Monday, November 17, 2014



Woman interrupts Muslim service at National Cathedral, saying: 'Jesus Christ is Lord'

And she was thrown out for saying that  -- in an allegedly Christian cathedral.  But calling Episcopalians Christians is of course a stretch

American Muslims were invited to offer prayers to Allah inside the nation’s most iconic Christian church Friday in Washington, D.C., but the intended message of peace, harmony and tolerance isn’t so well received in Muslim countries, according to Christian leaders contacted by WND.

The Washington National Cathedral, which earned the title “America’s House of Prayer” for its hosting of presidential funerals and inauguration-related prayer services, was turned into a virtual mosque in which Muslims bowed toward Mecca and shielded their eyes from the Christian cross.

Prayer carpets were arranged diagonally, to the side of the sanctuary, so worshipers could face in the direction of Mecca without seeing crosses or other Christian symbols. Muslims are not supposed to pray in view of sacred symbols “alien to their faith,” the Voice of America reported.

The Episcopal cathedral becomes the first church in America to host a Muslim-led prayer service. And this isn’t just any church. Famous people are buried there, including President Woodrow Wilson, Helen Keller and Admiral George Dewey, and it is perhaps the most recognizable Christian sanctuary in the nation with its soaring Gothic architecture and grand entrance hall.

A receptionist at the cathedral told WND Friday the event was not open to the public but it was live-streamed on the cathedral’s website. Attendance was by invitation only, and the invite list came from the South African ambassador, who helped plan the event. She said she did not know if any Christians were invited to the service or how many may have attended.

But just as the Imam was about to give the Muslim call to prayer, a Christian woman, who apparently sneaked into the service, stood up, pointed to the cross and shouted “Jesus Christ died on that cross. He is the reason we are to worship only Him. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. We have built enough of your mosques in this country. Why don’t you worship in your mosques and leave our churches alone? …America was founded on Christian principles…Leave our church alone!”

She was immediately grabbed by the arms and forcibly led out of the church by two men. The unidentified woman’s interruption of the service was captured on video by one of the attendees and posted online at PamelaGeller.com.

Planners of the event said in a news release that they hoped “people around the world will take note of this service and the welcome extended by the Cathedral so that Muslims everywhere will adopt a reciprocal welcome of Christians by Muslims.”

The Rev. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, said in a Facebook post Thursday that the Muslim prayer service at the National Cathedral is “sad to see” because the church should only open its doors for worship of “the One True God of the Bible.”

Graham, who heads the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and Samaritan’s Purse, said, “Tomorrow, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. – one of the most prominent Episcopal churches in America – will host a Muslim prayer service to Allah.”

“It’s sad to see a church open its doors to the worship of anything other than the One True God of the Bible who sent His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to earth to save us from our sins,” said Graham. “Jesus was clear when He said, ‘I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’ (John 14:6).”

The cathedral’s press release said the goal was to encourage greater acceptance between Christians and Muslims, calling the Islamic Jumma prayers a “powerful symbolic gesture.”

“Leaders believe offering Muslim prayers at the Christian cathedral shows more than hospitality,” representatives for the National Cathedral said about the event. “It demonstrates an appreciation of one another’s prayer traditions and is a powerful symbolic gesture toward a deeper relationship between the two Abrahamic traditions.”

The event was planned by the Rev. Gina Campbell, the cathedral’s director of liturgy, and South African Ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool, who is a Muslim.

Campbell spoke at the service and said a prayer “in the name of God” but did not mention Jesus Christ. She told her Muslim guests that “we approach the same God.”

SOURCE






Contorted thinking among Norwegian Far-Leftists

"Anti-Racism" Activists Boycott Holocaust Ceremony as 'Jews were Invited'.  You oppose racism by being racist, apparently

Anti-racism activists in Norway have refused to participate in a Holocaust commemoration after members of the Jewish community were put on the guest list, a Norwegian blog has claimed.

According to "Norway, Israel and the Jews", Norwegian activist organisation New SOS Racisme -- which claims to reduce racism in society -- asked for the "Zionist Jews of Bergen" to be banned from attending the Kristallnacht, or the night of broken glass, an event aimed at remembering the escalation of the persecution of Jews in Germany, between the nights of 9th and 10th November 1938.

