A revealing tale of sex abuse in the Australian Roman Catholic Church, has been making waves today. Apparently this abuse stems as far as the 1930’s! The Raw Story reports:
The Catholic Church in one Australian state has revealed that at least 620 children have been abused by its clergy since the 1930s, sparking a fresh call Saturday for an independent inquiry.
The Catholic Church in Victoria revealed the number in a submission to a state parliamentary hearing on Friday but said the instances of abuse reported had fallen dramatically from the “appalling” numbers of the 1960s and 1970s.
“It is shameful and shocking that this abuse, with its dramatic impact on those who were abused and their families, was committed by Catholic priests, religious and church workers,” Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart said.
Rights groups however, according to this BBC report, believe the number of molested and abused children by the Church clergy number closer to over 10,000 victims in one county alone:
In a statement, Archbishop Hart said it was important to be open “about the horrific abuse that has occurred in Victoria and elsewhere”.
“We look to this inquiry to assist the healing of those who have been abused, to examine the broad context of the church’s response, especially over the last 16 years, and to make recommendations to enhance the care for victims and preventative measures that are now in place,” the statement said.
Campaign groups say that many cases of abuse have gone unreported, and they believe the true number of victims is closer to 10,000 in Victoria alone.
Abuse of children by Roman Catholic priests has been a major issue in Australia recent years.
Islamophobes on the other hand, claim Islam to permit paedophilia, yet I haven’t seen a single news report indicating almost 90 years of abuse to over 10,000 kids in one county/ district in any country. These people need to take their blinders off and realise they are projecting their guilt unto Muslims, so that they can avoid facing reality, that they belong to the world’s single handedly largest paedophile endorsed religious institution.
Well, that didn’t take long! The day after James White’s debate with Br. Zakir Hussain (details here, audio stream here, or right click ‘save as’ to download here), James released an article conceding to his clear ineptitude, inability to respond to well founded research and lack of basic comprehension skills. By basic I mean not being able to find a word and correctly identify its meaning, even after having used a computer to search for it (even though he’s a self claimed expert on the Greek language). I really must question not only his basic comprehension skills, but his lazy and hypocritical attitude as well. Yet, before I do so, let’s examine his statements:
First, having quoted John 1:1 in Greek a few thousand times in my life, I think I ended up trying out for a spot on the TBN team at one point last night, but without an interpreter. My apologies.
Ask a 3 year old Muslim to recite 7 ayat from Surah Fatihah and they would be able to do so with perfect pronunciation (tajweed), which I can demonstrate as being possible here and here, ask James White to repeat something he’s done several thousand times and he can’t. What’s worse is that James White even released a video condemning Shaykh Ahmad Deedat for not pronouncing the Greek of John 1:1 correctly, but James himself could not do so. In the video, he says:
Ahmad Deedat’s comments on John 1:1 were inaccurate and incorrect, you will remember that I documented that he didn’t even have the proper Greek terms…..he was actually unable to handle the Greek language, he claimed to be able to do so…..I’m not sure how you are able to properly understand his (Deedat’s arguments) upon not being able to read the language…..in the process he demonstrates that he (the person in the video, not Deedat) cannot read Greek…..he doesn’t known the difference between a v and a nu , he regularly mispronounces the words and he (the person in the video, not Deedat) just does not know the language.
Unfortunately for James, it seems as if his hypocrisy has shown through his facade of using the Greek language. If he can produce a 9 minute video condemning Shaykh Ahmad Deedat (who never formally studied Greek), as opposed to James claiming to have studied Greek and using one verse’s Greek ‘a few thousand times‘, that either means James has to produce a video condemning himself while retracting the video about Shaykh Ahmad Deedat, or James has to concede that he is largely uneducated in this field. This isn’t a situation of ‘either or’, but a situation of ‘and’. Mr. White’s pretentious use of the Greek language was also exposed by myself earlier in this earlier post. What’s worse is that he can’t read Greek by himself, as James has stated that he needs an interpreter as he wrote himself (as seen above).
Anyway, Zakir was talking at the speed of sound in the rebuttal period (as my notes show) and it was next to impossible to keep up with the references as they flew by.
