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall, 1964.
  
• Gems of Wisdom. Lee's Summit, Mo: [Unity School of Christianity], 1966.
  
• The Kingdom on Earth. Lee's Summit, Mo: Unity Books [distrib. Hawthorn, NY], 1966.
  
• The Shepherd of All: The Twenty-Third Psalm. San Antonio, Tex: Aramaic Bible Center, 1966.
  
• And the Scroll Opened. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1967.
  
• More Light on the Gospel: Over 400 New Testament Passages Explained. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1968.
  
• The Hidden Years of Jesus. Lee's Summit, MO: Unity Books, 1968.
  
• The Man from Galilee; A Life of Jesus. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1970.
  
• Roses of Gulistan. St. Petersburg Beach, Fla: Aramaic Bible Society, 1972.
  
• Old Testament Light: A Scriptural Commentary Based on the Aramaic of the Ancient Peshitta Text. Philadelphia: Holman, 1978.
  
• Pearls of Wisdom. Marina del Rey, Calif: De Vorss, 1978.
  
• Idioms in the Bible Explained; and, A Key to the Original Gospel. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row, 1985.
  
• The Holy Bible from the Ancient Eastern Text: George M. Lamsa's Translations from the Aramaic of the Peshitta. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1985.
  
• New Testament Light: More Light on the Gospels, Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation: Over 400 Passages Explained. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988.
  
• The Modern New Testament from Aramaic. Marina del Rey, CA: DeVorss, 1998.
  
• Lamsa, George Mamishisho, and Daniel Jon Mahar. The Deluxe Study Edition of The Modern New Testament from the Aramaic: With New Testament Origin, Comparative Bible Verses, & a Compact English-Aramaic Concordance. Martinez, GA: Aramaic Bible Soc., 2001.
  

Biographical Works

• Lamsa, George Mamishisho, and Tom Alyea. The Life of George M. Lamsa, Translator. St. Petersburg, Fla: Aramaic Bible Soc., 1966.
  

(WARNING: The following article does contain a few factual errors.)

 

George M. Lamsa

Christian Scholar or Cultic Torchbearer?

DL010

From Christian Research Institute

John P. Juedes

George M. Lamsa's books and translations of the Bible have become a fixture in Christian bookstores across the nation. Lamsa published 21 books by the time of his death in 1975. Four of these, plus his version of the Bible, were published by A. J. Holman, a well-known Bible and book publisher. Currently, Spring Arbor distributes them to Christian bookstores nationwide.

For nearly 50 years Lamsa was a popular speaker at conferences and churches, published the periodical Light for All, and spoke on the radio program "Lessons for Living." He also founded the Aramaic Bible Society and Calvary Missionary Church. Many groups and writers quote Lamsa as a Bible scholar.

There are several reasons for Lamsa's popularity. First, his books are engaging and very readable. Second, his comments on the life and customs of Bible times are engrossing to twentieth century Westerners. Third, people are intrigued and awed by Lamsa's claim that he was reared in the same part of the world Jesus lived, thus participating in biblical customs and language, and is hence uniquely able to reveal the Bible's idioms, translate the Bible accurately, and disclose its true meaning.

Lamsa's Christian readers commonly make the following charitable assumptions about his life and work: They believe Lamsa was an evangelical Christian teacher and that he accepted all the major biblical teachings held by the church. They think Lamsa absorbed a culture like that of Bible times which enabled him to accurately interpret Scripture. They further believe he held the Bible in high esteem and that he accurately translated it.

In this article we will closely examine each of these assumptions with a view to gaining a clearer picture of Lamsa's work. This will enable us to better respond to the man and his claims.

LAMSA'S TEACHINGS: BIBLICAL OR CULTIC?

Anyone who closely reads Lamsa's books will notice that he seldom explicitly enunciates his beliefs. In fact, Lamsa stated that he purposely tried to avoid doctrinal, theological, and controversial matters and passages.When he does deal with a controversial topic, he will typically mention some common views without stating his own. For instance, when he addresses Luke's account of angels at Jesus' ascension, he comments that many faiths hold to a belief in personal angels and demons, but he neglects to say that he himself does not.

Lamsa's motives and message are also made difficult to discern by his inconsistency: some of his writings seem evangelical, while others are far removed from the biblical faith. This may be due to an evolution of his thought away from biblical teaching or to adjusting his wording to his audiences' desires.

We gain insight into Lamsa's true message and his approach to interpreting Scripture by reflecting on his upbringing. George Lamsa was born near the Turkish/Iraqi border about 1892 and lived there until about 1915. This area has been overrun by one warring country after another for centuries. Lamsa remembers thousands of his Armenian people being massacred, starved, or forced from their homeland by Moslems; he narrowly escaped death himself. Rival tribes were in constant conflict, highlighting their political, cultural, and religious differences. The history of Lamsa's Eastern church is full of divisions, including such competing groups as the Monophysites, Nestorians, and Jacobians. (This even led to alternate alphabets for their common language.)

These experiences affected Lamsa's message and interpretation of Scripture in several ways. Above all, Lamsa sought a "new world order" in which "the light of the gospel would be shared, racial and class barriers would be eliminated, and national boundaries would be eliminated."
Accordingly, Lamsa interprets Jesus' Sermon on the Mount (in his book appropriately titled The Kingdom on Earth) as a commandment for world peace, international understanding, and the overthrow of enslaving governments by meekness and love. Lamsa founded the Christian Mohammedan Society in 1921 to pursue unity by emphasizing common ground.

Lamsa's desire to unite nations into a universal state led him to avoid matters of dogma and make many concessions to the beliefs of other faiths, seeking the lowest common denominator among religions.

Lamsa on the Trinity

Lamsa proudly admits to being raised in the Nestorian church, which can be traced back to A.D. 431 when the Council of Ephesus declared that the patriarch Nestorius was teaching a false view of Christ. His followers fled to Persia and developed their own rituals, customs, and theology, which are reflected in Lamsa's writings.

For instance, Lamsa said "the Eastern Christians believe in one God with three attributes, instead of three persons."
Other Nestorians also preferred the Aramaic word "attributes" (kenomey) to the Greek concept "persons" (prosopon), even though these held to the doctrine of the Trinity.


Lamsa's teachings on Christ and the Holy Spirit, however, do not match Nestorian Trinitarianism. (In fact, he often implies that he opposes the belief.) He considers "spirit" to be synonymous with "influence," "expansion," "effectiveness," and "hidden power," and suggests that the Comforter of John 14:16 and 16:8 is but the influence Jesus left behind after His dissolution on the cross.

Lamsa also promoted the Nestorian view that Jesus Christ was actually two persons — Jesus and Christ — who, in a manner of speaking, were glued together like two boards. Jesus, Lamsa says, began His existence at birth in Bethlehem, while "Christ existed from the very beginning. He was neither born nor did he die, but he lives forever. This belief is still held by Christians in the East...." In Lamsa's view, Jesus did not claim to be equal to God, nor did He want to be worshipped.

The Rest of this interesting article is available on-line. It is interesting that the author has a limited understanding of Aramaic, the Nestorians and the Assyrians. He confuses Aramaic with Armenian!

First, let's look at the positive contributions of George Lamsa:

• He popularized Aramaic and the Aramaic Christian heritage very well
  
• He made Aramaic Bible studies accessable.
  

So, what are the problems? Firstly, George Lamsa wasn't the only Aramaic speaker. There are still, literally hundreds of thousands of people (perhaps a million) who still speak Aramaic. There are many Assyrians who likewise speak Aramaic as their native language and grew up in Biblical lands. I have been to and lived in such Aramaic villages.

George Lamsa was not the first person to translate the Syriac Peshitta into English. Decades before, John Wesley Etheridge and James Murdock both made English translations. (The Murdock translation is available through Gorgias Books.) There are also good modern language translations of the Peshitta-particularly by Jan Magiera. In the originally introduction to the King James Bible, the translators claimed that although they translated from Hebrew and Greek that they did consult the Aramaic (Syrian) version.

There are also good Assyrian Bible teachers such as John Booko. Father Michael Bazzi of the St. Peter's Chaldean Church also has produced good materials for the study of Aramaic as the language of Jesus. On the other hand there are groups that are (what I would say) "outside of Christian orthodoxy" who mis-use Aramaic to support their false doctrines. There are also recognized scholars who cite the Aramaic-such as the late Joachim Jeremias.

I am heartbroken to see the violence in Syria-a country that I lived in and have visted many times.

