So, you thought only Muslim clerics issued fatwas instructing the faithful to kill? You would be wrong. Click on the above link to go to CNN to see Christian terrorist leader Pat Robertson calling for the assassination of a world leader, specifically, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, (scroll down about half-way to find the video link). Robertson's beef with Chavez is two-fold: 1) Robertson says Chavez is a communist dictator who will turn Venezuela into a Cuban style communist state which will then threaten the U.S., but more importantly, 2) Chavez may shut off shipments of oil to the U.S. (Venezuela is third on the list of places the U.S. buys it's oil from.)
From my time in Seminary, I know that there has long been a debate over whether the sixth Commandment is supposed to read, "Thou shall not kill," or, "Thou shall not murder." The difference being that 'kill' would seem to contradict the capitol punishment system that the Judeo-Christian god establishes early on as well as the concept of war, while 'murder' leaves room for killing in the name of the people or state (capitol punishment) and war. I do not intend this to be a rant on either war, or capitol punishment, what I am saying here is, either way, Pat Robertson is violating the spirit and the letter of the law by publicly calling for a world leader to be killed. One has to wonder then why Robertson and his ilk are so keen on having the Ten Commandments on federal land when they themselves are so quick and so willing to break the commandments whenever they see fit. If I recall correctly, there's a word for that, hhmmm, what was it? Oh yeah, hypocrite!
I think this also establishes the validity of what I and others have been saying about the correlations between extremism and religion, no matter what god one prays to. Extremist terrorists all look the same, whether they are bombing a barber shop in Iraq because the barbers there have cut men's beards (which violates Islamic law somehow) or bombing women's clinics in Alabama for performing abortions.
From my time in Seminary, I know that there has long been a debate over whether the sixth Commandment is supposed to read, "Thou shall not kill," or, "Thou shall not murder." The difference being that 'kill' would seem to contradict the capitol punishment system that the Judeo-Christian god establishes early on as well as the concept of war, while 'murder' leaves room for killing in the name of the people or state (capitol punishment) and war. I do not intend this to be a rant on either war, or capitol punishment, what I am saying here is, either way, Pat Robertson is violating the spirit and the letter of the law by publicly calling for a world leader to be killed. One has to wonder then why Robertson and his ilk are so keen on having the Ten Commandments on federal land when they themselves are so quick and so willing to break the commandments whenever they see fit. If I recall correctly, there's a word for that, hhmmm, what was it? Oh yeah, hypocrite!
I think this also establishes the validity of what I and others have been saying about the correlations between extremism and religion, no matter what god one prays to. Extremist terrorists all look the same, whether they are bombing a barber shop in Iraq because the barbers there have cut men's beards (which violates Islamic law somehow) or bombing women's clinics in Alabama for performing abortions.
Comments
It is incredible to me what is justified -and even in the name of God.