Silly Rabbit, Easter is for…..

“Well, in just a few days time, it will be Easter. And really early, before the sun rises and all the good children are awake, the Easter Bunny will be hopping across lawns and gardens all over the world, hiding colorful eggs for all the good children to find”.

Say WHAT?!?!  Rabbits can’t even lay eggs – so just where is he getting them eggs and does he have elves like Santa does, to help paint all those eggs or is it outsourced to some sweat factory employing child labor?  Rabbits are also known to be health fanatics, eating only carrots and salad.  No way a rabbit would be promoting chocolate eggs.  So why is there a bunny/rabbit/hare intruding on Christianity’s most meaningful celebration?  It makes no sense at all.

Why is an overweight man in red the poster boy for Christmas and why is a egg-centric bunny the mascot for Easter?   Christmas remembers Jesus’ birth and Easter – his death on the cross and his resurrection from the grave. Why, then, is the world promoting these mythical characters instead of  showing reverence for the real and historical Jesus Christ for which these festivals are actually meant to remember?

It is most unacceptable.  The world talks about respecting each other including our different cultures and religions.  It would not think of doing this kind of thing with other religions, so why does the world think its okay to do it to Christians?  I mean, the Muslims would be offended if the media and businesses start promoting the “Camel of Eid-ul-Fitri” on their holy month.  No one would dream of using the “Holy Cow of Deepavali” to push sales to Hindus.  Even pacifist Buddhists may be riled up if some PR guy came up with something like the “Grand Pokemon of  Vesak Day”.  I do not mean any disrespect to any of those religions.  I am just trying to illustrate how silly it would be and possibly offensive.  No such festival creature exists for any of the world’s religious festivals (except maybe the Holiday Armadillo of Hannukah from a certain episode of “Friends”).  In the same way, I will thank you for leaving the Bunny out from Easter.

Sorry, there really is no "Holiday Armadillo of Hannukah".

 

The Easter weekend starts with Good Friday and ends with Easter Sunday and commemorates Jesus death on the cross on Friday and his resurrection from the dead on Sunday.  It is the most important event in the Christian faith.  The birth of Christ is not even discussed in two of the four Gospels but the events relating to his death and resurrection occupies 9 of 21 chapters in John’s Gospel.  Where Christmas was the start of Jesus’  work of redeeming mankind from the burden and penalty of their sin, Easter was the completion of that work.

John 3: 16-17:

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. “

 

So silly rabbit, Easter is not for you but it is for mankind loss and weary, separated from God – now given new hope through the love of God and Jesus’ sacrifice in our stead.  Have a blessed Easter.

Church of the Good Shepherd

Now New Zealanders or Kiwis as they are affectionately known, are not generally an arrogant bunch.  Yet, they refer to  their homeland as  “God’s Own Country”.  What cheek!  What audacity!   It seems to implies that they share the same postal code with God while the rest of us non-Kiwis live in the slummier side of creation.

Now, of course, I believe that God is omnipresent which means that He is everywhere and He does not solely hold a New Zealand passport.  Indeed, the wonders of God’s creation can be seen in so many things and places all around the world.  Yet, one has to agree with the residents of Aotearoa, the “Land of the Long White Cloud” (yet another fancy name they have for their country), that they seem to have more than their fair share of natural beauty for such a small piece of real estate.

This being Easter week, the week in which Christians remember Jesus’ journey to the cross of Calvary, I thought about the worship of God and decided to pay a visit to “God’s Own Country” and specifically to the little Church of the Good Shepherd on the shores of Lake Tekapo.

Now I have seen many impressive cathedrals with towering spires, massive domes and ornate carvings.  Some of them have been awe-inspiring but I have found others too over-the-top and gaudy.  And really, my favorite place to meditate and worship God is really on a mountain top; not surrounded by any man-made structure but amidst God’s wonderful creation.  Of course, out in the elements like that can be rather cold and wet at times!

