jagalman
30-08-2007, 11:15 PM
Did you know that the Portuguese town of Fatima, one of the most famous places for pilgrimage in the Catholic world, was named after the revered daughter of the Islamic prophet Mohamed?
In my opinion, this is no coincidence.
Seen with todays understanding there is a symbolism in the apparition of the Blessed Virgin in Fatima that we Catholics should not miss.
In Fatima the end of a nihilistic, materialist form of government in Russia was promised but also the end of the age of war.
To Fatima we go to pray for peace in the world, to Fatima.
The blessed Virgin coming to Fatima, if this is not a sign, what is?
In order to prevent the next world war and gain world peace there needs to be a reconciliation between Christianity and Islam.
We do not and should not mix our religions like a pot of stew. That would never work.
(And actually we donīt need to either.
My take on the difference of religions is this:
Since the Divine stands above time and space, Divine truth can only be communicated in form of metaphor. And different metaphor sometimes show this truth from different angles, angles which can never be combined on this world, but from a Divine perspective they are nothing but logic.)
No, we should not cut or twist our religions just to make all differences go away.
However,while we acknowledge those differences, we should also recognize the many points we have in common. And most important, we must build bridges of respect and mutual love towards each other.
Christianity and Islam must join forces, not against the rest of the world, but against philosophies which denigrate human beings to either useful tools or useless eaters.
The humanistic value of equality is actually derived from the Christian and Islamic religion, not from ancient Greek philosophers.
Those old Greeks have taught us the value of logic and how to argue on a logical basis, but politically they believed in oligarchic rule, since they thought that everybody who had to work with his hands, was too stupid and not virtuous enough to take part in politics.
Egalitarian principles came with Christianity and were reinforced by Islam.
During and after the age of Enlightenment, the secular humanists wanted to free themselves from the constrains of religion, so they denied the connection.
But by cutting off their roots the secular humanists became vulnerable for every wind blowing from the non-humanists: the followers of Nietzsche, Hitler, Ayn Rand, Leo Strauss, the Malthusians and all the other man-haters.
In those groups, what started as a dislike of God, became often dislike of mankind.
And now we live in an Orwellian world, where compassionate humanists are demonized and war-criminals are justified.
In the last few weeks I went through archived speeches of the Iranian president Ahmadinejad, as well as through Iranian newspaper archives available online in English.
And what I have found is rather surprising and stands in total contrast to the demonizing picture painted by western media about this very same Iranian president.
Indeed, if I would leave out specific Islamic phrases, I could take a speech by President Ahmadinejad and credit it to Pope Benedict, or the other way around.
Most Muslims or Catholic Christians have no idea how much common ground there is between Islamic and Catholic social teachings.
There are a billion Muslims and a billion Christians in the world.
When we stick together we can stop the war-mongers and restore respect for humanity again.
http://www.peacebytruth.com
In my opinion, this is no coincidence.
Seen with todays understanding there is a symbolism in the apparition of the Blessed Virgin in Fatima that we Catholics should not miss.
In Fatima the end of a nihilistic, materialist form of government in Russia was promised but also the end of the age of war.
To Fatima we go to pray for peace in the world, to Fatima.
The blessed Virgin coming to Fatima, if this is not a sign, what is?
In order to prevent the next world war and gain world peace there needs to be a reconciliation between Christianity and Islam.
We do not and should not mix our religions like a pot of stew. That would never work.
(And actually we donīt need to either.
My take on the difference of religions is this:
Since the Divine stands above time and space, Divine truth can only be communicated in form of metaphor. And different metaphor sometimes show this truth from different angles, angles which can never be combined on this world, but from a Divine perspective they are nothing but logic.)
No, we should not cut or twist our religions just to make all differences go away.
However,while we acknowledge those differences, we should also recognize the many points we have in common. And most important, we must build bridges of respect and mutual love towards each other.
Christianity and Islam must join forces, not against the rest of the world, but against philosophies which denigrate human beings to either useful tools or useless eaters.
The humanistic value of equality is actually derived from the Christian and Islamic religion, not from ancient Greek philosophers.
Those old Greeks have taught us the value of logic and how to argue on a logical basis, but politically they believed in oligarchic rule, since they thought that everybody who had to work with his hands, was too stupid and not virtuous enough to take part in politics.
Egalitarian principles came with Christianity and were reinforced by Islam.
During and after the age of Enlightenment, the secular humanists wanted to free themselves from the constrains of religion, so they denied the connection.
But by cutting off their roots the secular humanists became vulnerable for every wind blowing from the non-humanists: the followers of Nietzsche, Hitler, Ayn Rand, Leo Strauss, the Malthusians and all the other man-haters.
In those groups, what started as a dislike of God, became often dislike of mankind.
And now we live in an Orwellian world, where compassionate humanists are demonized and war-criminals are justified.
In the last few weeks I went through archived speeches of the Iranian president Ahmadinejad, as well as through Iranian newspaper archives available online in English.
And what I have found is rather surprising and stands in total contrast to the demonizing picture painted by western media about this very same Iranian president.
Indeed, if I would leave out specific Islamic phrases, I could take a speech by President Ahmadinejad and credit it to Pope Benedict, or the other way around.
Most Muslims or Catholic Christians have no idea how much common ground there is between Islamic and Catholic social teachings.
There are a billion Muslims and a billion Christians in the world.
When we stick together we can stop the war-mongers and restore respect for humanity again.
http://www.peacebytruth.com