Muslim Captured by "Christian Pirates" : 1518

Let's watch all the parallels in our day and time what with "extraordinary renditions" via Big US planes of "ordinary" persons (foot soldiers) and "extraordinary" (scholars, business men, engineers)*** (SEE NOTE AT END) - many who profess the Muslim faith - who've been captured by bounty arranged between US and other nations and often not even charged. Then imprisoned in Guantanamo (many remaining there to this day) or sent to various black sites in Afghanistan, around the world and other areas for interrogations (still by some manner of torture or threat) and often under the auspices or instruction of the US CIA. Some prisoners are even "renditioned" to secret military ships supposedly out of rich by international law.



The title page of the 1600 English edition of Leo Africanus’s book on Africa.

Moroccan literature

Joannes Leo Africanus, (c. 1494 – c. 1554?) (or al-Hasan ibn Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Fasi, Arabic:حسن ابن محمد الوزان الفاسي) was a Moorish diplomat and author who is best known for his book Descrittione dell’Africa (Description of Africa) describing the geography of North Africa.

Most of what is known about his life is gathered from autobiographical notes in his own work. Leo Africanus was born in Granada in around 1494 but his family moved to Fez soon after his birth. In Fez he studied at the University of Al Karaouine. As a young man he accompanied an uncle on a diplomatic mission to the Maghreb, reaching as far as the city of Timbuktu (c. 1510), then part of the Songhai Empire.

In 1517 when returning from a diplomatic mission to Constantinople on behalf of Sultan of Fez Muhammad II he found himself in Rosetta during the Ottoman conquest of Egypt. He continued with his journey through Cairo and Aswan and across the Red Sea to Arabia, where he probably performed a pilgrimage to Mecca.

On his way back to Tunis in 1518 he was captured by Spanish corsairs either near the island of Djerba or more probably near Crete. He was taken to Rome and initially imprisoned in the Castel Sant’Angelo but when his captors realized his importance he was freed and presented to Pope Leo X. He was baptized in the Basilica of Saint Peter's in 1520. It is likely that Leo Africanus was welcomed to the papal court as the Pope feared that Turkish forces might invade Sicily and southern Italy, and a willing collaborator could provide useful information on North Africa.

Leo Africanus left Rome and spent the next three or four years traveling in Italy. While staying in Bologna he wrote an Arabic-Hebrew-Latin medical vocabulary, of which only the Arabic part has survived, and a grammar of Arabic of which only an eight page fragment has survived. He returned to Rome in 1526 under the protection of Pope Clement VII. According to Leo, he completed his manuscript on African geography in the same year. The work was published in Italian with the title Della descrittione dell’Africa et delle cose notabili cheiui sono, per Giovan Lioni Africano in 1550 by the Venetian publisher Giovanni Battista Ramusio.

The book proved to be extremely popular and was reprinted five times. It was also translated in other languages. French and Latin editions were published in 1556 while an English version was published in 1600 with the title A Geographical Historie of Africa. The Latin edition, which contained many errors and mistranslations, was used as the source for the English translation.

It is unlikely that Leo Africanus visited all the places that he describes and he must therefore have relied on information obtained from other travelers. In particular, it is doubtful whether he ever visited Hausaland and Bornu and it is even possible that he never crossed the Sahara but relied on information from other travelers that he met in Morocco.

At the time he visited the city of Timbuktu, it was a thriving Islamic city famous for its learning. Timbuktu was to become a byword in Europe as the most inaccessible of cities, but at the time Leo visited, it was the center of a busy trade carried on by traders in African products, gold, printed cottons and slaves, and in Islamic books. Nothing is known of Leo's later life.

According to one tradition, he left Rome shortly after the sack of the city in 1527 and is said to have died in 1554 in Tunis, having reconverted to Islam.

In fiction

A fictionalized account of his life, Leo Africanus, by Amin Maalouf, fills in key gaps in the story and places Leo Africanus in all of the prominent events of his time.

It has been suggested that William Shakespeare may have been inspired by Leo Africanus' book to create the character of Othello. See bio note in the Wikipedia entry: # 7. ^ Verde, Tom (2008), "A man of two worlds", Saudi Aramco World (January/February 2008): 2–9, http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200801/a.man.of.two.worlds.htm

Other Notes (subject to further editing)

1. ^ Rauchenberger 1999, p. 26
2. ^ a b Masonen 2001
3. ^ Leo Africanus 1896, p. v Vol. 1. He was 12 years old when the Portuguese captured the port of Safi on the coast of Morocco in 1507 and 16 years old when he visited Timbuktu in 1509-1510.
4. ^ He took the names Joannes Leo de Medicis (Latin), Giovanni Leone (Italian), and Yuhanna al-Asad al-Gharnati (Arabic).
5. ^ Leo Africanus 1600; Leo Africanus 1896
6. ^ Fisher 1978
7. ^ Verde, Tom (2008), "A man of two worlds", Saudi Aramco World (January/February 2008): 2–9, http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200801/a.man.of.two.worlds.htm

References

* Fisher, Humphrey J. (1978), "Leo Africanus and the Songhay conquest of Hausaland", International Journal of African Historical Studies (Boston University African Studies Center) 11 (1): 86–112, doi:10.2307/217055, JSTOR 217055, http://jstor.org/stable/217055 . Link requires subscription to Jstor.
* Masonen, Pekka (2001), "Leo Africanus: the man with many names", Al-Andalus Magreb 8-9: 115–144, http://www.leoafricanus.com/pictures/bibliography/Masonen/Masonen.pdf .
* Rauchenberger, Dietrich (1999), Johannes Leo der Afrikaner: seine Beschreibung des Raumes zwischen Nil und Niger nach dem Urtext, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, ISBN 3447041722 .
* Leo Africanus (1600), A Geographical Historie of Africa, written in Arabicke and Italian. Before which is prefixed a generall description of Africa, and a particular treatise of all the lands undescribed. Translated and collected by John Pory, London: G. Bishop . The first translation into English.
* Leo Africanus (1896), The History and Description of Africa (3 Vols), Brown, Robert, editor, London: Hakluyt Society . Internet Archive: Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3. The original text of Pory's 1600 English translation together with an introduction and notes by the editor.

