About the Author
Fr. Roderick
Fr. Roderick, a priest from the Netherlands, is the founder and CEO of the Star Quest Production Network and the host and producer of The Daily Breakfast, Catholic Insider and many other shows on www.sqpn.com.33 Responses to “Daily Breakfast 470 - 3D TV”
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Fr. Roderick, some good info for followup on the realm of 3D. -
~ Just A Few Cool 3D Links ~
*U2 3D Movie*:
http://www.u23dmovie.com/
Excellent In Depth Story On The Current State of Digital 3D Motion Pictures:
*Art of Digital 3D Stereoscopic Film* - March 25, 2008 by Mike Seymour
“From U2 to Hanna Montana. From Beowulf to Journey to the Center of the Earth. 3D is hot once again. One of the strongest trends in visual effects films today is stereoscopic capture, post production and projection. Technology is catching up just when theatre owners are looking for ways to hold and appeal to a media saturated audience. We explore the theory and practice of digital 3D stereo imaging”:
http://www.fxguide.com/article471.html
Regarding professional 3D/Stereoscopic Imaging, here is a recent half hour podcast about that very subject that is rich in content & subjects:
http://www.pixelcorps.tv/vfxs38
Here is a direct web link to a clickable Quicktime audio file of the pixelcorps audio podcast on 3D Stereoscopic motion pictures:
http://cdn1.libsyn.com/thevfxshow/vfxshow-038-64kbps.m4a
off topic - I have to admit when the website changed, I was a bit apprehensive. Then, within a few weeks, I really liked the listings and dropdowns tell me what what where, as well as the main window ( as it were)displaying what was new. At this point, I am a bit frustrated with the “busy-ness” of the main page. The display window that helps show what’s new has a transparent bar displaying that has nothing in it (one time it told us what the picture was for). The drop downs need to be clicked and the list that was once on the right which I foun VERY helpful is no longer there. Just wondering if taking a step back in getting this site “together” may not be such a bad idea. Just a thought.
so — would you comment on this ?
Dutch director challenges Jesus story
By Alan Smithee | Wednesday, April 23, 2008, 08:48 AM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
How do you stir up interest in your project? If you are Paul Verhoeven, it appears you dream up the most outlandish thing you can say.
According to Reuters, Verhoeven is posing in a biography of Jesus that perhaps his father was a Roman soldier who sexually assaulted Mary. Verhoeven’s book is expected to be published in September.
The Dutch filmmaker has made very good movies (“Starship Troopers”) and very bad ones (“Showgirls”). He was also the director of “Basic Instinct.”
Verhoeven is now developing a film on Jesus.
From a recent interview conducted by Richard von Busack before an appearance by Verhoeven in Santa Rosa, Calif.: “The message of Jesus is the way he lived. That he ultimately was killed was something that just happened. By seeing it as a sacrifice we diminish the importance of what he’s thinking. Putting the cross and the resurrection at the heart of the story has diminished the importance of Jesus’ message.”
That’s right up there with Iranian President Ahmadinejad saying the holocaust never happened….and right up there with Dan Brown’s fictional spins in “Angels and Demons” and his other book.
Unfortunately, the controversial “Christian Bashing” recipe is a proven money maker and publicity machine for many authors and directors. We will need to boycott the movie so it doesn’t encourage more of the same.
When you want confrontation and are a thrill seeker, stir it up with the Muslims. A much more risky proposition for the Dutch director is to make a movie about the Muslims. I bet he never will.
When you want more attention, stir it up with the Christian believers. Christians are much more accommodating and forgiving.
And despite my last post…and my desire to be a good follower of the faith, I’m sure many of us would welcome the day we could lace up the skates and see the Dutch director on the ice (our Canadian friends will understand this one) and/or would welcome the day we could tighten the chin strap and see the Dutch director on the football field.
Which brings me back full circle to comments posted on the “Secrets of Lost” SQPN site. Where I point out that we are all at risk of violent retaliation given the proper motivation. So the struggle with self discipline goes on to try to keep this potential for retaliation in check. Most days it’s not too hard. But when comments like the one from the Dutch director surface, it becomes more of a challenge to not get “Lost” in the moment.
That’s an old saw trotted out by many a Christian basher. Among them Dominic Crossan who the secular media is always trotting out as their token Catholic who is in fact about as Catholic as Karl Marx.
I agree - the “Treasures of the Vatican” exhibit is definitely worth going to see and not just for Catholics.
