Muhammad, Jesus, Abraham...

Turning Away From Our Principles
(Unholy War series)

Religion is a very sensitive subject. This post will address religion in a way that is offensive to some readers. It is intended to be illustrative of how religion affects the way we reach out to the world around us. It is meant to show that we need not to shrug the strict devotions to faith at times if we are to show the true messages of said faiths. That we should be willing to reach beyond our religious boundaries to help those in need. The message is at times rough and hard to read. And it is not meant to be taken as fact but a mere suggestion. If anything, the purpose of this post is to make you ask questions, not to tell you what to do. 

Ammi

(My People)

When it comes to religions there aren't many in the West that people think of as being oppressed more so than Judaism. 70 plus years ago was the most iconic time our oppression and near extermination. Yet there was also Russia's repressive role over it's Jewish population. And there is the lingering issue of antisemitism across the West. But there is also the issue of Israel itself. And it is this issue that transforms Judaism, if only in part, from victim to oppressor. 

However, before we dive into the portion of Judaism that gets a particular portion of readers foaming at the mouth... lets go back a little ways first. 

Judaism was the first of the Abrahamic faiths that depicted in it's holy book violent imagery that some could argue was in fact genocide. Entire populations were forced out of what would become Judea (later Israel) while others were killed off altogether. These somewhat barbaric "holy wars" were said to be ordained by Elohim (G-d). His holy word was said to have directed our ancestors to slaughter men, women, babies, and even the farm animals as well. Not a living soul was allowed to be spared the wrath of the Lion of Judah. And all the while we were forging what the world would later come to know as "the holy land"... a land drenched in blood from it's birth. 

So one might expect that if you are raised to believe that G-d intended His spirit to reside upon a small patch of sand and not in the heart of man, well then Israel is just the place... right? 

We did a marvelous job at turning the blood over into the soil and bringing forth olives, wheat, and other various crops. We did a great job at building upon the ruins of those who had come before us (of course this was easy since they weren't city builders). We even managed to erect the temple just as G-d had commanded (twice actually). There were kings who had giant mines to dig up the gold and precious metals that Israel's land had to offer. There were religious leaders who made sure that the laws of the land were adhered to strictly. And there were even a handful of the underclass who made sure the fun things in life weren't totally banished by the prior said class of man. All in all, we did a great job for a very long period of time when it came to building up the culture that would define Judaism for centuries to come. 

And those centuries did come and go. The Greeks came and tried to kill us all off, we remained. The Romans came and tried to kill us all off, we remained. The neighbors found religion and came over to share it (somewhat violently), we still remained. Of course some of us did pack up our things and take off from time to time. But for the most part, we remained. 

My ancestors in particular packed up and left when the neighbors over in what is now Syria had a little argument amongst themselves and a small group of them took off for Africa. Hitchhiking with the Moors, they eventually made it to Spain. Then when the party ended and the neighbors to the north got annoyed with the new kids on the block... well they took off again (just this time without their traveling companions). And hello Croatia it was. Well until the locals found a new form of faith and suddenly the neighborhood went to hell. But I digress... 

Over the time in diaspora some of us got a little nostalgic, and by a little I mean a desire for a few hundred years or so ago. This led to a little mingling of fact with fiction and the such. But it eventually ended up with the belief that G-d wanted all "His people" back in the land of Israel. And in this sense we almost got it right when we started to realize what G-d's temple really is (but we'll get to that later). 

Packing up and headed off to a new neighborhood was easy this time. We had been sold a belief that this was a homecoming of sorts. Some were even claiming that if we had just done this a couple decades ago those pesky Germans wouldn't have had a chance to be such bloody... I digress again. 

Arriving "home", the European Jews found that some other people had moved in while they were gone. Or so it would seem if you bought the idea that this was their land in the first place. They didn't however seem to realize that the Jews who didn't take off all those centuries ago (the indigenous population one might say) were relatively comfortable with their counterparts in what was then Palestine. Instead of realizing that integration was perhaps more preferable than a hostile takeover, the newcomers decided to take back what they viewed as being rightfully theirs. 

And this is where we slow down and really get into why Judaism has forsaken it's principles when we allow for the oppression of others in the name of our own faith. 

There isn't anything that was covered in the prior paragraphs that was meant to be a joke. Just as there isn't anything in this post that is humorous. What happened to my people over the centuries has been tragic. We have been made to suffer for our faith. We have been sent to camps, ghettos, and pits in open fields where they killed us. My family was lined up on a ledge and shot. There isn't anything in this post that is easy to write about. And what happened when my people came "home" isn't easy to write about. 

We came back to Israel to find that the people who had most recently invaded and colonized it were now well established. If you are Muslim, this is the time to admit that those we now know as Palestinians weren't the first people to be born and raised on that patch of soil. If you are Jewish, now is the time to admit that those Palestinians were born and raised on that patch of soil for generations before European Jews arrived. We came back to a land that wasn't the way we left it. In some ways it was better. In other ways it was alien and denied us the privilege of practicing our faith in the same holy places we had centuries before. 

There aren't easy answers as to how things should had been. There aren't easy ways of saying that one party was wrong or one party was just a little more wrong than the other. After all, over a long enough timeline each party comes off looking like a bunch of savages out for blood. 

The fact is that when the decisions were made to expel and kill Palestinians so that Judaism could prevail... that is where Judaism is to blame. 

We believe that G-d loves all His creation. We believe that we are to honor that love by revering G-d's creation in the same way G-d did when He breathed life into it. These beliefs are not confined to the way we conduct ourselves with other Jews but extends to all G-d's children and creation. We are to treat our brother as we would want them to treat us, but more importantly... in the ways G-d has blessed us (love, compassion, and understanding... to name a few).

This way of practicing Judaism can't be easily depicted when one looks at Israel today. Though the argument can be made that Israel is a modern state and not a religious institution in and of itself... that argument is flawed. For Israel upholds Judaism above all other faiths through laws, traditions, and policies. It's bias toward Judaism is seen in laws that can be characterized as "race laws". It's propping up of Judaism is so prevalent that it can be seen in laws regarding marriage within Israel.

