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Zapatero: Catholics Out, Islam In
Little Green Footballs ^ | 09/25/04 | Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid

Posted on 09/25/2004 7:38:56 AM PDT by JesseJane

The Spanish appeasement government of Zapatero is now planning to drastically cut ties with the Roman Catholic Church, slashing current funding in half: Funding for Church to be slashed by Spanish. (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/09/25/wspain25.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/09/25/ixworld.html)

The Spanish government sparked a furious row yesterday after it emerged that it had drawn up a timetable to halve state funding of the Roman Catholic Church and to ban crucifixes from public buildings.

The Socialist government has already pedged to confront the Church ideologically and fiscally and to transform Spain into a fully secular society by scrapping the Church’s “privileged position in society”.

The newspaper El Mundo reported yesterday that the government has now drawn up a timetable to break the bonds, removing any lingering hopes that it might reach an accommodation.

The government plans to put an end to the arrangement whereby Spaniards can offer a percentage of their taxes to the Church. This arrangement contributes £54 million a year to Church funds.

This might be defensible as a move toward US-style separation of church and state—except that Zapatero is simultaneously planning to vastly increase state funding for Islam:

Further enraging conservatives, the government has drawn up plans to finance the teaching of Islam in state-run schools and to give funds to mosques on the grounds that it will create greater understanding of the country’s one million Muslims.

Although Spain has been a Catholic country since the expulsion of the Moors in 1492 is has also long had a tradition of anti-clericalism that flared violently during the civil war. The old saying was that “a Spaniard is always behind a priest, either with a candle or a stake.”

The Zapateristas seem intent on systematically dismantling Spanish society.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: appeasement; catholicchurch; catholics; churchandstate; cross; education; europe; islam; moors; politics; purge; religion; schools; socialist; spain; zapatero
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Fools.
1 posted on 09/25/2004 7:38:57 AM PDT by JesseJane
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To: JesseJane
So.....what's the method for recall of a Spanish President?

It appears this image of mine (made after Zappy's Al Quaeda-backed coup) was strangely prescient:

2 posted on 09/25/2004 7:41:51 AM PDT by atomicpossum (If there are two Americas, John Edwards isn't qualified to lead either of them.©)
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To: JesseJane
This might be defensible as a move toward US-style separation of church and state—
except that Zapatero is simultaneously planning to vastly increase state funding for Islam:


I just hope Dubya and his planners think over their "faith-based" system
of fundings...so we don't end up playing Cat Stevens (funding Islamic terrorism "charities").
3 posted on 09/25/2004 7:42:06 AM PDT by VOA
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To: JesseJane

Islam is the greatest force for evil in the world today. It is amazing that a Western government would consider funding it. This is yet another act of appeasement by the Spanish government.


4 posted on 09/25/2004 7:44:17 AM PDT by Thane_Banquo ("Armed with what? Spitballs?")
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To: atomicpossum


5 posted on 09/25/2004 7:45:07 AM PDT by Incorrigible (immanentizing the eschaton)
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To: JesseJane
Local radio here in JAX had Craig Winn, author of "Prophet Of Doom", on last night.

The more I learn about Islam and it's rise through out history, the more I understand it's a cult of death.

6 posted on 09/25/2004 7:45:38 AM PDT by OXENinFLA (John Kerry: Giving aid and comfort to the enemies of the US since 1970.)
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To: JesseJane

Nutcases.


7 posted on 09/25/2004 7:46:09 AM PDT by KantianBurke (Am back but just for a short while)
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To: JesseJane

IDIOTS--it's all over folks except for the US,Israel,Australia,and maybe G britain


8 posted on 09/25/2004 7:46:37 AM PDT by rang1995
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To: JesseJane
The Zapateristas seem intent on systematically dismantling Spanish society.

No doubt they are.

This is exactly what the Catholic Church needed: marytrdom. Now THEY are the "underdogs," persecuted and on the run. The Church functions very well in that capacity. Lol. THAT'S how they got started. Pharisees, Romans....Zapatistas. Nothing changes.

