Read a Qur'an Day
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Comments (28)
Here are the kind of reactionary Christians to get behind. In response to the Gainsville church attracting all kinds of national attention for their "Burn a Koran Day" plans, James McGrath suggests an organized reading of the Qur'an:
Particularly if you've only heard brief quotes from the Qur'an which sound almost as horrific as the things you'd read in Deuteronomy or Joshua in the Bible, then use this occasion to branch out a little and read something that gives a fuller sense of what is in the Qur'an.
Yesterday, the Vatican gave a statement on the burning of Islam's holy book noting that the events of September 11 "cannot be counteracted by an outrageous and grave gesture against a book considered sacred by a religious community."
Deplorable actions against Muslims, however, can be counteracted with an act of solidarity. Reading the Qur'an can deepen our sense of brother and sisterhood with our fellow citizens. And it's a far more powerful statement than an act of violence.
Related: Read the Qur'an Day Facebook group
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Book Reading Always Better Than Burning
By Mark (not verified) on Wednesday, September 15, 2010Maybe we should just abolish all religions. It seems that all they have done for the last 5771 years,is cause wars.
Unless all of you holier than thou's, don't get clue about life and look around yourselves you may find life to be irrelevant soon. Christians, in their own ways over the last fifteen centuries have caused more than enough blood shed in our role to rule the day.
The Jews have done the same. Muslims yes they have too. Nobody is blameless. Nobody is more righteous or sanctified than anyone else.
We are dust, here and then gone. To many people are looking to/for the end days. Life is for the living.
Religious addicts are pre-occupied with being right and then dead. Why not alive and celebrating instead of condemming and killing. Maybe God would like it if you got out of your own mindset occasionally and read something that made you think.
Reading
By Al from Fl (not verified) on Wednesday, September 15, 2010for leisure or for improving knowledge is commendable but to what end would a Catholic read the Quran? Considering that the Muslims have a problem with Faith and Reason, I don't think I would try to understand their religion or the Quran by reading it. You want to tackle something meaningful, read the Bible or Catechism and learn your own faith first. If you want to understand how our country governs, read "5000 year leap" by Dr Skousen and see how religion fits with our form of government and what principles the Founding Fathers used to develop our constitution. I, personally don't think Sharia law or the muslim faith as presently practised by most muslims is compatible with our constitution - and obviously not with our faith.
It is important to
By wsxyz (not verified) on Tuesday, September 14, 2010It is important to understand the Catholic concept of religious liberty properly. God gives all men the gift of free will. God respects the free will of man to such an extent that He allows most to be damned eternally even though He wills that all should repent unto salvation. The Church also respects man's free will in this same way and no one can be forced to become Catholic. The Church thus tolerates the fact that some men choose to reject God and His holy Catholic Church.
However, that does not mean that any man has a right to a false religion (i.e., a non-Catholic religion). Because, even though God tolerates false religions because He respects the free will of men, it is nonetheless offensive to Him and thus sinful. No one has any right to sin and give offense to God for any reason whatsoever. In a Catholic society, it is perfectly legitimate for the activities of non-Catholic religions to be restricted, just as it is legitimate to restrict any other sinful behavior.
As we do not live in a Catholic society here in the USA, no Catholic expects preferential treatment from the state, but that we should believe, or act as though we believe, that the false religions of the world are naturally equal in dignity or value to the Catholic religion. They are not, they are instruments of the devil designed to effect the eternal damnation of as many souls as possible.
Catholic Christians and Muslims
By Fr John (not verified) on Tuesday, September 14, 2010From Nostra Aetate (Vatican II):
3. The Church regards with esteem also the Moslems. They adore the one God, living and subsisting in Himself; merciful and all- powerful, the Creator of heaven and earth,(5) who has spoken to men; they take pains to submit wholeheartedly to even His inscrutable decrees, just as Abraham, with whom the faith of Islam takes pleasure in linking itself, submitted to God. Though they do not acknowledge Jesus as God, they revere Him as a prophet. They also honor Mary, His virgin Mother; at times they even call on her with devotion. In addition, they await the day of judgment when God will render their deserts to all those who have been raised up from the dead. Finally, they value the moral life and worship God especially through prayer, almsgiving and fasting.
Since in the course of centuries not a few quarrels and hostilities have arisen between Christians and Moslems, this sacred synod urges all to forget the past and to work sincerely for mutual understanding and to preserve as well as to promote together for the benefit of all mankind social justice and moral welfare, as well as peace and freedom.
Your comment, wsxyz, does not work for mutual understanding or promote the benefit of all humanity.
Your comment, wsxyz, does
By wsxyz (not verified) on Wednesday, September 15, 2010Your comment, wsxyz, does not work for mutual understanding
It is, however, true.
or promote the benefit of all humanity.
