F.H. and I'll meet you in Damascus :) 'Post enlightenment'

Of one thing you never need to comtemplate... that is me and the '4 stages'
Anyway... moving on. "Forcing" ? not at all, 'raising questions', bringing questions of eternity to bear on people's consiousness, is the work of an evangelist. What folk do with that, is entirely up to them, as Grace is given.
"I stand at the door knocking, to him who opens, I will come in" said our Lord.

The idea of a Priest blessing a murder squad for today is quite foreign to scripture, to Christ and the whole New Testament. Probably more in keeping with some specific battles and judgements during the early years of Israel, but certainly not a 'doctrine' or teaching of Scripture for Christians. I could accept a Minister praying for protection on armed forces going to meet an actively invading enemy, but thats as far as it goes for me.

On your point regarding Muslims in democratic western nations.
Unfortunately the track record speaks otherwise. The tendency is to attempt to shift, alter, change laws which are contrary to the teachings of Islam, which is 'Sharia by stealth' nothing less. The obvious targets would be:
-Time off during work hours for prayer
-Food issues
-Friday off for prayers
-Clothing in the workplace (more re women than men)
-Burial customs
-Financial transactions involving interest, e.g. housing loans.
-Call to Prayer from Mosques.

For most of the above, there are living examples of inroads made by Islamic lobby groups and they have this predictable way of 'rationalizing' them. e.g. "Call to prayer is no different from church bells"

So, while the author is correct "Christians are not our enemies" and that "Its about 'man' against 'man'" .. this is indeed true, on both counts. While we are not 'your' enemies, are you ours ? :)(on a social/cultural level)
blessings
keep on trekkin.

"Sharia by stealth"... "Hinduism by stealth"...

I'm so relieved that we have the vigilant Christian gatekeepers to ensure that our society is untainted by wicked heathens!

And now we're going to have new you-beaut 'anti-terrorism' laws to protect us against some other mythical bogey men! Can I pension off my fridge magnet now?

Will it be possible to deploy these new laws against, say, the 'Pro-Life terrorists' who attacked some peaceful 'Pro-Choice' demonstrators in Melbourne last weekend? Nah... methinks the new laws will only be deployed against the nasty Muslims.

I'm so glad we live in such a free-thinking and open society.

M-Duck,

if either the pro-death or pro-life groups set up training camps (or send members OS to them) or operate cells that threaten to KILL innocent by-standers, then these new laws will apply.

Frankly, I don't think Right to Life is under surveillance (or should be) but if you know different, then get that fridge magnet & RING NOW!

Heh, pro-death. What a term.

When I was a very young child, I saw some pro-life activists holding a banner that says 'Don't Kill Babies' or something along those lines. I timidly ask my mother 'why would we want to kill babies?', and she was placed in a very difficult position of explaining to a young child why pro-life activists are ignorant moronic bastards.

She was so angry at them for scaring me that she was in tears, and I don't blame her. Accusing those who are pro-choice of murder is so low, so evil, so STUPID.

'What I say to people who are pro-life is: If you're so pro-life, then you should adopt a child who already IS alive and hungry, cold, alone and in desperate need of the love, care and support that only a proper home and parenting can provide. And people say: 'Well why don't you do that?' and I tell them it's because I hate kids and couldn't care less.'
- Bill Hicks

...sorry, what was this thread about?

Reality,

Agree with the “if” and “not yet” risk but it can be mitigated with a combination of:
a) Western governments to embrace Moderate Islam
b) Muslims communities fast track modernisation
Right now little is happening.

BD,

Your comments confirm your prejudice:
- Prayer time off: (5 minutes break twice a day) wow, how much does a smoker waste in productivity? Or because it is labelled ‘prayer time’?

-“Food issues”: we don’t eat pig meat or drink. How is that a ‘threat’ to you or any of your business?

-“Friday off for prayers” Midday for 30 minutes we mostly do it during lunch breaks.

- Clothing in workplace: this is a topic I often avoided but I can’t understand why what a person wears or not wear is someone else business? Prejudice? Ignorance? or a mix of both? Some of Gucci, Armani new fashion design features a head scarf! Lets ban Gucci ‘clothing range. Seeing women with minimum clothing became an obsession for some sick men.

-Burial customs: Muslims need to be buried right after death and wrapped in clothes. Why ‘boxing’ or ‘freezing’ my body is your business?

-Financial transactions: we can’t transact in interest. Most modern financial systems accommodate that. Few financial organisations in Australia have existing financial products targeting the Muslim community. I thought Jewish don’t transact in interest (but amongst themselves only). Are you not OK with that as well?
- Call to prayers from mosques: This is not a ‘must have’ most new special watches and calendars have a built in prayer reminder.

I know media would like us to believe otherwise but I have seen a lot more of you than in the Muslims camp. Throughout history Muslims embraced Christians and Jewish people and let them practice their own faith. I agree the freedom may have varied from time to time. But your history has no precedents of co-existing with others or accepting others. Only secularism saved the rest of the world from your ‘loving hands’.

Dear Spendocrat,

your early intuition about life could have been reinforced rather than being 'difficult or a source of anger' for your mother, but, was her point of view merely that of a an "ignorant moronic bastard."

Accusing those who are pro-life of having a defective view of murder is so low, so evil, so STUPID.

People who are pro-life often adopt a child who already IS alive and hungry, cold, alone and in desperate need of the love, care etc.

"sorry, what was this thread about?"

It was about war between man and man - and abortion is, by definition woman against man/woman, so we are way off the topic..