The continued persecution of those who once lived upon the land where Israel rest leaves a stain upon Judaism as a whole. As long as it is perceived as being permissible within Israel to devalue the lives of a few than no life is truly valuable. This hatred, the tainting of Judaism's teachings, leaves all equally miserable. It makes life easy to extinguish in as much the same way as it was when our historical oppressors stole the lives of our ancestors. 

"... As Yourself"

Christianity is born out of blood. The creation of this faith created a new branch of the Abrahamic traditions. It took the principles of Judaism and highlighted portions while easing away from others. And in this tightrope like walk through the laws of Judaism it created opportunity for new branches of it's own faith to form. What started as being washed in the blood of the Lamb of G-d soon just became a bloodletting. From the wars of Europe to the conquest of the New World, Christianity has spread through the desires of man rather than the will of G-d. From the death of one man, Jesus of Nazareth, came the deaths of martyrs and victims alike. 

"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another." ~ John 13:34 

Christians did start out being persecuted. It's in fact their desire to branch away from Judaism that first got them put out on the road in the first place. The Jewish leaders of the day didn't care much for the new heretics in town. So the Christians got thrown to the Romans, who decided to kill them to start with, where they found European converts. Eventually the Romans softened up and backed away from the whole circus bit. And in the end the Christians end up with an entire city in Rome that acts as it's own little nation within a nation (however over the years I've been told by Protestants that Catholics aren't real Christians... and the same the other way around). But the just because you have the heart of an empire doesn't mean you stop there...

Christians spread out to the Germanic tribes, over Spain, and the British isles. They got held up in Romania for a bit when the empire died back. But Russia and the Eastern Europeans eventually came under the cloth as Christianity fought to claim as much of Europe as it could before the new kids down in the Middle East could come rushing north. From Greece to the Balkans Christianity was actually doing alright it seemed (given the local religions were subdued or erased all together). All Christianity had to do was make a few adjustments here and there to mask prior beliefs across the continent (examples: Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, St Patrick's...). This cultural genocide was alright of course since the message out of Rome was that Christianity spread civilization (with a little barbarism to enforce said civilization). 

Once the initial bloodshed was finished then the in house fighting began. This long period of bloodshed is partially to blame for sending some Christians out on the road again. Over a length of time those wandering groups of Christians would eventually end up on new lands far from home. One batch would become the seeds from which the United States would grow (somewhat exaggeratedly so). However, just as any new species can be once introduced to a new environment, these seeds quickly became invasive.

"Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

~Philippians 2:3-4 

Native languages, cultures, and ways of life were rapidly displaced as Christians took to what some were selling as the promised land. Spanish Christian armies stole gold, silver, and slaves in the name of their god (greed) and country. English Christians came to fine religious freedom while openly denying even basic liberties to the native peoples and the slaves they brought with them. French Christians did a less invasive method of Spanish expansion yet still managed to spread disease (not really their fault, but had they stayed home...) wherever they went. The Dutch Christians and other assorted allotments tried to grab what they could before France and England divided up most of the north while Spain clung to the south. All the while the message of Christianity was that Europeans had a right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of anything native peoples had prior to their arrival. 

All this was done as Christians had to swallow their faith's principles and give into the lust of man. Their colonialist of the world would become known as the "white man's burden" for the native peoples they conquered. However it wasn't the white peoples' race that was often held up as the reason for their massive excesses across the globe (however it was one of the reasons given, i.e. racism), it was their religion that was given as justification. The church often rationalized the cost the native populations had to pay by telling itself that Christianity would at least save their souls. So even if they did die from disease, hunger, or outright murder; at least their souls would be with G-d. 

Today this hatred in the West can be depicted as being confined to religiously based hate groups that scatter across Western civilization. And for the most part that is right. However, in countries where religion has not been separated from state, the pushing of Christianity as "the culture" rather than allowing diversity... the hate that fueled colonialism still persist. 

Jesus replied; "Love the Lord your G-d with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and the greatest commandment. And the second is like it, 'Love your neighbor as yourself'. All the Law of the Prophets hinge upon these two commandments." 

~Matthew 22:37-40

Christianity teaches it's followers that love is the greatest commandment of all. First they are to love G-d above all other things in this life. Secondly they are to love their fellow man in the same way they would love themselves. These two commandments in Christianity allow little room for hatred of others or other cultures. They show that Christians should be willing to express the same love for their fellow man that G-d has shown for them. If they have been blessed by their creator with freedoms, liberty, and health; then they should fight for those things for others who have not been given such blessings. Not so that those others will turn to Christ but so that in doing these things they are serving the Lord their G-d. For showing love is the basic principle of Jesus's message to his followers. 

"Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." ~1 Corinthians 13:4-7

"... of Mankind"

The third and final branch of the Abrahamic faiths is Islam. And like it's predecessors, Islam first arose from blood and still mingles with blood to this day. The Prophet Muhammad brought forth a faith that was meant to be the final word of G-d. It preached peace, love, and tolerance (for the Jews and Christians at least). Yet in it's implementation and founding in the deserts of Arabia it spread at first by the word and then eventually by the sword. Through no fault of it's own (of course) Islam had taken the path of the religions that came before it. It sought converts (like Christianity) and the rule of law (like Judaism). And somewhere in that rough start the message seems to have gotten lost. 

"The blessed of mankind is the one who is the most beneficial for mankind." ~Prophet Muhammad (s) in Beyhaki 6/112.

Groups like the Turks (Ottomans) really took things to a level that made the whole "peaceful religion" portion seem to be a fallacy of sorts. Their excesses, however occurring way down the road chronologically speaking, showed to the modern world how Islam had been abused since within the Middle East. Yet if we look back to the Moors in Spain we can see how Islam was abused far before that. It was only when the Moors started to lose their war of conquest that the Moors sought help from Muslims in northern Africa. While the Moors had been very tolerant of Christians and Jews, the incoming reinforcements were barbaric in their treatment of Jews and European Christians. It was in the excesses of these Muslims that the reconquista by the Christians really gathered steam. Blood begot blood in amounts that drenched Andalusia in waves. 

