Peace in the Qur’an

Posted on December 31, 2018 by

Cole

In his latest book on Muhammad, Juan Cole, Professor of History at Michigan University in Ann Arbor, has suggested interesting theories about the overall peaceful intent of the Qur’an. In times of intensified Islamophobia not only in the US his revision of certain key surahs in the context of geopolitical events in the 7th century are most welcome.

I had to think of the utter ignorance and cluelessness of former Catholic Pope Benedict XVI when he spurred one of his first scandals addressing an auditorium in his alma mater, University of Regensburg, on 12 September 2006. The topic of his lecture was about faith and reason, and Benedict wanted to make a point here: the novelty that Christianity has brought to mankind was reason. After couple of minutes Benedict attacks,

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Posted in Book Review, Islam | Tagged , , , , , ,

We Want Him Back

Posted on December 25, 2018 by

Our daily chuckle, Donald Trump home alone in the White House, together with his wife, FLOTUS, was topped today by Kevin Spacey’s Frank Underwood. The true villain at the controls acted indeed far better than the present crybaby (“I want my wall!”)

It’s a relief to see that Spacey has the guts and balls to appear just before being arrained on January 7 for alleged indecent assault and battery two years ago.

25 December 2018 @ 11:02 am.

Last modified December 25, 2018.

Posted in USA | Tagged , , ,

Harry Lime – Robert Courtney – Peter Stadtmann

Posted on July 8, 2018 by

UPDATE 17 August 2019 below.

On Friday, a District Court in Germany has sentenced Peter Stadtmann to 12 years in jail for tampering and adulterating life-saving and -prolonging cancer preparations in more than 14,000 cases.

Accessory prosecution attorney Andreas Schulz from Berlin has rightly put Stadtmann’s crimes in line with those of two previous evildoers, a fictional and a real one. Schulz pointed out in his final speech of the prosecution in particular startling analogies of the two real cases, Robert Courtney and Peter Stadtmann. Courtney, a pharmacist from Kansas City, had been sentenced in 2002 to 30 years in federal prison without parole after he had pleaded guilty and apologized to his thousands of victims.

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Posted in Justice, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , ,

Brian Eno And Gaza

Posted on May 16, 2018 by

Brian Eno celebrated his 70s birthday yesterday. His decision not to perform at a more or less unimportant pop festival in Berlin later this year was because the organizers had accepted a small amount of money (allegedly €500) from the Israeli Embassy in Berlin.

Eno’s decline came couple days before the massacre in Gaza. Sixty plus dead Palestinians and thousands injured on their March of Return on memorial day of Nakba (altogether 109 or so during these weeks of new protests) are hard to explain by Israel’s hasbara such as, “any individual approaching the fence is a terrorist” and “Hamas is paying and abusing women and children, even old men in wheel chairs for approaching the fence.”

This might turn out to be another Mavi Marmara Flotilla raid moment. Worldwide outrage, devastating for Israel’s reputation.

Eno’s thoughts about his BDS driven decision can be seen here.

See the organizer’s statement on BDS here.

16 May 2018 @ 7:05 am.

Last modified May 16, 2018.

 

Posted in Israel, Palestine, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ascension Day

Posted on May 10, 2018 by

DSC00717

The gorgeous glas window in Tromø’s Arctic Cathedral displays actually the Return of Jesus, not Ascension Day. I had visited the church for the first time, shortly after my arrival in the Arctic, on Ascension Day 2007 when several newborns were baptized. The northernmost cathedral is one of the must-see sights when visiting Tromsø.

I have to admit that mystic traveling in particular into Heaven fascinate me. I was long amazed about the stories around the Night Journey of the prophet of Islam, Muhammad, which took him first to Jerusalem and then up to Heaven, and further than any other prophet. I have written about some aspects here.

10 May 2018 @ 10:13 am.

Last modified May 10, 2018.

 

 

Posted in Christianity, Norway, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment