May 31, 2011 by Sal Termini.

Islam’s political and religious ideology

On Sept 11, 2001 the United States suffered the worst attack on it’s shores since Pearl Harbor. Pictures of the jets flying into the buildings, burning bodies falling, others jumping to their deaths, and the buildings collapsing left an indelible and unforgettable horror in the minds of millions of Americans. The news showed people in the Middle East celebrating the deaths of over 3000 people. To some, these people who killed so many innocent people were murderers. To other they were heroes. There is a growing philosophical rift between the east and the West and it is becoming dangerous because millions of lives are at stake. The Islamic ideology in combination with Arab dictatorships in the Middle East are hard at work to destabilize the West through terrorism. The Middle East itself is continually plunged in to war, chaos, poverty, and destruction because of these religious and political beliefs. This heinous act on 9/11 was also responsible for killing Muslims. Is the killing of innocent people including other Muslims part of the teachings of the Koran? I believe it is and this is the beginning of uncovering a global ideology that will continue to bring suffering to the whole world.

Recognizing evil religions and ideologies

If a nation such as America has prosperity and might does it make that nation unjust? Must such a nation be brought down and destroyed for the less fortunate to feel better about themselves?

“Is it not in the power of those who belong to a nation, religion, or ideology to make a great nation of themselves?”

There is something about the religious and political ideology in the Middle East that fails to unify Arab and Muslim people around building a stable nation. They do not understand how to create a government whose intent is the welfare and security of their own people. There are many good examples of Middle Eastern governments that have failed to meet the needs of their own people such as Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Yemen just to name a few. Many Arab nations are in the midst of terrible economic woes, internal struggles, division, hatred and violence against their own people. The purpose of many of these nations is to build a powerful military to wage war on it’s chosen enemies and acquire nuclear technology. The blind hatred of many Arab nations to eliminate Israel and overthrow western nations is part of what is destroying the freedom and prosperity of it’s own people. People are caught in unjust power structures that suppresses the rights of their own people to prosper and be free. Arab countries exalt a few elite to hold power over the people gaining wealth and power while the rest live nominal lives. Even the so-called peaceful Arab nations have schools that teach generations of children to hate the West and Israel. The religion of Islam seems to be at the very heart of this unrest, breeding discontent, poverty, and violence. It is a religion that never builds but destroys. Islam dictates the fate of millions of people in the Middle East by forcing them to believe as they do through fear, intimidation, and violence. Freedom and human rights are being subjugated to a barbaric ideology centered deeply in the writings of the Koran. The Koran itself seems to radicalize it’s adherents. The intent of Islamic ideology is to destroy the West instead of unifying themselves as a people to create a just society with a good standard of living for their people.

We may try to deny or white wash it by declaring politically correct statements that good and bad people are in all religions. The truth is, the Koran teaches conquest through violent means. The flourishing dictatorships are the fruit of Islamic ideology. These nation have an Islamic and political ideology that promotes violence, and takes away basic human rights. They also exploit one another through the self interest of the sect of Islam that is in power. Islamic beliefs at the core of Arab nations have created governments that are morally bankrupt. I believe the outrage and violence these ideologies foster is because they have failed to meet the needs and expectations of their own people.They have created a frustration that is being directed and taken out on America and other western nations because of their success and achievements. By depicting the West as evil it gives Islamic fanaticism a reason to exist and gather an army around a false cause.

Islam is a large religious group that is teaching generations of children to hate others different from themselves. I believe in religious freedom but people worldwide are being killed and coerced to serve a religious ideal based on violence and hatred. As communism brings about injustice, poverty, class warfare, and suffering so does a belief in the Koran. Wherever this religious quasi-political religious ideology exists people’s human rights are diminished, and prejudice, poverty, crime, and violence abound.

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May 1, 2011 by Sal Termini.

Inconvenient - adjective 1. not easily accessible or at hand 2. inopportune; untimely 3. not suiting one’s needs or purposes.

There are some wonderful things in life we can desire, like falling in love, having great friendships, or a career we’re passionate about. There is also a great danger of taking for granted these things that are so important to us and mean so much to our lives. Without them we would not be who we were meant to be. As wonderful as these things are, nothing is more meaningful than truly knowing God and having a relationship with Him. It is the most satisfying thing we can do as human beings. Yet because God SEEMS inaccessible we fail to pursue a relationship with Him. God’s word says, “when you seek me with all your heart you will find me.” God is hard to find because He wants us to desire Him as much as we desire the things of this life and world before He reveals Himself to us. Even when our lives and the world at large have fallen far short of real happiness, we fail to seek for God. We are a broken and fallen race yet we keep trying to live our lives without Him. What drives us to such independence from God, especially when He is our only hope? For to many of us, to take the time to have a relationship with God is just too inconvenient.

Imagine someone you love deeply treating you as an inconvenience. This is how the world treats God. His morality, truth and requirements for goodness are seen as an inconvenience. To serve Him is seen as an outrageous inconvenience. We tell ourselves God should be serving us and that we are the center of the universe after all. His morality is untimely and inopportune for our plans and purposes. In our myopic selfish and sinful lives we avoid Him because He convicts us that we are selfish. It is inconvenient to walk in the truth and serve God because we don’t want to live by principle but rather by pleasure. So we remain unsatisfied pursuing things that are meaningless because pursuing the truth is inconvenient.

The word inconvenience to many means not doing anything that does not serve our personal needs and purposes. The grand needs and purposes of God are lost in our petty selfish lives. When we look at our entertainment values we see, Jersey Shore, Desperate Housewives, or celebrities with questionable moral values. We find ourselves enamored by the lives of the most shallow and selfish people. We make them our heroes because they have reached celebrity. Celebrity takes no sacrifice — just ego, pride, arrogance, and a selfishly driven lust for more attention. Jesus is a hero because heroes sacrifice and inconvenience themselves to love others as themselves. If we cannot learn to love God who is perfect how shall we ever love one another who are so imperfect.

We need to come to church where our short comings will be healed. Making the pursuit of God a worthwhile convenience will result in a true and lasting happiness.

-Sal Termini

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