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“BLOODY BUT UNBOWED”
We do not understand men’s religions, especially fundamentalist Muslim and Christian, especially right now in the wake of the recent terrorism in NY and DC.
Both Christian and Muslim proclaim that they revere life. Both apparently qualify this reverence to justify their acts.
We see little difference between the Muslim’s celebrating and thanking Allah/God for the murders of thousands in NY and DC, and the cheers and delight of the Christians when another line is drawn through the name of a woman’s doctor on a web page. Terrorists are local too, and they surround women’s clinics and protect those who kill clinic workers.
“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth” apparently overrules “Vengeance is mine, says the Lord” or “Turn the other cheek” or “Love thy enemy” -- values that they profess to believe and teach.
It is wrong to kill, yet a man is sure to reach heaven and be rewarded with many virgins if he destroys himself killing Allah’s enemies who are defined by his leaders. Just as our enemies will be defined by our leaders.
But for all their ability to justify their right to kill, those who call themselves Christian will not allow a woman’s justification to terminate her own pregnancy. Those who call themselves Muslims prohibit their women from self-expression in a variety of ways enforced by terror.
Those who call themselves Muslims killed thousands of American women, men and children for Allah. Now, our country’s leaders, avowed Christians, are planning military revenge that may well kill thousands of innocents in Islam.
It’s not just a difference in numbers murdered because both religions claim to revere all life. Christians tell us the Bible story of Jesus and how the one lost lamb was as special to him as all the flock. The Koran speaks to the male as the superior being with powers of life and death over women that permits him to deny her any human rights.
“Man’s inhumanity to man” cannot be papered over by his religion no matter how hard he tries. The truth shines through for all to see.
We do understand and laud the extraordinary bravery and acts of heroism by ordinary men and women. From the passengers and crew of the doomed airliners to the rescuers working tirelessly to extricate those who may still be alive in the rubble, they are chivalric. This is perhaps the finest demonstration of humanity of this century and certainly the most meritorious.
While our political leaders promise revenge, money and prayer, those ordinary women and men embody acts of faith and grace -- truly, their souls are unconquerable
We do not understand men’s religions, especially fundamentalists Moslem and Christian, especially right now in the wake of the recent terrorism in NY and DC.
And especially we don’t understand why free women continue to support them.
INVICTUS
William Ernest Henley
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate;
I am the captain of my soul.
