Thursday, September 13, 2012

Attack on US Embassy in Libya

I may live in a lovely remote part of Scotland, but I still keep up with the news from around the world. The attack in Libya on the US embassy hit the headlines big time. I read a report today that makes me wonder and makes me afraid. The writer interviewed one person who attacked the embassy and he said "we heard about this terrible film insulting Allah". Not I saw it and it upset me, but "we heard". So he attacked the embassy on hearsay. Second the interview with the two heads of Libyan security are reproduced below:-

"There were definitely people from the security forces who let the attack happen because they were themselves offended by the film; they would absolutely put their loyalty to the Prophet over the consulate. The deaths and injuries and attacks are all nothing compared to insulting the Prophet."

Bargathi, of the police command, said the killings had taken the protest too far, but said: "What we saw was a very natural reaction to the insult to the Prophet. We condemn the deaths but the insult to the Prophet made people very angry."

So the head of the security in Libya, who also hasn't seen the movie is saying he and his men approve of the attack and ANYTHING is justifiable if there is even a hint of an insult......"they would ABSOLUTELY put their loyalty to the Prophet over anything else". "The deaths and injuries are all nothing", says it all.

We should be warned, so many times we have seen that the people involved in these attacks all over the world are ignorant men and women who follow blindly what they are told by their religious leaders, without any thought themselves. This is a danger to the whole world, a world which is attempting albeit slowly, to become more civilized, more discursive, more thoughtful and considerate of others feelings. The attacks were not justified in any way, and never could be under any circumstances. The International law which governs respect for an embassy is clearly meaningless to these fanatics. 

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Jehovah's Witnesses

In the last few months I have been attending a weekly meeting in Kelso and my observation is that this group are sadly and mistakenly maligned in movies and TV shows. This is a group of very dedicated people who not just read the Bible but research it to a great depth. In fact their meetings unlike most churches are really a  chance to ask questions and share answers on Bible topics. The attendees being encouraged to take part. Their fault from the common perspective is that they take Jesus request that a believer should "spread the good word" very literally so they come around and knock on peoples doors at inconvenient times. It seems a small fault if fault it is. All the people I have met have been decent honest people with a thirst to understand the Bible and to bring up their family with a like thirst. This does not seem to me to be a bad thing in this day and age where my son attends a party (he is 15) and the family and birthday girl have alcohol available and encourage drunkenness. It probably time everyone stopped spurning this well meaning group and listened to their message. We need dedicated caring people in this world, and they certainly are that!