Re: movies: I wondered if you had seen the movie “In Bruges”. If you can get past the violence there is a lot under the surface of that movie and I am curious to see what you think and what your comments would be about the various themes.
Thanks,
Bonita
@ Jim
First of all I think it’s odd and even outrageous you compare the content of Joe’s post with what the Iranian president said about the holocaust. And secondly the more people will tell others to boycott or ban a film or a book, the more they want to know what it is about. So just let it happen, ignore it and it will pass away much quicker than when you shout FIRE. And this way it won’t cause you an ulcher. Hopefully your faith is strong enough and as long as you know your truth it doesn’t matter what others think or even say. So “getting into a fight” or even thinking about it is such waste of your energy and time.
And two other small details:
1. That Dutch director has been living in America far longer than he ever did in The Netherlands.
2. It’s not The Netherlands that started the war with ‘the Muslims’, I somehow remember an American president and his friends.
I didn’t think Jim accused the Netherlands of starting “the war with the muslims”.
@Topic, which is DB 470:
It is so hard to decide, if it is right to go for a LCD right now or to wait another two or three years. Always in motion the future is…
@ Atlanta Journal article:
I love reading comments at the SQPN website related to the shows. As a matter of fact, I read almost every comment over here. I do like the community. What I absolutely dislike is this hijacking of topic related blog posts and misusing the comments in order to stir up this community or maybe even to try to get Fr. Roderick to post answers or comments to topics that are not of interest at all to this particular episode. Would this article have been mentioned over here, if both of them - that is Paul Verhoeven and Fr. Roderick were not Dutch? I doubt that. And this is shabby. Fr. Roderick is a Catholic priest. That’s it. He is not the Dutch ambassador to the United States. And I even do understand why Marlous is not comfortable with that. If the article is valid (I don’t care at all), the right way would be to ignore the whole thing. This ridiculous use of the word “Dutch” in almost every sentence disqualifies the article right from the beginning of making any point, because apparently it just wants to hop on the train of stereotypes in order to point to the “Dutch” with the “civilized” finger?! If there is a news, the news would be that there is a director doing a movie that is stupid. It is a story for reporters, who do not know, what they could write about. It does not matter, if he is Dutch, German or someone from the US. We all are human beings, our citizenship is of no interest at all. Pardon my french, but idiots are everywhere. It is sad that debates like this are being started here. And it is unworthy of a Christian, if you want to have my two cents on that.
sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Fr. Roderick loves his movies. And every now and again something that is Christain bashing arises. It’s always good to hear his take on things, that’s why we listen isnt it ? It is coincidental that the director and him are of the same country.
(Webmaster…feel free to remove this posting if you find it too controversial, negative, or problematic for SQPN. Thanks, Jim)
Hello Marlous,
Thank-You for the feedback, but apparently something has been lost in translation. (The risk we take if we try to be succinct.)
I have no issue with the content of Joe’s post. Joe did not insult the Christian faith.
I do have issue with people like this latest author/director (who may in fact be American according to Marlous – the citizenship status doesn’t matter to me) that think it is perfectly fine to throw insults at the Christian faith. I am careful not to insult other religions and am careful to not belittle others without faith and believe it is only right to have similar consideration coming back my way. (Golden Rule)
It looks like Paul Verhoeven is joining the ranks of Phillip Pullman and Dan Brown. Once again, the Christian faith gets insulted and assaulted.
To add insult to injury, sometimes (authors like Dan Brown and Phillip Pullman) are actually able to achieve a huge financial windfall from the assaults and insults.
As far as being quiet and hoping it will go away…I’m not sure that is always the best approach. I heard the Golden Compass’ and Da Vinci Code box office receipts fell short of expectations because there were Christian consumers that grew wise to the story content and stayed away from the theatre for these releases.
Movie boycotts is where it starts. But that seems kind of lame. Sometimes, when people say things that are not true the best approach is to nip it in the bud and challenge the false statement so it becomes clear it is not true. I think this is what Father Roderick did with Phillip Pullman’s anti-Christian book and Dan Brown’s anti-Catholic book. Good Job Father!
I stayed away from Golden Compass because of Father Roderick’s show. I bought Dan Brown’s book because I hadn’t heard it bashes the Catholic faith.
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On a related topic…
Could you imagine what would happen to an author or director that said something negative about how Muhammed was conceived?
I’m referring to Theo Van Gogh, Salman Rushdie, and the Danish newspaper that printed the comic strips. The Pope also got some backlash on a comment he made about Al-Qaeda.
These examples are why I suggest very few authors or directors would ever have the nerve to dare to say anything negative about Islam.
I am not aware of any recent Christian retaliation (where anyone got hurt) after insulting the Christian faith.
On the spectrum of how one can respond to loud mouths that insult someone’s religion…
At one extreme…there is the “do nothing but ignore it” Christian approach.
At another extreme…there is the “Jihad” Al-Qaeda approach.
I would like to come somewhere in between these two extremes and push back enough to stop the unwarranted insults of my faith.
Clearly I’m not planning to attack someone on the street. But, if I could get the director (American? Dutch?) to agree to a little ice time … so I could demonstrate my thoughts about the assaults and insults on the Christian religion, it would be hard to pass up.
I suppose that means that I have a ways to grow in my faith development. I’m willing to agree to that. The directive to “Love your enemies” is sometimes possible, sometimes it seems impossible.
That would probably also put me in tune with Jesus companion that drew the sword and cut the ear off the Roman guard. I’m not encouraging we draw swords…but I do understand why Jesus’ companion drew the sword when Jesus was being attacked.
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And finally to clear up any misunderstandings on what I think is going on in other parts of the World…
I do not think the Netherlands started a war against the Muslims. LOL
I have plenty I could say on Al-Qaeda, Afghanistan, Cheney, and Rumsfeld, but SQPN is likely not the appropriate venue for these comments.
I did notice that the Pope warned us to be careful not to ignore the evil in the World at least twice last week.
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So Marlous, have you seen any good movies lately that have good things to say about the Christian faith? That’s where I would like to put my time and money.
Howdy.
It’s been ages (as in about two years!) that I last listened to the Daily Breakfast, or podcasts in general. Don’t ask. Anyway, for whatever reason, I can’t seem to download or play a single DB file … in iTunes, it doesn’t work at all, and on here, I get a “error opening file” message.
Help?
@Gashwin: sounds like there might be something wrong on your end. Or there might have been a temporary hickup of our servers. The podcasts are regular mp3’s, they should play fine. Check if you have Flash installed, or right-click and download the mp3 to your computer and try playing it from your desktop.
>>When you want confrontation and are a thrill seeker, stir it up with the Muslims. A much more risky proposition for the Dutch director is to make a movie about the Muslims. I bet he never will.<>…have you seen any good movies lately that have good things to say about the Christian faith?<<
Cheers also to Ben Stein for making “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” which (indirectly) puts the Judaeo-Christian faith in a positive light. Everyone should go see this film.
I’d love to hear Fr. Roderick’s perspectives on either or both of these films…
Yikes! My previous post got messed up. The first film I mentioned was “Fitna” by Dutch politician Geert Wilders. Last I checked, one could still view it on YouTube…
The fact of the matter is that the so-called movie/fake documentary ‘Expelled’ did extremely poor(it was a flop) at the box office for very good reason. It is factually wrong on most of its content and got really bad reviews(which it fully deserved) by almost every movie reviewer.
As a follower of christ and a catholic I’m really saddened that these type of intentionally dishonest schlock productions are rushed out there. Here is just one of many factual reviews of this terrible production in the recent Chicago SunTimes:
STEIN’S CASE BAD BEYOND BELIEF
‘Expelled’ doesn’t add much to argument for the teaching of intelligent design
April 18, 2008, BY NELL MINOW
There may be a good argument to make on behalf of teaching intelligent design in science classes, but this documentary featuring lawyer-economist-novelist-actor Ben Stein does not make it. The movie itself has too much design — a lot of cutesy inserts from old movies like “The Wizard of Oz” and “Frankenstein” — and too little intelligence.
Instead of making a straightforward data-based argument for intelligent design as a scientific theory, Stein (who co-wrote the script) employs misdirection and guilt by very tangential association to make his case:
Intelligent
Movie Review Continues Here:
http://www.suntimes.com/entertainment/movies/901541,MOV-News-expelled18.article
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More Recent News On 3D Movies:
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LOWER BUDGET TITLES TRY ON 3-D
Britian’s ‘Mortician’ among growing digital pack
By DAVID S. COHEN, ARCHIE THOMAS, April 4, 2008
3-D is moving downmarket.
While in the 1950s 3-D was often associated with genre pics and B-movies like “The Creature From the Black Lagoon,” the current generation of digital 3-D features mostly has been limited to big-budget CGI toons and live action pics such as Warner’s upcoming “Journey 3-D.”