Really? So you don't consider eternal salvation to be for the benefit for all mankind? I do. Remember, there are no muslims in heaven.
Jesus says: Every one therefore that shall confess me before men, I will also confess him before my Father who is in heaven. But he that shall deny me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to send peace upon earth: I came not to send peace, but the sword. For I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
And again: I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me.
Something to think about
By Anonymous (not verified) on Wednesday, September 15, 2010How do YOU know there are none of Islamic faith in heaven?
If all humans are equally loved by God and all humans are equally the children of God, is it so impossible to think that people of other faiths haven't made it to heaven? Can we say that others who are truthful and devote in their faith of a one, true God will never make it to heaven simply because they don't have the same exact faith as us?
We can't, but mostly because it's not for us to decide who gets to heaven. Whether a person does in fact "make it to heaven" is something between God and the individual, not some self-proclaimed holier-than-thou who can't see past his own shoelaces. And certainly not me. Or you. Or anyone other than God for that matter.
If there is anything I love about the Catholic faith, it's that it is a religion of love. Because God is Love, as Catholics it's our duty to strive every day to see the world as God see's it, through the eyes of Love. It is not for us to judge others. We can only love them, to the best of our broken, human ability, as God loves them. And pray of course, always pray.
I can think of no better way to unite a world in pieces than through the power of God's love.
How do YOU know there are
By wsxyz (not verified) on Wednesday, September 15, 2010How do YOU know there are none of Islamic faith in heaven?
Because the Church has defined the infallible dogma "Outside of the Church, there is no salvation". An expression thereof from the 11th session of the Council of Florence states:
It [The Catholic Church] firmly believes, professes and preaches that all those who are outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans but also Jews or heretics and schismatics, cannot share in eternal life and will go into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels, unless they are joined to the Catholic Church before the end of their lives.
Therefore, any soul in Heaven is a Catholic, and was joined to the Church before death.
Can we say that others who are truthful and devote in their faith of a one, true God will never make it to heaven simply because they don't have the same exact faith as us?
Only the Catholic Church is the true religion. No other religion is pleasing to God. We know this, not because we decide so, but because it is divinely revealed truth.
So, are you saying that if a
By Anonymous (not verified) on Wednesday, September 15, 2010So, are you saying that if a person is not Catholic, but they are faithful, at judgment God will say to them "You have loved Me, My Son, and My spirit through your life time. You've lived your life as I have taught and lived your life through me as I have asked. HOWEVER, you are not Catholic, so you go to hell." ?
I have no authority, though I feel the God I've been raised to believe in wouldn't say that. Additionally, the Catechism says "The Church prays that no one should be lost: "Lord, let me never be parted from you." If it is true that no one can save himself, it is also true that God "desires all men to be saved" (1 Tim 2:4), and that for him "all things are possible" (Mt 19:26)" (1058)
It is true that the only way to salvation is through Jesus Christ and His Church. With the gift of free will, it is also true that what defines a person who lives through Jesus Christ and His Church is possible of anyone. Therefore, it must be possible for a person to be Catholic, without knowing they are Catholic (and possibly they even call themselves something else). I believe it's called Anonymous Christianity.
So, are you saying that if a
By wsxyz (not verified) on Wednesday, September 15, 2010So, are you saying that if a person is not Catholic, but they are faithful,
faithful to what?
at judgment God will say to them "You have loved Me, My Son, and My spirit through your life time.
Loving the god of your imagination is not the same as loving the one true God who founded the Catholic Church to save mankind. Unless a person loves God as he is, and not as they wish Him to be, then they do not love God and cannot be saved.
You've lived your life as I have taught and lived your life through me as I have asked. HOWEVER, you are not Catholic, so you go to hell."?
How many people go through life without committing mortal sin? Without the sacrament of penance, it is very difficult to die in a state of grace. Anyone who dies in a state of mortal sin will be damned for all eternity.
That is not to say that it is impossible for someone who goes through life as a non-Catholic to be saved, but it is very difficult. As the Church has infallibly taught, such a person must enter the Church before death. It is, however, possible that this union with the Church can occur internally on the deathbed when, for example, a person in the last minutes of life has perfect contrition for his sins and a desire to enter the Church.
Catholics and the Quran
By Anonymous (not verified) on Tuesday, September 14, 2010For those readers who oppose Catholics reading the Quran please keep something in mind. It is those from the Christian and/or secular forces which have promoted religious freedom with Catholics coming on board later in the game (see the contributions of John Courtney Murray. SJ, and the Document on Religious Liberty in the Documents of Vatican II).
By modeling this through interfaith dialogue aren't we practicing what we preach? Doesn't the actual practice of respecting religious liberty challenge those who are less-inclined to consider the possibility? If we don't practice what we preach how can we challenge others including that segment of Muslims who are opposed to religious liberty in any fashion - to be open to such dialogue?
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