Questions:
1. The Zapatistas are named after Zapata. Is that the same Emiliano Zapata from Mexican history? Senor Revolution? (Pretend all tildes and accents are in place.)

2. Are these Zapatistas hand-in-glove with those Muslims who want to reclaim Spain for the Arabs and Islam?

9 posted on 09/25/2004 7:46:59 AM PDT by starfish923
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To: JesseJane

More proof that we get the government we deserve.


10 posted on 09/25/2004 7:48:50 AM PDT by jmaroneps37 ( Kerry's not "one of us": catholicsagainstkerry.com. needs your help.)
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To: atomicpossum

I haven't any idea. The Socialists have made a beeeg mistake for the sake of socialism. I try to keep in mind they and Aznar's government was with us, and they did have some level of support. I hope those people fight.. but if they will not.. so be it. If they try to 'nuance' them, when the Islamists step up their demands, you know what's going to happen already. They will use terror to get their way... no matter what.


11 posted on 09/25/2004 7:48:55 AM PDT by JesseJane ( “fake but accurate” ... it’s like saying a body in a pine box is “dead but lifelike.” -- Lileks)
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To: JesseJane

It appears Mr Zapatera plans to turn the country back over to the Moors. This is exactly what appeasement policies will get you. And this is the same road Kerry would take us down .. appease .. appease .. appease. There is a big lesson in here.

This is an amazing story because Spain is the mother of the church. Spain did more to spread Catholicism than any other country in the world. I cannot imagine that the people would allow this.

Of course this was an easy decision to reach because the Catholics are not bombing their trains or threatening the masses. If they want to become secular that is one thing. But to start teaching Islam in the schools and building their mosques? Unimaginable! We could see a civil war over there.

In my mind .. the significance of this story to the Catholic Church and to Spain is HUGE !!!



12 posted on 09/25/2004 7:49:49 AM PDT by CometBaby (You can twist perceptions .. reality won't budge!)
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To: JesseJane

This could happen here under a Kerry presidency. Join us
at catholicsainstkerry.com.
We're fighting to make sure this never happens.
We need your help. - NOW!


13 posted on 09/25/2004 7:51:41 AM PDT by jmaroneps37 ( Kerry's not "one of us": catholicsagainstkerry.com. needs your help.)
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To: VOA

So to I.

The anti-semitism from the ACLU needs to be stopped.. In fact, that organization needs to be shut down. I'm not sure if there has been a battle between them and the Muslim community yet or not. I remember something a while back about the 'call to prayer' in Michigan I think... and I thought that was outrageous.. Local communities have to put up with that screetching 5 times a day, but yet, the noon churhbell can not ring.. We've let ACLU get away with ripping our country apart for too long, and we all are going to have to dig deep and fight back hard... We need politicians who don't cow everytime they hear the word lawsuit, and we need judges who will back up the constitution.


14 posted on 09/25/2004 7:52:02 AM PDT by JesseJane ( “fake but accurate” ... it’s like saying a body in a pine box is “dead but lifelike.” -- Lileks)
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To: Incorrigible

Haaaaaaaaaa!!

Have they ever been seen together??


15 posted on 09/25/2004 7:52:32 AM PDT by JesseJane ( “fake but accurate” ... it’s like saying a body in a pine box is “dead but lifelike.” -- Lileks)
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To: OXENinFLA

I know what you mean.

The media (ha) needs to spend more time laying the facts out there for people to see who and what we are fighting.. I know some Muslims are said to be speaking out about this, but, hey.... I don't see it. Tells me, they are afraid to speak out, because, it is exactly..the cult of death.. if you do not toe the line, you are dead meat.


16 posted on 09/25/2004 7:55:05 AM PDT by JesseJane ( “fake but accurate” ... it’s like saying a body in a pine box is “dead but lifelike.” -- Lileks)
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To: jmaroneps37

Exactly.

John Kerry's attack on Allawi yesterday was a slap in the face to the Jewish community as well. I hope that community sees that.