Last week, though, came the announcement that British thriller “The Mortician” is slated to be shot and exhibited in 3-D. That makes it the second low-budget thriller among the still limited number of 3-D projects, joining Hyde Park Films’ “Dark Country,” slated for release later this year.
For 3-D evangelists, this is both good news and bad.
Good news: There is growing acceptance of the digital 3-D format.
Bad news: The arrival of low-budget 3-D indies could undermine efforts to position 3-D as a premium format that can command higher ticket prices:
Story on lower budget 3-D movies continues here:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117983531.html?categoryid=2520&cs=1
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Back to more 3-D Movie Info
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LOWER-BUDGET TITLES TRY ON 3-D
Britian’s ‘Mortician’ among growing digital pack
By DAVID S. COHEN, ARCHIE THOMAS - April 4, 2008
3-D is moving downmarket.
While in the 1950s 3-D was often associated with genre pics and B-movies like “The Creature From the Black Lagoon,” the current generation of digital 3-D features mostly has been limited to big-budget CGI toons and live action pics such as Warner’s upcoming “Journey 3-D.”
Last week, though, came the announcement that British thriller “The Mortician” is slated to be shot and exhibited in 3-D. That makes it the second low-budget thriller among the still limited number of 3-D projects, joining Hyde Park Films’ “Dark Country,” slated for release later this year.
For 3-D evangelists, this is both good news and bad.
Good news: There is growing acceptance of the digital 3-D format.
Bad news: The arrival of low-budget 3-D indies could undermine efforts to position 3-D as a premium format that can command higher ticket prices:
Story on Lower Budget 3-D Movies continues here:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117983531.html?categoryid=2520&cs=1
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“Expelled” was the #9 movie last weekend. No one expected to hit #1. Also, lay people–not scientists–are the target audience. I would have fallen asleep if the movie were “just the facts”! Here are some positive reviews by writers whom I respect:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2004353967_chapman17.html
http://www.townhall.com/columnists/DineshDSouza/2008/04/21/ben_stein_exposes_richard_dawkins
PS - I noticed that you capitalized the name of a newspaper, but neither “Christ” nor “Catholic”…
More Good Info Links On 3D including this first ‘must read’ one with James Cameron -
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James Cameron Supercharges 3-D
‘Avatar’ helmer reveals the art & science of stereo
By DAVID S. COHEN, April 10, 2008
Director James Cameron’s upcoming “Avatar” must rank as one of the most anticipated film projects in recent memory. His first narrative film since making the No. 1 box office hit of all time, 1997’s “Titanic,” “Avatar” will be the realization of Cameron’s long-held dream of melding digital 3-D stereo with epic bigscreen storytelling. Variety’s David S. Cohen conducted this email interview with Cameron; it is the director’s most extensive exploration of 3-D to date, however he is keeping specifics about “Avatar” under wraps…
Story with James Cameron continues here:
http://www.variety.com/VR1117983864.html
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Director James Cameron, The Steve Jobs Of 3D:
http://johnaugust.com/archives/2008/james-cameron-on-3-d
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Lower-Budget Titles Try On 3-D
Britian’s ‘Mortician’ among growing digital pack
By DAVID S. COHEN, ARCHIE THOMAS, April 3, 2008
3-D is moving downmarket.
While in the 1950s 3-D was often associated with genre pics and B-movies like “The Creature From the Black Lagoon,” the current generation of digital 3-D features mostly has been limited to big-budget CGI toons and live action pics such as Warner’s upcoming “Journey 3-D.”
Last week, though, came the announcement that British thriller “The Mortician” is slated to be shot and exhibited in 3-D. That makes it the second low-budget thriller among the still limited number of 3-D projects, joining Hyde Park Films’ “Dark Country,” slated for release later this year.
For 3-D evangelists, this is both good news and bad.
Good news: There is growing acceptance of the digital 3-D format.
Bad news: The arrival of low-budget 3-D indies could undermine efforts to position 3-D as a premium format that can command higher ticket prices:
Story On Lower Budget 3D Titles Continues Here:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117983531.html?categoryid=2520&cs=1
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Please forgive the repeat posts. Unfortuately when I hit submit yesterday the web page did not show anything posted at all, even after an hour or two. I don’t know what the technical problem was that did that but I’m glad it is over.
Fr. Roderick, please feel free to delete any repeat posts.
Have a great weekend!
Jeff,
I just watched both parts of the “Fitna” videos on You-Tube that you listed. They are still there. I also found a 2 part interview with Dutch Parliamentarian Greet Wilders on You Tube.
