A little of how the religion of peace was spreaded and keeps spreading today. Iraq's Mandaeans 'face extinction' By Angus Crawford BBC News, Damascus The Sabian Mandaeans - one of the oldest religious groups in the world - are facing extinction, according to its leaders. They claim that Islamic extremists in Iraq are trying to wipe them out through forced conversions, rape and murder. The Mandaeans are pacifists, followers of Adam, Noah and John the Baptist. They have lived in what is now Iraq since before Islam and Christianity. More than 80% have been forced to flee the country and now live as refugees in Syria and Jordan. Even there they do not feel safe - but they say western governments are unwilling to take them in. Victim voices There are thought to be fewer than 70,000 of the Sabian Mandaeans spread across the world - only 5,000 are left in Iraq. Nine-year-old Selwan likes watching cartoons and playing football. But he is too scared to leave his flat. The other children tease him. He has burns all down the side of his face and on 20% of his body. He was kidnapped by Islamic militants who forced him to jump into a bonfire - because he is Mandaean. Now his family lives in a tiny flat in a slum in Damascus. I meet Luay. He is too scared to be identified and does not want to use his full name. He was dragged off the street by armed men and forcibly circumcised - a practice not allowed in the Mandaean religion. He is 19 and is now unlikely ever to find a bride from his own faith. Worse, he was forcibly converted. That means in the eyes of those same extremists, if he now declares himself Mandaean he is apostate. To the extremists, that makes him a traitor to Islam, who may be murdered. He says he will not be safe in any Muslim country. 'Convert or die' Then there is Enhar, raped by a gang of masked men in front of her husband - because she would not wear a veil. Our ethnic minority and our ancient religion will die off Kanzfra Sattar, Mandaean bishop Mazen used to be a prosperous jeweller. Now he lives in a cramped flat, with his wife and children. Water drips through the ceiling. His legs are peppered with machine-gun wounds, he can barely walk. Shoaki wears a Manchester United hat and shows me the scars where a gang beat and cut him with a knife - he watched his brother murdered in front of him. Mandaean elders use words like annihilation and genocide - they believe Islamic militants, both Sunni and Shia, offer them two choices - convert or die. "Some will not consider us people of the book... they see us as unbelievers, as a result our killing is allowed," says Kanzfra Sattar, one of only five Mandaean bishops left worldwide. 'Wait in line' He believes they are a litmus test for modern Iraq - in a secular state these doctors, engineers and jewellers would thrive. In the country as it is without law and in the grip of religious extremism, he fears they will be destroyed. "We are small in numbers, we ask all the governments of the world to extend a hand of help," Kanzfra Sattar says. He says he wants the West to accept his people as refugees. I ask him what will happen if they do not - he replies simply: "Our ethnic minority and our ancient religion will die off." The UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR, says there may be as many as a million Iraqis who have fled to Syria. "The numbers that will be resettled are tiny compared to the very large numbers that are here," says Laurens Jolles, the head of a UNHCR team. He acknowledges that the Mandaeans will just have to "wait in line", with other vulnerable groups. Roughly two million Iraqis have fled to Syria, Jordan and Turkey. But there are no plans to welcome large numbers to the West. The US has offered places to 7,000, while Britain says it will consider every case "on its merits". So the Mandaeans wait in line. Shoaki puts it more simply: "Here, we live in despair." Story from BBC NEWS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6412453.stm Published: 2007/03/04 11:10:29 GMT © BBC MMVII Muslims forced Selwan to jump into a bonfire
These kind of things always happen with the majority of the population trying to convert the rest of the population by force into their faith. It is actually something unwarranted and undemocractic let alone humane. Acts of violence and terror beget violence, when they do all this they set bad examples. What happens if muslims in other countries are abused and they are converted? The people who perpetrate these acts need to reflect upon all this before doing any more BS and they also have to realise this very important fact - Every body is a human after all and nobody is inferior to the other and nobody has the right to down rate others because of their faith and exploit them. The perpetrators of these shameful acts really need a place in an asylum or really need a psychiartist.