 

I have lived in Syria-been there three times. Nice country-but I realized during my first visit there-that the Alawite regime needs to go. Syria is controlled by an Islamist regime (the Alawite cult). Iran has total control over Syria and Lebanon. hezbollah IS Syria. It is possible that the Muslim Brotherhood could take over. That regime in Syria has killed thousands of Americans, Iraqis, Lebanese and Israelis. It is time for them to go. After having lived there and seen their evil for myself-I can't see how it could be worse. The Alawites have introduced false doctrines into the churches. They have plain clothes cops observing every church. Everything is under strict government control. Christians are not free in Syria-but some operate under the false delusion that the Alawites protect them. The Alawites have aligned themselves with radical Shiite islam. They build mosques in Christian villages and move Muslims into Christian villages. The false doctine is marcionism. Many Syrian Christians are so anti-Semitic, they won't read the Old Testament and believe that Jehovah is the false god of the Jews. having observed them up close I have to say -the Alawite regime is very evil. A Syrian Christian who preaches from the Bible will most likely be arrested and sent to the concentration camp at Tadmor.

Remember: youtube: www.youtube.com/aramaic12, the newsletter www.aramaicherald.blogspot.com and me at PO Box 882, Shepherd Texas 77371

Obama urges bipartisan support — for his agenda by Olivier Knox

Fresh off a political victory from the extension of the payroll tax cut, President Barack Obama delivered a time-honored political message on Tuesday that might be paraphrased this way: Now is the time for all Americans to set aside their differences and do what I want.

FBI purges all material that Muslims deem offensive

The FBI has removed hundreds of counterterrorism training documents after a months-long review found inaccuracies and other problems in their description of Muslims. The review was triggered after a September blog in Wired magazine revealed training documents that reportedly called the Prophet Muhammad a "cult leader," claimed "devout" Muslims have been generally violent for hundreds of years and made other controversial statements. The FBI did not get into details about which documents were taken out, but a law enforcement source confirmed to Fox News on Tuesday that hundreds were removed because they were deemed "not consistent with the highest professional standards and the FBI's core values." The Wired article detailed, among other materials, a presentation that included a graph that tracked followers of the Bible, Torah and Koran over hundreds of years. It showed "devout" followers of the Torah and the Bible becoming less violent over time, while "devout" followers of the Koran remaining as violent in 2010 as they were hundreds of years ago. One concern was that the documents played into al Qaeda propaganda that America was battling Islam as a whole, and not just radical Muslim extremists. Obama shortly after taking office, declared in Turkey that the United States is "not at war with Islam." However, the Obama administration has since come under criticism from some members of Congress for omitting mention entirely of radical Islam in its counterterrorism materials. A strategic plan on homegrown terror released in December did not use the term radical Islam once, though it did discuss Al Qaeda and those groups inspired by it. A Defense Department letter in October also classified the Fort Hood massacre as "workplace violence."
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/21/fbi-purges-hundreds-training-documents-after-probe-on-treatment-islam/?test=latestnews#ixzz1n4pHBrmI

FBI Director Mueller secretly met on February 8 at FBI headquarters with a coalition of groups including various Islamist and militant Arabic groups who in the past have defended Hamas and Hizballah and have also issued blatantly anti-Semitic statements. At this meeting, the FBI revealed that it had removed more than 1000 presentations and curricula on Islam from FBI offices around the country that was deemed "offensive." The FBI did not reveal what criteria was used to determine why material was considered "offensive" but knowledgeable law enforcement sources have told the IPT that it was these radical groups who made that determination. Moreover, numerous FBI agents have confirmed that from now on, FBI headquarters has banned all FBI offices from inviting any counter-terrorist specialists who are considered "anti-Islam" by Muslim Brotherhood front groups. The February 8 FBI meeting was the culmination of a series of unpublicized directives issued in the last three months by top FBI officials to all its field offices to immediately recall and withdraw any presentation or curricula on Islam throughout the entire FBI. In fact, according to informed sources and undisclosed documents, the FBI directive was instigated by radical Muslim groups in the US who had repeatedly met with top officials of the Obama Administration to complain, among other things, that the mere usage of the term of "radical Islam" in FBI curricula was "offensive" and 'racist." And thus, directives went out by Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director Mueller to censor all such material. Included in the material destroyed or removed by the FBI and the DOJ were powerpoints and articles that defined jihad as "holy war" or presentations that portrayed the Muslim Brotherhood as an organization bent on taking over the world—a major tenant that the Muslim Brotherhood has publicly stated for decades.

President John F. Kennedy: Sexual Predator

President Kennedy had a sexual affair with a nineteen year old White House intern. (Her name is now Alford.) He forced her to have sex with one of his associate while he watched. He forced the intern to take what he believed to be sex-enhancing drugs against her will. The Media has basically made JFK and his family into gods, just as they have made a god out of Obama. "Teddy" Kennedy was also an immoral wretch. What amazed me is a) how he could claim to be a Catholic and pass anti-Catholic laws and b) how the people kept on re-electing him after he killed a woman! (Which was most likely murder. Of course, since he was a Kennedy the crime wasn't even investigated.) We need to stop worshiping people as gods-it is idolatry-sinful and wicked.

Oliver Stone's Son-Sean Stone Converts to Islam-in Iran!

This reminds me of the American Taliban, John Walker Lindh, spoiled rich American liberal brat joins fanatical Islam. People want to believe in something. Liberalism brings about the demise of a culture. It cannot endure, it will be replaced by another belief system.

How Dangerous Is Obama?

http://www.israpundit.com/archives/43393, Februray 15, 2012, James Lewis, American Thinker

