Skip to main content

a pop quiz

Ever since the National Prayer Breakfast, Facebook and editorials in the newspaper have been popping with articles, memes, and comments (both pro and con) about the President's remarks that Christians should not get on a moral high horse when it comes to Islamic violence. He then proceeded to list some examples of Christian violence, such as the Crusades, the Jim Crow laws, and slavery.

So, here's a religious quiz for you:

1. Women are beaten and raped because they have a different faith. Where and by whom did this happen?

A. in countries with a high Muslim population to any infidel
B. in Tibet to non-Buddhists before the communist take-over
C. in Italy to the Waldensian women who were Protestants and not Catholics
D. all of the above

2. People are burned alive at stake for being heretics. Where and by whom did this happen?

A. In Europe to the Arminians by the followers of John Calvin
B. In Salem, Massachusetts, America to anyone accused of being "a witch" by young girls
C. In Syria by ISIS to a fellow Muslim
D. all of the above

3. People are legally banned from owning/renting a home or sending their children to school if they adhered to a different religion.Where did this happen?

A. In some towns in England - mainly affected Arminians
B. In Germany - mainly affected Jews
C. In Iraq/Afghanistan/Pakistan - affects anyone of a non-Muslim religion
D. all of the above

4. In America's earliest days, there were often beatings, sometimes to the death,  between people of what viewpoints:

A. Calvinists and Arminians
B. Christian slave-owners and Christian abolitionists
C. Protestants and Catholics
D. all of the above

5. What religions/ways of thought have coerced parents to send their children to a school that teaches their religion/viewpoint?

A. Catholic and Protestant missionaries to American Indians
B. Communism
C. Islam
D. all of the above


The answer to all of these questions is D.

I don't agree with the time and place of the President's remarks. But I do agree with his assessment that we can't view all Muslims as hate-filled killers any more than we can view all Christians as hate-filled, screaming Westview Baptists. We need to know our own history. We need to understand how dangerous it can be when someone tries to coerce others to their own viewpoint, especially when it is done in the name of religion.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

things we do for love

Saturday we had a baby shower for Bobby's niece. As I was making the mints, Bobby asked what else was on the menu. After I recited off the litany of items, he responded with "No peanut butter?! This shower is for Hannah! What's she going to eat?" (Hannah has had stomach problems over the years and has been unable to tolerate many foods, but peanut butter has been her staple.) Despite my assurances that she would enjoy the foods we were having, he was adamant that I needed to make peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for the shower. Even though I protested that NOBODY took that to a shower, he persisted, and informed me I could make them dainty with my little cutter. And so I did. To my surprise all but 3 were eaten. Who'd a thunk it?

get your house in order

My grandmothers were very clean people. My mother thoroughly enjoys cleaning, though she doesn't quite hit the same level my grandmothers were on. I don't enjoy cleaning, but I do like things to be clean. I've almost given up on neatness. One thing that they all instilled in me is the crazy concept that your house must be in order before you go somewhere big - like a vacation or something. After all, you could die in a car crash or have to go to the hospital, and then people would go into your house and find it in a terrible mess. Who wants to be remembered by that? So up until this past year, I would sometimes be up almost all night not only trying to get things packed up, but also trying to totally clean house as well. Or should I say, make the house presentable? The Chinese had a horrible superstition that my mother and grandparents would have enjoyed. Spring Festival (the Chinese New Year based on the lunar calendar) required EVERYTHING to be cleaned top to

Wait...it's almost March?!?

 10 more months 'til Christmas. This last month has been an absolute blur. Cleaning at Mrs. Bryan's house, cleaning at our house, lots of thinking and brainstorming and rearranging, appointments upon appointments, sinus infection/allergies, Bobby's surgery, meeting with surgeon and finally agreeing to future outpatient surgery for me, ongoing updates from my parents, garden tilled and snow peas, potatoes and beets planted (and yes I left several rows empty between the potatoes and beets for something else to go later as a buffer), chickens are laying, we may have a broody hen..in FEBRUARY!!!, we have two roosters that need to disappear, lots of family have been in from out of town to assist with the sorting and cleaning at Mrs. Bryan's house, and somewhere in the midst of it all I've found time to pay bills and catch up on a few emails. While I no longer feel like our house is a disaster zone, it is still overwhelming. Years ago a friend posted a quote by Martin Lut