To readers not familiar with Fitna…Greet Wilders has bundled what appears to be actual recordings of Muslim extremist videos. If they are true, they are horrific when viewed together in the 15 minutes of playing time. I recommend “Fitna” be avoided if you are at all squeamish. I had to look away at least three times.
If the message of hate communicated on the videos is accurate, why do American authors and producers choose to go after followers of Jesus that are trying to reach out with love and compassion? There are other religions that also need to have the light of the camera and literature shined on them.
Dutch friends, please be careul. Greet Wilders has had to beef up his security.
There is also quite a bit on Wikipedia on “Fitna”.
I will be increasing my prayers for God to help all of us on Planet Earth to find a way to coexist in a pluralistic society.
I will also pray that the Muslim and Christian mainstream will help find a way to help mitigate the factions. Neither the Christians or the Muslims are going away.
There is no easy answer here. The Fitna videos reinforce my earlier post about the Islamic extremist approach to responding to people that attack the Muslim faith.
If I wasn an author or director, I too would think twice about producing anything like “Fitna”.
God, please help us…Christians and Muslims…to coexist.
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That’s enough internet for me for a while. I’m going to go watch a Simpsons rerun for some escapism…and try to put Fitna out of my mind.
(Webmaster, feel free to remove this post if it is objectionable or too risky to have this posted.)
MichaelC, when you include more than 2 links in the same comment, the system tags it as spam, and your posts will only become visible after approval. That’s why they didn’t show up. So please put a maximum of 2 links in your comments.
Thanks Fr. Roderick, that is good information for all of us to know.
Don’t put more than two web links in a comment or it will not become visible until after it is looked at for approval.
As a matter of fact, the movie ‘Expelled’ has been almost universally reviewed as a bad, dishonest exploitative movie. It did extremely poorly on a per screen basis. On a very weak weekend for movie openings it only did #10 with a total gross of only 2.9 million:
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/?yr=2008&wknd=16&p=.htm
The conservative Chicago Tribune newspaper clearly reveals it for what it is in their story on it. -
Chicago Tribune, 1 Star(poor) out of 4.
By Roger Moore
Droning funnyman Ben Stein monkeys around with evolution with the new documentary, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” a cynical attempt to sucker Christian conservatives into thinking they’re losing the “intelligent design” debate because of academic “prejudice.”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/movies/chi-18-expelled-review,1,6127461.story
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Jeff,
You may find the following You Tube video of interest.
“Muslim Clerics Convert To Christianity”
Father Zakaria Boutros
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19FU7Yyx4D4&NR=1
@ Jim’s comment,
Once again it is your post, Jim, that urges me to comment.
Talking of an extremist: Geert Wilders is one. He tries to fuel hatred between Muslims and Non-Muslims, he says the most horrible things. He generalises Muslims in a very negative way and then he has to beef up his state security. From my point of view we, the Dutch citizens, shouldn’t have to pay for the security of such a sick man.
Of course there are extreme Muslims, but not long ago there were extreme Catholics and Protestants in Northern-Ireland. And when we Christans (esp Catholics) conquered the world and colonised it we were pretty violent(extreme) as well.
As for Fitna, I refuse to watch it! I despise the maker of it (Wilders) object to what he tries to achieve with it.
I just wish we could all be a bit more tolerant and leave everbody be. And when people feel the urge to say something about another religion or way of live, study it thoroughly before commenting on it.
And to the rest of the world: we are not all Geert Wilders here in the Netherlands, most of us are quite normal.
Jim: I will watch the video when I get home this evening. (YouTube is blocked here at work.)
Marlous: Regarding security for those who speak out against radical Islam, I hope you do not feel the same about Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I am proud to say that I have gone to her website and donated toward her personal security, which she now has to pay for herself.
Please think closely about what you are saying. What Geert Wilders is trying to achieve with Fitna is the same thing Ayaan Hirsi Ali is trying to achieve with her book Infidel: AWARENESS. We must have the courage to call a spade a spade, even–especially–if it is unpleasant and politically incorrect to do so.
Marious, thank you for your comments of tolerance and being very careful to learn/study about another religion and/or culture before we even try to make a comment that could be incorrect & perceived as being unneccesarily attacking/offending and/or disrespectful.
Unfortuately I have seen these mistakes happen and have heard of them happening far too much. We forget that sometimes some Christians are so strident and sometimes too arrogant in their presentation that when they speak outside their own group that they can easily make those mistakes.
