Some Interesting Thoughts From Turkish Anarco-Islamists

NEITHER SECULAR NOR THEOCRATIC STATE DICTATORSHIP!

In a free society without the state, neither the secular nor the religious ideology can govern. Because the people have destroyed the armed state and began to govern themselves. In this society believers live according to their beliefs and non-believers live as they want to

NEITHER SECULAR NOR THEOCRATIC STATE DICTATORSHIP!
FREE SOCIETY WITHOUT THE STATE!


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Discussion about religion and secularism is indeed complex; it is a subject which has deep philosophical roots. It is impossible to consider all the arguments in such a short article (I hope I will be able to do this in a later date). However, in this article I will explain why I am against both fronts.

The defenders of secular state say that the defenders of theocratic state would build a totalitarian state and would repress all thoughts and beliefs which do not comply to the rules of religion.
THEY ARE TELLING THE TRUTH.

The defenders of theocratic state say that the aim of the defenders of secular state is not only to repress religion and religious people but also to repress all thoughts and beliefs which do not comply to the "supreme" ideology of secular minority.
THEY ARE TELLING THE TRUTH.

The defenders of secular state say that secular state does not mean repression but freedom.
THEY ARE NOT TELLING THE TRUTH.

The defenders of theocratic state say that "their" state does not mean repression but freedom.
THEY ARE NOT TELLING THE TRUTH.

In short, to arrive at truth, we only need to see that what they say against each other is true and what they say of themselves is not true.

Turkey, Armenia Sign Historic Treaty

This is a step forward for Turkey. Hopefully peace reforms will be a continuing trend within the Turkish government as well as the Armenian government. One can only hope that healing will be made eventually on both sides of divisive politics.

Here is an excerpt from AOL news' report:

Turkey, Armenia Sign Historic Treaty
By MATTHEW LEE, AP
posted: 1 HOUR 33 MINUTES AGOcomments: 42filed under: World NewsWith HP wireless printers, you could have printed this from any room in the house. Live wirelessly. Print wirelessly.


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ZURICH (Oct. 10) - Turkey and Armenia signed an accord Saturday to establish diplomatic relations after a century of enmity, as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton helped the two sides clear a last-minute snag.
"It was pulled back from the brink," said a senior U.S. official.

The Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers signed the agreement in the Swiss city of Zurich after a dispute over the final statements they would make. In the end, the signing took place about three hours later and there were no spoken statements.
Officials say Clinton and mediators from Switzerland intervened to help broker a solution.

The accord is expected to win ratification from both nations' parliaments and could lead to a reopening of their border, which has been closed for 16 years.
But nationalists on both sides are still seeking to derail implementation of the deal.

Read more: Here.

Pray For Turkey/Türkiye Için Dua

Pray for Turkey as Turkish citizens face the horror of flooding in Northwestern Turkey. May God's Grace be upon them as 31 people have already died in the floods. I would like to say that my heart goes out to all the Turkish families who have suffered casualties from this natural tragedy and that the people of Turkey are near and dear to my heart both as people of God and friends of America.

Türkiye için dua olarak Türk vatandaşlarının Kuzeybatı Türkiye'de sel ve korku yüzü. Allah's Grace onları 31 kişi zaten seller hayatını kaybetti üzerine olabilir. Benim kalp bu doğal trajedi gelen kayıp verdi tüm Türk ailelerine dışarı ve Türkiye halkının yakın ve sevgili kalbim gider söylemek istiyorum hem Tanrı ve Amerika arkadaş kişi.

Read an English article about the flooding/Sel ile ilgili İngilizce bir makale okuyun: Here/Burada.

Iran Erupts In Violent Protests

It seems Safari is doing better today though I still think all my Blog widgets also may be partly responsible for loading problems as well as Summer time web traffic. So let me know if you're having trouble too?



Anyways, over the weekend Iran erupted in violent protests almost akin to 30 years ago---except this time the cry is for a regime change that supports more progressive leaning political aims rather than the all familiar theocracy that was established 30 years ago. Americans who were alive then remember watching with much trepidation the unfolding drama of the Iran Hostage Crisis which was our first taste of the newly established Iranian theocracy---so of course this sole event colors any American political commentary on Iran. What can I say, we are biased by it---because most average Americans don't realize all the complex details that have shaped the Iranian political climate.

The Iranian Revolution is one of the single events in human history which shows us that theocracy is a bad idea. Though the Iranian theocracy is one built on militant Islam---we Christians don't have bloodless hands as we had our own Irans such as the Christian Iran of the 16th century---Calvin's Geneva. See also: TheoPoetic Musings: Fundamentalists Never Cease To Be Laughable and TheoPoetic Musings: Respect For John Calvin. Thankfully the majority of Christians moved beyond theocracy especially Baptists. Anti-theocracy tendencies have always been a part of the Baptist heritage. Consider these statements:

"Enforced uniformity confounds civil and religious liberty and denies the principles of Christianity and civility. No man shall be required to worship or maintain a worship against his will.”
“God requireth not a uniformity of religion to be enacted in any civil state; which enforced uniformity (sooner or later) is the greatest occasion of civil war, ravishing of conscience, persecution of Christ Jesus in his servants, and of the hypocrisy and destruction of millions of souls.”
“All civil states, with their officers of justice, in their respective constitutions and administrations, are proved essentially civil, and therefore not judges, governors, or defenders of the spiritual, or Christian, state and worship.”---Roger Williams