[edit] Further reading

* Davis, Natalie Zemon (2007), Trickster Travels: a sixteenth-century Muslim between worlds, New York: Hill and Wang, ISBN 0809094355 .
* Jean-Léon l'Africain (1956), Description de l'Afrique: Nouvelle édition traduite de l'italien par Alexis Épaulard et annotée par Alexis Épaulard, Théodore Monod, Henri Lhote et Raymond Mauny (2 Vols), Paris: Maisonneuve . A scholarly translation into French with extensive notes.
* Hunwick, John O. (1999), Timbuktu and the Songhay Empire: Al-Sadi's Tarikh al-Sudan down to 1613 and other contemporary documents, Leiden: Brill, ISBN 9004112073 Pages 272-291 contain a translation into English of Leo Africanus's descriptions of the Middle Niger, Hausaland and Bornu. Corresponds to Épaulard 1956 Vol II pages 463-481.


Personal data
Name Africanus, Joannes Leo
Alternative names al-Wazzan al-Fasi, Hasan bin Muhammed
Short description Moroccan author
Date of birth 1488?
Place of birth Granada, Spain
Date of death 1554?
Place of death Tunis, Tunisian Republic

Retrieved from Wikipedia - GO here

* This page was last modified on 26 March 2011 at 23:00.
* Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of Use for details.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

Readers may also want to see the Harvard Book Review "A Bird Among Fish" for this topic posted 28 April 2011 at oneheartforpeace.blogspot.com or CLICK here

*** NOTE: I used the terms "ordinary" and "extraordinary" for effect and parallels.
These terms are often no more than for certain distinctions yet are not indicative of the fullest meaning of each one's life and experience.

RIGHTS catch-up

Keep watching Truthout.org for related items and find several crucial items recently which evidently/allegedly point to same ol' collaboration to use testimony under torture to cover-up grave crimes.

News Digest for April 28, 2011 from nogitmos.org

04/28 / Saba Imtiaz / The Express Tribune / Most Guantanamo detainees clueless about their crime

04/28 / Robert Scheer / Truthdig / All the WikiLeaks Fit to Print

04/28 / Andy Worthington / Study Says Doctors at Guantánamo Neglected Or Concealed Evidence of Torture, Plus My Interview with Press TV

04/28 / Press TV / Brazil slams rights abuses by West

04/28 / Jason Burke / Mail & Guardian (UK) / Guantánamo files undo the al-Qaeda myth machine

04/28 / Tom Gjelten / NPR / Judges Question Evidence On Guantanamo Detainees

04/28 / Editorial / City on a Hill Press / Revealing Faces in the Crowd

04/28 / Pratap Chatterjee / Inter Press Service / Wikileaks Files Reveal Failures of U.S. Intelligence

04/28 / Raymond Bonner / Atlantic Online / In Detaining Terror Suspects, U.S. Sloppiness Reigns Supreme

04/28 / Cathy Hayes / Irish Central / Wikileaks document confirms former Gitmo prisoner a shepherd

04/28 / Sam Strangeways / Royal Gazette (Bermuda) / Former Gitmo prisoner starts a family here

04/28 / Berita Wilayah (Malaysia) / Two Malaysians To Face Trial In Guantanamo

04/28 / Antony Loewenstein / ABC News / Gitmo, Wikileaks and a window on tyranny

04/28 / Gregor Peter Schmitz / Spiegel (Germany) / Guantanamo Files Reveal Many Inmates Were Minors

04/28 / Scott Shane / New York Times / Guantánamo Detainee’s Lawyer Seeks a Voice on WikiLeaks Documents

Read the case here: David Remes / Case: Saifullah Paracha v. Barack Obama

04/27 / New York Times / Letters: Pulling Back the Curtain at Guantánamo

04/27 / Marisa Taylor and Chris Adams / McClatchy Newspapers / WikiLeaks files unlikely to help those jailed on flawed evidence

04/27 / Daphne Eviatar / Human Rights First / Wikileaks Documents Reveal Hazards of Blindly Relying on Secret Evidence

04/27 / Morris Davis / Los Angeles Times / Manning and Mohammed cases: Tilting the scales of justice

04/27 / Heidi Blake, Tim Ross, and Conrad Quilty Harper / Daily Telegraph (Canada) / WikiLeaks: 2-year ordeal of an innocent

Find the above and more news here

Close GITMO with Justice (Act from Home and/or Gather)

Since the following are toward specific nonviolent actions folk can do on several levels, I have left this post as I found it for easy copy/pasting and editing for your particular peace & justice groups:

Below you will find two responses, one from Witness Against Torture & another from the Center for Constitutional Rights, addressing the recent publication of Wikileaks documents relating to Guantanamo.

***SAVE THE DATE: June 23, March & Civil Resistance in Washington, DC. - Witness Against Torture will gather in Washington DC from June 22-26 to participate in the Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition’s (TASSC)”Torture Survivor’s Week.” Join us on June 23rd for a march and action focused on the 172 men that remain in Guantanamo, particularly the 90 men currently cleared for release but still being held. More information will be up on our website soon***

Witness Against Torture
www.witnesstorture.org

For Immediate Release - April 25, 2011
Contacts: Matt Daloisio – 201-264-4424, daloisio@earthlink.net
Jeremy Varon - 732-979-3119, jvaron@aol.com


CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO WITH JUSTICE NOW


Wikileaks files reveal corrupt system of detention


The hundreds of classified “Joint Task Force” documents distributed by Wikileaks to The New York Times, National Public Radio, The Telegraph, McClatcheys and other news organization confirm what critics of the detention camp at Guantanamo have long maintained: that men are detained there based on a patchwork of insinuations, Orwellian double-think, and pseudo-evidence contaminated by torture and an internal system that rewards detainees for speaking against their fellow captives. The prison should therefore be closed, with a fair judicial process – and not the notoriously unreliable assessments of the US military — used to weigh actual evidence in determining the fate of the detained men.


"The Wikileaks documents further reveal Guantanamo as a full systems failure that spans two administrations and implicates every branch of government,” says Matt Daloisio of Witness Against Torture. “If there is any hope to ending the Guantanamo nightmare, it must be found in a time tested system of law instead of fear-driven politics that has led the Congress, the Executive, and the Judiciary to imprison innocent men, justify cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and fail at holding anyone accountable."


While recording detainees’ minor transgressions of camp policy, the files make scant mention of the abuse — including physical torture — that many suffered at American hands. They describe as suicides the deaths in 2006 of three detained men that, independent evidence suggest, may have been the result of torture. And they reveal that the testimony of unreliable witnesses and informants has repeatedly been used to justify continued detentions.