The Turks just expanded upon this belief that Islam was superior to the other "peoples of the book". Their abuses against the Greeks, Assyrians, and Armenians became so pronounced that they surpassed the levels of pogroms and entered the realm of genocide. Entire communities were labeled as enemies of the state... a state based on religion, and thus enemies of Islam. This created deep divides amongst the communities that still persist to this day (100 years later). 

Where the Prophet Muhammad had told his followers that the "blessed of mankind" are those who bless their fellow man; some followers had gone astray. And as with every religion, these stray followers did not just cast a stain upon themselves, their country, or their particular ethnic group. No, these followers became a blight upon all of Islam due to the reality that outsiders (especially those being killed off) do not make such distinctions when all they have been shown it hate. 

This is where Islam's presence in governments like that of Sudan continues to create a blight upon the faith itself. If a man who claims to have been blessed with a religion of superior intellect is seen firebombing villages and killing women and children... well that person's faith becomes a particularly rigid subject of debate. While another Muslim can claim that that one (or that group) isn't Muslim, to the outside world they are the poster child of Islam. And that's sadly how religions are portrayed no matter what faith it is. That whole "one bad apple" saying carries some weight.

 "None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself " ~Hadith #13

Actually Being A Blessing To Our Fellow Man

Regardless of religion, we all should be striving to be a blessing to our fellow man. Those of us who have been born into a life of freedom and prosperity have a duty to fight for those things for all mankind. Especially when there is a history of our given faith being the source of their repression. We may not be able to right all the wrongs in the past. But we can struggle every day to heal the wounds those events did create. This goes for our personal lives and in our struggle for human rights. 

We aren't perfect. Our religions aren't perfect. We will make mistakes when it comes to how we treat others. Other members of our faith will go well beyond just making mistakes. It is in how we conduct ourselves that we change the image of what it means to be religious and a supporter of human rights. By reaching out to all of mankind and not just with whom our faith is concerned, it is in this that we show the love of which all our faiths speak. 

Just as importantly, it is in showing that love and being a blessing to our fellow man that we help the causes that we do hold dear to us. You can no more uphold the rights of one oppressed community when you deny the oppression of another. After all, "love does not dishonor others". It is fair in all things. And it is far from blind. For it is the love our fellow man that convicts us to act in the first place. 

The Devil's Bastards

Unholy War Series 

(A Victim Of Boko Haram's Barbarism)

Nigeria has been the front line in an unholy war for the heart and soul of Africa. Along the battlefront the two major religions of Islam and Christianity endlessly spill blood in the name of a god that seems to have looked the other way. Villages are used as urban battlefields and the open wasteland of sub-Saharan Africa acts as no-man's land. Civilians who withstand the urge to join the militants that come and go are left helpless as governments struggle to maintain control. Mutilation, open massacres, and rolling gunfights become far too common as Africa's children watch their hope for a better life go up in smoke.

And for what? So that faith can bleed out entire countries? So that religion can gain a foothold while breaking the back of Africa?

Misleading The Faithful

Amongst this senseless violence is not surprising to find militant groups that use faith to entice their terrorists into endless war. Christian groups (such as the LRA in Uganda) loosely hide behind the cross as they enlist children to die like men for a cause not their own. Islamist groups pitch Sharia Law as a solution for Africa's ailments while creating a laundry list of new ones. In Nigeria the latest bastards to join the fight got their start back in 2002.

Boko Haram, which roughly translates to "Western education is forbidden", dragged out 14th century ideals and perverted ideals of what the Qur'an teaches to create a movement in northwest Nigeria. The overly legalistic approach to Islam that would define Boko Haram in Nigeria originated with the Islamic cleric Mohammad Yusuf. Through his attempts in the 1990's the movement in Nigeria was able to gain traction by 2002. It was packaged and preached to young Muslims as a way of fighting back against the West and the Christian dominated south in Nigeria. In it's packaging any verse in the Qur'an that preached tolerance appeared to be omitted while others were perverted to justify "jihad".

Of course no good "jihad" movement gains traction by first telling it's new followers to pick up a gun and prepare for paradise. Yusuf started out by telling his followers to mock and isolate Muslims in northern Nigeria if they dared to participate in anything Yusuf saw as helping the government. This was highlighted in Yusuf's preaching that Nigeria was illegitimately run since it refused to follow strict Islamic laws (ultimately Sharia). In doing so, Yusuf would transition his message of withdrawing from Nigerian society and governmental programs to a message of Islam's supposed dominance to the secular state.

Sowing the seed of dissent, Yusuf hid behind religion as his message grew more openly sinister. "Withdraw" soon became "resist". And "resistance" soon became "violent resistance".  By the time Boko Haram had reached a reasonable following Yusuf was already preaching to his faithful a message of rebellion and terrorism. In 2009 those seeds sprang forth as Boko Haram's message came to fruition.

Killing In The Name Of...

In July of 2009 the Boko Haram followers pushed the envelop one step too far for Nigeria's police. What seemed like a petty offense (refusing to wear helmets on motorbikes) was the militants' way of antagonizing the state. It was far from the first stage of antagonism deployed by Yusuf's little anarchists. But it was the last stage before the peace broke down and open rebellion began.

When police began cracking down on Boko Haram militants the terror group let loose with all guns blazing. Like children throwing a fit, the foot soldiers of the Boko Haram movement unleashed hell in an attempt to gain attention. In this terror campaign over 800 Nigerian citizens would lose their lives to grotesquely senseless violence.

The military of Nigeria was called in so as to restore law and order. What had been a simple crime was now all out war. And as with all incidents where a corrupt government is given reason to flex it's muscles; the situation rapidly deteriorated. On one side the civilians trapped in the middle had militant thugs and on the other a military hellbent on showing who was in charge. Nobody would come out the winner here.

In the end Mohammad Yusuf would be executed publicly as the state attempted to show all of Nigeria who was in control of northwestern Nigeria. It was an act of capital punishment that would do anything but solve the problem. With one man's blood, Nigeria's government shattered any hopes of peace and radicalized a generation of Islamist. This had given a movement it's martyr.

Bastardized, Boko Haram was ready to exact it's pound of flesh. Nothing was sacred to the scorned movement. Suicide attacks began almost as soon as Yusuf was dispatched. Over the next five years this hellish movement would leave thousands of Nigerians dead as Boko Haram pursued Yusuf's dream of an Islamic state in Nigeria.

