This Is Not The Way To Fight The IS Threat To Britain
This report on the BBC about the Islamic State threat to the UK worries me. Here’s the first bit.
Islamic State militants could grow strong enough to target people on the streets of Britain unless action is taken, David Cameron has warned.
The PM, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, said a “humanitarian response” to IS was not enough and a “firm security response” was needed.
It comes as Church leaders expressed concern that the UK had no “coherent” approach to tackling Islamic extremism.
By saying they are a threat so strongly, David Cameron is actually encouraging those disaffected young men, who want their five minutes of fame to do something that we’ll all regret.
We must find a way to channel this aggression that some young Muslim men feel into more worthwhile areas.
In the nineteen seventies and eighties, there was a lot of trouble in areas like Bristol, Brixton and Toxteth. I wonder how many of those, who might have thought about rioting are now pillars of society?
The solution will not be a simple one. But I can’t help feeling that better schools and transport infrastructure are two areas to start, as this gives us more of the better educated we need and allows them to travel to the jobs that are available.
We should also open up opportunities for Muslim women to become full members of society, whether the men like it or not. In fact you could argue that intelligent Muslim young women are one of the problems, as they are rejecting these idiot men and effectively giving them more reason to join the Islamic State.
Clamping down hard, as the Israelis have shown in Gaza, will just make matters worse.
Wars Of Religion
This was the big headline in The Times on Friday. It does sum up the mess involving Muslims in the Middle East in particular. Admittedly, with a little bit of help from their bogeymen; the Israelis.
A commentator yesterday on the BBC who had a military background, said that what is going on between the two main factions of in Islam, is akin to what when on between Catholics and Protestants in Europe in the Thirty Years War. Wikipedia describes that war like this.
The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) was a series of wars principally fought in Central Europe (primarily present-day Germany), involving most of the European countries. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history, and one of the longest continuous wars in modern history.
The commentator said, that it is conceivable that the two factions is Islam, will bring on a similar conflict.
We must do our best to not be drawn into this stupid conflict. To air drop food and water to refugees is one thing, but to favour one side or the other is a complete no-no.
A Sensible Solution To A Local Religious Problem
The Tour de France is creating a problem for the Jewish community in Leeds, as the synagogue is on one side of the route and the congregation general live on the other. So crossing the road twice is going to be difficult on the Sabbath.
Radio 5 have just had an interview with the local rabbi and it was amazing as he told how he dealt with all the problems and decided to have services on both sides of the route, in a synagogue and a school. He’s also timed everything to fit in with the race, so his congregation can also see the race, if they want to.
This interview should be played to all of those religious fanatics around the world, as a practical example of how to celebrate your religion, without imposing any limits on others.
The Psychopaths Are Trying To Run The Asylum
One news story stood out on the BBC this lunchtime. It was all about how jogging has been banned in Burundi and can get you many years in jail.
I noticed this paragraph in the story.
The 49-year-old president, for his part, remains an enthusiastic consumer of team games – football in particular.
He has his own side, Hallelujah FC, for whom, according to government leaflets, he plays as a striker and often scores goals.
So it’s not just Muslim fanatcs who are three parts round the bend.
The news is depressing with more fighting and massacres in Iraq due to ISIS, dozens killed in Kenya by Al Shabab, kidnappings in Israel probably by Hamas and all the Boko Haram troubles in Nigeria.
Although those four seem to say they support Islam, many of those they kill seem to be Muslims too!
I sometimes think that this section of mindless violence will only end when the various divisions have eliminated each other.
It just gets more depressing!
The Problems In Schools
There has been several stories recently about the problems in schools in places like Birmingham, Bradford and Luton.
What worries me, is that religion is getting in the way of good education.
I went to a mixed non-religious state school, which took a very practical approach to religion and gave everybody who wanted it, a first class education. Science and history, were taught correctly and not with regard to fictitious religious texts.
So in my view religion should only be a lesson in a school and anybody with strong religious beliefs should not be allowed to influence the policy of the school. Schools are for education and not for indoctrination and repression.
The school should be co-educational, as in my view, this is to the benefit of every pupil. Could it be that the reason for the low divorce rate amongst my fellow pupils at Minchenden, is because of the healthy interaction there was at the school between the sexes.
I wonder what would have happened in Northern Ireland if all schools were not allowed to be affiliated to a particular religion!
HS2 Must Be Right As The C of E Opposes It
This report in the Telegraph and praying that HS2 will be halted. Here’s the first paragraph.
The Church of England has announced its opposition to HS2 – saying the high speed rail line will desecrate graves and shatter peace
This to me proves HS2 must be a good thing as the C of E’s idea of progress seems very much to go in a backwards direction.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church is one of the landmarks of Berlin.
The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
I remember standing here a few years ago with C discussing the merits of one of the most radical reconstructions of a bomb-damaged church. I think we disagreed, in that she disliked it and I liked it.
It is certainly a different approach to that used at Coventry Cathedral.
In some ways though perhaps the approach taken at Liverpool with the church of St. Luke is more honest, as you are showing war in all its horror. It was after all, C’s favourite church.
In some ways that fact, illustrates her attitude to religion. When I met her, she went to church regularly and had even as a fifteen-year-old a few years earlier, made the decision to change parishes. By the time she died in terrible pain, she had no faith left!
She would be horrified at what is going on in the world in the name of religion. Surely no-one of a sane mind could approve some of the atrocities perpetrated in the name of gods in the last few years.
Surely now over 70 or so years after the end of the Second World War and over fifty years after he first performed it, Bob Dylan’s, With God On Our Side rings even more true.
Come To Christ And Get A Free Gun
I didn’t believe the story in the Times that the Lone Oak Baptist Church is giving all new members a gun. But it’s all over the web, including here on the New York Daily News.
Let’s hope they don’t open a branch in London!
Is Gay Marriage The Reason For Floods And Storms?
According to this story from the BBC, a UKIP councillor thinks it is.
A UKIP councillor has blamed the recent storms and heavy floods across Britain on the Government’s decision to legalise gay marriage.
David Silvester said the Prime Minister had acted “arrogantly against the Gospel”.
He is wrong. The best explanation was from my late son, when he was about ten. He said it was God allowing his bathwater to overflow again.
A Waste Of A Phone-In
I often listen to the phone-in on BBC Radio 5. This morning, it has been discussing whether the Devil should be taken out of the Christening Service.
I’ve never heard so much rubbish in all my life, as Christians go on and on about the Devil being real and how it is as it all says in the Bible.
There has been a bit of sense, from a woman priest band a few atheists, but most of the other is totally for the dustbin.
If Christians accept that God and the Devil are in their own image, then not one has said that they could be female. Some might argue that religion was invented by men to keep women in their place.
The only important thing about a christening, is to make sure that the child has others, who they can trust, to lead them through life. That has nothing to do with religion! You could have a good party instead, which would have the same effect.
The Anonymous Widower 