A report and comment on religious trends and events being covered by the media.This week’s item is from ABC7News.com, April 15, 2006, with a headline, “Islam not a militant faith, Dali Lama.”The following are excerpts:The Dali Lama is on a mission of peace in San Francisco.He met with American Muslim leaders in a private event at Mark Hopkins Hotel.They are working on how to portray Islam in a more positive light. One woman experienced a deeply spiritual moment when the Dali Lama passed her in the hotel lobby and stopped to give her a blessing.The Dali Lama urged religious leaders Saturday, to reach out to Muslims saying Islam is a compassionate faith that has been unfairly maligned because of a few extremists.“I feel that’s totally wrong.Muslims like any other traditions, same message, same practice.That is a practice of compassion,” he said.He said all human beings are prone to violence if they lose control of their emotions and not to judge and entire faith based on a few people.“A few mischievous people are always there,” he said.Hamza Yusuf, founder of the Zaytuna Institute, a center for Islamic study, said the participation of the Dali Lama in the event could warm Americans to Islam, since many Americans have mixed feelings about the faith, but are receptive to Buddhism.
Tom:
Dave, I think—just a thought here—I think the Dali Lama ought to read a history book or two.I think he has missed some facts that go along with the development of Islam that might help him out a bit, if he’s looking for that.But I don’t think he’s looking for it.
Dave:
Well Tom, how to portray Islam in a more positive light?Well let’s just be logical about it.How about Muslims acting in a more positive light?Then we don’t have to portray them, they would portray themselves.And to say that this is an unfairly maligned religion and these are a few extremists, well then I guess the first extremist in Islam was Muhammad, who began his career with more than 25 murders, attacking caravans, attacking villages, slaughtering people—
Tom:
Dave, where do you get these ideas?Is this something you read out of a—?
Dave:
Oh, I just make it up Tom!I read it out of history books—this is history!
Tom:
And this is Islamic history!
Dave:
Right.
Tom:
That’s the point.
Dave:
And Tom, I don’t know, they probably took it off of the web since I quoted it in our newsletter and also in Judgment Day, one of the poets that Muhammad had murdered, just because he wrote verse against Muhammad.Muhammad got revelations whenever he needed them, like Joseph Smith.And Muhammad got a revelation that all poets were—it’s in the Qur’an that all poets are inspired of Satan, so he had the guy killed.Now you’ve got Muslims today, and I wish that I had in front of me the web page, but I would think that they would have taken it off in embarrassment, but maybe they haven’t, we ought to look it up again and see.It is probably still there.And they are defending Muhammad, because well, Muhammad was trying to establish peace and trying to establish unity and this man was standing in the way of this.So of course he had to be peacefully dealt with.You know we’ll just kill him!Tom it is such a joke.We are going to get Americans to warm to Islam because the Dali Lama tells lies about them and says it is a peaceful religion and Tom, I would ask anyone out there,—I am challenging people now who are listening—I wish I could talk to the Dali Lama, but that’s beyond hope,—he got the Nobel Peace Prize, can you imagine?How does he bring peace?By initiating people into Tibetan Tantric Yoga, teaching them they can all become little bodhisattvas; they can all become Buddhas and create their own realities with their own minds and he gets the Nobel Peace Prize for this, but anyway Tom—
Tom:
But Dave what’s new about that?Arafat got the Peace Prize so—
Dave:
Right, but the Dali Lama beat him to it, but anyway, I would challenged anybody listening out there, the Dali Lama—he’s not listening of course, but I would ask the Dali Lama—I would ask Muslims—okay—they’re probably not listening, but if you are, if somebody listening has friends that are Muslims, you know an imam?You know anybody?Okay, here’s the challenge:Give us—write in and give us one documented example where Islam has ever brought peace.And for everyone that you write in, I will give you a hundred where they have brought war, and murder, and mayhem and torture and they are doing it today.These are not fanatics, these are real Muslims.
Tom:
Right and we are talking about Muslims against Muslims.Now Dave—
Dave:
Who’s killing one another over there in Iraq?
Tom:
The other thing is for the Dali Lama.Let’s just look to his neighborhood as it were.What about the partitioning between Pakistan and India.Here you have the doctrine of Ahimsa among Hindus and then this peaceful people (so-called)followers of Islam, that was one of the bloodiest debacles in history wasn’t it?
Dave:
Well they created East and West Pakistan out of India and gave freedom and independence to each and about 7-8 million Hindus fled from what was becoming Pakistan.They fled back into what was becoming India because the Muslims were killing them, and about an equal number of Muslims fled because these people who believe in Ahimsa (non-violence) were slaughtering the Muslims.And then by the way Tom, was it 1971?I don’t remember all these dates, but East and West Pakistan couldn’t get along with one another and they had it out in a revolution and that created Bangladesh out of one of them.Look, Islam has been in Afghanistan for how many centuries?They can not bring peace.They fight one another and this is the biggest drug producing country in the world.
Tom:
Right.Opium!
Dave:
Right.So Tom, Dali Lama you don’t know what you’re talking about and of course, you are a liar from the very beginning because you claim to be the reincarnation of the 14th Dali Lama and there’s no such thing as reincarnation and anyway—
Tom:
Dave, you would think a god-man would get some things straight here, wouldn’t you?
Dave:
You would think so, but he will be judged by the one true God and I don’t say that vindictively, I only say that—please wake up!Dali Lama you are leading so many millions astray and people wake up!We have to one day face the Creator of this Universe in righteousness and he will punish us for our rejection of the salvation that he provided in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ if we have rejected it.