It's now quite clear that Obama is playing chicken with Israel on Iranian nukes. That is why Leon Panetta came out with a statement this week accusing Israel of planning to attack Iran. If that statement is true, it's the worst kind of sabotage, undermining the advantages of surprise. If it's false, it is intended to place Israel at the focus of Iranian rage. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. The goal of Obama's nuclear brinkmanship is to drive Israel into making dangerous territorial compromises. This is a Carteresque policy: blame the victim, and arm her enemy. Jimmy Carter enabled Iranian radicalization starting with Ayatollah Khomeini, heedless of the disastrous and possibly genocidal consequences. Carter recently said that an Iranian nuclear weapon was no big deal, as if a nuke in the hands of a suicide-preaching Khomeinist ideology machine is just fine with him. Well, the Saudis know their Iranian enemies a great deal better than Jimmy Carter does, and they are sending their money to Switzerland. Obama and Carter represent the dangerous "left of the left wing" Democrat foreign policy establishment, the folks who thought we should surrender to the Soviets, who created the retreat from Saigon, and who rationalized the Iran-Iraq War, which killed a million people after Carter allowed Khomeini radicalism to rise in Iran. The destruction caused by left-leftist foreign policy "thought" from the Democrats is immense. Over the years, they have colluded in hundreds of thousands of deaths abroad — covered up by the mainstream media. They are Lenin's useful idiots, who colluded in 100 million Communist terror victims in the 20th century alone, and they have not changed one little bit. Such people are dangerous. When they enabled Mao Zedong's "Great Leap Forward" at the cost of 40 million Chinese lives, all the damage was to China. There was no plausible nuclear threat to Japan, South Korea, or Taiwan, because mad old Mao Zedong turned his mass-killing efforts inwards. When Vietnam killed hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese after the U.S. withdrew from Saigon, again, Ho Chi Minh's purges were turned inward. Now that North Korea is again filling its concentration camps and having another major famine, its neighbors feel reasonably safe. Yes, the useful idiots of the West engage in criminal collusion with madmen of the East, as Dr. Thomas Sowell points out in his latest book on Western intellectuals, but our criminal colluders always stay safe themselves. That is not true with a nuclear Iran, which is really run by a suicide-glorifying cult, just like World War II Japan, or Hitler during the last days in the bunker. For the first time in history, humanity is facing the worst of all possible options: nuclear weapons in the hands of a cult which preaches and glorifies massive martyrdom and which has carried out giant martyrdom attacks during the Iran-Iraq War. That is why Iranian nukes are different from American or Soviet nukes. The left-of-the-left has always lived in denial of that plain and obvious fact: that the war ideology of one's nuclear enemies has everything to do with the lethality of the danger those enemies pose. Every child in Iran is raised with the daily chant Death to America! Death to Israel! Our useful idiots have preached for thirty years that "they don't really mean it," in exactly the way Western appeasers told the world that Hitler didn't really mean Mein Kampf. There's bluffing, and there's genuine war ideology. Nazi ideology used bluffing but was perfectly willing to sacrifice a generation of Germans in assaulting France and Russia. Imperial Japan likewise. Khomeinism shows all the signs of a suicidal war ideology, but it is happy to bluff its enemies — which includes all the Sunni Muslims in surrounding countries — to get its way. Martyrdom is glorious, but spreading fear and terror by bluff is also in the war manual. Obama has failed to do anything about Iranian nukes in order to pressure Israel (and probably the Saudis) into obeying his Napoleonic destiny. The slogan "Audace, audace, toujours audace!" comes from Napoleon and Marshall Ney, who practiced Blitzkrieg on European armies a century before Hitler. Obama is a reckless gambler. He is gambling with our economy. He is gambling with our first-rate health care system, including your future as you age. He likes to gamble, and he figures to blame everybody else when he inevitably fails. That's the role of the Occupy Mobs during the election: to blame "capitalism" when the economy aches and groans from Obama misgovernment. Obama (like Bill and Hillary) has figured out that misgovernment doesn't matter in the least — not if you have the Big Media on your side, ready to rant and rage to blame your enemies for the chaos you bring. When Leon Panetta and Hillary come out in public to blame Israel for wanting to defend itself, the same cynical Napoleonic strategy is at work. When Obama called for Hosni Mubarak to resign after thirty years of upholding peace in the Sinai, triggering off a rolling overthrow of Arab regimes from Tunisia to Egypt and Yemen, the same recklessness was at work. Who cares if Muslim radicalism took over the Arab world? Just like Jimmy Carter, who was willing to see Ayatollah Khomeini establish a sadistic tyranny over our ally Iran, Obama loves Muslims so much that he is quite willing to see sadistic, reactionary forces take over in Egypt and elsewhere for the greater glory of Barry. The bottom line is that Obama is threatening Israel with nuclear genocide if it doesn't obey his Napoleonic orders, which are to retreat to the 1948 ceasefire lines that make Israel look like a gerrymandered congressional district. Such a "solution" doubles or triples the borders to be defended against lethal enemies, while shrinking Israel's small territory by two-thirds. It is a death sentence. But that is the barely hidden agenda of the left-of-the-left foreign policy establishment the Democrats have cobbled together in the last several decades. These are the same people who approved the fraudulent intelligence estimate at the end of the Bush years, claiming that Iranian nukes posed no danger at all. They are the same people who brought Muslim propagandists into our universities, just as they are the generation of pseudo-historians who brought in the Stalinist Howard Zinn version of American history to propagandize an entire generation of American teenagers. They are taking vengeance on America for defeating Soviet Communism in the Cold War. They are the "declinists" who constantly preach that Pax Americana is dead, and that we will have to rely on China to enforce the peace of the world from now on. We don't have to guess at their goals, which are on full display in Europe today. Europe can no longer defend itself, because the simple will to survive has been radically undermined by a generation of left-of-leftists. When a Norwegian maniac killed almost a hundred people several months ago, the immediate reaction was to blame the tiny and oppressed democratic minority in Norway. That is how the left-of-the-left operates. They no longer believe in the nation-state, just as Obama no longer believes in the nation-state. And yet, our safety and security depends crucially on what remains of nationalism. We are ruled by delusional saboteurs who will do anything to destroy our national security on behalf of their dream of international peace — which means international tyranny, of course. For the first time, the United States is in the hands of an ideological minority that rules our schools and media with an iron fist. We can see who they are every day when they conduct witch hunts against Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, and any other ideological opponent. They are out to destroy their enemies, who are ultimately you and me. If they are willing to see the United States go down in defeat, why would anyone wonder that they want to end the State of Israel? The U.S. and Israel are just bourgeois capitalist democracies to the Jerry Wrights and Bill Ayerses of this world. Obama is a radical leftist. His mind is stuck in ideological delusions. We haven't seen his kind in the United States since the Stalinism of the 1940s, but around the world Obamas are a dime a dozen. The third Kim in North Korea is one. Hugo Chávez is another. Israel has its own suicidal left, like the editor of the daily Haaretz who told Condi Rice that "Israel must be raped" to bring peace and love to the Middle East. Objectively speaking, these people are mad. Psychologically, they have created a delusional cult, which happens often in human history. Instead of bringing peace, they are a clear and present danger to peace. Ronald Reagan, who understood Stalinists from his time in Hollywood, had a deep sense of who they are. So did Cold-War liberals like Senator Scoop Jackson. Today, with the media penetrated mostly by left-of-left cult members, we can no longer see who they are. We are therefore watching the most dangerous nuclear crisis in world history since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1964, which occurred when Fidel Castro — also a leftist fanatic — demanded that nuclear missiles be placed a hundred miles from Florida in Cuba. John F. Kennedy, a Cold-War liberal who recognized the danger, was president in those days. We, for our part, have Barack Hussein Obama, political tightrope-walker, who is willing to risk seven million Jews in Israel to achieve his narcissistic aims. It is a curse to live in interesting times.

Adapted from Dr. Peter Hammond's book: Slavery, Terrorism and Islam: The Historical Roots and Contemporary Threat.

Islam is not a religion, nor is it a cult. In its fullest form, it is a complete, total, 100% system of life. Islam has religious, legal, political, economic, social, and military components. The religious component is a beard for all of the other components. Islamization begins when there are sufficient Muslims in a country to agitate for their religious privileges. When politically correct, tolerant, and culturally diverse societies agree to Muslim demands for their religious privileges, some of the other components tend to creep in as well.
Here's how it works:

As long as the Muslim population remains around or under 2% in any given country, they will be for the most part be regarded as a peace-loving minority, and not as a threat to other citizens. This is the case in:

United States -- Muslim 0.6%
Australia -- Muslim 1.5%
Canada -- Muslim 1.9%
China -- Muslim 1.8%
Italy -- Muslim 1.5%
Norway -- Muslim 1.8%

At 2% to 5%, they begin to proselytize from other ethnic minorities and disaffected groups, often with major recruiting from the jails and among street gangs. This is happening in:

Denmark -- Muslim 2%
Germany -- Muslim 3.7%
United Kingdom -- Muslim 2.7%
Spain -- Muslim 4%
Thailand -- Muslim 4.6%

From 5% on, they exercise an inordinate influence in proportion to their percentage of the population. For example, they will push for the introduction of halal (clean by Islamic standards) food, thereby securing food preparation jobs for Muslims. They will increase pressure on supermarket chains to feature halal on their shelves -- along with threats for failure to comply. This is occurring in:

France -- Muslim 8%
Philippines -- 5%
Sweden -- Muslim 5%
Switzerland -- Muslim 4.3%
The Netherlands -- Muslim 5.5%
Trinidad & Tobago -- Muslim 5.8%

At this point, they will work to get the ruling government to allow them to rule themselves (within their ghettos) under Sharia, the Islamic Law. The ultimate goal of Islamists is to establish Sharia law over the entire world. When Muslims approach 10% of the population, they tend to increase lawlessness as a means of complaint about their conditions. In Paris , we are already seeing car-burnings. Any non-Muslim action offends Islam and results in uprisings and threats, such as in Amsterdam , with opposition to Mohammed cartoons and films about Islam. Such tensions are seen daily, particularly in Muslim sections in:

Guyana -- Muslim 10%
India -- Muslim 13.4%
Israel -- Muslim 16%
Kenya -- Muslim 10%
Russia -- Muslim 15%

After reaching 20%, nations can expect hair-trigger rioting, jihad militia formations, sporadic killings, and the burnings of Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, such as in:

Ethiopia -- Muslim 32.8%

At 40%, nations experience widespread massacres, chronic terror attacks, and ongoing militia warfare, such as in:

Bosnia -- Muslim 40%
Chad -- Muslim 53.1%
Lebanon -- Muslim 59.7%

From 60%, nations experience unfettered persecution of non-believers of all other religions (including non-conforming Muslims), sporadic ethnic cleansing (genocide), use of Sharia Law as a weapon, and Jizya, the tax
placed on infidels, such as in:

Albania -- Muslim 70%
Malaysia -- Muslim 60.4%
Qatar -- Muslim 77.5%
Sudan -- Muslim 70%

After 80%, expect daily intimidation and violent jihad, some State-run ethnic cleansing, and even some genocide, as these nations drive out the infidels, and move toward 100% Muslim, such as has been experienced and in some ways is on-going in:

Bangladesh -- Muslim 83%
Egypt -- Muslim 90%
Gaza -- Muslim 98.7%
Indonesia -- Muslim 86.1%
Iran -- Muslim 98%
Iraq -- Muslim 97%
Jordan -- Muslim 92%
Morocco -- Muslim 98.7%
Pakistan -- Muslim 97%
Palestine -- Muslim 99%
Syria -- Muslim 90%
Tajikistan -- Muslim 90%
Turkey -- Muslim 99.8%
United Arab Emirates -- Muslim 96%

100% will usher in the peace of 'Dar-es-Salaam' -- the Islamic House of Peace. Here there's supposed to be peace, because everybody is a Muslim, the Madrasses are the only schools, and the Koran is the only word, such as in:

Afghanistan -- Muslim 100%
Saudi Arabia -- Muslim 100%
Somalia -- Muslim 100%
Yemen -- Muslim 100%

Unfortunately, peace is never achieved, as in these 100% states the most radical Muslims intimidate and spew hatred, and satisfy their blood lust by killing less radical Muslims, for a variety of reasons.