So this is why the Church of the Good Shepherd is rather special to me.  Rather than some elaborate and ornate man-made altar, this simple chapel of stone just has windows which allows the beautiful mountains and the glistening Lake Tekapo to be the main feature of the altar.  I think it is stunning and a wonderful place for communing with God in prayer or in praise.

The Church of the Good Shepherd (Photo by LGS)

 

Lake Tekapo (Photo by LGS)

 

The Awesome Altar View at the Church of the Good Shepherd (Photo by LGS)

 

Invariably, Lake Tekapo and the small stone church is very much part of the tourist circuit these days but even so, there is still sufficient awe and tranquility to make a visit worthwhile.  Another interesting attraction is a bronze statue that rightfully honors the faithful service of the New Zealand Collie Sheepdog, without which, New Zealand would not have been able to become a nation with more sheep than people.  2009 figures indicate a human population of 4.2 million while there were actually 40 million sheep.

 

The New Zealand Collie Sheepdog is Honored in Bronze (Photo by LGS)

Sheep Not-so-much in a Rush Hour (Photo by LGS)

 

Murmuration and Praise

In this post, the theme of flying is carried over from the previous post.

Do you know what a murmuration is?  Apparently neither does “spellcheck” which keeps on suggesting that what I really mean is “menstruation”.   But no, I don’t mean that at all.  According to the Merrian-Webster Dictionary, there are two meanings to the word “murmuration”.  The first and more obvious meaning is  the act of murmuring; the utterance of low continuous sounds or complaining noises as in one of my favorite English phrases, “the murmur of discontent”.

The second more uncommon and therefore more interesting usage is when describing a flock of starlings flying and forming a living cloud.  I, myself, only discovered this a couple of months ago and wondered how I went through so many years of life without knowing this.  Perhaps murmuration is not new to some of you gentle readers but for those of you who have never seen a murmuration, then a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is even better.

Below is a video shot by Sophie Windsor Clive and Liberty Smith, two intrepid women film-makers of Islands and Rivers which explains the wonder of murmuration much better than I ever could.

 

 

On this Sunday, I have been meditating on the fact that God gives rest, peace and restores our strength when we come to Him  in our weariness and surrender ourselves to His comfort.

The Book of Isaiah 40 and verses 28 -31 says;

“Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.”

This has been my experience of God and I hope you will have similar experiences.  God’s grace and love is like the hot thermals that gives lift to the eagles’ wings and allow them to soar ……….or the wind beneath the wings of starlings celebrating life with the aerial art of murmuration.

Light and Evil

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  I had a busy one as we celebrated the coming of God’s gift of light and hope, Jesus Christ, to a dark and lost world.  Our church had a special Christmas service with songs, items and short sketches which we held in an auditorium of a nearby college.  It was wonderful.  We had about 320 people attending and at least 6 made the decision to invite Jesus into their lives that day.  A reason for even more rejoicing.

Another highlight for me was watching the CNN Heroes programme on TV on Boxing Day.  With Anderson Cooper at the helm, we were feted to the inspirational stories of 10 people who are making a difference in the world and doing their part to turn back the tide of darkness and evil.  Yes, evil.  For as much as we can rejoice and be inspired by their stories, we are also reminded about the evil that they are confronting – that we all are confronting, and that this evil dwells and emerges from the hearts of men.

Violence

We can debate the root causes why drugs, gangs and gratuitous violence has gripped many inner cities and communities but the important point is that kids are being killed and gunned down in the streets.  Life is cheap and life is dangerous for kids who have no safe place to go to but to wander the dangerous streets.  In many places, the community is just dying as mothers bury their children and lose hope.

Diane Latiker burned against the evil preying on the young and opened up her own home to all kids who wanted a place to go for food, advice, help or just to get off the streets.  She started the “Kids off the Block” project and has impacted more than 1,500 kids since 2003.