Pol Pot Style Genocide

The tactics deployed by Boko Haram became increasingly more perverse and barbaric as the members within the movement challenged each other for control. Students from colleges and grade schools became prime targets for the hedonistic leadership of Boko Haram. In September of 2013 terrorists from the movement attacked and killed 65 students at the agricultural college in Yobe state, Nigeria. These sorts of targeted massacres have also been accompanied by suicide attacks and bombings of schools across northern Nigeria.

This strategy of attacking schools follows the underlying ideal within the movement that "Western education is forbidden". In the beginning the movement would had called for it's members to simply withdraw and be completely unassociated with Nigeria's state schools. It would had encouraged it's followers to seek out Islamic schooling in place of secular education. This would had been a peaceful, if uneasy, way of pursuing a future in which northern Nigeria's youth were completely uneducated (in the modern sense). Yet today it is clear that this message has been completely perverted into one of violent destruction of all "Western" educational systems.

Today Boko Haram seeks to kill those who participate in Nigeria's state run school system. Muslims who dare to seek an education within the system are placed at a higher risk of being murdered due to Boko Haram's hardline teachings. It's devotion to a "pure Islamic" system of governance and education means that all Muslims and non-Muslims are meant to subject themselves to the Mosque rather than the state. There is no room for tolerance or freedom of choice.

Within this framework of what a Boko Haram style Nigeria would look like there is little left to the imagination as to why just this past week 43 students were gunned down. It is easy to see why Boko Haram burns schools and bombs others. It is built into the teachings of the Boko Haram movement that children who are educated by the state system are somehow polluted and a threat to the Islamic system of religious dominance. And thus why the children of Nigeria, all those who are enrolled in education, must pay in blood for Boko Haram's version of Nigeria to become a reality.

One Devil Verses The Other

Much of what Yusuf started when he created this movement was built out of capitalizing on social grievances many Muslims in Nigeria's north have felt for countless years. Yusuf simply had to pander to the existing dissidents while feeding others with a sense of having been wronged by the state. Mixing in extremist rhetoric allowed Yusuf to deepen the divide that was already growing within Nigerian society. 

The efforts made by Boko Haram to feed the anger within Nigeria's Muslim community were only further highlighted by Nigeria's government itself. Corruption within the court systems and military put increasing pressure upon all of Nigeria's population. But it was felt disproportionately in Nigeria's northern states as the government increasingly made it's Muslim population feel disenfranchised and marginalized by the state itself. 

All Boko Haram had to do was come along and give a name to the anger that was festering beneath the surface. Yusuf gave a cause behind which that anger could be harnessed. And in doing so, Yusuf created a beast that Nigeria has to this day been unable to tame. 

Crimes against humanity have become characteristic of the fight between Boko Haram and the government of Nigeria. Both parties have actively sought to demonize the other while persistently bleeding the innocent population of their security, their future, and in far too many cases... their lives. 

Nigeria's Joint Task Force (JTF) of military and police have over the years been seen as thugs themselves. The police in Nigeria have been accused of killing at will, often shooting first and asking questions later. Though many who remain sympathetic to the fight against terrorism globally see this as combating a violent jihadi organization, the tactics often galvanize support for Boko Haram rather than end the group's ability to fight. Meanwhile the civilians the police are meant to protect pay for the polices' brutality in loss of property and at times with blood. 

Yet Nigeria's government, as corrupt as it is, has no option but to find some method with which to end Boko Haram's barbarism. No modern state can be expected to tolerate having truck drivers beheaded with chainsaws on it's highways. The constant flow of blood and sustained anarchy must be ended if Nigeria expects to move forward in any manner of speaking. 

In the meantime the government of Nigeria faces a war with it's own citizenry. From this point it appears to be a war of scorched earth that pits one religion against the other. It appears to be a war that divides a nation along the lines of politics and faith. A war where one party wishes to drag a country back to the 14th century while the other wishes to exploit it's populace and push for a secular state. 

There doesn't seem to be a winner in Nigeria no matter how this battle ends. All there appears to be is a country split by religious fervor and perverse ideology. Leaving it's average citizen to scrape out a living amongst the bloodshed, corruption, and oppression of politics and faith alike. 

Just One Point Along The Front Line

This installment in this series is just the start of Alder's Ledge's look at the long battle front that stretches across Africa. As we hinted at in the start of this series, we believe this battle for the soul of Africa often is characterized as the fight between Islam and Christianity for religious dominance in regions of Africa. And in looking at this struggle between the two faiths we will look at places like Nigeria, Sudan, Uganda, and Niger. All the while we will be attempting to remain fair in our depictions of the problems that arise from this issue. At no point are we taking sides or attacking either faith. We are simply attempting to bring attention to an issue that many overlook.









Source Documents
(not all listed)

PBS News Hour
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/boko-haram/

Aljazeera America
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/3/7/nigeria-boko-haramanalysis.html
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2014/03/schools-shut-prevent-boko-haram-attacks-20143615264765350.html

The Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/nigeria/10642979/Boko-Haram-kill-over-100-in-village-massacre.html

Amnesty.org
http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR44/038/2009/en/f09b1c15-77b4-40aa-a608-b3b01bde0fc5/afr440382009en.pdf

Human Rights Watch
http://www.hrw.org/node/101018/section/2

Bleed Black

The Soulless, The Coward
(The Lost Souls series)

Alder's Ledge supports the religious rights of all groups and peoples. We believe that it is the right of every individual regardless of where they live or what they believe to exercise their religious beliefs freely and openly. It is for that reason we have decided to highlight the most depraved of individuals that would attempt to undermine this freedom for others while pushing their own religious beliefs in such a distasteful and hostile manner. In coming portion of this series we will highlight discrimination against Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Sikhs, Jews, and even Atheists (whom we believe have the same rights to not be religious as those who decided to practice a faith of their own).

