Religion on the College Campus

I think that Bill O'Reilly has it right when he says that we are in the midst of a culture war. In these days where everybody's lives are so compartmentalized, and it is so easy for us to spend time only with people that are a lot like us, it's hard to tell who is winning. Some companies try to take polls, but those are hard to gauge for accuracy sometimes... statistics can often say crazy things. So most of what you end up with is anecdotal evidence.

I've heard anecdotal evidence about professors who believe in creationism rather than evolution to lose their jobs, grants, fellowships, etc. The same goes for scientists. But rarely does a difference of religion affect my life, other than perhaps a lost friendship or somebody thinking I'm a little silly for my beliefs.

It's hard to tell whether someone's religious views can affect their grades sometimes. I once wrote a paper about pet microchip implants, and its relationship to the prophesied mark of the beast, back in the 90s for a college class (back before most people had heard about pet microchipping) and I didn't get a very good grade on it... but with such a subjective subject as English, it is hard to tell whether I was marked down due to the content of the paper, or whether it was just a lousy paper. On rare occasions, it is obvious that someone's grades are affected by their religion.

Recently, my husband got to experience this. He is currently a college student, and is taking two religion classes. The professor obviously does not share his religious views. My husband studies hard in the classes, and for the most part has done well. However, there is one question on his final exam that he knows will be marked wrong due to his religious beliefs:

True or False: Allah and the God of the Bible are different gods.

Or something like that.

My husband knows the answer that the professor wanted. The professor believes that Allah and Jehovah are the same. However, the answer to this question is strictly a matter of faith. Neither me or my husband believe that Allah is the same God in the Bible... their characters are completely different. The Koran says that Allah claims to have no son... Jesus is the Son of the Biblical God.

My husband answered that Allah and the God of the Bible are different, knowing that the professor would mark it wrong. In fact, he wrote next to the answer "go ahead and mark it wrong." If he were to say what the professor wanted, he would have gotten the question correct, but he would at the same time be denying God himself, equating him with something that he was not.

So my dear husband wasn't thrown to the lions or anything, and that one question probably won't affect his final grade or anything, but it was a small faith litmus test on a college campus. I'm sure that this happens all the time, I had just not seen it so obviously in my own life before.

The Real Reason Behind September 11th

I alluded to this in a comment I made in an earlier post, so before I forget about it, I'd like to write about it.

While listening to Chuck Colson speak in a Focus on the Family broadcast earlier this month, he brought up some points about September 11th. I thought I remembered hearing this before, but it really shocked me. If you want to hear the broadcast, you can log into iTunes and hear the Focus On The Family podcast from 5 November 2007, entitled "Standing Strong In A Dark World 2".

After the attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001, people made speculation regarding the date. Some people thought that the attacks on 9/11 referred to the US emergency telephone number 911. Some people thought that the date was chosen because 9+1+1=11 and that 11 was a message to all the people "in the know" about the New World Order. Perhaps some of that was involved, but there is a simpler explanation to those people who know their history... September 11th was the date that Polish calvary and the German infantry broke through the lines at the seige of Vienna when the (Islamic) Turks were turned back the Ottoman Empire was defeated in 1683.

Osama Bin Laden is not stupid. He would know this. The struggle between the Islamic world and Western society ended on this date. The Islamic empire was defeated... however, 318 years later, Osama Bin Laden chose to renew this struggle.

Kids sometimes like to ask why the study of history is important. Sometimes adults wonder as well. However, knowing certain events and certain dates in the past can help you understand better what's going on today, and give you a better idea of how to react to this.

If Osama Bin Laden is trying to act on the behalf of Islam and renew a world struggle, isn't that something important to know?

Should Offending Someone Be A Felony

A student at Pace University was recently charged with a felony for throwing a Koran in a toilet.

Personally, if I was stranded alone on a deserted island, it would be nice to have a Koran around to use as toilet paper... but otherwise I could do without it. The charges against this student are way overboard, IMO.

I do believe that this student could be charged for something. He did steal the book, so he could be charged with theft. He could be charged with vandalism. I would even support this case if they charged him with intimidation, because in a way I guess you could argue that he was intimidating the Moslem students on his campus through his act.

But a felony hate crime? Come on. Hate crimes in general I have something of a problem with. Let's say that someone came to my house and burned a cross out in the front of my house today. Charge them with intimidation, fine. Charge them with vandalism if they destry any of my property. But I wouldn't consider burning a cross on my property to be a felony.

So why is this a felony? Probably because some people are offended. But since when did that become a felony? Are we that thinned skinned? Are we a bunch of pansies that can't take a little criticism or disagreement?

I'm offended with some people. I'm offended with that movie coming out spoofing Jesus and the 10 commandments (just another excuse to blaspheme God). I'm offended that people can put a cross in a cup of urine and call it "art". I'm offended by a lot of things that people say about God. But that doesn't mean I think that they should be charged with either hate crimes or felonies.

It's already starting to become a crime in some western countries (like Canada) to preach about certain parts of the Bible. I'd hate to see that happen here... although I'm sure that the day is coming. If indeed this student ends up being found guilty of a felony for putting a book in the toilet, that will be a sad day indeed.

How To REALLY Anger A Moslem

I've been listening to The Way of the Master Radio a lot lately. They've been talking about blasphemy a lot, and most people, even the ones that say that they are Christians, would go see a movie that had blasphemy in it. I personally am not sure how I stand on that subject. Of course, I do not like blasphemy, but it's a little hard not to find a movie without it. I don't find too many movies that I like nowadays anyway.

One of the arguments that they use is, would you go see a movie if they used your mom's name as a cuss word? Well, I probably would. I would find it a little silly, however.

While working at a day care center once, I had a coworker that would always take the Lord's name in vain. It was really bothersome. She would say it around the two year olds all the time. As a parent, I would have been irate if my 2 year old had ended up picking that up from their day care teacher. Fortunately, she didn't stay at the center very long.

But all this thinking about blasphemy got me to thinking... what would the reaction be if I started blaspheming Allah? I am not one of those people that think that Allah and Jehovah are the same God. They don't even have the same character traits. How would people react if I started saying "Allah damn it!" all the time? I suppose that I would really anger a few people. I might even earn myself a death threat if I said it around the wrong person.

While I don't think that Christians should go around threatening people who use the Lord's name in vain, it's something to think about. It should bother us when people around us blaspheme the Lord. Maybe we should speak up when we hear it. Or think twice about seeing a movie with blasphemy in it.

If you are interested in speaking up to Hollywood about their use of blasphemy in films, you can visit Hollywood And God.com and let your voice be heard. You can also check out the blasphemy content in movies.

Supreme Court Addresses Homeschooling!

I saw this and just had to address it before I headed off to bed. I found this on the HSLDA (Home School Legal Defense Association) web site:

In Morse v. Frederick, however, Justice Clarence Thomas said, “If parents do not like the rules imposed by those schools, they can seek redress in school boards or legislatures; they can send their children to private schools or home school them; or they can simply move.”

Well, good for you, Clarence Thomas! I'm glad that homeschooling is beginning to be recognized as a viable alternative. Sure, not every home school does a great job, but you find failing public and private schools as well (along with some good ones).

Speaking of home schools vs. public schools, the Islamic students over at Carver Elementary School in San Diego need to take the hint. I guess a substitute teacher was teaching in a class one day and they had a scheduled prayer time for Moslems. The classes were segregated by religion (!) and sex. This is a PUBLIC SCHOOL! Since when do we have Islamic classes at public schools? Islamic students that want to pray on school time: please see Clarence Thomas quote above. If you want to pray on school time, go to private school or get homeschooled.

Maybe I'll comment on that some more later. It seems like lately our country is full of all these wimps and one day the majority of this country will be taken over by AZTLAN and the Moslems... because right now we want to seem to kowtow to both of those groups. We'll just let them have the country and they can duke it out.

Bush Removes Shoes For Allah... While Moslems Attack Those That Don't Convert

Oh, isn't this nice... I was reading the news the other day, and Bush decided that "Allah" was a god worthy of taking his shoes off for, as is discussed in this article.

Meanwhile...

A man is tortured and sexually assaulted for not converting to Islam (story here).

Christian families are forced to flee from a Pakastani village after Protestants are attacked by an armed mob while preparing for a prayer meeting (story here).

More Christians in Pakistan face death threats from the Taliban for not converting to Islam (story here).

Excuse me if I gag a little here. Allah can kiss my a$#. I certainly will not take my shoes off for him. And I'm ashamed that our president is.