religious ceremony in the city of Karbala, south of Baghdad. (AFP/Ahmad al-Rubaye)
Posted on 02/08/2006 9:32:41 AM PST by dead
A mind is a terrible thing to waste.
Still worshipping Marduk the moon god just like they did in the time of the biblical prophet Elijha.
BTW, about that crescent. It may have been used in relation to Ba'al Hammon, but that is not the source for Islam's use. It was also used with a star by the Christian Byzantine Empire, with probable pagan origins. The Ottomans adopted it after they conquered Constantinople, and it has been used by Muslims since.
Mohammed himself preferred a banner or flag with script glorifying Allah, and many Muslims reject the crescent as a pagan symbol.
Good Lord, they are NOT human. They're demonic beings, that's all they can be!! What a sick, perverted cult. They riot and murder over cartoons, but they smile and celebrate seeing their own children like this. I feel bad for those kids being born into this culture! They never had a chance!!
This is not a practice condoned by the Catholic Church. It was practiced in the Middle Ages, but was banned in 1261 by Pope Alexander IV. Another Papal Bull by Pope Clement in 1349 condemned flagellants as heretics.
The self-flagellation and crucifixtions of the Phillipines are not condoned by the Church. There are still some bizzare sects (such as Opus Dei and a couple of isolated monastaries) where this practice continues - but it is certainly no part of the teachings of the Catholic Church.
What about the bizzare Fundamental Protestants that still practice the weird snake handling? Should we pin that on the Baptist Church or on the Church of Christ??
Aren't there also self-flagellation groups in Mexico?
It's not paint! They prick their scalps with a razor and
encourage the blood to flow. In this case it has to be the
parents starting little Johnny Jihad off right with blood
on his Binky. You couldn't think this was paint did you?
What would that prove to Allah? That you could fake
your devotion and obedience?
None of those. His religion was partially founded on obliterating the idol religions, otherwise it was a blend of Christianity, Judaism and an effort to right some of the wrongs he saw in the culture. Some of his culture of course came into it, but he completely rejected any of the idol religions.
Aside from that, Islam did spread far, and into lands where people did not entirely give up their local religious practices, such as female circumcision.
How utterly demonic.
Poor people, I wish they would know their Savior, who already paid the price with his own Blood to atone for their (our) sins.
Yes, it is. This is a form of atonement for the tribes that would become Shi'a letting Husayn ibn Ali go to his death in the "Battle" of Karbala - it was 71 men and boys versus 30,000 trained troops, so the outcome wasn't in doubt unless they got help that they were refused.
The deal is that the house of Ali was the one the Shi'a recognized (and still do) as the only legitimate heir of Mohammet, hence the only legitimate Caliphs. They let their boy down and have been cutting themselves over it ever since.
Doesn't every religion have some kind of symbol that represents something important to them?
I think it may be more modern than that, at least the way it seems on this website on mortification of the flesh...http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortification_of_the_flesh#Recent_Church_documents
Most of Baghdad is on lockdown (streets closed off, shops closed) for the next two days because they get quite frenzied during this "Day of Atonement."
They kind of got started today, but the next two days are supposed to be pretty wild.
This will be my third Ashura here and none of them have been particularly quiet.
Mohammed was pretty rabid in opposing the idolatry of his time (where people worshipped the symbols of their gods), so much that he didn't want any symbol to represent Islam for fear of that happening with his religion. So, no, the crescent doesn't really represent Islam except for the fact that the Ottomans hijacked it from the Christians 800 years after Mohammed.
However screwed up Mohammed's implementation was, he did have a good goal: you and your god, and absolutely nothing in between.
A person could run out of red ink in his printer trying to print those out....
Don't worry... they're just shallow but bloody scalp wounds. Nothing to worry about. Move along please.
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