It took an anti-Semitic Muslim twit to introduce me to the most obnoxiously hateful bastard this blog has had the opportunity to research. This certifiable lunatic not only looks like a rabid ideologue wearing a throwback costume to the Knights Templar, but has views not so far off from those espoused in Europe's dark ages. The only difference here is that during those ages the rise of Islam took some of the heat off Judaism as Christendom suddenly found a new competitor to bash their weapons against. Now however, the radical fringe of Islam finds it entertaining to push the radical views of cowards like "Brother Nathanael" and his mildly entertaining "foundation".

In our modern age of so called enlightenment this combination of religious fervency and blind hatred is troubling to say the least. In rambling speeches and YouTube videos the fanatical Nathanael manages to collectively blame Judaism (as a singular entity) for everything from the Sandy Hook school shooting to Boston Marathon bombing. Of course these are just two examples of this sick individual hitching his cart to tragedies so as to profiteer off innocent blood. In other examples of his blind hatred for Jews and Judaism Nathanael goes as far as to accuse every Jew for their part in allegedly "stealing Christmas". Proving that there truly is no depth to which perverse ideologues like this man willing to sink to manipulate the opinions of others.

Stopping Short Of Pogroms 

For the most part Nathanael manages to stop his ranting just short of telling the viewer to go grab a gun and shoot up the local synagogue. In most of his ramblings the main threats come from pushing for legal oppression of Judaism in an attempt to force Americans to accept the United States as a "Christian nation again". *Note that Nathanael attaches the word again so as to emphasize his point that America was at some point a religious state dominated and run by the church.

However where there is legal action taken to oppress any minority, regardless of religion, there often follows the physical persecution of the targeted portion of society. It was for this reason that our founding fathers first decided to separate the church from the state and the state from the church. It was clear that if the religious freedoms of all citizens were to be protected that the country must not endorse or push the religious views of any one group over that of another. This was one of the very reasons the initial citizens of Europe had left their homelands in the first place. Yet it is the very thing that Nathanael and his foundation strive to instate through there religious fervor. 

This is made rather clear in The Brother Nathanael Foundation's website:

From the "Vision" statement- 

(capitalization not added by us, bold highlights however are)

"We will DEMAND equal time and MORE for Christian symbols in the public square and support Christian institutions dedicated to the advancement of a Christian society."

 "We will start an education program to bring WHOLESOME sexual ideology to Public School Students."

"We will expose the Zionist State of Israel as an Anti-Christ state due to its denial that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah."

Lets ignore the fact that Nathanael's organization uses the overtly anti-Semitic slogan of calling Israel collectively "Zionist" and thus indicting all Jews within it's borders of being such. Lets ignore that there is no room in his arguments for making a distinction between radical Jews and the rest of us. Lets ignore the fact that many of Nathanael's writings and speeches carry exerts from Mein Kampf and other well known hate saturated doctrines. Lets just focus on the more sadistic characteristics of Nathanael's "evangelism". 

"DEMAND... MORE for Christian symbols"

When was the last time you got to see an Ramadan service held publicly at the White House? Oh that is right, Obama just recently held on a White House Ramadan Iftar dinner on July 25th, 2013. Yet Judaism is supposed to be in complete control of the White House according to radicals like Nathanael. So obviously this was just a ploy, right? Yet this was President Obama's fifth Iftar meal and celebration at the White House.

But President Obama is a liberal president and thus a Jewish "goy", right? I mean that is what Nathanael's organization would like the world to believe. He has spent countless hours preparing videos in which he compares Democratic politicians as "Zionists' goys" being held captive to a global Jewish plot to take over the "world's leading superpower". So perhaps only liberal Jewish pawns allow Islam to take center stage regardless of Ramadan falling relatively close to the Jewish Three Weeks of fasting? 

But to believe this we would have to overlook President George W. Bush's eight consecutive Ramadan Iftar services during his presidency. And we would have to go back to President Clinton to find the first celebrations of Ramadan and the holding of Iftar meals at the White House. Yet of course if we are to listen to Nathanael these are new ploys by the Jewish conspiracy to further push Islam through a president (Obama) who has done more to harm America's relations with the Middle East than any other president (sadly, even Bush). 

Yet the Iftar meals and other Muslim celebrations held at the White House are only the starting point for Nathanael's campaign to force Christianity upon the rest of America through the executive branch. Besides demanding that the White House put up and maintain a nativity scene throughout the month of December, Nathanael's foundation demands that the Chanukah menorah be banned. Thus showing that Nathanael isn't really all that worried about other religions having their time in the public square but rather just wants Judaism banned from public view. 

This rather rabid approach to attacking what, if Nathanael was truly Jewish from birth, he should realize is a minor Jewish holy festival is just the starting point. From this jumping off point fanatics like Nathanael leap into pushing for restrictions on openly celebrating Passover (Pesach) and Yom Kippur. The real target in these perverse attacks is the ultimate denial of religious observances in any manner that might offend the fringe elements of Christendom.

And since it is impossible to exist without offending somebody, somewhere, it is impossible to celebrate any of these holy days at any time. Pesach is the mark on the calender with which Christians use to identify when Easter arrives each year. Yet the push for "MORE" Christian symbols in the public square while limiting Jewish symbols would mean that Pesach would basically have to be banned all together. 

Now I, as a conservative Jew, don't much care for the parts of Pesach which the rest of society gets to see in public (i.e. the grocery store). Matzo is one of the worst pieces of bread ever made... which makes it's name fitting. And yet if radicals like this are allowed any real respect in public thinking then the matzo would have to be done away with so the Easter Bunny can have it's place in the public square. For all public facilities are an extension of the public square and therefore symbols of a religion in those facilities are just as offensive as if they were placed upon the White House lawn. 

"WHOLESOME sexual ideology"

This one statement in his "vision statement" isn't Nathanael's first time indicating that Judaism in the reason for homosexuality across the world. This is a running theme in Nathanael's preaching as he pushes a homophobic ideology onto a modern society. It doesn't take long listening to Nathanael to realize that this ideologue truly believes that homosexuals are Satan's spawn and thus products of "the Jews". 

Once again it is hard to incorporate the traditional beliefs of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam with those of a modern, tolerant, and open society. The reality of living in a day and age where all people are to be accepted as they are rather than what a given religion would dictate for them has evaded Nathanael and his organization. Where members of all three Abrahamic faiths have found it within themselves to accept others the members of this hate group reject homosexuals outright. Instead of acceptance and the "love of Christ", homosexuals can only expect vile bigotry from Nathanael and his followers. 