Greed

It is my heartfelt belief that the world’s economic system is inherently flawed and perpetuates a growing gap between the rich and the poor.  Efforts to change the status quo have failed because of the greed of a few and the selfishness of many.  However, it seems down-right evil when food assistance for the poor requires a 120 day waiting period or that mothers and babies die unnecessarily during childbirth because they are too poor to receive  life saving medical care or children going hungry in a country that is generally over-fed (and even wasting food in stupid food related challenges on TV programmes like MTV’s Spring Break; a big pet peeve of mine).  That’s greed and selfishness at work.

Thank God for people like Sal Dimicell and Bruno Serato who take it on themselves to help the poor and needy and to feed the children and Robin Lim for the 4,000 mothers and babies she and her team have helped in Bali, Indonesia.

Waste

We are depleting our world’s resources, poisoning the very earth, water and air that gives us life.  We praise ourselves for our smartness and technology but we are frightfully and criminally incompetent at managing our world.  Even with shrinking resources and higher demands, yet we do not have the wisdom not to continue wasting what we have.  So in parts of the world, hotels throw out millions of soap bars a year; many only used once.  At the same time, millions of children in other parts of the world die from diarrhea and other illnesses  each year, for which personal hygiene is a contributing factor and a simple thing like washing their hands regularly with soap can already make a big impact.  Derreck Kayongo, himself a former refugee from war-torn Uganda, is bridging the gap between these two worlds through his Global Soap Project, saving lives and fighting the evil of waste.

Indifference

I had some trouble deciding how to title this section but I am reminded that Edmund Burke said all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.   It is about how we as a society tend to give attention to those that don’t need it (like the Kardashians) and like to look away or forget those who are in need.

There are the widows, spouses and family members who all paid the sacrifice for their country when their loved ones died in military service.  There are the football players who are celebrated and feted for their performances on field but forgotten and left to struggle on their own when afflicted by spinal injuries obtained on the field.  There are the bread winners in Mexico who became paralysed and have loss their ability to feed their families and also lost their dignity.  There are the orphans of Africa whose parents were loss to AIDS.   There are the children of Haiti still living in tents now, almost two years after the earthquake.  They are all people who need help but the spotlight is not on them, they have been forgotten or worse hidden from view by our collective selfishness and self centeredness.  But Taryn Davis (war widows), Eddie Canales (football injuries), Richard St. Denis (Mexican disabled), Amy Stokes (African AIDS orphans) and Patrice Millet (Haiti’s tent children) have not forgotten and challenge us all not to forget these people too.

For the full story, go to CNN Heroes 2011.

Of course, these 10 represent a whole army of people around the world that are putting others first and making a difference.  I am ashamed.  I had planned to do more voluntary work in 2011 and instead put it on the back-burner.  Perhaps this will give me the impetus and inspiration to do it this coming year.  My first new year resolution.

In contrast to this uplifting programme, the TV also brought news of more than 40 killed in Nigeria when several churches were targeted with bombs on Christmas Day.  A reminder of that evil is rampant and we are in a fight against it, in all its forms.

Maybe you will join me and do something to turn back the darkness in 2012?

Christmas 2011

Life and Legacy

In each of our lifetimes, we would be fortunate to have met more than just a handful of truly inspirational people;  people who set, with their lives, the standard  for the most of us to aspire towards.  They are lights that shine the way for the rest.

But even amongst such luminaries, there are some that excel.  My friend, DM, is one of those.  Think of all the virtues of a great man and DM had most of them.   It was therefore a shock to learn that DM had suffered a heart attack last Saturday at 1.30 in the early hours of the morning and had passed on at the age of  53.

Over the week, we held a nightly wake until his two daughters were able to return from their studies overseas and finally had a funeral service last last Thursday.  During this time, I had a lot of time to reflect on my friend and his life and I also had the opportunity to hear others share their memories of him.