'Before I was nine, I had learned the basic canon of Arab life. It was me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and the clan; the clan against the tribe; the tribe against the world, and all of us against the infidel. -- Leon Uris, 'The Haj'

It is important to understand that in some countries, with well under 100% Muslim populations, such as France, the minority Muslim populations live in ghettos, within which they are 100% Muslim, and within which they live by Sharia Law. The national police do not even enter these ghettos. There are no national courts, nor schools, nor non-Muslim religious facilities. In such situations, Muslims do not integrate into the community at large. The children attend madrasses. They learn only the Koran. To even associate with an infidel is a crime punishable with death. Therefore, in some areas of certain nations, Muslim Imams and extremists exercise more power than the national average would indicate. Today's 1.5 billion Muslims make up 22% of the world's population. But their birth rates dwarf the birth rates of Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, and all other believers. Muslims will exceed 50% of the world's population by the end of this century. Well, boys and girls, today we are letting the fox guard the henhouse. The wolves will be herding the sheep! Obama appoints two devout Muslims to Homeland Security posts. Doesn't this make you feel safer already? Obama and Janet Napolitano appoint Arif Alikhan, a devout Muslim, as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development. DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano swore in Kareem Shora, a devout Muslim who was born in Damascus, Syria, as ADC National Executive Director as a member of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC).
NOTE: Has anyone ever heard a new government official being identified as a devout Catholic, a devout Jew or a devout Protestant...? Just wondering. Devout Muslims being appointed to critical Homeland Security positions? Doesn't this make you feel safer already??That should make the US ' homeland much safer, huh!! Was it not "Devout Muslim men" that flew planes into U.S. buildings 9 years ago? Was it not a Devout Muslim who killed 13 at Fort Hood ? Also: This is very interesting and we all need to read it from start to finish. Maybe this is why our American Muslims are so quiet and not speaking out about any atrocities. Can a good Muslim be a good American? This question was forwarded to a friend who worked in Saudi Arabia for 20 years. The following is his reply:

Theologically - no . . . Because his allegiance is to Allah, The God of Arabia . Religiously – no… Because no other religion is accepted by His Allah except Islam (Quran, 2:256)(Koran)Scripturally - no… Because his allegiance is to the five Pillars of Islam and the Quran. Geographically – NO… Because his allegiance is to Mecca , to which he turns in prayer five times a day. Socially - NO… Because his allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews.. Politically - NO…Because he must submit to the mullahs (spiritual leaders), who teach annihilation of Israel and destruction of America , the great Satan. Domestically - NO… Because he is instructed to marry four Women and beat and scourge his wife when she disobeys him (Quran 4:34)Intellectually - NO… Because he cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt.Philosophically - NO… Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Quran do not allow freedom of religion and expression… Democracy and Islam cannot co-exist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic.Spiritually - NO… Because when we declare 'one nation under God,' the Christian's God is loving and kind, while Allah is NEVER referred to as Heavenly father, nor is he ever called love in The Quran's 99 excellent names. Therefore, after much study and deliberation.... Perhaps we should be very suspicious of ALL MUSLIMS in this country… They obviously cannot be both 'good' Muslims and good Americans. Call it what you wish, it's still the truth. You had better believe it. The more who understand this, the better it will be for our country and our future. The religious war is bigger than we know or understand. Can a Muslim be a good soldier??? Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, opened fire at Ft. Hood and Killed 13. He is a good Muslim!!! Footnote: The Muslims have said they will destroy us from within. SO FREEDOM IS NOT FREE.

Christians Unite against Obama's War Against Christianity and the Bill of Rights: On a chilly winter day earlier this month, 120 college presidents--mostly of Protestant schools--from around the country met in Washington for an annual meeting sponsored by the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities, a group that represents 136 American schools and more than 400,000 students. One topic kept coming up in the discussions: How to combat President Barack Obama's proposed mandate for religious employers to provide health insurance that offers free contraception, a decision that would affect all of their institutions--and could violate some of their deepest-held beliefs. Much of the news coverage of the battle over the contraception mandate focused on the outcry from the Catholic Church, but employers affiliated with Protestant denominations--especially religious colleges who offer insurance plans to students--waged an equally outspoken crusade against the decision. A coalition of more than 60 faith-based groups co-signed a letter to President Obama in December urging him to broaden exemptions to the mandate, and the council's president, Paul Corts, twice sent letters to the administration urging them to reconsider. These critics say that many of the students who attend the schools are unmarried, so covering even preventive products would violate their religious teachings. Similarly, because some within the faith consider drugs like Plan B and Ella-to be abortion-inducing, the mandate caused problems even for coverage of married students and employees. "You'd be teaching your students one thing and then providing services that you're teaching are wrong," Shapri LoMaglio, the director of government relations and executive programs at the council, told Yahoo News. OBAMA HAS VIOLATED HIS OATH OF OFFICE TO PROTECT AND DEFEND THE US CONSTITUTION.

Iranian Pastor Sentenced to Death

(RTTNews) - A White House statement released Thursday condemned Iranian authorities for reportedly reaffirming the death sentence for Iranian Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani for the sole reason of his refusal to recant his Christian faith. The young pastor, who once led a 400-person congregation in Iran's Gilan province, was arrested in 2009 for apostasy, abandoning Islam for Christianity.

Nadarkhani, 34, had been waiting to learn his fate for months. After he was found guilty and sentenced to death, Iranian authorities gave him four chances to save his life if he denounced his faith. Nadarkhani turned down the offers, and Iranian officials issued his execution order on Wednesday. "This action is yet another shocking breach of Iran's international obligations, its own constitution, and stated religious values," the White House said. "The United States stands in solidarity with Pastor Nadarkhani, his family, and all those who seek to practice their religion without fear of persecution—a fundamental and universal human right. The statement added, "The trial and sentencing process for Pastor Nadarkhani demonstrates the Iranian government's total disregard for religious freedom, and further demonstrates Iran's continuing violation of the universal rights of its citizens." The date of Nadarkhani's execution has not been announced. The U.S. has called on Iranian authorities to immediately lift the sentence and release Nadarkhani.

Gingrich Slams President Obama for Apology Letter to Afghanistan By Joy Lin, Fox News

Spokane, Wash. -- Newt Gingrich sharply criticized President Obama for penning a letter to Afghan President Karzai expressing "deep regret" for a reported incident at Bagram Air Base where copies of the Koran were burned. "The president apologized for the burning, but I haven't seen the president demand that the government of Afghanistan apologize for the killing of two young Americans," Gingrich said, referring to two soldiers serving in the U.S.-led coalition force who were killed by an Afghan wearing an army uniform during a third day of riots over the burning of Islamic scripture. U.S. officials have said the books were burned by mistake and the case is under investigation, but the apologies and Karzai's call for calm have yet to quell the protests that have boiled over in Afghanistan. White House Press Secretary Jay Carney defended the president's letter, noting that Dana Perino apologized on behalf of President Bush in 2008 after a U.S. serviceman shot a Koran. Gingrich said, "My hunch is, since the person who killed them is an Afghan soldier, that that soldier was being paid with American money, armed with American money, trained with American money, and there is something profoundly wrong when the commander in chief refuses to defend the integrity and the lives of the people who serve under him. The Republican presidential candidate, who has accused the administration of "routinely and consistently" lying to the American people about the threat of Islamic radicalism, continued, "There seems to be nothing that radical Islamists can do to get Barack Obama's attention in a negative way and he is consistently apologizing to people who do not deserve the apology of the President of the United States, period." "And candidly," Gingrich continued, "If Hamid Karzai, the President of Afghanistan, doesn't feel like apologizing then I think we should say goodbye and good luck, we don't need to be here risking our lives and wasting our money on somebody who doesn't care." The audience cheered. Gingrich said President Obama "surrendered twice today," first in the letter and secondly in an energy speech he delivered Thursday in Miami. "The president went to Miami to explain rising gas prices. I was just reading the text -- I kid you not, this is one of those things that is truly worthy of Jay Leno and Letterman. The president of the United States explains first of all there's no single silver bullet. Now that's just wrong. Defeating Obama is a single thing that would change everything," the candidate said. Gingrich vowed to bring America back to a "pre-Obama" world of energy policy, mocking President Obama for pointing to algae as an alternative source of fuel.

NOTE: There was no apology made for the burning of Bibles at Baghram. I have problem with the burning of the Bibles for several reasons. First, why shouldn't Bibles be made available for those who chose to read them. Why are people so afraid of a book? Second.ly, the US government obviously considers the Koran a Holy Book and the Holy Bible a book fit for burning.

