By: Roma Lazio

Roma Lazio — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 22:24:00 +0000

w er papa e il libano e nashallah

By: ENO

ENO — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 03:47:00 +0000

Very Good article that should encourage us all to overcome, in the words of Chimamanda Adichie the Nigerian-born novelist, every ‘single story’ we all have about each other. The world we live in today is in great need of peace and we can contribute to this by respecting and accepting others as they are, including their religion and culture.

By: JMC

JMC — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 06:51:00 +0000

Lebanon is the closest to following what is actually written in the Koran. I found an online English translation of the Moslem holy book, and in the second chapter, I found a verse stating that Christians, Jews, and other non-Moslems are to be permitted to practice their respective religions in peace. Other verses in other chapters speak of the duty to protect women and children, and the abhorrence of harming them in any way even in wartime. While there are also sections that advocate the very things the extremists practice, on the whole, there’s a balance that those extremists are completely ignoring.
I was spurred to go looking for that English version of the Koran by a line in “Path of the Assassin” by Brad Thor, in which one of the characters wondered if the terrorists even actually read the thing, or relied only on the teachings of the imams. It was implied that the madrassas had the boys memorizing selected verses, not studying the entire Koran. The statements roused my curiosity. What I found in reading the Koran was an eye-opener. More people should read it; while a lot of it is clearly heretical, there is also much that is true and beautiful. Which is unsurprising, considering that Mohammed put it together from elements of Judaism and Catholicism that he learned in his travels.

Comments on: The Pope and Lebanon

By: Roma Lazio

By: ENO

By: JMC