So how will DM be remembered?  I am having trouble writing this as I don’t know where to start in recalling all his virtues.  Perhaps, it is best to start at the beginning.

DM was the youngest of 8 siblings.  He grew up in a family beset with many problems.  He married but his wife’s family was also full of problems and dysfunctional.  DM became the sure rock that anchored both families, giving them a stability to build on and giving them the leadership, encouragement and love to get their lives sorted out.  His sister shared that though DM was their youngest brother, he would become the father figure to both his and his wife’s families.  As a result, both families are prospering.

He got a job at a local supermarket and through recognition of his honesty, hard work ethic and leadership qualities was promoted to a supervisor’s position which was well above his qualification level.  As a supervisor, he was in charge of many migrant workers from East Malaysia.  These East Malaysians have left their homes on the island of Borneo in search of jobs in the more developed cities of West Malaysia.  Miles from home and often exploited by employers, they are at the bottom of the economic pyramid.

However, more than one of them shared how they found DM to be different from most West Malaysians they encountered.  Despite being part of management, he made no distinction between himself and those he managed and treated each of them with great respect.  He demonstrated a love for them that they could visibly feel and see.  Driven by his love for them and his faith in Christ, he helped organise a weekly bible study and fellowship meeting for the East Malaysians at 10.30 pm on Wednesdays.  The meeting was held late in the evening but it was suitable for the East Malaysian workers as their daily toil ends at 10 pm.  His own modest home was open for all who needed a refuge.  This work of love by DM and his wife has led to the establishment of a church for East Malaysians with a regular congregation of 80 pax and which has given fellowship to many other East Malaysian workers through the years.

DM and wife then felt led to attend a bible seminary and missionary school.  In faith, they went to the U.S. for the training and God provided for all their family’s needs.  Testimonies shared reflected how DM and his wife touched countless of lives in the U.S. as well.

On their return to Malaysia, they forsook a more comfortable life and found a humble place in what can be described as a frontier town near the jungles which are home to the Orang Asli or indigenous peoples of West Malaysia.  It is from here that as a couple, they have served the Orang Asli in that region.  This  was a life of considerable hardship involving traveling long distances and sharing in the deprivations of the simple life of the Orang Asli in the jungle.  At the wake and funeral, several of the Orang Asli shared how DM became to them many things.  He was as father to some, counselor to others, financial advisor, teacher, medical assistant, nutritionist, micro-financier and friend.  Like the East Malaysians before, the Orang Asli said that DM was one of them.  In just a few short years, a number of churches have emerged with at least 100 lives won over for Christ.

My memory of him will always be that of a gentle man but with a core of steel; a leader – firm when he needs to be but always compassionate; soft-spoken and quiet; slow to anger; loving father and husband; a serious man but with a winning smile and a sense of humor.  Power and grace.

I suppose, no man is perfect but DM does very well in almost every regard I can think of.   DM was called back to be with God at a relatively young age but there is no doubt that he has left a strong legacy that will endure amongst all the lives that he has enriched.

Our thoughts are now with his wife and two daughters who have been left behind but DM has never neglected them either.  His headship of the family and his constant unflinching love has made them all strong women and with God’s grace, they too will continue to prosper.  Truly a life and legacy to be celebrated.

Spiritual Highs

As you may know, I was away attending a Christian Youth Camp about 2 weeks ago.  I had agreed to share the teaching duties with my friend, Michael and so I found myself amongst a group of about 45 teenagers.

This Is Where We Stayed

The camp was held in a small fishermen’s village located on the coast about 10 km from the town of Kuantan.  This area has some great beaches but ours was not so much.

Our Beach Was The Not So Nice One Next To This

The programme was exhausting. The typical day starts at 7 am when campers are encouraged to do some morning exercise like a run along the beach.  That is followed with breakfast, an hour of singing and group games, an hour talk, an hour of group discussion, lunch, a short break, an hour of indoor games, another talk, another group discussion, an hour of football, an hour at the beach, dinner, more group games, talentime and skits until 11 in the evening.  They kept up the frantic pace for the three days but there were some tired souls by the end of camp.