"That was embarrassing, what we saw," Krauthammer said. "We have gone from apology here to abject self-debasement and groveling. And groveling to whom? To the mob. We should have had a single apology coming from the commander on the ground and that's it. Not from the secretary of defense. Not from the president, of all people." Krauthammer reminded viewers of the 2010 incident involving Terry Jones, a Florida pastor who was promoting "Burn a Koran Day" and the administration's reaction to that. "Remember when the president had to pick up the phone when there was a crazy pastor in Florida who wanted a Koran burning and he had to be talked out of it," Krauthammer said. "Is the president in charge of the offenses against a certain religious tradition in the world? This is a world in which nobody asked the Islamic conference, the grouping of the 56 Islamic countries, to issue an apology when Christians are attacked and churches are burned in Egypt or in Pakistan. And have we heard a word from any Islamic leader anywhere about the radical Muslims in Nigeria who are not only burning the churches but are burning women and children who are Christian in the churches. When I hear that, I'll expect my president to start issuing apologies." According to The Washington Post columnist, this response makes the United States look weak and despite looking weak, those on the other side rarely reciprocate. "In fact I'm not sure the argument that … you have to do it to protect our soldiers, is correct," he continued. "The fact that after the president apologized and after we have been on our knees groveling there was an increase in the violence. I mean, it isn't as if it has any effect whatsoever. It whets the appetite. People love to see America on its knees. And second, on the idea that there are leaders, Muslim leaders in the world who apologize, there are 56 nations in the Islamic conference. Has one apologized for the attacks on the Copts in Egypt? Has the leader in Egypt himself apologized? No. Sorry." Krauthammer's "Special Report" co-panelist Kirsten Powers shot back at him, suggesting that the United States should set the example. "I just have a hard time following this idea that we should be demanding apologies from other people but we shouldn't apologize," Powers said. "Is this what people tell their children? Only apologize if somebody else apologizes? We have our standards based on what we believe in. We are the United States. We are better than those people." But despite that plea from Powers, Krauthammer explained that it is not the case in this country when other religions are attacked. "The reason we're apologizing is not because of politeness or showing respect," Krauthammer replied. "A single apology would have done that. It's the fear of violence. People don't object if Mormons are mocked on Broadway, if Christian crucifixes are put in bottles of urine and displayed in a museum because the violence isn't a factor. People are afraid. You do a cartoon of Muhammad and you get beheaded or shot. It's a matter of fear. It's not respect. One apology is correct. It shouldn't have been done. Absolutely all of this stuff is cravenous." Richard Grayson stated, "Krauthammer is correct, Obama's unending apologies are cowardly, craven, and counter-productive. A couple copies of the Koran were accidentally burned - it is not a big deal. Even if it had been intentional, it still would not have been a big deal. There are hundreds of millions of Korans in existence. It can be read freely on the internet, in almost any language. Most of these rioting Afghans are illiterate, so why should they care if a few copies of a book that they cannot read gets burned. So far, a couple dozen people have been killed over this: rioters, and infinitely more tragic, US and NATO troops who have been forcibly holed up in that hell-hole. How can we ever work with people who believe that it is acceptable to kill people who insult them, and even worse kill people whom they associate with people whom they feel insulted by? Krauthammer's second point, that Muslim atrocities against Christians and other non-Muslims are infinitely worse and never apologized for, is impossible to overstate. Kirsten Powers' claim, that Obama is setting an example by apologizing first, is a pathetic joke that mocks the suffering of millions at the hands of Muslims. Obama has been apologizing to Muslims for three years now, and there still has not been one apology from a Muslim leader for their 14 century jihad against humanity, for the Armenian genocide and countless other pogroms, 9/11, and for the near half-dozen daily Islamic terror attacks. To the contrary, Muslim leaders arrogantly insist that Islam is a peaceful religion and that it is a blessing to and the savior of humankind. When is the West going to wake up and say "I am mad as hell, and I am not going to take it any more?"" Robert Spencer has said, "The jihad terrorists who struck America on 9/11 were doing so in order to weaken the U.S. to the extent that eventually our free society would surrender to the rule of Islamic law. And now it is happening – but as the OIC's agenda of stifling every critical word about Islam also advances apace in the U.S., fewer and fewer people will know about it. How will they find out? The Left is complicit, and the Right is afraid to tell them. Has the conquest of a great nation ever been this easy?"

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/02/25/krauthammer-u-s-apology-for-koran-burning-embarrassing-groveling/#ixzz1nVMa8Hmw

GOOD NEWS

National Geographic in the March edition tells the story of "The Journeys of the Apostles." It talks about "Saint Thomas" Indian Christians, who do belong to the Aramaic Christian heritage but doesn't speak of the Assyrians, whose church Thomas was also instrumental in founding. The article also mentions the persecution of Christians, not by Muslims-but by "radical Hindus."

Judge dismisses charges against Muslim man who attacked atheist dressed as 'Zombie Muhammad' Daily Caller, 24 February 2012

Pennsylvania judge has dismissed charges against a Muslim man who physically attacked an atheist dressed as "Zombie Muhammad" during the Mechanicsburg, Pa. Halloween parade. Talaag Elbayomy, a 46-year-old Muslim man, allegedly attacked
Ernest Perce V, who was dressed as "Zombie Muhammad" and walking with a man dressed as "Zombie Pope" during the October parade. Both men were members of the Parading Atheists of Central Pennsylvania. During the attack Elbayomy reportedly attempted to take Perce's "Muhammed of Islam" sign and choked him. Zombie Pope was uninjured. "He grabbed me, choked me from the back, and spun me around to try to get my sign off that was wrapped around my neck," explained Perce to ABC 27. Judge Mark Martin threw out a grainy video of the attack and explained that there wasn't enough evidence to convict Elbayomy of the harassment charge. Martin further dressed down Perce for his insensitive behavior, going so far as to call him a doofus and telling him that in Muslim societies he could have been put to death for mocking Muhammad. "Having had the benefit of having spent over 2 and a half years in predominantly Muslim countries I think I know a little bit about the faith of Islam," Martin said. "In fact I have a copy of the Koran here and I challenge you sir to show me where it says in the Koran that Mohammad arose and walked among the dead. I think you misinterpreted things. Before you start mocking someone else's religion you may want to find out a little bit more about it. It makes you look like a doofus… In many Arabic speaking countries something like this is definitely against the law there. In their society in fact it can be punishable by death and it frequently is in their society." Sgt. Brian Curtis handled the incident aftermath. Curtis explained that Elbayomy admitted to grabbing Perce that October night. "I believe that I brought a case that showed proof beyond a reasonable doubt and the case was dismissed," Curtis told ABC 27. "I was disappointed." Perce was disappointed by the decision as well. "He let a man who is Muslim, because of his preference of his culture and his way of life, walk free from an attack," Perce said. According to ABC 27, Elbayomy thought it was a crime to depict Muhammad and had joined Perce in calling police. Jonathon Turley, a law professor at George Washington University, reports on a disturbing case in which a state judge in Pennsylvania threw out an assault case involving a Muslim attacking an atheist for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Judge Mark Martin, an Iraq war veteran and a convert to Islam, threw the case out in what appears to be an invocation of Sharia law. The incident occurred at the Mechanicsburg, Pa., Halloween parade where Ernie Perce, an atheist activist, marched as a zombie Muhammad. Talaag Elbayomy, a Muslim, attacked Perce, and he was arrested by police. Judge Martin threw the case out on the grounds that Elbayomy was obligated to attack Perce because of his culture and religion. Judge Martin stated that the First Amendment of the Constitution does not permit people to provoke other people. He also called Perce, the plaintiff in the case, a "doofus." In effect, Perce was the perpetrator of the assault, in Judge Martin's view, and Elbayomy the innocent. The Sharia law that the Muslim attacker followed trumped the First Amendment. Words almost fail. The Washington Post recently reported on an appeals court decision to maintain an injunction to stop the implementation of an amendment to the Oklahoma state constitution that bans the use of Sharia law in state courts. The excuse the court gave was that there was no documented case of Sharia law being invoked in an American court. Judge Martin would seem to have provided that example, which should provide fodder for the argument as the case goes through the federal courts. The text of the First Amendment could not be clearer. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof-" It does not say "unless somebody, especially a Muslim, is angered." Indeed Judge Martin specifically decided to respect the establishment of a religion, in this case Islam. That Judge Martin should be removed from the bench and severely sanctioned goes almost without saying. He clearly had no business hearing the case in the first place, since he seems to carry an emotional bias. He also needs to retake a constitutional law course. Otherwise, a real can of worms has been opened up, permitting violence against people exercising free speech. It should be noted that another atheist, dressed as a Zombie Pope, was marching beside the Zombie Muhammad. No outraged Catholics attacked him.

Obama Struggling To Stop Israel From Taking Out Iran's Nuclear Facilities

The bombing attack in Tehran which killed Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan last Wednesday, Jan. 11, generated an angry phone call from US President Barack Obama to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the next day, debkafile's Washington and intelligence sources report. Washington is increasingly concerned, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, that Israel is preparing to strike Iran's nuclear sites over US objections and has bolstered the defenses of US facilities in the region in case of a conflict. Obama, Defense and Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have been sending private messages to their Israel contacts warning them about the dire consequences of a strike, the paper reports. Top US armed forces chief Gen. Martin Dempsey will visit Israel next week.
debkafile's exclusive sources report that the differences between the US and Israel surfaced before the tough Obama-Netanyahu conversation last Thursday. Political, military and intelligence officials privately voiced resentment over the strong and unusual condemnation the White House and Secretary Clinton issued over the death of the Iranian nuclear scientist. By denying "absolutely" any US involvement in the killing, the administration implicitly pointed the finger at Israel – an unusual act in relations between two friendly governments, especially when both face a common issue as sensitive as a nuclear-armed Iran. Obama seemed to suspect that Israel staged the killing to torpedo yet another US secret effort to avoid a military confrontation with Iran through back channel contacts with Tehran, while the administration's extreme condemnation is seen as tying in with its all-out campaign to hold Israel back from a unilateral strike.