They "refused to participate in the Kristallnacht commemoration since a representative from the Mosaic Congregation [a conservative Jewish Congregation] was invited. Yes, they balked at a Jew participating," the blog added.

The incident occurred a few days after Denmark's ceremony in Norrebro district marking the Holocaust was used to raise money for Gaza, following the 2014 Israel-Gaza war which killed thousands of Palestinian civilians.

A local leader of the Jewish community criticised Denmark's decision to raise funds for Gaza.  "When the profits from the Norrebro event go to Gaza, whose government is at war with Israel, I think that there is an inappropriate confusion," Dan Rosenberg Asmussen, president of the Jewish Community in Copenhagen, told the Kristelig Dagblad newspaper.

"I do not know if this is a deliberate attempt to draw a parallel between the actions of Germans then and those of Israelis today – a parallel drawn before by people on the left and one which I strongly reject. If it's a coincidence, I think it is unfortunate."

SOURCE






Good official thinking in Norway

One country has finally learned that have a flow of Muslim immigrants creates problems. No, not just problems, horrific crimes.

Along with the introduction of Islam into European countries comes a drastic increase in rape, child molestation, murder, violence, and protests, all justifiable in the Quran and Hadith.

Jihadists, collectively known as mujahideen, implement terror cells and patrol the streets of commandeered zones to enforce Islamic Sharia law.

Norway has experienced the horrors of Islamic integration, and rather than appease Muslims for fear of being politically incorrect, they acted.

According to The Local, a record number of immigrants, namely Muslims, have been deported from Norway, beginning last year. With the deportation comes a dramatic decrease in crime, much to the delight of overwhelmed law enforcement.

Around 5,198 foreign citizens were expelled from Norway in 2013:

“It is the highest number we’ve had ever,” Frode Forfang, head of the Directorate of Immigration (UDI), told NRK. “We believe that one reason for the increase is that the police have become more conscious of using deportation as a tool to fight crime.”

Nigerian citizens topped the list of those expelled for committing crimes, with 232 citizens expelled as a punishment in 2013, followed by Afghan citizens with 136 expelled as a punishment, and 76 Moroccans expelled as a punishment.

Afghan citizens topped the list of those expelled for violating the Immigration Act, with 380 expelled for this reason, followed by Iraqi citizens, 234 were expelled for violating the act.

We applaud Norway for refusing to allow liberals to shame them into keeping criminal offenders within their borders. Perhaps America can be brave enough to do the same.

SOURCE






Pressure mounts on Red Cross over elderly volunteer axed after gay marriage protest

I quit donating to the Red Cross years ago because of their antisemitism so I hope this business will cause other potential donors to see how politicized they are -- JR

The Red Cross is coming under growing pressure to reinstate a long-standing volunteer who was dismissed after staging a one-man protest against gay marriage.

MPs have tabled a motion in the Commons voicing “deep concern” at the treatment of Bryan Barkley, 71, from West Yorkshire, and urging the charity to reconsider.

The Coalition For Marriage (C4M), which led the campaign against the introduction of same-sex marriage in the UK, said it had received almost 50,000 expressions of support including many messages from people speaking about boycotting the charity.

The charity said in a statement that it had not dismissed Mr Barkley “specifically because of his views on same-sex marriage” but added it was feared his stance would have a “negative impact on the way services are delivered to a particular community”.

A spokeswoman described it as "tragic" that the protests over Mr Barkley's case had diverted staff from dealing with issues such as Ebola and the Syrian crisis.

A spokesman for the campaign group said Mr Barkley, a retired civil engineer, had not specifically called for a boycott of the Red Cross but remained “deeply upset” at being dismissed after years working in its international tracing service which helps reunite families in the UK with relatives abroad.

Mr Barkley was photographed standing outside Wakefield Cathedral holding a small placard reading “No Same-Sex marriage" in May of this year when the first same-sex weddings were taking place in the UK.

He was later summoned to a meeting to be told he was no longer welcome at the Red Cross because his actions were deemed to go against its values.