James was unable to keep up with the vast amounts of information that Br. Zakir used in his presentation, not only was James unable to match his level of research, or keep up with Br. Zakir’s arguments, James later concedes that he intentionally refused (much like a petulant child) to respond to several of the brother’s arguments. Let’s examine James’ inability to properly search for a word, he writes and I quote:
At one point he raised the issue of the Matthean reference to the prophecy (2:23) about the Nazarene. I did a quick search on my computer looking for the right reference and…got the wrong one in my haste.
As opposed to this baby who can actually use an iPhone to search for a song (you can see the baby scrolling through a list and then selecting what it wants; something which James seems unable to do!):
It’s really embarrassing to note that this man is supposed to be, keyword: ‘supposed’ to be, an intellectual of the Christian religion, a representative of their faith and he’s unable to do something for which he condemns others for. Reminds me very much of Matthew 7:1-5:
“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Sad to say this James, but this is one time you’re going to have to face the music. James then goes on to say this:
I did a quick search on my computer looking for the right reference and…got the wrong one in my haste. Oh, I got “branch” alright, but I wrote down the reference below what I wanted in the search list, Isaiah 14:19. My apologies. I didn’t have time to read but a single line, saw “rejected branch,” and scribbled it down.
At this point, you must be questioning James’ rationale. James searches for a word, turns out to be the wrong one, he sees a word/ phrase that looks similar to what he wanted to use and decides to give up on academic standards and just ‘wings it’, his reasoning can be seen as the equivalent to another popular right wing nut, Bill O Reilly! See his rant here:
James then ends that portion of the article with this statement:
I will set up a donation fund for some prescription mid-range reading glasses.
James, I think you need more than glasses. There are many vocational schools that can help you with your comprehension problem, but as for your integrity and dignity, I can offer you nothing but a broom to sweep the fragments of them off of the floor (I’m sort of cheap, get the scoop yourself).
James then decided to use the age old tactic of anti-intellectual argumentation, by generalizing his opponent’s argument and then belittling his generalization:
Finally, I did not get into the issue of the wavy hair and light skin because, as anyone can see, that kind of description could have been applied to any number of the Muslims attending the debate that night, and even some of the Christians.
This is a problem, as James betrays his own methodology of searching for prophecies of Jesus the Christ in the Jewish Tanach. For example, to witness James’ double standards, in this debate with Br. Shabbir Ali, James refers to the physical description of Christ as a ‘key prophecy’, which allegedly foretold of his ‘coming’. However, apparently when a Muslim uses the same methodology of referring to a ‘physical description’, it’s belittled by James. Why can’t the argument James sources from Deuteronomy also be applied to any of the other Jewish Messiahs? Why his God? Is that not confirmation bias? James has once again betrayed any form of dignity. He continues:
the only real issue is whether the term machamad is actually the name of Muhammad. I obviously argue that such a connection is absurd.
On the same note, David is not Dawud, Echad is not Ahad, Abraham is not Ibrahim, Moses is not Musa, Iyov is not Ayub, Ketuvim is not Kutub, Miriam is not Maryam, of course, such relations are just ‘absurd’, and have nothing to do with two Semitic languages mirroring each other! He continues (to his own peril):
Utilizing verbal roots in this fashion can be used to prove anything, as I have noted already by finding both Shabir Ally and Zakir Hussain in the Old Testament using the same methodology.
Apparently James find such a method quite silly, yet ask him what Shemot (Exodus 3:14) is supposed to mean (note: it’s a series of verbs: ‘ehyeh asher ehyeh’ – I will be who I will be – future perfect tense) and that’s supposed to mean Ego Emi (a present tense statement), referring to Christ’s deity. As opposed to an actual name being used, as is clearly demonstrated above. James then concedes to making more mistakes, it just doesn’t get any better for him:
But I did want to note two things for the sake of accuracy once again. First, at least two people have mentioned to me that I was in error on an ABN show regarding the root H M D in either Arabic or Hebrew, and I may have been, I haven’t taken the time to go back and try to find the comments.