Some of the Young People

I spoke to them on two topics; freedom and self-esteem.  My colleague spoke on “boy-girl relationships” and he ended the camp with a powerful session of personal sharing and the gospel message.  Some non-Christians responded by wanting to know more about the Good News.  We were also blessed as we witnessed 4 young people share their testimony of faith in Jesus Christ and were later baptised in the sea (although they had to walk a long way out as it was low tide).

This Young Lady Is Giving Her Testimony Before Being Baptised

Among the many activities, one of the highlights was when the campers made rocket ships out of plastic bottles.  These ships were then launched from a special apparatus with a little bit of help from some water and pressurised air.  Surprisingly, after a few false starts, we had a few rockets reach up to about 15 m in the air and traveled as far as some 150 m distant.

Houston, We Have a Problem

It took many shots before I got this one which captures a rocket in flight soon after lift-off.  Two important lessons I learned from camp was that God is Good for all generations and that I am not young anymore.  I needed some serious R & R after this camp.

Houston, We Have Lift Off!!!!

 

Applause, Please, for the Mob

I am a Canadaphile.  Canadian society stands out for me in a very positive way.  Of course no society is perfect and without its blemishes.  Yet as a whole I like the way Canadians exhibit a sense of moral and social integrity; generally willing to stand together for what is right and what is good and yet finding imaginative and non-confrontational ways of being a positive influence.

I first observed this when I volunteered at a soup kitchen in Ottawa and learned more about what was being done for the homeless.  It was much more than I could have imagined.  I was similarly impressed by how well a single mother I knew was being supported by local services.  Social services in many countries seem by comparison to be still in the Dark Ages.  I also witnessed first hand what great efforts were made to enable a young woman who was paralysed from the neck down to regain a semblance of independence and to become a productive member of society (Locked In).  For me, much of all this reflected the principle of “going the extra mile” which Jesus taught (Matthew 5: 41; “⁴¹ If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.”)

Well, I came across two videos that demonstrate this Canadian attitude once again.   Both of them show the clever and imaginative use of the flash mob phenomenon to convey and reaffirm important social messages.

Wikipedia describes a flash mob as “a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment and/or satire.”

I am sure that after seeing the videos that in these two cases, fun was certainly had by all participants and also spectators but they also accomplished something far more than mere entertainment.

The first video educates and encourages us to recycle and what an affirming way to do it.  I wish we would see this happen again and again.  I  came across this video over at Laura’s “The Mindful Merchant” who also does a great job on promoting green living with very practical tips and suggestions.

The second video was a collaboration of two schools in Vancouver where the kids came together to show their support and respect for individuals as part of an Anti-Bullying Day activity.  I wish they taught this sort of thing in schools over here; constructive anarchy.  Love it.  Hope you do too.

Fallen Knights

Who will stand for the weak, the powerless and the downtrodden?

Who will stand against  injustice but for the rights of the minorities?

And who will weep for them who gave it all for others?

These modern-day knights slained by the dragon of intolerance,

Sacrificed on the altar of bigotry and hatred.

Will you weep?  Will you light a candle for them?

Will we keep the light burning bright.

For the poor, the downtrodden and the fallen knights.

(Fallen Knights by LGS)

 

 

Wasif Ali Khan Weeps for His Friend, Shahbaz Bhatti (Photo by Anjum Naveed / AP)

Two days ago, Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistan Government Minister for Religious Minorities, was ambushed by three gunmen as he was on his way to attend a cabinet meeting after visiting with some poor constituents.  The only Christian minister in the Pakistan Cabinet, his car was stopped by the gunmen who then opened the passenger door and sprayed the interior with bullets. The Taliban has claimed responsibility.