Why is Obama more concerned about preventing Israel from destroying Iran's nuclear facilities than he is about the mullahs of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons?

Christ at the Checkpoint in Bethlehem, Israel The head of a Protestant renewal organization is criticizing an upcoming conference that he says is nothing more than a public relations scheme to dissuade American evangelicals from pro-Israel views. As previously reported on OneNewsNow, the "Christ at the Checkpoint" meeting will be held March 5-9 at Bethlehem Bible College and will include U.S. leaders from the evangelical left. Mark Tooley, president of The Institute on Religion & Democracy (IRD) speculates what the event will be like. "The speakers are coming together for what is essentially an anti-Israel conference ... which is focused on persuading American evangelicals to abandon their traditional pro-Israel stance for either neutrality or partiality towards the Palestinian side," he explains. However, he does not anticipate that conference will be critical of Islam. "These speakers almost certainly will have nothing to say about the role of Islamic theology in perpetuating the conflict between Israel and Palestinians," Tooley predicts. In the mindset of many of the Christian Checkpoint organizers and speakers, the IRD president concludes that a Baptist who believes God still blesses the Jews is more culpable for the conflict in the Middle East than a Hamas-supporting Islamist who believes Allah wants to drive the Jews into the sea.

I think that it is good to have a conference to bring together American Evangelicals and Arab Christians, however it is unfortunate that the analysis in this article is most likely correct.

 

 

More attacks on Christians in Nigeria

A suicide car bomber detonated his explosives Sunday morning outside of the major church in the heart of a restive central Nigerian city that has seen hundreds die in religious and ethnic violence, an official said, killing three people and injuring others. The explosion struck the main headquarters of the Church of Christ in Nigeria during its early morning service, Plateau state spokesman Pam Ayuba said. The blast killed the bomber and a father and child near the explosion, while wounding others, Ayuba said. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, though a radical Islamist sect known as Boko Haram has launched increasingly bloody attacks across Nigeria, including attacks on churches. A Christmas Day bombing of a Catholic church claimed by the sect in Madalla, a town just outside the country's capital Abuja, killed at least 44 people. The group also claimed responsibility for bomb attacks on Christmas Eve that struck Jos, killing as many as 80 people. Jos and surrounding Plateau state has found itself torn apart in recent years by violence pitting its different ethnic groups and major religions -- Christianity and Islam -- against each other. Human Rights Watch says at least 1,000 people were killed in communal clashes around Jos in 2010.

The following sentence is baloney "The violence, though fractured across religious lines, often has more to do with local politics, economics and rights to grazing lands. The government of Plateau state is controlled by Christian politicians who have blocked Muslims from being legally recognized as citizens. That has locked many out of prized government jobs in a region where the tourism industry and tin mining have collapsed in the last decades." Make no mistake-this is a highly orchestrated and financed attack against Nigerian Christians. The "baloney" sentence is liberal-Muslim propaganda to negate the obvious-for the western audience. Make no mistake, this is a targeted attack on Christians. These Christians are being attacked because they hold the Christian faith and the goal of these Islamists is to wipe out Christianity. I spoke to African pastors and they told me that they are very concerned about the violence in Nigeria. I am surprised by it because the Nigerian Christians have in the past defended themselves very well against such attacks. So what is going on now? The African pastors believe that these attacks are coming from Muslims in the government.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/02/26/car-bomber-attacks-major-church-in-nigeria/?test=latestnews#ixzz1nUq17MEw

ATTACK ON THE US CAPITAL

A Virginia man charged in an alleged plot to carry out a suicide bombing at the U.S. Capitol will be held in jail pending possible indictment after waiving his right to a hearing Wednesday. Amine El Khalifi, of Alexandria, considered attacking targets including a synagogue, an Alexandria building with military offices and a Washington restaurant frequented by military officials over more than a year, officials have said. Another hearing has not yet been scheduled. Magistrate Judge John A. Anderson presided over the Wednesday afternoon hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, where El Khalifi, 29, was represented by public defenders. Authorities said said Khalifi had been the subject of a lengthy investigation and never posed a threat to the public. On Friday afternoon, he made an initial court appearance, where he was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against federal property. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Raymond Ibrahim, a Shillman Fellow at the DHFC, is a widely published author on Islam, and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum. Join him as he explores the "Intersection"—the pivotal but ignored point where Islam and Christianity meet—including by examining the latest on Christian persecution, translating important Arabic news that never reaches the West, and much more. Raymond Ibrahim is a Coptic Christian. Raymond Ibrahim "Uganda: Muslim Converts to Christianity Under Attack" "With only a 12% Muslim minority, and an 84% Christian majority, Uganda may not seem a hotspot of Islamic activity. Yet, in recent weeks and months, story after story of attacks on Muslim converts to Christianity have emerged, with troubling implications beyond the intrinsic level." Having recently returned from Uganda, I was surprised by how active and how fanatical Uganda's Islamic minority is.

Muslim Persecution of Christians: January 2012 by Raymond Ibrahim

The beginning of the New Year saw only an increase in the oppression of Christians under Islam, from Nigeria, where an all-out jihad has been declared in an effort to eradicate the Muslim north of all Christians, to Europe, where Muslim converts to Christianity are still hounded and attacked as apostates. According to the Chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, "The flight of Christians out of the region is unprecedented and it's increasing year by year"; in our life time alone, he predicts "Christians might disappear altogether from Iraq, Afghanistan, and Egypt." …Before a bishop was going to inaugurate the incomplete Abu Makka church and celebrate the Epiphany mass, a large number of Salafis and Muslim Brotherhood members entered the building, asserting that the church had no license and so no one should pray in it. One Muslim remarked that the building would be suitable for a mosque and a hospital…Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some—by no means all—of the instances of Muslim persecution of Christians that surface each month. It serves two purposes: 1. Intrinsically, to document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians. 2. Instrumentally, to show that such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated—that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia. Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; apostasy and blasphemy laws; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (tribute); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed "dhimmis" (second-class citizens); and simple violence and murder. Oftentimes it is a combination thereof. Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales—from Morocco in the west, to India in the east, and throughout the West, wherever there are Muslims—it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam—whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.

Stephen A Missick

PO Box 882, Shepherd TX 77371, www.youtube.com/aramaic12

 

 

Mingana and Syria

Alphonse Mingana (born as Hurmiz Mingana; Syriac: ܗܪܡܙ
ܡܢܓܢܐ, in 1878 at Sharanesh, a village near Zakho,(present day Iraq) - died 5 December 1937 Birmingham, England) was an Assyrian
theologian, historian, Syriacist, orientalist and a former priest who is best known for collecting and preserving the Mingana Collection of ancient Middle Eastern manuscripts at Birmingham. Like the majority of Assyrians in Zakho, his family belonged to the Chaldean Catholic Church. Alphonse was born to Paolus and Maryam Nano, and had seven siblings. In 1913 Mingana came to England at the invitation of J. Rendel Harris, Director of Studies at Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre, a Quaker Settlement at Selly Oak in Birmingham. Mingana remained at Woodbrooke for two years where he met his future wife, Emma Sophie Floor, a Norwegian student. The couple were married in 1915. In the same year Mingana was appointed to the staff of the John Rylands Library in Manchester to catalogue the Library's collection of Arabic manuscripts. He lived in Manchester until 1932 during which time his two children, John and Marie, were born. By the time Mingana left John Rylands in 1932 he had risen to the post of Keeper of the Oriental Manuscripts. In 1924 Mingana made the first of three trips to the Middle East to collect ancient Syriac and Arabic manuscripts. The expedition was sponsored by John Rylands Library and Dr Edward Cadbury, the Quaker owner of the famous chocolate factory at Bournville, who Mingana had met through Rendel Harris. A number of the manuscripts he returned with formed the basis of the Mingana Collection at Woodbrooke. Mingana added to the collection with manuscripts acquired on two further trips to the Middle East in 1925 and 1929, both trips were financed solely by Edward Cadbury. In 1932 Mingana moved back to Birmingham to focus on cataloging the collection. The first catalogue describing 606 Syriac manuscripts was published in 1933. A further volume published in 1936 describes 120 Christian Arabic manuscripts and 16 Syriac manuscripts. The third volume, cataloging 152 Christian Arabic manuscripts and 40 Syriac manuscripts was published in 1939, two years after Mingana's death. The Mingana Collection is housed at Special Collections at the University of Birmingham where it is available for study. The collection is designated by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council as being of international importance. A major exhibition of manuscripts from the collection entitled Illuminating Faith was held at the Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery in 2005. The Mingana Collection is made up of:

• 660 Syriac and Karshuni (Arabic in Syriac characters) Christian manuscripts including church documents, gospels, works on liturgy, lives of saints and homilies. Among the earliest items are a number of important fragments originating from St. Catherine's Monastery, Sinai.
  
