Faith in the absence of Reason

Recently there have been a couple of incidents reflecting the hazards of being and Islamic traveller.  First Jarrar is told to change his shirt because of its Arabic script.  Second a Northwest Airlines flight is diverted because of 12 "unruly" Muslim passengers. I quite liked this analysis in Salon about this situation.  May Allah help us all and may our fellow non-Muslim passengars have compassion and mercy on us: GO-AROUNDS Re: Passenger vigilantism The Raed Jarrar case is especially troubling because it makes so little sense. Not only did security at JFK assume that Jarrar was potentially dangerous because of…

Detained without charge Deporatation without a hearing Illegal wire taps The Patriot Act The death penalty Illegal war Secret courts Warm winters Stolen electio Widen gap between rich and poor Dick Cheney Halliburton $70 barrel for oil New front in Iran and Syria Bin Laden not captured Collateral damage Executive stranglehold over the Supreme Court and Congress How did it come to this?

Scanning the news today, I was struck by a headline on Reuters stating: “Majority of Palestinians back suicide bombing”. The following is a brief excerpt from the article: Seventy-five percent of Palestinians support the suicide bombing at an Israeli restaurant two weeks ago in which 21 people, including four children, were killed, a Palestinian survey shows. “The survey by the Palestinian Centre for Policy and Survey Research, which questioned 1,318 respondents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, also showed that 85 percent of Palestinians support a “mutual cessation of violence by both sides”. The poll found considerable anti-American feeling…