“Internal assessments like these have been terribly unreliable, as case after case has shown, and as the high percentage of successful habeas challenges suggests,” says Jeremy Varon on Witness Against Torture. “It’s time to turn the page on this dreadful interrogation camp. It can never be reconciled with the law and the values Americans profess. It must close.”


Witness Against Torture demands:

* Close the prison at Guantánamo Bay;
* Free all prisoners who have been cleared for release, ensuring their safe resettlement and providing asylum in the U.S. for those unable to go elsewhere;
* Produce charges against all other prisoners and prosecute them in U.S. courts;
* Open all detention centers to outside scrutiny. That includes accepting the oversight of the International Committee of the Red Cross of all facilities; and
* Conduct a comprehensive criminal inquiry against all those who designed and carried out torture policies under the Bush administration.


Who We Are: In December 2005, Witness Against Torture drew international attention when its members walked to Guantánamo Bay to protest at the prison. Since its return, the group has organized vigils, marches, nonviolent direct actions, and educational events opposing torture and calling for the close of Guantánamo.

http://www.witnesstorture.org/pr-wikileaks-4-25-11

# # # # #
http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/ccr-executive-director-says-guant%C3%A1namo-leaks-must-be-met-release-of-obama-task-force-assessments

CCR Executive Director Says Guantánamo Leaks Must Be Met by Release of Obama Task Force Assessments

Rights Group Critical of Poor Reporting By New York Times


NEW YORK - April 25 - Today, Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vince Warren issued the following statement in response to the leaks of government allegations against 750 Guantánamo detainees and the multiple news stories that accompanied the leaks:


The documents that have just been released again shed light on the Bush administration’s disarray and desperation and reaffirm that the primary goal of Guantánamo was always intelligence gathering and not keeping so-called dangerous men off the streets. They provide more public detail on the many innocent men at Guantánamo, many of whom remained and remain there long after the government knew they were innocent. The danger is that putting the outdated allegations in these documents out without proper context can lead to the assumption that many of the men are more dangerous than they turned out to be.


News organizations around the world have covered the leaks of allegations against men currently and formerly detained at Guantánamo, but the New York Times is most notable for its unfiltered recycling of out of date and long-discredited DOD claims and its sensationalizing of inflated risk assessments over revelations of abuses committed by the U.S. For example, the Times lists five Russian men as being recidivists when not even the DOD continues to include them since they were tortured on their return to Russia (as documented by Human Rights Watch). A Center for Constitutional Rights client, Abu Sufian Ibrahim Ahmed Hamuda bin Qumu, is also listed as a recidivist, when in fact he was jailed on his return to Libya and is now allegedly fighting with the U.S.-supported rebels, as is made clear in another article in the same paper. That the large print, “Released from Guantánamo, They Took Up Arms” headline is followed by a small print, “against various foes” does little to mitigate the inflammatory message.


These are only a few of the examples, but they amount to an irresponsible repetition of the scare stories that abet those forces seeking to legitimate the continued existence of Guantánamo and the scheme of detention without charge that the place was created to facilitate. Even the disclaimer included on the Times website has been watered down from its previous version: now, buried at the bottom of the About section of the Guantánamo Docket feature, it reads, “The documents contain the Defense Department’s assessments of the detainees, some of which have been challenged in federal court, and in some of the cases lower court judges have ruled against evidence presented by the government. Those cases have been appealed.” It fails to mention that some of the charges were dropped or withdrawn by the government itself, that a large number were overturned, and it presumes the existence of evidence when in may cases there was none. The coverage also continues the Times’ incomprehensible policy of refusing to use the word “torture” to describe what was done to the men at Guantanamo. Reading the coverage in the Times and Washington Post, one would never know that the majority of remaining detainees – ninety of the 172 left – had been cleared for release by the Interagency Task Force set up in 2009.


Like the Defense Department’s assessments of “recidivism,” the risk assessments in the files are based on patently unreliable information, much of it the product of other interrogations at Guantánamo. The files are years out of date and repeat inaccurate Bush administration allegations long since put to rest. The Obama administration must release immediately its own Task Force assessments and, at a minimum, make public the list of who has been approved for transfer, who has been designated for trial and who is designated for indefinite detention, so that foreign governments, the U.S. Congress and the public can get a more accurate picture of the men who remain at Guantánamo. Without names and details of cases where the administration claims it needs to detain individuals without charges or trial, it will continue to be impossible to have any meaningful public debate about the wisdom of such a policy.


The broad picture these documents paint is not of men “too dangerous to release” but of a government attempting to justify its mistakes and detaining, interrogating and abusing men – as well as teenage boys and men old enough to be suffering from dementia – for years based on bad evidence, hearsay from self interested jailhouse informers and sheer incompetence. The files show a breakdown in accountability for what was done to these men and a lack of transparency that continues to this day. They show that for more than nine years the government has been withholding information the public sorely needs in order to be able to make informed decisions about vital government policies. They also show that the press – itself a vital component of our democracy – must also do a better job of holding the government to account.


CCR has led the legal battle over Guantanamo for the last nine years – sending the first ever habeas attorney to the base and sending the first attorney to meet with an individual transferred from CIA “ghost detention” to Guantanamo. CCR has been responsible for organizing and coordinating hundreds of pro bono lawyers across the country to represent the men at Guantanamo, ensuring that nearly all have the option of legal representation. In addition, CCR has been working to resettle men who remain at Guantánamo because they cannot return to their country of origin for fear of persecution and torture.

--
For a post covering more detailed corroborated information, plz go to ONE Heart for Peace blogsite here

Interfaith Rally Ahead of Florida Pastor's Protest

The rally scheduled for 4:00 pm Good Friday will look much like the protest that took place yeterday, where members of the interfaith community gathered arm-in-arm outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. (Credit: WWJ Photo/Beth Fisher)

DEARBORN (WWJ) - In a show of solidarity, leaders from the interfaith community will hold a large rally this Good Friday, just ahead of Florida Pastor Terry Jones planned protest against what Jones calls, “shari’a and jihad in America.”

Jones’ protest is planned at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

Speaking at the mosque Friday morning, Reverend Kenneth Flowers, of the Michigan Progressive Baptist Convention, said he doesn’t like Jones being called a “pastor.” He said Jesus urged disciples to love one another.

“I believe that he is not exhibiting love. He is not exhibiting true Christian principles. And I think the world needs to know that he does not represent Christianity in any shape, form or fashion,” Flowers said.

Mosque Leader Imam Al Qazweeni spoke with WWJ Newsradio 950 about the interfaith view on the situation.

“We condemn his bigotry. Whether we are Muslims or Christians, we have no problems with him expressing his views, he’s entitled to his views. But I believe that if he is a true religious leader then he should hold himself to a high standard by respecting other faiths and especially the divine books, including the Koran,” Al Qazweeni said.

The rally will kick off Friday at 4 p.m., on Michigan Avenue between Southfield and Greenfield roads.

Although he hopes many from the community show up for the rally, Al Qazweeni wants things to remain peaceful.

“I call for one more time, on the Muslim community, not to respond to this person, not to be violent, to totally ignore this person. This man does not speak for anyone but himself and therefore he should be left alone,” Al Qazweeni said.

Archbishop Allen Vigneron of the Catholic Archdioceses of Detroit also expressed his support.

“When some voices choose to promote intolerance, even hatred, I come as a voice of peace,” Vigneron said.

Vigneron attended a similar rally yesterday, where hundreds of community members stood arm-in-arm outside the Mosque.

“We have an opportunity to show the nation and the world, that it is possible for people of many different faiths to respect one another and to foster mutual understanding,” Vigneron said.

Outside Dearborn’s 39th District Court Thursday, Jones said his planned protest will be nothing but peaceful.

”Our message is to the Muslim community, is one of welcome and warning, if they are here in America legally, their rights are protected under the First Amendment, that’s not a problem, they can worship as they please, they can build mosques, they can evangelize, we just expect for them to honor and obey the constitution of the United States,” Jones said.

Jones captured headlines last September 11th, by threatening to burn a Koran on the anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. Though it didn’t happen, he did burn a Koran earlier this month, sparking violence in Afghanistan.

Jones’ protest is planned from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. in front of America’s Largest Mosque: The Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

Find original article posted here

UPDATE: DRONES, BODY COUNT and The Dark Side of Christian History: By Yale Theologian

UPDATE: US President Obama has given the go ahead for drones to strike Libya (Image: Getty) (my comment: So do we have a democracy or another "kingship"? Where is our Congress and the US people here? Who is allowed to decide where the drones fall?)

US drones: lessons for Libya from Pakistan
- GOOD FRIDAY 22 April 2011
As the US approves armed drone attacks on President Gaddafi's forces in Libya, Channel 4 News looks at America's record of drone strikes in Pakistan, believed to be led by the CIA.

With the Pakistani state at war with the Pakistani Taliban, its government is complicit in the use of drones.

Despite complaint that the attacks are an infringement of Pakistani national sovereignty, the government provides a great deal of intelligence for the attacks.

The number of drone attacks has ramped up under President Obama, to an estimated 166. So far that is a 300 per cent increase in the number of drone attacks in Pakistan compared to those during George W Bush's presidency.

The US Defence Secretary confirmed today that Mr Obama has now given the green light for Predator drone attacks to go ahead in Libya.

However, US drone attacks have previously been criticised for failing to kill a significant number of militant leaders, despite their ability to perform a highly targeted, intelligence-based warfare.

Channel 4 News has also investigated the legality of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) involvement with the drone attacks in Pakistan.

Read more: Pakistan drone warfare - special report here

Death rate

The number of people killed in 2010 by American drones is thought to be between 607 and 993, yet of those the New America Foundation has estimated that just two per cent of the deaths were senior Taliban or al-Qaeda figures.

In the last 12 months there have been at least 113 attacks by secret US drones in Pakistan’s mountainous Waziristan region – double the number of strikes in 2009.

The foundation's director Peter Bergen told Channel 4 News earlier this year that most victims of the attacks are low level militants.

"So the question is, do those people really represent a threat to the United States or its allies, and in my opinion, they don't," he said.

The rate of civilian casualties meanwhile is thought to be dropping – from around 20 per cent in 2004 to around 6 per cent in 2010.

Since their increased usage in 2009, drone attacks have come under heavy criticism.

CIA involvement

The legality of drone strikes in Pakistan and the alleged role of the CIA has been brought into sharp focus after it was reported that Jonathan Banks, the CIA's station chief in Islamabad, was pulled out of Pakistan after his cover was blown.

He was blamed by tribesmen from North Waziristan for the deaths of their relatives in the drone strikes.

The CIA does not admit or deny that it conducts drone attacks on Pakistan or any other country, but it is widely suggested that "covert" strikes in tribal areas were controlled by CIA from bases in America, some 8,000 miles away from the target.

Pakistan drone strikes: the CIA's secret war
=========================
Another Body Count on the drones
The Drone War that George Bush declared and Barack Obama escalated on Western Pakistan is at a temporary standstill. Is it over? By no means--in fact, the hard numbers prove quite the contrary. Each successive year, the number killed has increased as noted in prior updates.

2004: 5
2005: 7
2006: 23
2007: 77
2008: 313
2009: 724
2010: 993
2011: 47 (to date)

Total: 2189
Bush Era: 413
Obama Era: 1776 (as of Jan 23 2011)

Found at All Voices dot com with this line: "Not exactly an effective method to win the "hearts and minds" of those perceived to be against us."
=======================
Original Publication: The Christian Century
Author: Volf, Miroslav
Date posted here: April 20, 2010 (especially for Holy Weekend)

WITH ITS LONG coastline, rugged mountains and haunting sand dunes, Oman is truly a paradise for desert lovers, hikers and boaters alike. Muscat, the capital city, is a gem- its arched white buildings and flat roofs squeezed between blue waters of the ocean and black rocks of the mountains.

I was traveling with my sons, and at one point Nathaniel remarked, "Dad, this was the best vacation we ever had!" I thought of the sea turtle laying eggs and covering them with its flippers, of my sons frolicking in the Wadi Tiwi's clear waters and sliding down the long slopes of sand dunes, of hundreds of dolphins surrounding our boat, of the red snapper my younger son, Aaron, caught. I agreed with Nathaniel.

Call me an egghead, but what I remember most from the Oman experience is a booklet with an ominous title: Body Count (2009). Its subtitle tells a fuller story: A Quantitative Review of Political Violence Across World Civilizations. For Christians, the surprise comes when author Naveed Sheikh concludes that "the Christian civilization emerges as the most violent and genocidal in the world history." Compared to Islam, Christianity is a clear winner: 31.94 million deaths (by Muslims) to 177.94 million deaths (by Christians).

I'm not convinced that the numbers are correct. For instance, Sheikh describes Nazi genocides (16.31 million dead) as Christian. One might as well call communists Christians. Similarly, the author is silent about the long, brutal and bloody march of Ottoman Turks through the Christian lands in the 14th to 17th centuries, from Asia Minor all the way to the Alps. It will be important for those competent in world history to carefully examine this body count. But even if we slash the numbers on the Christian side and add some to the Muslim side, the scale of violence committed by Christians throughout history is mind-numbing.

I read the booklet about the body count on a beach near Muscat. A short distance to the north, across the Gulf of Oman, is Iran. Tensions with Iran have been escalating over the past few years, and a peaceful resolution doesn't seem to be in sight. On Oman's western border is Yemen, a base of operation for alQaeda and now a potential target of a Western attack. To the northeast is Pakistan, and on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan as well as in Afghanistan itself a full-blown war is going on. To the north, of course, is Iraq.

Consider this: If we apply the criteria for just war that great Christian thinkers such as Augustine and Aquinas have developed (conceding for a moment that the more stringent demands of Jesus to "turn the other cheek" don't apply to world affairs), we must conclude that the war in Iraq is unjust (as I argued in this magazine before the Iraq war started); the war in Afghanistan is unjust (and serious injustice is being committed in the course of waging it- for example, by the use of drones); a war against Iran would be unjust; a war against Yemen would be unjust.

That would be four unjust wars***, all of them waged by a country whose population is predominantly Christian. Flanked by people from other religions as well as some atheists, Christians are widening the body count gap.

Travel with me back in time some six centuries. On May 29, 1453, Ottoman armies led by the young and ambitious sultan Mehmed II entered the imperial city, which bore the name of the first Christian emperor and had stood as the center of Eastern Christendom for over a thousand years. The sack was brutal, but for those who survived it, the prospect of what was to come seemed even worse. Now that the walls of this "New Rome" had given way to enemy cannons and its streets had been overrun by enemy soldiers, Rome- center of Western Christendom since the time of the apostles- was in danger as well. Many feared that the whole of Europe might face the fate of Constantinople.

At that time, two options presented themselves to the Europeans in response to the fall of Constantinople and the rise of the Ottoman power. One option had been tried before throughout the centuries, with varying degrees of success: organize a crusade. A second option was to engage in a dialogue, a response that was new and untested. Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini (1405-1464), who became Pope Pius II, was the most vigorous and persistent advocate of a crusade. The writings of Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464), who earned a cardinal's hat, most ably represent the call for dialogue. Both prominent churchmen were Renaissance humanists, and they were friends.

Why did Nicholas choose conversation over crusade? He had a friend, John of Segovia, a professor at the University of Salamanca, whom he met at the council in Basel in 1433. Unlike Piccolomini, John knew Islam and Muslims, and he believed that "war could never solve the issue between Christendom and Islam." Nicholas came to share that view.

It's fair to say that Nicholas prevailed. It is not just that the pope died during a failed attempt to organize a crusade (the last one in history) and that Cardinal Nicholas's writings, especially his little book on the peaceful harmony of religions, continued to inspire and guide. Nicholas won in a more significant sense; for one thing, his was the option that was in sync with Christian principles; for another, he was proven historically right in his convictions about how to deal with the threat of expanding Islam. What explains Western ascendency over the past six centuries is not the power of guns, but the power of ideas forged in vigorous dialogue.

Author affiliation:

Miroslav VoIf teaches at Yale Divinity School.

( Find more by Volf just posted at oneheartforpeace here )

UPDATED: RIGHTS ROUND-UP US; /Israel-Palestine

UPDATE: By the Bradley Manning Support Network. April 21, 2011

This morning President Obama met with 150 donors for his 2012 reelection campaign over breakfast at the St. Regis Hotel in San Francisco, California. However, the event turned interesting when nearly two dozen of his contributors pressed the president in song on the unjust confinement and tortuous treatment of alleged WikiLeaks whistle-blower US Army intelligence analyst PFC Bradley Manning. As the President spoke of the creative organizing that won him the 2008 election, over 10% of the attendees held up “Free Bradley Manning” signs and launched into a song entitled “Where’s our change?” As Secret Services agents attempted to grab the signs, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, California Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, and President Obama looked on.
========
Supreme Court Rejects Appeal from Uyghurs at Guantánamo The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by five Chinese Muslims, known as Uyghurs, who have been held without charge at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, since 2002. The Center for Constitutional Rights, which has represented some of the men, criticized the ruling. In a statement, the CCR said, "The practical impact of today’s decision is that detainees will remain in America’s illegal offshore prison indefinitely notwithstanding their exoneration."
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Prisoners’ day by Mazin Qumsiyeh

The olive and citrus trees were blooming all over Palestine on Prisoners’ day. Pink irises, red puppies, and yellow flowers weave interesting patterns among the endless green carpet underneath the fruiting almonds, fig, and loquet trees. Green almonds are eaten with a pinch of salt and are addictive. There are already some ripening loquots. We harvest new green grape leaves (waraq dawali) to make a most amazing dish. Amid this beauty and abundance of nature, there is also beauty and abundance among those of us humans who are still connected to nature and partially free. But we remember the nearly 7000 political prisoners (see below). They cannot be forgotten especially since nearly 750,000 of the Palestinians on the outside have been on the inside! We visited with a poor family in Hebron area whose father spend some time in jail. Their immediate concern was that the family donkey has a problem with his leg; the white and fairly large donkey is after all the only source of transport for the children who walk to school 7 km (nnearly 5 miles) each way. A nice veterinarian in Beit Sahour gave us the medicines free and hopefully we can help the family of 8 (6 children ages 5-16) buy a goat which can provide them with milk and cheese.

On Palm Sunday, we visited Jerusalem (even though I do not have a "permit" from the occupiers). This even commemorates the entering of Jesus, the Palestinian who spoke Aramaic (the precurser of Arabic), into Jerusalem; then under foreign occupation knowing that his liberty and his life were at stake. The acts of civil resistance by Jesus continue to inspire Palestinian Muslims and Christians. My colleague and dear friend Lubna Masarwa, an amazing activist, introduced me to an old women who has been selling used cloths on the side of the street and having to run away each time the occupying authorities show up. She is a strong women with big hands, piercing determined eyes, a wrinkled face that tells a thousand stories of suffering but also of persistence and resilience. She has no family here, all her children and grandchildren and other relatives are in the besieged Gaza strip. We met with the staff and employees of the Al-Quds community action center (see www.cac-alquds.org) and learned of the amazing work they do to help people on the ground.

Also on Sunday in Ramallah we met with members of Al-Hiraq Al-Shababi (the youth movement), amazing and inspiring activists who had just done a demonstration in front of the Ofer prison on Prisoners day. We remembered and held vigils for prisoners and for murdered activists (including our heroes Juliano and Vittori). The people I chose to associate with are those flowers of Palestine, full of positive energy, willing to sacrifice, willing to believe that the future can only be better than this reality of colonialism, racism, oppression, incarceration, and murder. One of those is Faris Badr, a 19 year old who was captured when there was a peaceful demonstrations by families and friends of prisoners on prisoner day on Sunday. It was sad to see mothers and brothers and sisters tear-gassed and pushed back and attacked for wanting their loved ones freed. It is sadder yet to see one more youth added to the growing list of political prisoners.

Two years ago, Israeli occupation forces attacked the people of the Gaza strip putting as one of their goals to retrieve the one and only Israeli prisoner held by the Palestinian resistance (tank crewman Gilad Shalit is by definition a war criminal engaged in acts of an occupying army). Meanwhile, thousands of Palestinian political prisoners are in Israeli jails, prisons, and concentration camps. Some are guerrilla fighters. Some are elected parliamentarians. Some are women. Some are children. Many have been held without charges and without trial in “administrative detention.” All are prisoners of an unjust colonial power that has no right to hold even one of those comrades in struggle. There is no freedom struggle without a struggle to free those who pay the heavy price of being held by the colonizers. Liberation movements worth their metal understand the significance of emphasis on political prisoners...

READ more here

During the siege, time becomes a space
That has hardened in its eternity
During the siege, space becomes a time
That is late for its yesterday and tomorrow
(Mahmoud Darwish, A State of Siege)
For more on the seige see http://gazasiege.org/

Mazin@Qumsiyeh.org
A Bedouin in cyberspace, a Villager at home

URL:

HumanRights newsletter here

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You may want to visit April 19, 2011 "The Israeli Lobby's Poisonous Influence on US Policy" and see long list of groups including Jewish/Israeli which seek to counteract the negative effect of this lobby and Zionism here

Be sure to see the post below related to wide-spread US torture with psychologists complicit and to FIND more RIGHTS updates I've poste here and plz keep visiting nomoregitmos.org/news for latest news items daily related to the US "laws" or what has happened with the same in the "war on terror" and updates on the detained at gitmo and more. (You can subscribe to this email free.)

US: Ohio Board of Psychology Sued for Failure to act on Torture Complaint

Monday, April 18, 2011Last Update: 10:11 AM PT
Doctors Demand State Board Take Action Against Gitmo Psychologist
By KYLE ANNE UNISS

Courthouse News

COLUMBUS, Ohio (CN) - Two doctors, a minister and a disabled veteran sued the Ohio Board of Psychology, claiming it failed to act on their detailed complaint against a psychologist, an Army colonel who "was responsible for the abuse and exploitation of detainees as a senior psychologist at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, in violation of Ohio law and Board ethics rules."

The plaintiffs seek writ of mandamus to compel the State Board to take "formal action" against Dr. Larry C. James, a board-licensed psychologist and Dean of Wright State University's School of Professional Psychology.

James is not listed as a defendant.

The plaintiffs say he worked at the Guantanamo prison in 2003 and in 2007-2008. At Guantanamo, James was an Army colonel who led the Behavioral Science Consultation Team, which included psychiatrists and psychologists who "played a role in the exploitation, abuse, and torture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, subsequently misrepresented that experience, and improperly disclosed confidential patient information," according to the complaint.

James led the team from January to May 2003, and against from June 2007 through May or June 2008, according to the complaint in Franklin County Court.

The plaintiffs are Dr. Trudy Bond, a practicing psychologist from Toledo; Michael Reese, an Army veteran, member of Disable American Veterans, and a former counselor for people with disabilities; the Rev. Colin Bossen, a Unitarian minister from Cleveland Heights; and Dr. Josephine Setzler, director of an Ohio chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness.

The plaintiffs say they filed a 50-page complaint against James with the Board on July 7, 2010. They ask that if the board does not take "formal action" against james, that it be compelled "to provide clearly articulated reasons grounded in fact or law for any decision, and to show that it investigated meaningfully and/or carried out a formal proceeding in good faith."

The plaintiffs say the July 7, 2010 "Board Complaint" alleges violations of 18 Ohio laws and Board ethics rules.

They accuse James of "publishing confidential patient history in his 2008 memoir and ... misleading the public and the Board about his role."

They claim that after James left Guantanamo, he continued to commit "grave breeches of confidentiality through statements he made in his book," "Fixing Hell: An Army Psychologist Confronts Abu Ghraib." They say that James published this book in 2008, "while his application for an Ohio license was pending before the Board."

According to the lawsuit: "The Board Complaint documents that while Dr. James was chief psychologist and alleged commanding officer of the BSCT [Behavioral Science Consultation Team], men and boys detained in the prison were threatened with rape and death for themselves and their family members; sexually, culturally, and religiously humiliated; forced naked; deprived of sleep; subjected to sensory deprivation, over-stimulation, and extreme isolation; short-shackled into stress positions for hours; and physically assaulted.

"The Board Complaint alleges that Dr. James participated in, ordered, supervised, ratified, facilitated, acquiesced in, and/or failed to prevent, stop, report or punish this and other types of abuse at the prison.

The Board Complaint provides specific exampled of this misconduct, including an incident drawn from Dr. James's own admission in which he watched behind a one-way mirror and drank coffee as an interrogator and three guards wrestled a man to the floor forcing him to wear lipstick, a wig, and women's underwear. The Board Complaint alleges that Dr. James did not report the incident and documents Dr. James's admission that he did not reprimand or disciplines the interrogator and guards."