• 270 Arabic Christian manuscripts including a fragment of the oldest known text of the Acta Thomae, and a very early copy of the Arabic translation of some works by St. Ephrem.
  
• 2000 Arabic Islamic manuscripts mainly on religious subjects. There are several copies of the Qur'an, besides two collections of fragments of Kufic Qur'ans, dating from the 8th and 9th centuries AD. Other works include Qur'an commentaries, Hadith, law, literature, science and mysticism.
  
• Examples of Armenian, Coptic, Georgian, Greek, Hebrew, Persian, Samaritan and Sanskrit manuscripts.
  

The manuscripts in the collection have proven to be a significant resource for Western scholarship in regards to the Qu'ran and other religious scriptures. The Virtual Manuscript Room (VMR) project presents full digitized manuscripts from The Mingana Collection of Middle Eastern Manuscripts held at Special Collections in the University of Birmingham. This collection, previously unavailable on the web, has been designated as of national and international importance. As well as high-resolution images of each page, the VMR provides descriptions from the printed catalogue and from Special Collections' own records.

Newsweek Article by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Feb 13, 2012)

Both kinds of persecution—undertaken by extragovernmental groups as well as by agents of the state—have come together in Egypt in the aftermath of the Arab Spring. On Oct. 9 of last year in the Maspero area of Cairo, Coptic Christians (who make up roughly 11 percent of Egypt's population of 81 million) marched in protest against a wave of attacks by Islamists—including church burnings, rapes, mutilations, and murders—that followed the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak's dictatorship. During the protest, Egyptian security forces drove their trucks into the crowd and fired on protesters, crushing and killing at least 24 and wounding more than 300 people. By the end of the year more than 200,000 Copts had fled their homes in anticipation of more attacks. With Islamists poised to gain much greater power in the wake of recent elections, their fears appear to be justified.

Egypt is not the only Arab country that seems bent on wiping out its Christian minority. Since 2003 more than 900 Iraqi Christians (most of them Assyrians) have been killed by terrorist violence in Baghdad alone, and 70 churches have been burned, according to the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA). Thousands of Iraqi Christians have fled as a result of violence directed specifically at them, reducing the number of Christians in the country to fewer than half a million from just over a million before 2003. AINA understandably describes this as an "incipient genocide or ethnic cleansing of Assyrians in Iraq."

Newsweek Cover calls Obama's Critics "Dumb" (January 23, 2012 Edition)

My dear friend, please hear me out on this. In Matthew 5:22, Jesus says that whoever calls his brother "raca" (basically old Aramaic for "dumb") or fool is in danger of God's judgment. In Romans 14-15, Paul warns about judging fellow believers because of disagreements between them. Democrats say that they believe in tolerance. Isn't calling people with whom you disagree hateful names intolerant? How is it possible to hate honest debate and dialogue when you show such disrespect for others that you call them insulting names? 1 Corinthians 2:16 says that as believers we should have the mind of Christ. We shouldn't think like the un-believing world-our thoughts should be spiritually based. Criticism of Obama is based on substance and spirituality. Let me give you one example. Certain Christians believe that abortion is sinful. Obama's healthcare law is forcing Christian institutions to pay for services that violate their Christian beliefs. A Christian hospital should not be forced to pay for abortions. And guess what-they won't. This law is going to force Christian organizations out of medical ministry. They are going to close down before they violate their core beliefs. America was founded so that people could have freedom of religion and freedom of conscience. Obama's mandate forcing Christians to pay for abortions is a violation of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Now, many Democrats who voted for him are criticizing him for that policy. So are these critics "dumb" too? Don't you think that that is wrong to pass laws that will force Christian ministries to close down because they believe that to comply with the law will voilatae their deeply held beliefs? Shouldn't the laws protect religious freedom? Isn't attempting to end all debates and discussion by calling people with whom you disagree hateful names childish? The Bible says that human beings are created in the image of God. The Bible says that "thou shalt not kill." Isn't holding life to be sacred a noble thing? I have a master's degree in theology and I am well read. Jesus and the Apostles, the Apostolic Fathers and the Early Church fathers were all unanimous, you shall not take the life of an unborn child. The Bible teaches the same thing (Psalm 22:10, Jeremiah 1:5, Luke 1:43). This is a free country-you can believe whatever you want, but who is Obama to force Christians to pay for a procedure which they believe to be murder and a violation of their basic Christian beliefs? I was disturbed to see the page after page of the hatred and contempt of Born-again Christians that Mr. Obama wrote of in his books. That magazine cover is an example of why I distrust the Democrat-controlled Liberal News Media and why I will never vote for any democrat. When I was 19 years old voting at my first election, the democrat candidate, Ann Richards, accused Born-Again Christians or trying to overthrow the government and trying to establish a "theocracy." I was disturbed by such hatefulness, deception and scare tactics. What disturbed me more was no one in the Democratic party called her to account for it. After seeing that, I resolved that I would never vote for any Democrat-EVER. And I won't until I see the Democrats moving away from such inflammatory rhetoric. It's been almost twenty-years and the hate from the left still keeps coming-as can be seen in this magazine cover. I want to have the mind of Christ. I want to have my way of thought to be Biblical and pleasing to God. Because of my spirituality-I cannot support Obama's policy. I have thought very long and hard about these moral issues. I am grieved that you would call me "dumb" because I am sincerely trying to do God's will.

The Liberal News Media

I am surprised and please by the Newsweek "Christophobia" article. However, Newsweek is a hard left magazine-as is Time. I thought it was great to see Newt Gingrich take on the News Media in a January debate in which he rightfully accused them of "protecting Obama by attacking Republicans."

Syria: Basic Facts

Syria has great diversity in ethnicity and in religion. Syria is an Arab country but has a large number of Kurds. The Kurdish people are concentrated in the eastern region but they have migrated to all the major cities and have a high birth rate, higher than that of the Arabs. There is also a large number of Armenians and Assyrians. Both the Armenians and Assyrians are Christians. Syria is about 10 percent Christian. The largest group of Moslems are the Sunni. The Sunni do not hold power in Syria. Decades ago Hafez Assad, a member of the Alawite sect, seized power. Hafez Assad died and passed his rule over to his son, Bashir Assad. Bashir Assad is an eye-doctor. Originally, his brother Basel Assad was being groomed for the presidency but when Basel died in an automobile accident, Bashir became next in line of succession. Like Iraq was, Syria is a Ba'athist state. The Ba'ath party was cofounded by Michael Aflaq, a Christian. The Ba'ath party was founded in Damascus Syria. However, Michael Aflaq fled to Iraq and died and was buried there. Syria is officially a "secular" nation but the government favors and advances Islam. Syria has a close relationship with Iran and exerts strong influence in Lebanon. Languages spoken in Syria include Arabic, Kurdish, Armenian and Aramaic, which is spoken by the Assyrians and in three villages near Damascus.

