Abdul Rahman Vanishes - Deathfans and Fascists afoot

The Anchoress has a long article about Abdul Rahman and his release and 'disappearance", hopefully to a safe place, and about the crazy contradiction between "loving God", "being loved by God" and killing those who don't agree with your take on religion and life.

She begins with a quote from scripture:

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. - Deut 30:19

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Meanwhile the Death-people are at it again, chanting “Death, Death, Death!”

On Monday, hundreds of clerics, students and others chanting “Death to Christians!” marched through the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif…

Yeah, yeah, Death to Christians, Death to Jews, Death to cartoonists, Death to gays, Death to unveiled or “dishonorable” women, Death to the West. Death to all who don’t agree with us! Death, Death, Death - that’s all these people know. Maybe it’s because they know so little about loving life? Seems to me if you reverence life as sacred, you can’t be constantly hollaring for Death to all of these Created Creatures who were loved into being by God.

Seems to me that if you love God, then you love his Creatures and you do not presume to kill them because of the words of a mere human man - be he a prophet or no. “Religious” people who can look at half the world and say, “God loves us, but not YOU, and therefore you must die” are very screwed up “religious” people who suggest that God does not love what He makes. Nonsensical and probably pretty insulting to God.

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I’m trying to decide if people who are this enamored of death are simply supremely insecure in everything, from the rightness of their faith to their manhood. Fascism always contains a “conform or face the consequences” note, whether it’s in the schools, where you must wear the “right” things or be ostracized, or it’s in a city where you celebrate its values or be stigmatised as a hater. It stinks of insecurity. Values, morals and beliefs built upon solid foundations are not so quickly or thoroughly threatened by opposing viewpoints that they require literal or metaphorical calls for death, threats to one’s livelihood or safety, or the right to free expression and free assembly.

So, everyone just take note: If the cause you are embracing, or the “community” with which you’ve aligned yourself demonstrates its “strength” by using these tactics…you might be hanging around with fascists. It might be time to reassess your association.

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The Anchoress » Abdul Rahman Vanishes - Deathfans and Fascists afoot