World War Z quote

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So true. That's the same problem people have, for instance, with understanding the problem of climate change or cloning or economics or finance or any number of problems, on a micro or macro level. Regardless of how much an expert tells them that it will become a problem later on, people will hold on to their beliefs until that given event has happened. Watching it by their own eyes is the only way for them to believe. BUT, by that point, it's already too late for those people to save themselves from whatever that problem or calamitous event it is.

It's the same problem Quran mentions multiple times. Several prophets came & told the same thing to their people, but until & unless, God's punishment came down upon them, the public didn't believe those prophets. And by that time, it was already too late for any repentance. Be it Noah's people or Lot's, Shelah's (Saleh's) or Eber's (Hud's), they all didn't believe their prophets until God's punishment came down upon them.

Beautiful Creatures (quote 2)

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Beautiful Creatures (Quote 1)

I almost agree with this movie line. Where I disagree is that all humans don't only consume & destroy this planet. There are lots of people who are doing a lot of good work; working for the humanity & the planet. Only problem is that their actions / work is like taking 1 step forward in the right direction & then, far more influential people wage a war against another country, & in the process, taking 5 steps backward. That's why, the world is slowly inching towards a world-wide catastrophic disaster.

 

Another point, which I disagree with (but atheists would love it), is that ideas like God are not invented out of thin air. And when leaders & elites use those ideas (God, righteousness etc.) to go to war with people who seem to disagree with them, it's not because one group thinks it's correct about its God & other isn't.

 

Leaders & elites use those sacred ideas to drive their public towards the war. The real objective of the war / fight is nothing to do religion. It's all to do with personal agendas of the leaders & the elites. For instance, the Crusades had nothing to do with religion but the Catholic Church wanted to capture lands & war booty from Italy to all the way to Jerusalem. Current wars are more to do with military-industrial complex, control over the resources (oil, gas, rare minerals etc.), & to basically show to the world, who has the biggest stick in the world. Nothing to do with restoring human rights, women rights, democracy, freedom etc.

 

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Space for Faith: Accomodating religion on campus

I went through this problem for almost 10 years in high school & universities. Apparently, it is still a huge issue, depending on the university.
 
My view is that universities should dedicate a fairly large-sized room for quite meditation purposes. This way, student organizations can book this room for their purposes whenever they want. There's no need to dedicate a separate room for Muslim students, because, then, of course, students of other faiths have the right to ask for their own prayer rooms. Of course, if students of a particular faith really want their own room, they can always collect funds & lease the room from the university.
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Last October, the McGill student newspaper published a photo essay of Muslim students praying under staircases, in storage rooms & in empty classrooms.
 
It wasn’t always this way. Muslim students had a dedicated prayer room until May 2005, when the university told them they could no longer use it. A lengthy conflict between the university’s Muslim Students Association (MSA) & McGill ensued. The students filed a discrimination complaint to the Quebec human rights commission. McGill argued it wasn’t required to offer dedicated space because it is a secular institution. The commission dismissed the complaint, & the Muslim students never got their room back.
 
Dozens of Canadian universities have dedicated Muslim prayer rooms, while others don’t engage with the issue at all. In a rare move, the University of Regina recently installed special sinks for Muslim students to use before prayer. But what works at one university might lead to tension at another.
 
Last November, the entire team of Catholic chaplains at Western University quit the university’s Chaplains Association, protesting the university’s decision to provide Muslim students with a new & bigger prayer room after the old multi-faith space, which included an area designated for Muslim prayer, was closed for renovations.

“What the university has created is a large space exclusively for the Muslim community, & a small room for the other faiths,” says Rev. Michael Bechard, who still leads the group of Catholic chaplains at Western’s King’s College. “I’ve been at Western since 2000, & twice a year we’ve been asking for more space,” Bechard says. “My issue is not with Islam or accommodation with the Muslim community. My issue is that, in accommodating them, it’s being done in such a way that ostracizes everyone else. It’s simply not fair.”

Then, in early January 2015, Rev. Michael Wagenman, a Christian Reformed chaplain at Western, resigned as coordinator of all university chaplains. Still a chaplain with an office in the multi-faith area, he says he speaks to students every day who are “bewildered this group is getting special treatment.” “Shared multi-faith space should be the first priority, not dedicated space,” he says.
 
But Western sees things differently. Susan Grindrod, associate vice-president of Western’s housing & ancillary services, says she’s not aware of requests for more space from other religious student groups. “We did not want to take space away from one group,” she says. “We have a large number of Muslim students . . . & this is a group that came forward & we tried to meet their needs.” She says other religious groups are welcome to book more space in addition to their multi-faith space.
 
The University of Toronto’s approach to religion on campus lies somewhere between McGill’s & Western’s. While U of T has a multi-faith centre, a building with several rooms in which weekly discussions on faith & religious diversity take place, U of T does not provide designated space for any religious group. There are several multi-purpose spaces around campus that student groups, including religious ones, are responsible for booking. “We don’t expect students to park their faith at the edge of campus,” says Richard Chambers, director of the university’s multi-faith centre. “But we don’t privilege any particular group . . . that wouldn’t fly here.” Chambers has yet to receive a request from a single religious group asking for more space.

http://www.macleans.ca/education/university/space-for-faith-accomodating-religion-on-campus/

Hellbound? (Quote 2)

Simply left me speechless. One of the best answers to the question many Muslims ask why doesn't Allah make everyone a Muslim? All humans are given a brain. They are required to use it, just like they use it to get secular education.

 

Life is full of difficult & hard choices, & we have to choose one option over another on a daily basis. And what choice do you make, after getting all the info you can get, in your spiritual beliefs & how to live your life, can be immensely rewarding (Heaven) or a huge failure (Hell).

 

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Sex Education, Then & NOT Now

As all Canadians may know already by now that new sex-ed curriculum of Ontario has been revealed & come September 2015, 7-year-olds (Grade 3) will come to know the meaning of same-sex relationships & gradually, within 5 years (age 12), will know what oral sex is.

I deliberately chose this article / opinion because that's the general attitude of people who are supportive of this curriculum. However, what it shows to me:

1. Disregard of people in a "democratic" govt: is this we called "democracy"? Is this the democracy Western leaders incessantly harping about in their speeches all over the world? It may as well be an absolute monarchy because at the end of the day, gov't is acting like, "I am going to throat-gag you with this, & you not only going to love it but will ask more for it."

2. What happened to diversity, Canadian multiculturalism & assimilation of new immigrants? As soon as something bad happens by a few deranged individuals, in the name of a specific religion, the whole group associated with that religion is blamed for not assimilating in the population & living in their own little bubbles (I'm deliberately not putting in any infamous labels here).

Who should be blamed for French ban on burqa in public or as Mr. Harper itching to bring burqa ban in Canada (it's a slippery slope, starting with niqab ban in citizenship oath ceremonies) or Mrs. Kathleen Wynne ignoring all immigrants, a sizable majority of which hails from South Asia, in bringing this curriculum?

Who is considering whom a "second-class" citizen & doing every bit that can be done to help push immigrants away, instead of helping them assimilate, to the point, that that immigrant / "second-class" citizen packs up & leaves Canada for good?

Will a majority of Muslims (I can't talk about other religious groups, Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs etc but I do believe they are in the similar situation as Muslims) happily embrace this curriculum & gladly assimilate in the multicultural fabric of Canadian society? I firmly don't think so. This will only alienate those immigrants further, & next thing you know, someone is again pointing fingers at this group for not assimilating.

Assimilation is a two-way street & how can the majority of a group identify with their new country or society when a majority of the residents of that country are always coming up with laws & regulations to encourage those immigrants to disavow their whole belief systems? Is this called "freedom of religion" as such enshrined in the Charter? In fact, it seems more like, "be like me or you are my enemy" or that famous Mr. Bush's quote, "either you are with us or against us."

3. Do I really want my future kid to learn about same-sex relationships at the age of 7? Yes, as a Muslim, I am against homosexuality, & no I don't want my kid to learn about homosexuality. I don't care what people do in the hallowed halls of their bedrooms. People who support it in this country ... well, put it bluntly, are the same people who naively believe that Western countries are the beacon of peace in the world, & religion is the source of all evils in this world & women are only liberated when they take all their clothes off ... what's the point of wearing a bikini in the public, anyway (thanks to this curriculum, even little kids will know what breasts, nipples & female genitalia look like) ... might as well be completely free ... take everything off !!! (this will be explored more in my next blog with the help of Irina Shayk's fabulous choice of dress in the Vanity Fair's after-Oscars party).

Even as a very involved parent (once in the future), how will I be able to "un-teach" homosexuality at home when my kid is learning all about the wonderful world of same-sex relationships from those teachers in the school? As the article suggests, it's better that schools are teaching this than parents. Really? That kid will be even more confused then. Do I believe the story of Lot in the Quran, as told by my parents or do I believe what my teacher told me that my budding love for another human of the same sex is because of my genes? (everything nowadays is genetic; obesity, homosexuality & next will be racism, drug addiction, hatred ... all happen because of our genes ... eventually, we won't need to have a debate on "nature v nurture" because it's all nature's fault).

To further compound the confusion of a little kid, if he/she is enrolled in an Islamic school & he/she is learning about same-sex relationship in Grade 3, but then he/she can't find any of his/her friends / classmates having 2 daddies or mommies (since, homosexuality is strictly forbidden in Islam), then learns about story of Lot from the Quran; that kid is completely confused by now. What is right & what is wrong? Is homosexuality right or natural or is it right what the Quran says & what punishment those people in the Quran got? Do we want this confusion for tender minds of our kids?

4. Another argument is put forward in support of this curriculum that today's kids are learning all about sex through social media & they are learning this at a very young age. My problem with that is why are parents enthusiastically buying smartphones for their kids with such expensive data plans to go along with them. They won't able to sext, at least from their own phones, when they have those dumb phones (yes, they are still available in the market) with parental locks on it.

Furthermore, what happened to parents getting involved with their kids & teaching them about sex & relationships when they themselves see fit, according to their own religion, customs, & beliefs. I will explain the story of Lot & dangers of homosexuality to my kid when I see fit, as per my religion, & not when Mrs. Kathleen Wynne likes to think.

5. Some may say now, well, why don't you move out of Ontario, since this is only being instituted in Ontario. My belief is that this curriculum will spread, if not already, all over Canada like wildfire. Take my word for it. Some of it is already in other provinces' sex-ed curriculum & other provinces who doesn't have this invasive curriculum will enthusiastically adopt it.

Regardless of what the Charter or Constitution espouse, the North American gov'ts enthusiastically adopt anything & everything which remotely sounds Liberal, as long as it helps their agenda; homosexuality is all market-driven (money from marriage licenses, weddings etc), so why not promote it even more, line up govt's pockets behind the clever charade of equality & in the process, look good too in the eyes of voters.

 

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/sex-education-then-and-now/article23160602/