This is only made more bizarre by Nathanael's belief that his narrow minded hate speech should be standard reading for our children in public schools. So much so that Nathanael's organization has drafted curriculum teaching "orthodox" Christian doctrine as fact instead of scientific reality that homosexuality occurs naturally. Thus attempting to force one religion's views upon the youngest citizens of our country through a state funded system (in direct violation of "separation of church and state"). 

Fortunately the "foundation" has had no such luck in forcing it's bigoted views upon any public school so far...

Antisemitism And Other Prejudice

Regardless of his main views of "the Jews" as being the main enemies of a Christian nation, Nathanael's hatred is not bound simply to religion. In several videos and throughout his writing Nathanael often expresses a profound hatred for non-whites. He takes this hatred for the "lesser races" by proposing that "white America" is on the brink of becoming extinct. He cites supposed illegal immigration regardless of the immigration process these "lesser races" took to arrive here. He also, of course, blames "the Jews" for this wave of "third world" immigrants.

"America's Multicultural Nightmare" 

- February 2011

"American Jewry's Push For Massive Immigration"

- October 2010

"White Anger Or White Stupor?"

- September 2010

"The End Of White America"

- May 2012

These "third world" immigrants from "non-Christian countries" are a threat in the eyes of radicals like Nathanael. All we have to do is compare his views with those of well known racists like David Duke (also an antisemitic hate monger). By noticing the common enemies these two radical Christian windbags choose we can see who the ultimate source of their hatred really is. Though the "third world" immigrants get to take some of the blame for the supposed downfall of "white America", "the Jews" get the bulk of the alleged guilt. 

Freedom Of Hates Speech

In a civil society we must always learn to tolerate the fringe elements of every given group. However, we must also make a consistent push to isolate these voices and separate ourselves from them. By giving them favorable recognition we allow their views to be seen as somewhat acceptable and even respectable. 

We must make certain that we speak out against these radicals with every chance we are given. We must be relentless in identifying their fallacies whenever and wherever they attempt to push them. By making it clear that these are not opinions that our society at large accepts we make it clear that the liberties of all our citizens are protected from the tyranny they attempt to push. Though we must allow them the opportunity to speak we do not have to give them the chance to be left unchallenged. For with every right there are obligations, and the challenging of hate speech is an obligation that arises with the freedom of speech itself.

Genocide And The Church

Prodding The Believers Into The Fray
(Screamer Post)

Alder's Ledge is not affiliated with any given faith. However, the main author is Jewish and thus this post will contain aspects of his given faith. We advise those reading this post to apply their own judgement as to how this pertains to your own beliefs. "Screamer's Post" are op-ed style post and do directly reflect all our contributors' and authors' views or beliefs.

Over the past year I have had the opportunity to speak to many different men and women of G-d about the plight of the Rohingya in Burma. Ranging from pastors, rabbis, an imam, and a few other spiritual leaders of sorts. With every encounter I have had the results have surprisingly varied greatly from one individual to the next. Most have offered the usual response of admitting how terrible the crisis the Rohingya face really is. Others on the other hand deflect the crisis all together by hiding behind their G-d as an excuse for their apathy. 

"We don't feel that G-d is calling us to help..."

My faith has always led me to believe that G-d's will for His people always aligns with helping those in need. At no point in my faith have I found it plausible to turn away for any reason from the downtrodden and oppressed. My G-d has led me from my own struggles, at times with me dragging my heels like a mule, and thus I cannot find it in me to close my eyes to the suffering of others. So when faced with the statement above I have only one reply...

When did He ever tell you not to help?

"Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

~ Galatians 6:2

"For there will never cease to be poor in the land. Therefore I command you, 'You shall open wide your hand to your brother, to the needy and to the poor, in your land.'"

~ Devarim (Deuteronomy) 15:11

"Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."

~ Psalm 82:4 

"Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to G-d."

~ Hebrews 13:16 

 "Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause." 

~ Isaiah 1:17

"Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others."

~ Philippians 2:4 

 "Those who spend (in the cause of All-h) privately or publicly, by night and day, have their reward with their L-rd. And (on the Day of Resurrection) they shall neither fear nor grieve."

 Al-Baqarah 2:274

"You shall give the due alms to the relatives, the needy, the poor, and the traveling alien; but do not be excessive, extravagant."

~ Qur'an 17:26-29

At no point has G-d commanded His believers to pick and choose to whom and to what causes they are to give their time and energy. For those who believe in giving charity (zakat) as a practice of their faith have no more claim to possessing their donation than they do in how it is spent from that point on. We were commanded by G-d to surrender a portion of everything and anything that He blesses us with so that it might benefit the L-rd and exult His name amongst the nations (the world). Our only duty is to give when and as He has directed us to. 

As I have from one house of G-d after the other over this past year I have found however that most of us grasp to every last blessing that G-d bestows upon us greedily. We cling to our cash as though we will someday get to take it with us when we leave this miserable world behind. And yet in every one of our books Ad-ni has told us that we are to be separate from the treasures of this world. He has commanded us to use all that He has given to us to spread His glory. 

So why this desire to collect our rewards in this life? 

In nearly every verse dealing with what we write off as charity G-d has shown us that money and wealth have little to do with our reward. And in each verse He has told us that simply spending these things cannot gain us favor in His eyes. We are meant to work. We are meant to spend our wealth, our energy, and our time doing His work... showing His love.

There are no rewards in this life that we can take away from it with us. When we die all this is history. All the cars, the houses, the diplomas, the accomplishments... they all are meaningless once we return to the dust from which we came. 

The only thing we have when we leave this world is the legacy that we leave behind. All we have is the mark we have left upon the lives of those we have touched in our short time on this planet. Once we are gone the only thing that will last is our legacy of showing G-d's grace, His mercy, His love, and His glory. 

Everything else will fade... everything else will die with us. 