After being corrected by two persons, and after making grievous mistakes and spreading misinformation on live TV, James still did not review his statements, nor did he try to find what was wrong with his presentation, yet he admits to using the same incorrect information during his debate:
I do recall doing a program on a particular video on YouTube (well, we quoted material from it anyway)
In ending, James’ article is nothing short of a direct result of being baptised by Br. Zakir. The term ‘baptised’ simply means to be ‘whelmed’ that is, ‘overwhelmed’ (see Strong’s Greek Lexicon: G907, ‘βαπτίζω‘). James White, was baptised into conceding that he was misinformed, deceitful and that he demonstrated clear cut pseudo-intellectualism. Br. Zakir most certainly did excellent to evoke such emotions from James White. Please do check out his debate, you will not be disappointed.
MDI international speaker, Sami Zaatari debates visting american speaker, Dr James White (Calvinist Scholar) on the historical and theological arguments for truth behind the alleged crucifiction of Jesus.
Debate is hosted by Trinity Road Chapel, in South London.
Date: 19 Sep 2012
Place: Trinity Road Chapel – Trinity Road Chapel, 205 Trinity Rd, London Borough of Wandsworth, London SW17 7HW
Email: Comms@muslimdebate.co.uk
The event would be recorded and uploaded soon, insha Allaah. Br. Sami has our support and du’as, he is very proficient and well versed in this area of discourse and has many years of experience dealing with ignorant Christian missionaries, especially James White. We look forward to Br. Sami’s impending success, insha Allaah (God willing).
Bart Ehrman explains during a debate, why his criticism of the historicity of the claim of Jesus’ resurrection is more than valid and qualified. That being, in opposition to the biased Christian view of already believing and trying to then qualify their belief. A short, but interesting and intellectually stimulating clip:
The latest mantra of our Missionary Christians friends, of which they have taken much pride in stating, is the following:
The Qur’an is the most violent book in history!
That’s a very distasteful statement, not only does it generalize the Qur’an, it’s also quite hypocritical and dishonest. You see, the Bible has much more violent passages (as it is a generally larger book as well) than the Qur’an and it’s indeed, much more graphic. However, in response to our missionary friends, I offer one passage. It is with this passage, that I challenge any Christian to find an equitable passage or greater (in severity) in the Qur’an:
However, in the cities of the nations the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. – Deuteronomy 20:16.
The challenge is therefore, quite simple. If the Qur’an contains a passage on equal footing with Deuteronomy 20:16, or worse, let me know! Otherwise, our Christian friends would have no choice but to concede that their book is the most violent.
Sayyidi, Shaykh Muhammad Abul Huda al Yaqoubi al Hassani from Damascus in Syria, has moments ago released a public challenge to Pastor Terry Jones about Sayyidina Muhammad [saw]!
You can read the challenge here, via the Shaykh’s official Facebook account, or if you are Terry Jones (or a member of his Islamophobic organization), feel free to let the Shaykh know of your response via his website, ‘Sacred Knowledge‘. This is not a challenge by any da’ee, or any young Imam, this is a fully acknowledged, international heavyweight in the deen of Islam. I am certain that Terry Jones will never respond to his challenge. You can read a full biography of the Shaykh here, or an excerpt below:
He is an authority in the science of Hadith; his asanid (chains of transmission) are of the highest amongst scholars of our time. Students and scholars visit him in Syria or when he travels, to hear the masalsalat and take ijaza in narration of Hadith. In his efforts to revive the tradition of Hadith recitals, he has taught al-Muwatta of Imam Malik, Sahih al-Bukhari, Sahih al-Muslim, Sunan Abi Dawud, Jami’ al-Tirmidhi and he intends to finish all the main six books of Hadith in the coming terms insha’Allah.
He has travelled extensively and participated in conferences, delivered lectures and taught intensive programmes. Additionally, he has delivered Friday speeches in Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Pakistan, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, Canada, the United States, Indonesia, Singapore, South Africa, Morocco and the UK. Over a thousand people have embraced Islam at his hands and many have repented after listening to him. He is a scion of the prophetic household, a torch bearer in this time and a charismatic public speaker in both Arabic and English.