This is especially important in this time when talking to Muslims who already feel put upon as a isolated minority in the USA.
I love Muslims; that is why I pray for them to receive God’s ultimate blessing of the light of the Gospel of Christ.
My former Muslim Lebanese friend who is now a Christian missionary who brings the word of Christ to people from the Middle East & Africa emphasizes how important it is for our words about history and the Quran to be correct when speaking to people because if we are incorrect about those then they will not believe what else we are saying.
Here is an interesting little ten cent brochure that is a good place to start with knowledge -
Jesus and the Quran:
http://www.gnpcb.org/product/663575729358
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Hello Michael and Marlous,
Thanks for sharing.
I hope reports that indicate things are settling down after the Fitna release are proving true.
Marlous, please know I have yet to meet someone from the Netherlands that is not friendly, polite, patient, humorous, highly educated, and inspiring. I do respect the Dutch and want to hear more and learn more from Dutch friends and Dutch friends I haven’t met yet.
What people from the Netherlands have been able to achieve in a cooler climate with land that is partially below sea level is quite impressive. Dutch windmills, sea walls, and reclaiming land from the sea … Ingenious! Then brightening the countryside and the world with colorful flowers. Fantastic! And then of course there is the history of World trade.
I hope the Dutch Christian contributions and tradition will continue to find a way to endure and not get lost in the fray. I do have concerns for Dutch Christians (Catholics and Protestants) and pressures on their faith.
Hello Michael and Marlous,
For the record, I do try to be tolerant, open minded, and respectful and have reached out to a wide variety of people from a wide variety of groups. I periodically share meals with Hindus, Buddhists, Israelis, Latinos, Asians, Protestants, Catholics, African Americans, and European Americans. Some I have gotten to know well enough to watch home videos and discuss politics and religion. The fundamental values we all share across most World religions is the Golden Rule that seems to be a universal starting point for successful international relationships.
Last year I spent two of my Saturdays helping a friend from work and her Arab Muslim husband and his Arab Muslim friend build a 15’ x 30’ deck in their back yard. (Just three guys including me, plus Lisa, her sister, and Lisa’s two daughters.) The skills I learned from Habitat for Humanity proved helpful. The recent readings from Sharia Law regarding Muslims marrying Non-Muslims (male or female) and comparing that to Christian doctrine is also notable.
I don’t regularly join Muslim friends to share meals because they seem to prefer to keep to themselves. But, I did enjoy getting to know a Pakistani Muslim friend in college (over sandwiches and beverages) and had an excellent Iranian Muslim chemistry professor that I got to know fairly well during 3 hour chemistry labs. The chemistry professor told me he was afraid to go back to Iran because he feared for his safety. He also said his family had been threatened because he was in the U.S. (Any guesses what was behind the threats on this genuinely nice guy and his family?)
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Over the last 10 years Columbus Ohio has opened its doors and reached out to Somalian immigrants due to war lord and violence problems they were subject to in Mogadishu.
Columbus now has the second largest Somali Muslim population in the United States.
Three times I have been fortunate to participate in Faith Mission efforts to reach out to homeless Somalis that have come to the U.S. and are trying to get established. My part included cooking and serving dinner from food I purchased out of my savings. We then played games and watched Disney videos with the children while the parents enjoyed some down time after an intense day. I then spent the night in a sleeping bag on the floor of an Episcopal church while the Somali families slept in separate family quarters down the hall with roll out cots, private showers, and laundry facilities. The Episcopal Church asked the nearby Catholic Church (my church) to join i npartnership to help staff the mission and be watchful for the guests and church in case of emergency. In the morning we fixed breakfast before sending everyone on their way to schools and job search assistance. (This is another small attempt to put The Golden Rule into action…I hope it was received that way.)
It is my impression that the Somalis will be good neighbors if they choose to be. I hope the Faith Mission efforts will be remembered by the recipients if they ever have an opportunity to speak out against those that want to chip away at the Christian faith.
It is my impression that the reaching out by Faith Mission in Columbus, OH is typical of how most westerners try to reach out to most Muslims. But reaching out with tolerance and compassion is a two way street.
I recently heard an Archbishop of Canterbury (in England) stated that in an effort to reach out, Sharia law should be made part of British common law.
For more info I Googled “Sharia Law Archbishop”.
The Archbishop’s reaching out is an incredible gesture and appears to me to be in stark contrast to how westerners are welcomed in many Muslim countries. (Once again…the Golden Rule is a two way street).