So it has been a hard fought struggle to work my way into places I so desperately ran away from in my youth. To work my way back into the pews, behind the benches, and into the seats where I felt my spirit lead me away from so long ago. All in the name of tapping into the wealth that these houses of G-d cannot seem to put into action. In an attempt to wake the soul of a community that sets on the sidelines like terracotta warriors... void of life.

"...Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest."

It is difficult to force anyone into action when they have told themselves the lie so often that G-d has not commanded them to do so. Yet when dealing with genocide the "field" isn't just ready for harvest but the enemy is readily setting it ablaze. Despite being able to see this as a war, a struggle, in which the other side is using a scorched earth policy... the church's eyes are still fixed upon their feet. 

For a screamer this means that we must be the iron, freshly pulled from the flames, that must be used to prod G-d's believers into the field. We must be relentless in our attempts to engage the wealth of the church (temple, mosque) and create workers to bring in the harvest before it is burnt away. 

We face an enemy that prepares to make our brothers and sisters into burnt offerings. We face a holocaust. And for this reason all of us must stand up and fill the gap between despair and hope. Without that willingness to take upon the struggle of the oppressed we will otherwise be forced to watch our fellow man be ushered off to an early grave. 

"Muslims? 

No, We Can't Help Them"

Then comes the second reality I have had to come to terms with over this past year. The reality that even amongst three linked faiths there are still divisions, prejudice, and even hatred. This is a reality that has come from hearing one man of G-d after the next turn away at the very hint that the people I was asking them to help were Muslims. As if they would have helped if the victims were from any other faith...

The other part of this bigoted response has been that from the other end of the spectrum.

"You're a Jew... why would you help them?"

It isn't the reality that the prejudice against Islam and Muslims still exist, that is one I have known for decades. It is the sudden reality that despite G-d's commands to love as He has loved us, so many believers still can't look past these minor differences and simply love one another. It is that we seem so stubborn in our decision to first see the other person as a Muslim, Jew, or Christian rather than the precious being that G-d created with all His love and heart. 

For this reason, from this aspect of engaging the supposed righteous, I have found G-d's faithful to be the most challenging and exhausting group of people to address with Alder's Ledge's message. Creating screamers out of hearts that view the situation through such a narrow prism has been painful at best. 

Yet the struggle has one reward that makes this struggle so vital to helping those suffering from genocide and ethnic cleansing in Burma (and around the world). 

Setting in those pews are hearts that know a passion, a faith, and a love that is urgently needed. In those pews aren't just people who often prove to be charitable with their money, but rather have time and time again shown a willingness to put muscle behind their dollars. But first, they have always had to be driven from their prayer mats, their pews, and their alters to be dragged into the fight for justice. 

Amongst them, as with any other group of people, there are so many untapped talents and abilities. All of which must be engaged through their religion while also overcoming the prejudices that may exist. 

G-d has given us His commandments to help engage His faithful in this fight to save the Rohingya from the genocide that Burma has perpetrated against them. Now all we have to do is find ways to make the words G-d has given us break through the barriers that organized religion so often builds up around it's followers. 

And perhaps it is due to my frustration in my own struggle to do so that has led to this article...

Do you have experience with this subject? Have advice for Alder's Ledge?

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Peace be with you Syria

-
What a beautiful land you will be for our enemies...
(Part of The Darkness Visible post) 

When we think of Syria we do not usually take time to think about the roots of Christianity. Yet it was in Damascus that Saul became Paul. It was here in Syria that the world of Christianity ceased to focus on converted Jews and shifted to the rest of humanity. And in spite of all this the history of Christianity in Syria seems forgotten at best.

Just a century ago a fifth of Syria's population were Christian. Today only about five percent of Syria's population is Christian. And it is this tiny community that is falling into the darkest chapters of Syria's rebellion. Soon the history of Syria's Christians could be more than just forgotten.

Assad has been a cruel dictator. His ruthlessness has made him a villain in the eyes of the civilized world. His tactics have made him a war criminal. And his supporters are just as extreme as their opposition. Yet it is both the brutal regime and the rebels alike that are putting the squeeze on Syria's Christian community.

“The armed [rebels] in Syria [have] murdered more than 200 Christians in the city of Homs, including entire families with young children. These gangs kidnapped Christians and demanded high ransoms. In two cases, after the ransoms were paid, the men's bodies were found,” according to a priest in Homs.

It is clear to many outside of Syria that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is not as pure as some would make them out to be. There are extremist within the rebel movement that are attempting to spread the violence beyond politics and into the realm of genocide. And there are those in the FSA that have perverted the ideals of freedom with their radicalized versions of Islam itself.

As for Assad and his Alawite following, the killing of Christians and the destruction of Christian holly sites has been accepted since the beginning of the the uprising. Assad's loyalist have long been skeptical of the Christians and have often accused the Church of supporting "terrorism". These accusations have long been tucked beneath the socially acceptable charge of "Zionism" due to the belief that all Christians are sympathetic to Judaism and Israel.

For the Christians in Syria the lack of understanding and tolerance within the Muslim communities has simply reached its boiling point. The extremist on both sides of Syria's conflict are now armed with the tools to bring about their wicked goals. Unarmed communities like the Syrian Christians thus find themselves surrounded by snakes with no way to defend themselves. And that is where we find Syria's Church today.

Persecution for their beliefs has long been part of being a Christian in Syria. However in the past 17 months life has become almost unbearable as the fighting becomes more and more sectarian in nature. Entire families have been killed in many attacks while in some attacks entire congregations have been targeted. These brazen attempts at "cleansing" Syria of its Christian past point to a genocide the world dares to overlook. They also leave many asking if Christianity can survive within Syria?

Some within the Syrian Christian community have supported Assad in hopes of keeping the tyrant they currently have for not knowing what kind of monster might replace him. Others are supporting the rebellion in the belief, if hopeful at best, that democracy might actually be snagged from this brutal uprising. All are waiting to see if they will be able to weather this storm.

So as I have ended these post for weeks now I invite you to pray for Syria. Today I ask that you might pray for the Syrian Christians as they face one of the darkest chapters in their long and colorful past in Syria. May G-d show them mercy and guide them through this dark night. May their faith only be strengthened during this storm. And may we never forget their suffering... their contributions to Syrian culture... their dedication to their G-d even in the darkest hours.