Just a month earlier, Salmaan Taseer, the Muslim Governor of Pakistani Punjab and a co-supporter of his views, was killed by one of his own bodyguards.   Sadly, Taseer’s killer, although under arrest,  has been feted by many as a hero; even by some of the police.  Both Bhatti and Taseer were singled out for punishment  because they were pushing for a reform of  Pakistan’s blasphemy law, reform in the application of Syariah law and because of their support for the release of Aasia Bibi, a Christian mother of five  who is under death sentence under the Blasphemy law.

The Blasphemy Law makes it a capital offence to insult the Prophet Muhammad.  Some may argue that this is against the principle of free speech but of greater concern is that Human Rights observers report that it is often invoked by one party to settle rivalries, feuds and disputes.  In the case of Aasia Bibi, there was already a long standing feud between Bibi and a neighbor over some property damage.  Then in June 2009, Bibi, who worked as a farm hand, was asked to fetch water for her fellow workers to drink.  When she came back, some of her Muslim co-workers refused to drink claiming that being a Christian, she had made the water “unclean”.  Some arguments ensue.  Later a mob descended on her home and started beating her and her family.  The police came to her rescue but after listening to the villagers, arrested and charged her under the Blasphemy Law.  Bhatti and Taseer believed that the law had been misused to settle a score.  Taseer had indicated that as Governor, he would likely pardon Bibi.  Then he was assassinated.

Bhatti knew that he was a target.  In fact, after Taseer’s assassination,  he considered himself to be “the highest target right now”.  Some of the country’s religious leaders had even publicly called for his death. He insisted on keeping to his work schedule and refused bodyguards, noting that it had done Taseer no good.

“I’m not talking about special security arrangements. We need to stand against these forces of terrorism because they’re terrorising the country.  I cannot trust on security…. I believe that protection can come only from heaven, so these bodyguards can’t save you.” Bhatti said at the time.“

When informed by  security officers that there was a plot to assassinate him,  he did ask for a bulletproof car but strangely, he was never given one.  He must have felt increasingly alone and exposed.  He even made a video recording with instructions that it be sent to the BBC if he should be killed.  He made a telephone call to a BBC correspondent before his death saying,  ” They say there’s a terrorist plot to assassinate me. They’ve told me to be careful, but didn’t tell me anything else. I haven’t been given any extra security. It’s just the same as it has been since I became a minister. I have struggled for a long time for justice and equality. If I change my stance today, who will speak out? I am mindful that I can be assassinated any time, but I want to live in history as a courageous man.”

And so he gave his life for the cause of others.  (“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13).  Join me in remembering these brave men of principle and humanity, Shahbaz Bhatti and Saleem Taseer.  One a Christian and another a Muslim, but both united in serving for the greater good of their community and especially for the disenfranchised and oppressed.  Join me also in praying for their family and loved ones in this time of loss.

Post Script: Unfortunately, the move to reform the Blasphemy Laws seems to have been mortally wounded by Bhatti’s death. The government has reintegrated on the promise to push for reform.  Without party support, member of parliament,  Sherry Rehman, had to drop her reform bill and now she has had to disappeared from view due to concerns for her safety.

Say No to Intolerance

Regular readers will know that apart from my Chicken Little – the sky is falling approach to the topic of climate change and the very rare, occasional rant,   I try to keep this blog a bright and happy place.  But there has been too much happening in the news to keep the dark clouds away.

