January 5, 2005 – 9:48 pm
“You’re in deep doo-doo now,” was my 6th grade math teacher’s favorite expression, the one that signaled a mini-Apocalypse in the form of a D grade, or a detention, or a shrill call to the parents demanding an explanation of one’s behavior. I never got along with my math teacher, but the phrase has stuck to me somehow, and I remembered it recently while doing research on Islamic bloggers for this article.
Only the words “doo-doo,” despite the horrific memories of my awful math class, seemed a bit too gentle for the mess I encountered. Read More »
Quick memo to the good ol’ folks that drive straight from church to the pro-war rally in their starred and striped S.U.V.’s:
You are total idiots.
Oh, I am sorry. I doubt even you would have an easy time trying to picture Christ as your supporter in the demolition of the Middle East. Christ on a tank, waving an American flag, drool coming down his chin. Christ with a machine gun. Christ with a terrified, naked man on a leash. Read More »
Oh dear. Does a certain movie mean we can’t make fun of Mel Gibson anymore?
If I were to play a free-association game using the image of Mel Gibson, the words and phrases that most readily come to mind are: “Crackpot,” “Braveheart,” “Cute bum.” And “Aaaaaaagh his poor wife has had, like, a million kids!”
After today, I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t add the word “brilliant.”
“The Passion of the Christ” is not for everyone. It’s not easily digestible, especially if you’re gore-intolerant. It’s certainly not perfect. It’s heavy-handed at times, and occasionally slips into melodrama.
But it’s still amazing. Read More »
February 28, 2001 – 6:56 pm
God is not to blame, we are
If this often preached conciliatory statement is true - that Muslims, Christians, Jews, and the rest of humankind are all, metaphorically speaking, the children of God - then we are indeed a bunch of incorrigibly spoilt kids with a very bleak future.
True, our ‘metaphoric’ Father left us His will inside more than one mysterious and ancient covenant. But one thing over which no doubt can be cast is that all have essentially sought to attain the same goal: peace on earth and equal justice for all. It is incredibly ironic, therefore, how these holy scripts managed over the centuries to become so diametrically conflicting with each other to the point that they are today totally irreconcilable.
Even the fundamental shared command against the grave act of taking an innocent human being’s life has found its detractors in the very name of the Giver of this life. The resulting endless strife among God’s agonizing children everywhere has led this humble sibling to sometimes honestly wish that the Almighty never bothered to entrust us with anything at all.
Before you slit my throat with knives of blasphemy, I invite you to take a quick tour of the world’s major conflicts today. Start in Palestine, go east to Afghanistan, take a detour to Chechnya, and then come down to Kashmir and India. Stop over in Indonesia, visit the Philippines, then travel west back to Sudan, and from there on to Algeria. Cross to Europe going over north Cyprus, then passing through Bosnia and Kosovo, head all the way up to Ireland. What do you notice? What lies at the heart of all the persisting troubles that you see? More precisely, what is it that makes all these human beings think they are so different from the people they seek to murder? Read More »