Jackuulism takes this approach with all Jackuulites: "Convert or... well... I guess not Convert?" I'm also working on the 10 "Things I recommend" rather than Commandments. There will be a few commandments (1 or 2) and a few Recommendations (5-10) that are really easy to remember. The only actual Sin that could get you excommunicated is being a douche - which will be defined in the "10 things that make you a Douche" or 10 D's of Jackuulism.
Sounds intressting, how is jackuulisms view on these questons? * Evolution or intelligent design? * Flath earth or round earth? * sexual perversions like homosexuality and pedophilia? * Deitys?
* Evolution or intelligent design? - Evolution obviously. There'd be no ruling out of the creation of the universe since there is no explanation. However it does adopt that aver the big kaboom everything happened on its very own - planets formed, galaxies clustered, stars blew up, new stars were made, worlds were made hospitable to many kinds of life, things began replication, and before you knew it the evolutionary arms race lead to man and possibly other species out there on distant worlds. * Flat earth or round earth? Neither. Spherical Earth. * sexual perversions like homosexuality and pedophilia? There are homosexual animals, and anyways if it is between two adults we don't care - just don't be flamboyantly gaudy gay in front of people to offend them. (This relates to the government and law of my Dictatorship - not the religion)edophiles are sterilized, castrated, and nullified. Second offenders are killed. As for Jackuulsim - it just views it as plain wrong and bad, unproductive for the human species and psychologically damaging. * Deitys? Cheese.
If Evolution is false - explain how dogs come in so many different breeds. Secondly, Darwin's theory of natural selection is in fact a theory within the realm of the fact of evolution. There are alternative forms of theory for the evolutionary process. Thirdly, I cannot convince you, and you will never convince or brainwash me. I grew up with all the influences of mankind around me. I made my choice based on my own research. I don't let others do the thinking for me.
I belive that things can transform, i belive that influences can change what you become. If you get raped by a pedophile you will become gay/pedophile yourself. Talking about microorganizms hasnt anything to do with the creation of man. It is a big diffrence, we where created for perfection by aliens.
You completely disregarded the fact we have influenced the evolution of the gray wolf into domestic dogs. Influences of environment can, but your genetics predisposes you as well - and also if the last statement is true then how come many of them are not, but are just messed up? We may have been influenced at the stage of Heidelberginsis but that cannot be proven. We are by no means a good design, but a flawed, weak, and unsightly design. Neanderthals were strong, had good bones, and healed from injuries quickly. We do not. We are flimsy, clumsy, our teeth are weak as well as our bones. We're nowhere near perfection and we will never be because our evolutionary process was halted when we became smart enough to do so. To say evolution does not exist is like saying That you yourself do not exist. Try reading this. http://www.mala.bc.ca/~johnstoi/essays/courtenay1.htm
In a book. Where's the carbon dating and the proof. You know what? I could go write on a notepad that "I am the ruler of earth" and then put at the top "Jackuul 1:1" and pay a preacher to read it. That make it true? Not yet. Using Bishop Ussher's Bible chronology from the creation to Nebuchadrezzar II provides the following dates:[1] * 4004 BC - Creation * 3317 BC - Birth of Methuselah * 2348 BC - Death of Methuselah and Noah's flood And a little fun fact about "Creation" The tell (mound) of Ubaid (Arabic: عبيد) near Ur in southern Iraq has given its name to the prehistoric Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic culture, which represents the earliest settlement on the alluvial plain of southern Mesopotamia. The Ubaid culture had a long duration beginning before 5300 BC and lasting until the beginning of the Uruk period, c. 4100 BC. The invention of the wheel and the beginning of the Chalcolithic period fall into the Ubaid period. So was it that Arabs were here before Creation? Or was it simply that they were put there as "fun little facts to dig up". Neither. The book has stories. Stories. Say it with me: "Stories". Ah who am I kidding, I can't convince radicals.