The origins of the 13 minute ‘film’, continues to be shrouded in a great deal of mystery. From what we’ve established thus far, is that Sam Bacile is a false name with a false identity, as seen on various news websites. See CBS News’, The Atlantic News’ and Entertainment Weekly’s latest reports on the newest developments. However, the most striking news thus far is the deceit employed by the Coptic Christian director, as reported via Gawker:
Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress from Bakersfield, Calif., has a small role in the Muhammed movie as a woman whose young daughter is given to Muhammed to marry. But in a phone interview this afternoon, Garcia told us she had no idea she was participating in an offensive spoof on the life of Muhammed when she answered a casting call through an agency last summer and got the part.
The script she was given was titled simply Desert Warriors.
“It was going to be a film based on how things were 2,000 years ago,” Garcia said. “It wasn’t based on anything to do with religion, it was just on how things were run in Egypt. There wasn’t anything about Muhammed or Muslims or anything.”
In the script and during the shooting, nothing indicated the controversial nature of the final product, now called Muslim Innocence. Muhammed wasn’t even called Muhammed; he was “Master George,” Garcia said. The words Muhammed were dubbed over in post-production, as were essentially all other offensive references to Islam and Muhammed.
What’s also quite noticable to those of us who have watched the 13 minute ‘movie’, are the obvious dubbing of the names as reported by ON THE MEDIA:
If you watch closely, you can see that when the actors are reading parts of the script that do not contain Islam-specific language, the audio from the sound stage is used (the audio that was recorded as the actors were simultaneously being filmed). But anytime the actors are referring to something specific to the religion (the Prophet Muhammed, the Quran, etc.) the audio recorded during filming is replaced with a poorly executed post-production dub. And if you look EVEN closer, you can see that the actors’ mouths are saying something other than what the dub is saying.
BUZZFEED’s Rosie Grey, has also noticed some peculiarities about the video itself:
As the video above — cut from the YouTube video tied to a global controversy — shows, nearly all of the names in the movie’s “trailer” — is a compilation of the most clumsily overdubbed moments from what is in reality an incoherent, haphazardly-edited set of scenes. Among the overdubbed words is “Mohammed,” suggesting that the footage was taken from a film about something else entirely. The footage also suggests multiple video sources — there are obvious and jarring discrepancies among actors and locations… whoever made (it) may well have made use of little more than the standard editing software Final Cut Pro — far from a cast and crew of over 100 and millions of dollars.
It’ll also be quite informative to read the Christian Science Monitor’s article on this issue as well. The only information we can be certain of thus far is of Morris Sadek’s involvement. Anything beyond that, inclusive of the director, producer, funding, origins are all a mystery. Stay tuned as more information continues to be produced in what is probably one of the single most odd events of the 21st century.
After breaking the news about Morris Sadek’s perverted videos earlier today, following the tragic attacks on the American envoy in Libya, it seems as if our efforts have paid off. Morris still had his Facebook page, other Facebook alias “Haqiqa” and his Facebook group (with insulting images) operational as of this morning (12/09/2012), however a routine check later todaytoday surprised us as it seems Morris has now retracted on his ‘brazen attack against Islam‘. Meaning then, his page for the most part, has gone off line:
Even though Morris has demonized Islam, mocked Islam, cursed Islam and worked on a $5 Million dollar film (of 13 minutes long) to abuse Islam, we still pray and hope for his safety. We understand that via his group on Facebook he has been promoting these anti-Islamic ideas for a number of years, he touts himself as a ‘defender of human rights’. It seems today his luck has run out and his insults took on more weight than he expected. Whatever the case may be, after posting his Facebook details and contact information (via Youtube), his page now seems to be offline, although his other account “Haqiqqa” is still active! All journalists who would like to contact him, may do so until he pulls that one offline as well!
Shaykh Yasir Qadhi had this to say via his Facebook Page:
Clerics and leaders who instigate Muslims to ‘defend the honor of the Prophet (saw)’ by attacking people who have nothing to do with insulting his honor, actually disrespect the memory of our Prophet (saw).