The plaintiffs say that their Board Complaint alleged, inter alia, that James and members "under his command and control ... advised and trained interrogators, meeting with them to review interrogation plans designed to isolate detainees and foster dependence on their interrogators so as to enhance and exploit their disorientation, shock and fear;
"observed, monitored and retained at least de facto authority to end many, if not all, interrogations, many of which involved treatment rising to the level of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
"assessed and evaluated detainee behavior and suggested abusive interrogation techniques ...
"The U.S. government had previously recognized such techniques as illegal, and U.S. government officials have since reaffirmed that some of these techniques constitute torture." (Citations omitted.)
"The Board Complaint is further supported by a report submitted by psychologist and attorney Dr. Bryant Welch, an expert in psychological ethics," the legal complaint adds. "Dr. Welch concludes that if the allegations contained in the Board Complaint are factually true, the conduct described constitutes the most serious and far-reaching ethical breaches he has ever encountered in his career as a psychologist."

The plaintiffs say the Ohio Board of Psychology responded to their complaint with a "cursory letter" of Jan. 31, stating that "It has been determined that we are unable to proceed to formal action on this matter."

The plaintiff's say that's an abuse of the Board's discretion of "a 50-page complaint with over 1,000 pages of credible documentation, including government reports and Dr. James's own admissions," and that the Board "must proceed pursuant to its duty to protect the public from psychologists who abuse their professional knowledge and skills to cause harm." The plaintiffs are represented by Terry Lodge of Toledo and Deborah Popowski and Tyler Giannini of Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic.

Find original here

Also watch this site for more on this complaint and related and see his post April 18th here See Tom Greening: Bombing Civilians another kind of torture which is extreme for those dying, those watching and those who are injured or lose family, neighbors.

Reading Isaiah in Chiapas By Fred Bahnson

See P. 18 The Sun Magazine for the whole article.

I just have time to post a few lines here...may they serve to bring us back to more reading and reflections on such points by this young, thoughtful neighbor of mine...

"When my mind wandered from my prayers, I would pick up the Bible or one of a small selection of other books I'd brought: the collected poems and essays of Wendell Berry; Tolstoy's "The Kingdom of God is Within You; and two books of Christian philosophy by Soren Kierkegaard. Maybe it was my Danish ancestry, but no one articulated my distrust of establishment Christianity better than this gloomy Dane. This passage had particular resonance:

True individuality is measured by this: how long or far once can endure being alone without the understanding of others. The person who can endure being alone is poles apart from the social mixer. He is miles apart from the man-pleaser, the one who manages successfully with everyone - he who possesses no sharp edges. God never uses such people. The true individual, anyone who is going to be directly involved with God, will not and cannot avoid the human bite. he will be thoroughly misunderstood. God is no friend of cozy human gathering."

Bahnson goes on to speak of reading Isaish 30 on a rooftop one morning after Holy Week:

'Your Teacher will not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left, your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

And later Bahnson read in Isaiah:

"He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plentous..."

This is how Bahnson suddenly knew he was to be farming...

And ends his lovely, deep reflection with these words:

"We are all dwellers in the dust, awaiting the next breath from the mouth of God."

Patriot Act//US Detention Policies Decade after 9/11 (& rights catch-up)

FIX the Patriot Act VIDEO with 10 Questions (Extention of PA thru May)GO to Bill of Rights Defense Committee bordc.org or CLICK here

News Digest for April 12, 2011
NEW VIDEO:
U.S. Detention Policies a Decade After 9/11: Two Perspectives on Security, a conversation between Pardiss Kebriaei (Center for Constitutional Rights) and Michael Sullivan (Ashcroft Sullivan) at Smith College, March 30, 2011

On March 30, Pardiss Kebriaei and Michael Sullivan joined in two conversations about whether going forward, the U.S. still needed Guantánamo or someplace like it.

Kebriaei, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, has represented detainees at Guantánamo Bay and has sought accountability for torture and arbitrary detention. Sullivan, a partner at Ashcroft Sullivan LLC, formerly served as the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and as the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. As a U.S. Attorney, Sullivan prosecuted Richard Reid, known as the “shoe bomber.”

The 7 p.m. program shown in the video was sponsored by the Smith College Government Department with Pioneer Valley No More Guantánamos, Smith College Republican Club, and Smith Democrats.

A noon program at Western New England College (WNEC) School of Law was sponsored by the National Lawyers Guild WNEC Chapter, WNEC Federalist Society, South Asian Law Students Association WNEC, and Pioneer Valley No More Guantánamos.

==============================

Find all the following at nogitmos.org

04/12 / Eileen Sullivan / Associated Press / More than 350 linked to terrorists kept off planes

04/11 / Mike Scarcella / BLT (Blog of the Legal Times) / D.C. Circuit Asked To Uphold Ruling to Free Gitmo Prisoner

04/11 / Editorial / Washington Post / A well-deserved jab over the Supreme Court’s detainee ruling

04/11 / Andy Worthington / The 9/11 Indictment: The Case We Would Have Seen In New York Had A Federal Court Trial Proceeded

04/11 / Tim Pearce / Reuters / Russia raps U.S. state dept human rights report

04/11 / Benjamin Wittes / Lawfare / Almerfedi Oral Argument Summary

04/11 / Ask the Author Live: Hendrik Hertzberg on Guantánamo / The New Yorker / Ask the Author Live: Hendrik Hertzberg on Guantánamo

More news at http://www.nogitmos.org/news or GO here

HELP STOP the PATRIOT ACT (make one call)

(There are not enough civil liberties yet in place.)

This is our moment: Stop abuses under the PATRIOT Act

Demand JUSTICE, not the PATRIOT Act.

Tell President Obama: Veto the PATRIOT Act!

Call President Obama today.
(202) 456-1111

On the anniversary of the first veto in US history—George Washington's veto 219 years ago today—BORDC and a coalition of other civil liberties groups are calling on President Barack Obama to exercise his veto power on any bill reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act without imposing meaningful reforms to protect civil liberties.

During his campaign, the president repeatedly criticized the PATRIOT Act and promised to implement reforms to protect law-abiding Americans from unchecked surveillance. But now, for the second time since taking office in 2009, Obama has taken the same position on the PATRIOT Act as President Bush.

Today, call the White House and tell President Obama to keep his campaign promises by vetoing any bill to reauthorize PATRIOT Act powers unless it imposes new checks and balances to prevent abuse.

***NOTE #### White House Phone Number: (202) 456-1111 ### NOTE***
Calls must be placed between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Eastern time

Civil liberties groups across the country are demanding that Congress and the White House restore constitutional checks and balances by extending the rule of law to our nation's intelligence agencies.

