anotherlook

Africa’s biggest country, Sudan is divided along lines of religion (70 percent Muslim, 25 per cent animist, 5 per cent Christian), the population consists of African and Arab origin.  This country has been in near constant war since 1956.  Since the discovery of oil and an increasing Islamic shift in the late 1970s the violence has increased. 

This situation has been simmering for years and years, with the world closing their eyes to the madness.  Without getting too deep into the history, peace was being worked on towards the end of the 1980s however those negotiations were halted when National Islamic Front led a bloodless coup in June 1989.  This coup was led by General Omar al-Bashir, who proclaimed jihad against non-Muslim south. 

In the 1990s, Khartoum’s harboring of Osama bin Laden and other Islamic fundamentalist groups led to international isolation and interethnic fighting in the south.  In 1998 US cruise missile attack followed terrorist bombings of U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam. 

In 2003, government garrisons were attacked and government-supported Arab Janjaweed militia began the process of ethnic cleansing of African tribes.  Since that time, over 400,000 civilians have been killed and 2.5 million people have been displaced from their homes.  In July 2008 an arrest warrant for President Bashir was finally applied for charging him with genocide as well as crimes against humanity and war crimes.  The International Crime Court (ICC) is now deciding whether to issue this arrest warrant which was filed by ICC Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo.  

While President elect Obama has stated his commitment to address the genocide taking place in Darfur and Congress is prepared to work diligently with him on this commitment, my question is how could the world wait this long to step in to help end this madness long before it got to this point?  Is the increased interest in Dafur due solely on the discovery of oil and finally, what is the problem with Muslim extremist and their belief system that they feel totally justified in the chaos, hatred and greed that is causing so much dissention in the world we live in. 

When I was growing up, around this time of year everybody use to say Merry Christmas, however in recent years and with so many Arabs and Muslims in this country now, it is no longer politically correct to say Marry Christmas.  It has instead gone to Happy Holidays.  People are protesting the hanging of lights and the inclusion of Christmas trees in public places every year – who is behind this? 

The situation in Bosnia was created because, among other things the Christian Serbs in Kosovo, who were in the minority, claimed they were being mistreated by the Albanian Muslim majority.  This led to an uprising and some of the worst genocidal activities in that country with the mass murder of 8,000 men and boys between the ages of twelve and sixty, mass rapes of Muslim females and finally the displacement of millions of people as half of Bosnia was eventually retaken by Muslim-Croat troops. 

Throughout history so many wars have been fought in the name of religious beliefs and Muslims as well as Christians (to some degree I view Catholics as Christians as well) have been in the middle of these wars.  No one man can decide which is the right religion for the masses and no one man can force their beliefs on another.  Religion is such a personal thing, an inside thing and no one man can touch the soul of another by forcing them to believe in anything.  Each person should have the freedom to believe in what they choose to believe in for in the end, it is their soul and not the soul of mankind that will be judged. 

Again I ask is guilt what motivates Muslims, to believe so strongly that their religion is the only true religion, their way is the only way and that conformity to this belief by the masses is mandatory.  Do they feel superior and entitled?  Do Muslims even believe in Jesus Christ?  From my understanding of the Bible, if they did believe in Christ, they would not harbor such intense hatred for those who do not believe as they believe. 

A religious man is a person who holds God and man in one thought at one time, at all times, who suffers harm done to others, whose greatest passion is compassion, whose greatest strength is love and defiance of despair – Abraham Joshua Heschel. 

Where was the religious man when Dafur was suffering so intensely?

And that’s the way I see it!! 

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