Yes, the movie was disgusting, but I’m sure the happiest person today is the person who made it, because his goal of smearing the Muslims has succeeded.
Ustadh Abu Eesa’s article can be read here, although you can still read what he had to say below:
Although contrary to popular belief, it isn’t through some incredible display of patience, forgiveness or even ambivalence that the majority of us in the West don’t respond with anger to inflammatory and abusive attacks via media/video/cartoons/whatever upon the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace).
It’s actually because we just don’t find out about these things (I spend half my day reading about news and topical issues and I never heard a whisper about any video) due to the fact that they are often the work of a tiny number of sick bigots who most people utterly ignore. And why wouldn’t we ignore them? We’re talking about comparing mighty Prophets and irritating bugs. “The mountains are never shaken by the wind,” especially when it comes out of the backsides of such racist, xenophobic individuals. That was, until, you turn on the news channels to see Muslims in their own countries perhaps not feeling the same way about their own “mountains” of faith and belief, which seem to be rocked to the core every time a non-Muslim opens his or her mouth.
The Prophets of God particularly Muhammad and Jesus (may peace be upon them) have always been under a continual barrage of attacks and insults from the beginning of them being sent to mankind, to especially such times as now where the world operates on new levels with respect to “free speech”. Such insults are part and parcel of the price we pay in living in such democracies, and no we’re not happy about it but we certainly cannot accept the outrageous actions of those who would respond with wanton violence and murder against those who are utterly innocent or indeed those who are living under the protection of the Muslims regardless of their own personal and political beliefs.
Let me be clear: I do not condemn the atrocities such as the murder of the American Ambassador to Libya so that it makes the lives of Muslims in the West that bit easier, and to avoid revenge attacks on us or because it is the politically correct thing to do. No, absolutely not.
I condemn it because the religion of Islam doesn’t allow such an action. Common sense and a call to revise sensibilities clearly have failed with such people. So we have to focus on the only thing that might speak out to them: their religion. These militiamen have not just insulted themselves, but they’ve insulted their Prophet, the same Prophet who stated authentically and unequivocally,“Whoever kills a person who is granted protection by the Muslims shall not smell the fragrance of Paradise even though its fragrance can be smelt from a distance of forty years of travelling.”
In another narration the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace) authentically stated that the Muslim who killed such a person had “betrayed God’s covenant” i.e. that he had broken his covenant and committed treason.
Let there be no doubt whatsoever in any Muslim’s mind: a non-Muslim entering upon a visa is under the protection of the Muslims, by Islamic law, by state law, and by international law. Indeed even a person residing under the country without a visa and simply believing that he is as protected as any other citizen would be, is under that same legal protection. And as for a member of a diplomatic corps? These individuals are afforded the very highest level of protection, security and guarantee from the Muslims. An attack on such embassy and diplomatic staff is completely and utterly prohibited.
It is embarrassing for me to have to write such a childishly obvious statement when it comes to murder but these are the times we live in. It is even more unbelievable that any practising Muslimshould not reflect on this before they act on their anger. Yet with the amount of ignorance we see these days from “practising” Muslims, we are sadly no longer shocked to read the sad headlines as we are seeing today of more destruction, murder and chaos all on Islam’s tab.
Forget the PR reasons. Forget the PC reasons. Forget common sense. Forget the fact that Muslims are now seen internationally to be as pathetic as the ignorant racist bigots who initiate such situations – actually, more pathetic. Forget the fact that the Muslims live 2nd rate lives in their own countries. Forget the other priorities.
Just don’t forget this: these responses of violence and chaos have nothing to do with Islam and for that, shame upon you for trying to claim it as such. May God forgive you. To any non-Muslims reading this, please forgive us for the actions of the murderers for they indeed know not.
Similar sentiments have been expressed by Br. Ibn Percy in his article here.Please share this article with your friends, whether Muslim or non-Muslim to demonstrate that we as Muslims wholly condemn the murder of any innocent persons and such actions are far removed from the religion of Islam. Today a demonstration in Libya was held against the killings:
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