The Ottomans' Other Victims

The Assyrian Genocide 1914 - 1920.




"We have cleansed the Armenians and Syriac from Azerbaijan, and we will do the same in Van." Jevdet Pasha


Suldouze, Iran; General Agha Petros leads his ragtag band of 1500 horse mounted soldiers to swiftly attack and defeat a force of 8000 Ottoman soldiers. This battle would be one of the many feathers in his cap. However it would also be one of the last successes in his campaign to free his Assyrian comrades from the routine attacks the Ottomans had submitted them to.

As the war between the Ottoman Empire and the Allies dragged on the support for the Assyrians crumbled. Russian forces were quickly called up to take positions against the Germans so as to keep the Prussians pinned down in trench warfare. British needed to do the same toward the end of World War One. And thus the forces of the Ottoman Empire amped up their relentless attacks.

To the North of Iran General Petros's battlefields in Iran were thousands of Turkish Assyrians. And in what is now modern-day Turkey the Assyrians were particularly vulnerable.

Although the Northern Assyrians had attempted to fight back against the pogroms they had already been submitted to they would never had been prepared for what would come next. The attacks on Assyrians in Turkey and Mesopotamia were stepped up at the beginning of the World War. By the time attacks on Assyrians in modern-day Iran began in earnest the Assyrians to the North were already almost completely gone.

In 1915 the "Butchers' Battalion", Kasap Taburu in Turkish, entered the Van Province with the soul mission to destroy the Assyrian villages in that region. With 8,000 soldiers the Ottomans slaughtered an estimated 20,000 Assyrian civilians. By the end of their attacks some 30 villages had been razed. (These numbers do not take into account any armed Assyrians that may have offered some resistance.)

By the end of this attack in Turkey the Ottomans had realized that the Russians had fled modern-day Iran. This allowed the Ottomans to thus move their 36Th and 37Th battalions into the Northwestern region of Iran. It was there that the Ottomans in 1915 at the village of Urmia captured 61 leading Assyrian leaders (religious and political). Demanding their ransom the Ottomans waited till the village could produce money to fund the Ottoman army's campaign against the Assyrians. When the village paid the Ottomans the Turks decided to let 20 of the captives live. The rest had their heads cut off and piked at the stairs of the Charbachsh Gate. Among the severed heads was the head of the Bishop Mar Denkha (an Assyrian church Bishop).

After the slaughter of Assyrian leaders in Urmia, the Turks moved deeper into Iranian lands. On February 25Th of 1915 the Ottoman forces invaded the Iranian villages of Gulpashan and Salamas. In Gulpashan the invaders moved so quickly that nearly the entire population of the village was massacred, leaving around 2,500 people dead. In Salamas the invaders suddenly found that the entire Assyrian population was nowhere to be found. The Persians in Salamas had hidden them in their own homes.

Breaking down the doors of every home in Salamas the Ottomans found their unarmed victims. Roping the men together, the Turks led their captives out into the fields between Khusrawa and Haftevan. It was there that the Young Turks slaughtered their Assyrian victims in a number of ways... the Turks claimed however that they were all shot in the head.

"Many Moslems tried to save their Christian neighbours and offered them shelter in their houses, but the Turkish authorities were implacable." A British Field Report from 1915.

During the winter of 1915 an estimated 4,000 Assyrians died from exposure, disease, and starvation in and around the village of Urmia. The Ottomans there refused the Assyrians the "right to society" (or the common human rights). An additional 1,000 were directly killed by Young Turk soldiers.

In early 1918 the Ottomans allowed an estimated 3,500 Assyrians to leave Turkey and reside in Khoi, Iran. Upon arrival the Young Turks in Persia had a sudden change of heart. Once the unarmed civilians were encamped the Turkish forces fell upon them in droves. The orgy of violence that followed was documented by one of the handful of survivors.

"You have undoubtedly heard of the Assyrian massacre of Khoi, but I am certain you do not know the details..." Reverend John Eshoo, a survivor, began he recollection.

He would go on to tell of how the Assyrians were rounded up and brought into small enclosures where they would be shot with rifles and revolvers. The "slaughter house" was so small that each group of new victims would have to stand upon the dead bodies of their fellow Assyrians before being shot themselves. This ritual of death would continue for hours as groups of 10 to 20 Assyrians were executed at a time.

John told of how those found in the outer areas of the village were rounded up into courtyards and kept for around eight days before being taken to slaughter. They were starved and yet remained silent even when being marched to their deaths... John states that the only words they spoke was this... "L-rd, into thy hands we commit our spirits."

For these Assyrians death would come not by the rifle but by the sword. They were taken to courtyards or fields that had been prepared for their slaughter. Like "lambs" they were slain. First the Young Turks would cut off their fingers and then their hands. Then they would stretch their victims out upon the ground and force them to look up as they cut their throats in such a manner as to prolong their deaths. The Assyrian victims were made to bleed out slowly as they gasped for air and choked on their own blood. Most were beaten while they struggled to take their next breath. Some were tossed into mass graves while still bleeding out.

As with most cases of genocide, the young women and little girls captured in this attack were forced into sexual slavery. A group of them were even raped to death at the moment of their captivity. All would be killed within days from either brutal butchering or continual gang rapes.

If it had not been for Reverend John Eshoo nobody would have ever known of the Young Turks' bloody butchering of Khoi. We would be led to believe the long held Turkish lie that this, like they claim about the Armenian Genocide, was simply a military conflict. And once again genocide would be hidden by the "fog of war".

By the end of the Assyrian Genocide a known 495,780 Assyrians were dead. A population of just over one million were suddenly no more than 250,000, many say only 100,000. So it is more likely that just around 750,000 Assyrians were killed by the Ottomans. In any case the once large minority in the region is now a very important minority in Iran, Iraq, and Turkey.

This minority in the Middle East has suffered in Iraq every since the British deported them from Iran at the end of the Genocide. In 1933 thousands of them were killed in a mass pogrom at Simele, Iran. During the unrest in 1961 the Assyrians would suffer in Iraq. And under Saddam Hussein the Assyrian community would suffer thousands more of deaths during the dictator's Al Anfal Campaign.

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