17 posted on 09/25/2004 7:56:45 AM PDT by JesseJane ( “fake but accurate” ... it’s like saying a body in a pine box is “dead but lifelike.” -- Lileks)
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To: JesseJane
Time to rediscover the bones of St. James.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/07/22/wstat22.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/07/22/ixworld.html

Public outcry forces church to keep Moor Slayer's statue
By Isambard Wilkinson in Madrid
(Filed: 22/07/2004)

St James the Moor Slayer, Spain's patron saint, has notched up another victory.

Church officials have been forced to overturn a decision to remove a statue of the saint from the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain.

 
 
The controversial statue of St James in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela

The statue, an 18th-century work by Jose Gambino which depicts St James on a white charger hacking off the heads of Moors beneath his rampant mount's hooves, was deemed to be offensive to Muslims.

However a spokesman for the church, which is Christendom's third holiest site after Rome and Jerusalem and attracts half a million pilgrims each year, said yesterday that, due to public anger over the proposed move, the statue will now remain in place.

"It is still here on the same spot. It is not going anywhere," a spokesman for Alejandro Barral, the president of the cathedral's art commission, said. "We have decided that the statue of St James will stay in the cathedral. There is no reason why it should be removed in the near future. For the moment the debate over its future has been suspended."

The Spanish press reported that terrorist bomb attacks on Madrid trains in March had precipitated the withdrawal of the statue.

The Spanish national newspaper, El Mundo, said: "According to our sources the authorities fear that the image could attract the anger of the Arab world in a period of high tension."

The plan was to put the statue in a museum and replace it with a less provocative effigy, one of St James the Pilgrim.

The decision outraged Roman Catholics. One newspaper commentator dubbed it "political correctness gone mad". People gathered in strength to place flowers at the foot of the statue and newspapers published letters of complaint condemning the "intolerable heresy".

The announcement of the withdrawal was welcomed by the Muslim community as a "step towards peace" according to Houssam El Mahmoudi, the president of the Association of Moroccan Students in Santiago.

St James, who was described by Cervantes' Don Quixote as "the most valiant", still exerts a strong hold on the Spanish popular imagination.

Spanish troops deployed to Iraq were issued with a special badge depicting the Moor Slayer's red cross. Santiago Matamoros, as he is known in Spanish, was the brother of St John the evangelist. He was beheaded in AD44 in Palestine after the King of Judea, Herod Agrippa, sentenced him to death, making him the first apostle to be martyred.

According to tradition his body floated in its sarcophagus to the lands where he had been a missionary and was buried in the westernmost part of the peninsula near Santiago de Compostela.

St James, of whom bloodthirsty statues abound throughout Spain, has been a figure of veneration since he appeared on a white cloud at the battle of Clavijo in 844 and spurred Spanish soldiers on to victory against the Moors.

On Sunday, in a ceremony that will resound with ancient symbolism, King Juan Carlos will pay homage to the Moor Slayer on his saint day by making the annual National Offering at Santiago.

The dictator Gen Francisco Franco once sent his only Moroccan general, Mohamed ben Miziam del Qasim, to make the offering. Sensitive officials covered the base of the statue with cloth to hide the decapitated heads of his compatriots.

 

18 posted on 09/25/2004 7:56:45 AM PDT by Incorrigible (immanentizing the eschaton)
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To: Thane_Banquo

Totally agree..

They are planting flowers in their own graveyard. (Metaphorically speaking)


19 posted on 09/25/2004 7:57:38 AM PDT by JesseJane ( “fake but accurate” ... it’s like saying a body in a pine box is “dead but lifelike.” -- Lileks)
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To: JesseJane
It's not only the Islamists who are doing Christianity.

"There is something missing in Redlands, California. It is missing from the doors of the local government buildings. It has been covered over with masking tape on the sides of government vehicles, drilled out of fireman's badges, and colored over with magic marker on official city patches. It is the cross; a symbol that the ACLU says is so offensive, it must be removed from the city seal. And the ACLU threatened to sue Redlands unless the city government voted it off the city seal."

20 posted on 09/25/2004 7:57:53 AM PDT by ex-snook ("BUT ABOVE ALL THINGS, TRUTH BEARETH AWAY THE VICTORY")
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