* Protect the privacy of your Internet and financial records by requiring that secret national security letters and Section 215 orders can only be used to obtain records linked to suspected spies and terrorists, not innocent Americans.
* Protect the free speech of those who receive such secret demands by ensuring that they can speak freely unless the government can demonstrate to a court that national security would be seriously harmed.
* Stop blank-check “John Doe” roving wiretaps by requiring foreign intelligence investigators to name their surveillance target before they can get a “roving” wiretap order that lets them spy on unspecified phone and Internet accounts—just like criminal investigators have to.
* Let the "lone wolf" wiretapping provision expire. This dangerous authority unconstitutionally allows the government to bypass traditional protections to spy on people inside the U.S. who have no link to any foreign organization. This provision has never been used—nor should it ever be used.
* Restore the First Amendment by fixing the “material support” standard. Charities have been shut down without due process, even when pursuing projects such as promoting non-violent conflict resolution in war-torn areas, and hundreds of grassroots donors are in prison because organizations to which they contributed conducted activities the donors never intended to support. Prosecutors should have to prove that the target of an investigation intended to support violence in order to convict someone of “material support” of terrorism.

Call the White House TODAY and tell President Obama to stand up for civil liberties by vetoing any PATRIOT Act reauthorization that doesn’t include these reforms.

In solidarity,

Shahid Buttar
Executive Director

P.S. Members of Congress will return to their districts for two weeks later this month, making it easier for you to meet with them. Sign up to meet with your senators and representatives and demand that they too stand up and impose meaningful reforms to stop PATRIOT Act abuses.

Bill of Rights Defense Committee
8 Bridge Street, Suite A, Northampton, MA 01060
www.bordc.org
info@bordc.org
Telephone: 413-582-0110
Fax: 413-582-0116 We apologize if you have received this communication in error.
========================================
From: Shahid Buttar, Bill of Rights Defense Committee
Date: Tue, Apr 5, 2011 at 8:40 AM
Subject: Tell President Obama: Veto the PATRIOT Act!

==================================================
IF you want more info read on...otherwise, plz be sure to make this call & to get out the word to others...

See what BORDC.org had to say last alert:

Last month, Democrats and Republicans in the House stood together to delay reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act. Because of the transpartisan alliances built in Congress and the grassroots chorus demanding change, we have our best chance in a decade to repair the damage the PATRIOT Act has done to our constitutional rights.

Between now and the end of May, Congress will further debate the PATRIOT Act and prepare to reauthorize some of its most troubling provisions. But before they start those debates, we have to make sure they know we’re watching.

...This is a unique moment: after a decade of PATRIOT Act powers, Democrats and Republicans alike are being pressured by their supporters to oppose reauthorization unless key protections are added to shield our privacy and protect civil liberties from government abuses.

This is your chance. Show your members of Congress—while they’re home, in your community—that you oppose government invasions of privacy.

You'll have lots of support: we’ll give you talking points and tips on meeting with your elected officials, and if others in your district are also interested in visiting congressional offices, we’ll put you in touch.

And there will be another chance to meet with your members of Congress again next month, when they return to their districts for their next recess April 18 through May 1.

If meeting with your members of Congress isn’t right for you, you can still help. Organize rallies outside their offices. Write letters to the editor. Host a teach-in. Just get involved however you can—this is our moment, and we can win if we all stand together.

Sincerely,

Shahid Buttar
Executive Director

Plz also send this URL out or tell all your friends/family (I call for all 8 family members with their permission) - one way to honestly increase the talley.

Various other groups bonging the alarm to reject renewal of the Patriot Act (especially as it now stands):

That's My Congress:
here

Opinion: Republican Liberty Caucus rejects Patriot Act renewal ... The three sections which are being considered for renewal are Sections ... Recent evidence suggests that abuse of this power has been widespread in the last 5 years. St. Augustine Underground GO here and go to "patriot act renewal".

The American Library Association’s Washington Office has gone on record opposing passage of H.R. 514 & other versions, arguing that it would “make no improvements to protect our civil liberties, including the reader privacy rights.” Instead, ALA and the Association of Research Libraries have urged support of S. 290, the USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act of 2011, which is seen as increasing oversight of the government’s counterterrorist operations to safeguard the civil liberties of innocent individuals.

Meister Eckhart Poem on Commerce, War and Strange 'gods'

Middle Ages

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky for "Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West

An Insidious Idol (and a few more Ekhart lines)

COMMERCE is supported by keeping the individual at odds
with himself and others, by making us want more than we need, and
offering credit to buy what refined senses do not want.

THE MASSES become shackled; I see how their eyes weep
and are desperate--of course they feel desperate--for something,
for some remedy

that a poor soul then feels NEEDS
to be bought.

I find nothing more offensive than a god who could condemn human instincts in us
that time in all its wonder have made perfect.

I find nothing more destructive to the well-being of life
than to support a god that makes you feel unworthy and in debt to it.

I imagine erecting churches to such a strange god will assure
ENDLESS WARS that COMMERCE loves.

A god that could frighten is not a god but an insidious idol
and weapon in the hands of the insane.

A god who talks of sin is worshipped
by the infirm;

I was once spiritually ill--we ALL pass through that--
THEN ONE DAY the intelligence IN MY SOUL
CURED ME...

how long will grown men and women in this world
keep drawing in their coloring books
an image of God that makes them sad?

It is a lie--anytalk of God that does not comfort you...

It is your destiny to SEE as God SEES,
to know as God knows,
to feel as God feels.

How is this possible? How?
Because divine LOVE cannot defy its very SELF.

Divine LOVE will be eternally true to its own BEING,
and its BEING is giving all it can,
at the PERFECT MOMENT.

And the greatest GIFT
God can give is His own experience.

Every object, every creature, every man, woman and child
has a SOUL--

and it is the DESTINY of ALL--
as ONE HUMANITY--
to SEE as God SEES, to KNOW as God KNOWS,
to FEEL as God FEELS,
to BE (in quality and substance)
as God Is.

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"Only those who have dared to let go can dare to re-enter."

"God rests in Himself..and all things (finally) find their rest in Him."

The last are also quotes from Meister Eckhart - one whom the clerics were going to put to death right before he died apparently because they feared his teachings. For more on his thoughts concerning God's Oneness - especially for philosophers and theologians - GO here


who's God is indivisible. photo by: Katherine McKittrick of Brevard College stream
where I have gone many times for reflection and prayer. Find on MyBC Home - Brevard College official website.