Monthly Archives: February 2006

Hate the One Your With


[Photo of Muhammad al-Asadi by Mohammad al-Sharabi for Newsweek.

If your down and confused
And you don’t remember who your talking to
Concentration, step away
‘Cause your baby is so far away
And there’s a rose and it fits me close
And the eagles fly with the doves
And if you can’t be with the one you love honey
Love the one your with
Love the one your with
Love the one your with
You gotta Love the one your with
— Will Young

There is no dearth of Islamophobic and outright anti-Muslim rhetoric in both American and European public opinion forums. A litany of recent events, from the 9/11 Twin Tower tragedy to the Danish cartoon controversy, makes it seem to many people that Muslims are on the attack against “civilized” secular society. Muslims in Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine (perhaps even Dubai these days) look at their nightly news and see an indiscriminate political war against their moral principles as well as individual lives. The rash of suicide bombings against Western targets, especially U.S. and British military in Iraq, gets precedence because it falls into the usual tit-for-tatness that uncontrolled violence feeds on. But how are we to understand the increasing threats and actual mayhem between fellow Muslims? Continue reading Hate the One Your With

A Grave Development

The tension over the now infamous, even if not very funny, Danish cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad has taken on a grave dimension, specifically the desecration of a number of Muslim graves in western Denmark. There are two lessons that immediately come to mind about this latest twist, but first the story as reported in The Washington Post:

Vandals in Denmark Strike Muslim Graves
By Kevin Sullivan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Monday, February 13, 2006; Page A16

COPENHAGEN, Feb. 12 — About 25 Muslim graves in western Denmark were vandalized late Saturday night, bringing swift condemnation from Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen as tensions simmer from a Danish newspaper’s publication last year of cartoons of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

“I strongly condemn this disgraceful act, and I deeply regret the desecration of Muslim graves,” Rasmussen said in a statement released by his office Sunday night. “I have made it clear that the Danish government condemns any expression or any action which offends people’s religious feelings.” Continue reading A Grave Development

What’s Good for Judas is Worth a Gander

 

There is an inherent danger in all archaeological and archival research. What if we find that a cherished truth may not be something worth cherishing any longer and what if it does not even appear to be truth? In today’s front page of The New York Times, in tandem with National Geographic online, it seems that the Gospel has been turned on its head. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as a group make Judas out to be a goat, the evil quisling who betrayed Jesus. But now a new discovery of an ancient manuscript, reputed to be the Gospel of Judas, points to a good Judas. If this news had come out before Mel Gibson’s Passion, God only knows how it would have affected box office receipts. Of course coming as it does near the premiere of The Da Vinci Code, Hollywood may be in for a windfall. But why wait, since there are already at least two books and a television special for this Sunday on the National Geographic Channel.

Continue reading What’s Good for Judas is Worth a Gander

Addicted to Oil: President Tells it Like it Is

President Bush delivered a highly scripted and hyperbolically enriched “State of the Union” address last night. The time has long since passed when Presidents actually had the writing skills to prepare their own speeches so in a sense the speech is no more copywritable to George W. Bush than the White House is his White castle. The reaction flooding the airwaves and bloggy-eyed net this morning is, if I may go out on a limb here, partisan as usual. Historians of American history might wince at the opening salvo that “Yet the state of our Union has never been stronger,” but this line probably netted a few amens from executives of Exxon, whose 32 billion dollar profit last year was the most in history. Continue reading Addicted to Oil: President Tells it Like it Is