Wee do freely profess that our Lord the King hath no more power over their [Roman Catholics’] coonsciences than over ours, and that is none at all ... let [people] be heretikes, Turks, Jews, or whatsoever, it apperteynes not to the earthly power to punish them in the least measure.
— Thomas Helwys

1640
"When they [the Church] have opened a gap in the hedge or wall of separation between the garden of the church and the wilderness of the world, God hath ever broke down the wall itself, removed the Candlestick, etc., and made His Garden a wilderness as it is this day. And that therefore if He will ever please to restore His garden and Paradise again, it must of necessity be walled in peculiarly unto Himself from the world, and all that be saved out of the world are to be transplanted out of the wilderness of the World." Roger Williams, "Mr. Cotton's Letter Lately Printed, Examined and Answered," The Complete Writings of Roger Williams, Vol. 1, 108.

1773
"Religious matters are to be separated from the jurisdiction of the state, not because they are beneath the interests of the state but, quite to the contrary, because they are too high and holy and thus are beyond the competence of the state." Isaac Backus, colonial Baptist from New England, An Appeal to the Public for Religious Liberty.

1790
"The notion of a Christian commonwealth should be exploded forever. ... Government should protect every man in thinking and speaking freely, and see that one does not abuse another. The liberty I contend for is more than toleration. The very idea of toleration is despicable; it supposes that some have a pre-eminence above the rest to grant indulgence, whereas all should be equally free, Jews, Turks, Pagans and Christians." John Leland, "A Chronicle of His Time in Virginia," The Writings of the Later Elder John Leland, published in 1845.---Assorted quotes on Baptists and liberty

It should be noted that a large majority of Muslims have followed suit and are believers of separation of religion and government like the Republic Of Turkey. And like our Muslim friends, we too have nutcases in favor of theocracy: Pat Robertson, Worldview Weekend, the Religious Right, etc. to name a few.

We can only hope that an Ataturk will rise up in Iran to free his/her people someday for the sake of all the Iranians who are longing for a government that truly promotes freedom and democracy. More on Iran later until then see also: Shuck and Jive: Yeah, right..

Grace Truly Wins Out

Here's an interesting article:

Pope Gunman Wants to Convert
AP
posted: 5 DAYS 12 HOURS AGOcomments: 226filed under: World NewsPrintShareText SizeAAA

ANKARA, Turkey (May 13) -- The gunman who shot Pope John Paul II says he would like to convert to Christianity at a baptism ceremony at the Vatican after his release from prison in January.
In comments relayed by his lawyer on Wednesday, Mehmet Ali Agca also says he wants to visit the grave of Pope John Paul II, meet with Pope Benedict XVI and produce a television documentary on the Vatican.

Agca shot and seriously wounded John Paul on May 13, 1981. The late pope met with Agca in an Italian prison in 1983 and forgave him for the shooting.
Agca served 19 years in an Italian prison for the attack and is currently serving a prison term in Turkey for killing journalist Abdi Ipekci.
He is due to be released from Sincan Prison, near Ankara, on Jan. 18, 2010.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
2009-05-13 06:00:35

Regardless of one's stance on the Papacy, Grace truly wins out in the end and God used Pope John Paul II's relationship with Mehmet Ali Agca as part of Agca's conversion process rather than the Pope force-feeding Agca a list of manmade propositions and telling him to believe these things or go to hell like Fundamentalist Pharisees do.

Naming The Bird "Turkey"

For those of you who don't know, the bird turkey has a connection with the country Turkey---although there are no turkeys in Turkey. Here is a snippet of the Wikipedia article on the bird turkey:

History and Naming
When Europeans first encountered turkeys in the Americas they incorrectly identified the birds as a type of guineafowl (Numididae), also known as a turkey-cock from its importation to Central Europe through Turkey, and the name of that country stuck as the name of the bird. The confusion is also reflected in the scientific name: meleagris is Greek for guinea-fowl.

The names for M. gallopavo in other languages also frequently reflect its exotic origins, seen from an Old World viewpoint, and add to the confusion about where turkeys actually came from. The many references to India seen in common names go back to a combination of two factors: first, the genuine belief that the newly-discovered Americas were in fact a part of Asia, and second, the tendency during that time to attribute exotic animals and foods to a place that symbolized far-off, exotic lands. The latter is reflected in terms like "Muscovy Duck" (which is from South America, not Muscovy). This was a major reason why the name "turkey-cock" stuck to Meleagris rather than to the guinea fowl (Numida meleagris): the Ottoman Empire represented the exotic East.

The name given to a group of turkeys is a rafter, although they are sometimes incorrectly referred to as a gobble or flock.[1]

Several other birds which are sometimes called "turkeys" are not particularly closely related: the Australian brush-turkey is a megapode, and the bird sometimes known as the "Australian turkey" is in fact the Australian Bustard, a gruiform. The bird sometimes called a Water Turkey is actually an Anhinga (Anhinga rufa)

See also: Is turkey (the bird) named after Turkey (the country) or vice versa?, Why A Turkey Is Called A Turkey and Why Is Our Thanksgiving Bird Called a Turkey? (Answer: Because, of course, it came from Turkey).