    To understand Syria it is imperative to understand the Alawite religion. Hafez Assad was an Alawite. Alawites are viewed with contempt by most Moslems, especially Sunnis. Alawites are viewed by Moslems as an unorthodox or heretical sect. Alawi beliefs are secret. Apparently, Alawites believe in reincarnation (as does the Druze, a similar sect) and that Ali, a descendant of Mohammed, was Allah incarnate. Only the village elders are initiated into the Alawite belief system. After Hafez Assad came to power, he found a Shiite mullah who he had issue a fatwa for him that stated that Alawites are Shiites and belong to the "Twelvers" branch of the Shiite sect of Islam. (A "fatwa" is an official statement of Islamic doctrine similar to a "papal bull" in the Roman Catholic Church.) Whatever their beliefs were, or perhaps now secretly are, they now identify themselves as Shiites and ostentatiously practice Islam. Alawites are also an ethnicity. They are a tribe of Arabs that live in the region of Latakia along the Mediterranean coast. During the French mandate they were given a favored status and were treated as a nationality and even have their own flag. Before an Alawite took power, the Alawites were widely despised, persecuted and discriminated against. Their assuming power created a Sunni backlash which erupted into a Moslem Brotherhood led revolt. This uprising was cruelly put down by the Alawite regime. In 1982 in the city of Hama, the Alawite government massacred as many as 25,000 Sunnis, men, women and children. For a short period after this mosques were closely monitored. Now the government advances extremist Islam. The Alawite sect and the Syrian government have identified themselves with Shiite Islam and works with Iran to implement Iran's foreign policy agenda. Radical anti-Semitic propaganda is flooded across the country through radio, television and posters. Children are indoctrinated in anti-Semitism in the schools. The Syrian government supports many radical Islamic terrorist organizations and terrorist training camps operate in the country with full government support. Syrian/Iranian backed terrorist organizations include Hamas and Hezbollah. Foreign insurgents are recruited from abroad and are brought into Syria, trained and smuggled across the porous border with Iraq to kill American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. The Syrian government has exerted control over Lebanon for decades. Syria does not recognize the legitimacy of Lebanon and wants to incorporate the country into Syria. President Harriri of Lebanon was assassinated by Syrian agents after pressing for greater Lebanese autonomy. It is common for Christian Lebanese leaders to be assassinated by Syrian agents, since Lebanon's Christian community is viewed as the leader of the Lebanese independence movement. Syria is not, strictly speaking, an Islamic republic, like Saudi Arabia. There are no religious police that force people to strictly observe Islam. However, the government encourages radical Islam and there are many in Syria who are radical Moslems. The Syrian government is building huge new mosques all across the country and builds mosques and settles Moslems in Christian villages. Some people incorrectly view Syria as a secular nation. It is an extremist state, although strict Islamic government (meaning Shairi law) is not enforced by the state. (This means women are not required by law to wear head coverings, although many chose to or are forced to by their families. Also, unlike Saudi Arabia there are not public amputations.) The government is aware that, as it is headed by a hated religious minority, it has serious risks to its hold on power. This explains the brutality in its crushing the Moslem Brotherhood revolt. Syria is a totalitarian police state. The Mukbharat, plain clothes secret police, are everywhere. Those who question the government disappear. They are arrested, beaten, tortured and sentenced to a gulag in the desert near the city of Palmyra. You cannot go anywhere or say anything in Syria without your actions being monitored by the government. Christian churches are of course infiltrated by government agents. In the churches the government agents discourage reading of the Old Testament and spread anti-Semitism among the Christian population. Most people live in fear. Many Syrians cooperate with the government so that they can live out their lives in peace.

 

Religion

The majority of Syrians are Sunni Muslims, comprising over sixty percent of the population. While there is a small Sunni majority, Syrian society is consciously inclusive of large number of religious minorities, including, Alawis, Christians (Catholic and Orthodox), Druze, Ismailis, and even the few remaining Jews. Minority religious groups include Alawis, a heterodox Shia Muslim sect (12 percent); Christians (10 percent); Druze, a religious group located in southern Syria whose beliefs contain elements of Shia Islam, Christianity, and paganism (3 percent); and small numbers of other Muslim sects, Jews (who have tiny communities in Damascus, Al Qamishli, and Aleppo), and Yazidis (a small religious group whose religion contains elements of Islam, Judaism, and Christainity). The majority of Christians in Syria belong to the Syrian Orthodox Church. There are many Catholic Rite Christians and Greek Orthodox, who are called Rum, or Roman Orthodox.

Sacred Sites in Syria

Syria's historic religious sites easily rival those of its Middle Eastern neighbors Turkey and Lebanon. As a former part of the Roman Empire, a major center of early Christianity and a stronghold of Islam, Syria contains many important religious and historical sites of interest. Within the borders of modern-day Syria is the oldest continuously occupied city, the "Street Called Straight" walked by St. Paul, the best Crusader castle in the Middle East (Krak des Chevaliers), ancient desert monasteries that still receive pilgrims (such as Seidnaya), and the best preserved Roman theater (in Bosra). Other sites include the ancient Christian monastery of Mar Musa (Saint Moses the Ethiopian) and the Islamic "Crusader castle" at Aleppo. The three most important sacred sites are the Christian village of Maloula, the Ummayah Mosque and the St. Ananias church. Maloula is an Aramaic speaking Christian village with important shrines to Saint Tekla, who was a female disciple of Saint Paul. The Ummayad Mosque - one of the largest mosques in the world. It is located in the city of Damascus. The head of St. John the Baptist is kept in a shrine within the Ummayad Mosque. This mosque was a Christian church during the Byzantine period. After a Jihad, it was seized and changed to a church. St Ananias Church on the Biblical Street Called Straight in Old Damascus - place where Ananias is said to have baptized St. Paul as is described in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles in the New Testament.

What political influence do the religious leaders have?

After the 1973 constitution was constructed, Islam was no longer declared the state religion. However, the president of Syria must still be a Muslim, while Islamic law is a major source of legislation. The president has absolute power. He doesn't share his power with any clerics. However, the government promotes the radical leader of Hezbollah, Sheik Nasrallah.

Who the religious leaders and what are the leaders titles?

In theory Sunni Muslims believe that the believer a direct access to God without the need for saints, intercessors or organized clerical hierarchy. Sunni Muslim faith does not recognize Caliphs which means "successor" or "representative" after the four Caliphs of Mohammed, and as such Sunni Muslim is therefore non-clerical. (The first four Caliphs are called "the rightly guided Caliphs.) In practice, however, Sunni Muslims are led by and informal structure of local leaders called Imams.

How are the leaders selected and trained?

Theoretically, Imams are elected yet they may be influential or important men of their communities perhaps having come to position by their influence and respect, generally being well-educated, and involved in political and social affairs. An Imam does not need to have any formal training but often religious leaders have training from Islamic seminaries such as Al-Azar in Cairo.

How many leaders are there and where are they located

Because Sunni Muslims comprise the majority of the Syrian population, Mosques may be found in all parts of Syria. Imams may therefore be found throughout the nation of Syria.

Do these religious leaders have an impact on the Armed Forces

Imams are exempt from military service. All Syrian men are required to serve in the military. The military is secular however the Syrian trains terrorists, including fanatical Moslems and those who have volunteered to become "suicide martyrs."

Important Facts

Syria is diverse religiously. While it is majority Sunni, the Alawite sect, which now identifies itself with Shiite Islam, is in power. The "secular" state of Syria promotes radical Islam but does not implement Islamic law. Non-Moslems are allowed to visit Mosques as long as services are not being conducted. I would recommend that American soldiers avoid entering Islamic mosques unless it is a military necessity. The only exception may be the Umayyad Mosque, which holds the head of John the Baptist. The Umayyad mosque is a historical site and is open to the public when services are not being conducted. All Syrian religious and historic sites should be treated with utmost respect. Syrian nationals may be Moslem or Christian, secular or observant. Even non-practicing Moslem take their Moslem identity very seriously. Therefore we should be very sensitive towards their religion. Chaplains should make contact with both the Moslem and Christian religious leaders.

Sources

Syrian Tolerance By David Bender- March 23 2007 New Statesman—Jun 5 2006

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syria#Religion

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

www.nationsencyclopedia.com/Asia-and-Oceania/Syria-RELIGIONS.html

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/syria/sacred-sites.htm

http://education.yahoo.com/reference/factbook/sy/popula.html;_ylt=ArZSmDEcVtM4x9XIzJG0nfa4ecYF

http://www.dtra.mil/documents/asco/publications/comparitive_strategic_cultures_curriculum/case%20studies/Syria%20(Jouejati)%20fianl%2031%20Oct.pdf

My Feelings About Syria

The Syrian regime needs to go! I have lived in Syria. My feeling is that the Syrian regime is evil.

Syria is a satellite or a colony of Iran. Syria does nothing without the approval of Syria. When President Bush said that there was an "axis of Evil: Syria, Iran and North Korea" people mocked him. But I lived in Syria and I know that what he said about this is true. I saw Iranians and North Koreans in Syria. In the Iraq War, Saudi Arabia recruited terrorists from abroad from mosques around the world. They recruits went to Syria where they received their training and were smuggled across the border into Iraq. There they killed thousands of American soldiers and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi citizens in suicide, IEDs and other forms of terrorist attacks. Syria has been behind the assassinations of Christian leaders in Lebanon and the murder of President Harriri of Lebanon. This is a well known fact. Hezbollah is Syrian controlled. Hezbollah started the most recent Israeli-Lebanese War in which many Palestinians, Israeli Arabs, Israelis and Lebanese were killed by Hezbollah rocket attacks and Israeli retaliation. Syria is behind war and suffering in Iraq, Israel, and Lebanon. And so far, Syria does this with impunity and no accountablity. Some Syrian Christians do support the Alawite regime, because they falsely believe that the Alawites keep them safe from Islamic extremists such as the Muslim brotherhood. But the Alawite regime now supports Islamic radicals. They also are planting Islamic communities and are building mosques in historically Christian villages. All churches are infiltrated by Alawite secret police. All schools are infiltrated as well. Syrian Christians are taught to be anti-Semitic and not to read the "Jewish" Old Testament. Not all Christians support the regime or are so corrupted. All the Alawite regime cares about is holding on to power. This is why the promised reforms have never materialized. The Alawites are not going to do anything that threatens their hold on power-such as to allow free and fair elections. Now we are seeing a violent repression. Please pray for the people of Syria. I believe that this repression will fail. Now, the Syrian regimes days are numbered. I believe that before this year is over-the Alawite regime will be.

Please remember my books and my youtube!

Stephen A. Missick www.youtube.com/aramaic12.