An early day motion tabled by the Tory MP Philip Davies and backed by Sir Peter Bottomley, the former employment minister, and others, argues that Mr Barkley’s views on marriage had been “expressed reasonably, in his own time, and were in no way connected with his work for the Red Cross”.

Colin Hart, campaign director of the C4M said: “This is a shocking case – Bryan was a senior volunteer, undertaking very complicated and technical work for the Red Cross.

“For nearly two decades he helped to reunite people with lost family members.

“Yet after voicing his opposition to the Government’s undemocratic plans to rip up the traditional definition of marriage he was fired.

“He broke no law and his only crime seems to have been that he was one of the millions of ordinary people who opposed this change.

“There has never been any suggestion that Mr Barkley acted inappropriately while at the charity, or even pushed his views while volunteering.

“Indeed just 24 hours before he was notified of a disciplinary meeting, he attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace with other volunteers, employees and supporters of this organisation."

A Red Cross spokeswoman said: “The British Red Cross is working internationally tackling enormous issues like the Ebola crisis, Syria and the famine in South Sudan

“Orchestrated actions like this inevitably divert us from our humanitarian mission.

“Tragically it has taken up vital staff time and resources away from our international mission and in the UK.”

She added: "We have said repeatedly that we respect the right of individuals to hold personal views so long as this does not affect their ability to deliver our services impartially to all who need our help, as enshrined in our fundamental principles.

"Where there are serious concerns the British Red Cross has no option but to act.

“We cannot give further details about any specific circumstances because we have a duty of confidentiality in matters like this.”

SOURCE





Too Jewish to adopt! What social worker called couple after claiming their household was too religious for a child

A social worker wanted to stop a girl who was a quarter Jewish being adopted by a Jewish couple because the household would have been too religious for the child, it was revealed yesterday.

In a speech to lawyers, a Supreme Court judge said that politically correct race rules – introduced on the premise that adopted children need parents of exactly the same ethnic and cultural background – became 'discriminatory'.

He gave the moving example of a case he had dealt with involving a three-year-old girl who was a quarter-Jewish, quarter-Scottish, quarter-Irish and quarter-Turkish.

Lord Wilson said the social worker appointed by the court to speak for the child 'argued that the girl should be placed in a non-religious family in which exposure to her of the four elements of her ethnicity might evenly be developed. She said that the proposed couple were too Jewish'.

He had ruled the adoption by the Jewish couple should go ahead. 'Less than four weeks afterwards, out of the blue, the adoptive father died,' the judge said.  'I felt terrible – I had overruled the guardian's objection and had caused the girl to be adopted by a grieving single parent.

'In the event however the adoption has worked out beautifully.' He added said: 'She is one of four children, adopted under orders made by me, with whom, even after all these years, I keep in touch.'

Lord Wilson said: 'Most adopters are white so, while there was perceived to be a need for an ethnic match between them and their adoptive child, children of other, including mixed, ethnicities, were often languishing in foster care even if adoptable. A perception designed to obviate discrimination had become discriminatory.'

He said of the reforms pushed through by former Education Secretary Michael Gove: 'I applaud the recent statutory dilution, albeit not elimination, of the aim of seeking to place a child with adopters of similar ethnicity.'

SOURCE

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Political correctness is most pervasive in universities and colleges but I rarely report the  incidents concerned here as I have a separate blog for educational matters.

American "liberals" often deny being Leftists and say that they are very different from the Communist rulers of  other countries.  The only real difference, however, is how much power they have.  In America, their power is limited by democracy.  To see what they WOULD be like with more power, look at where they ARE already  very powerful: in America's educational system -- particularly in the universities and colleges.  They show there the same respect for free-speech and political diversity that Stalin did:  None.  So look to the colleges to see  what the whole country would be like if "liberals" had their way.  It would be a dictatorship.

For more postings from me, see TONGUE-TIED, GREENIE WATCH,   EDUCATION WATCH INTERNATIONAL, FOOD & HEALTH SKEPTIC, AUSTRALIAN POLITICS and  DISSECTING LEFTISM.   My Home Pages are here or   here or   here.  Email me (John Ray) here

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