The situation in Egypt and Tunisia is one of great tragedy.  It starting in Tunisia when a poor street vendor,  Mohamed Bouazizi, was prevented from trading and earning an income in a place with 30% unemployment as a result of petty corruption and bureaucratic indifference.  The young man, left with no options or hope, set himself alight in front of the governor’s office and died of his wounds.  His cry for a chance to live with dignity and freedom resonated with the Tunisian people and was the spark that led to the protests that brought down the government of President Ben Ali.  And the vision of a chance for a better life spread to Egypt where the protests have claimed more than 300 lives already.  However, there have been uplifting moments too.   I cannot feel but inspired when I heard about how Christians and Muslims in Egypt are uniting for the common good.  Specifically, it has been encouraging to hear of both Christian and Muslim services conducted to pay respect for the dead or when the Christian protesters stood on guard by providing a cordon of protection for their Muslim brothers while the latter performed their Friday prayers in Tahrir Square – the epicenter of the protests in Cairo.  While we hope for a good outcome to all this for the people of Egypt in the future, it is already a blessing to see this kind of mutual inter-faith cooperation and respect.

Unfortunately, religious intolerance is still all to real and prevalent in the world.  Now atrocities committed in the name of religion has occurred throughout history.  So much so that atheists like Richard Dawkins point to such atrocities as proof that religion is a subversive delusion and he claims that atheists would never commit the same atrocities.  I don’t happen to agree with Richard Dawkins on a lot of things (after all did not atheist Stalin create the Gulags?  or atheist Chairman Mao oversee the Cultural Revolution in China that killed millions?  or how about the Khmer Rogue?) but religious intolerance really reflects badly on religions and give atheists a lot of ammunition.

I am sure most of us are glad that things like the Spanish Inquisition or the Holocaust has been relegated to history and hopefully with vigilance, never to return.  However, I have been disturbed by recent news from Indonesia and Afghanistan which are the anti-thesis to the religious cooperation shown by the Christian and Muslim protesters in Egypt.

First, I refer to the attacks on religious minorities in Indonesia.  In the video below, an inflamed mob attacks a small community of a minority Islamic sect, the Ahmadiyya.  Buildings and property was destroyed but worse of all, three men were stripped naked and beaten and stoned to death.  Several others are hospitalised in serious condition and two are missing.  The police are seen in the video doing little to stop the violence and to protect the victims.  The government reiteration that they will protect the minority groups ring hollow when the President seems to imply that the sect brought the violence on themselves by not agreeing to stop their activities as per their “agreement”.

Christians are another religious minority  in Indonesia that have suffered from some form of religious discrimination for many years.  There have been civil unrest that have resulted in loss of life.  Last year, there were 45 officially recognised cases of attacks on Christians or their churches in Indonesia; ranging from vandalism and desecration to church closures to stabbings and bombs.  Like in the case of the Ahmadiyya attack, many civil society and human rights group wish that the authorities take more concrete and practical steps to protect minorities.

From Afghanistan, a video has emerged which graphically shows the stoning to death of a young couple sometime in August last year.  According to one report, the young couple eloped and fled to Pakistan.  However, they were enticed to return to their village by promises that the families were willing to reconcile and to give them a proper wedding.  Instead, on their return, they were sentenced by the Taliban to death by stoning for having a love affair.  The video of the merciless and brutal stoning of first the woman and then the man is so horrific that I do not want to have it on this blog.  Yet more people should see it and speak out against it.  If you want to see it, follow this link

Meanwhile, an estimated 5,000 “honour killings” are carried out every year where girls (and sometimes guys) are killed by family members for shaming the family.  In a recently highlighted case in Italy, a young woman, Hina Saleem, had shamed her family by refusing to an arranged marriage, smoking and living with her Italian boyfriend.  In an interview, the father claimed to be a good father and that he loved his daughter.  He slit her throat 27 times and then with the help of others buried the body.

If these things upset you or if you agree they must be stopped than please take action.  I appeal to people and religious leaders everywhere and of all creeds and religion to speak out against religious intolerance and the lack of respect for human life and dignity.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” (Edmund Burke)

P.S. Please do not think I am singling out Islam (although I do wish the Ulamas and Islamic intellectuals take a much stronger stand against these acts) but these have been the recent examples of intolerance in the news.  The truth is no religion has been free of intolerance which I hold as a problem of  human beings rather than  the tenets of any religion.