Part Three of Religion Program: Islam with Thomas Williams - Bob Lennon on Secular Humanism

The Prophet Mohammed ( c.570-632) was born in Mecca.

Every Muslim must make a pilgrimage to Mecca if they are able.

They visit Masjid al-Haram - 
the most sacred mosque which was expanded so it can hold 2 million people.

My friend Tommy Williams was an eloquent speaker. Read how I met Tommy.

He and his wife Heather came dressed to the nines.

Heather dresses like this all the time, except when she's home. I asked her if she likes it and she said Yes.

Five pillars of Islam, from Wiki

They make up Muslim life, prayer, concern for the needy, self purification and the pilgrimage. They are:

1. Shahadah: declaring there is no god except God, and Muhammad is God's Messenger
2. Salat: ritual prayer five times a day
3. Zakat: giving 2.5% of one’s savings to the poor and needy
4. Sawm: fasting and self-control during the holy month of Ramadan
5. Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime^[5][6] if one is able^[7]

The Shia and Sunni both agree on the essential details for the performance and practice of these acts,^[8][9] but the Shia do not refer to them by the same name (see Ancillaries of the Faith, for the Twelvers, and Seven pillars of Ismailism).

Tommy emphasized that Muslims believe in One God - Allah - but his messengers include Adam, Moses, Jesus, but Muhammed is the final messenger. "We also believe in angels," he said, "which are neither male nor female."

  Tommy held up the Qur'an and read several passages.

We believe in Judgment Day, he said, as expressed in the Old Testament and in the difficult-to-understand Revelation in the New Testament.

  Someone in the audience asked Tommy what he thought of the killing - by Muslims - in January, 2015, of 11 people at the French satirical weekly paper Charlie Hebdo in Paris. And if the satirical cartoons bothered him.

Tommy said he was not offended by the foolish cartoon and that it "hurts my heart" when these "deviant Muslims" distort the religion and become killers.

Osama bin Laden, who hated the United States and wanted revenge, was a charismatic individual who easily drew people to him and killed thousands in the name of Islam, said Tommy. Ridiculous that they'd become martyrs.

"It's preposterous," he said, "that they take the words of the Qu'ran and distort them. These groups are a modern-day Mafia.

"They embarrass Islam."

He told us he was in prison for 20 years and one day sat with an atheist. He asked him a number of questions, such as "How did you get here?" until they got all the way back to Adam and Eve. Tommy began to read from the Qu'ran and the atheist was responding favorably.

When Tommy looked down at his book, "it was full of water. His tears."

Christians, he said, are the closest to Islam. Tommy attended Catholic schools his entire life. Whatever is your faith, study it. Don't accept what mom and dad told you.

There's no perfection in any religions, he noted, as did Rev. Lynn Hade.

Many misconceptions about Islam, he said. Our women can do anything they want. We don't keep them locked up. They can be doctors, businesswomen, anything they want.

Tommy has a daughter, who's a pediatrician at CHOP. He now has two grand-daughters. Muslim? Nope.

He spoke briefly about the difference between Shiite Muslims and Sunni Muslims. Read about it online.

Shiites tend toward violence, he said, as they consider The Ayatollah of Iran their leader.

***

Bob Lennon represented Secular Humanism - Doing Good without God. His particular group, he said, is made up of atheists, like himself, agnostics, all of whom gave up on religions such as Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant.

From a handout, "Secular Humanism is an outgrowth of 18th century enlightenment rationalism and 19th century free thought."

It's a rational philosophy, informed by science, inspired by art and motivated by compassion. Affirming the dignity of each human being, it supports the maximization of individual liberty and opportunity consonant with social and planetary responsibility. 
         To me, it's unfathomable that Catholics and Muslims consider homosexuality a sin.

Islam's Views  Read this harsh assessment

 

Islamic Shari'ah law is extracted from both the Qur'an and Muhammad's Sunnah (found in the Hadith and Sira). Islamic jurisprudence are expansion of the laws contained within them by Islamic jurists. Therefore, they are seen as the laws of Allah. You need only look to the rulings under Shari'ah to see the accepted mainstream interpretation of Islam and its commandments to its followers.

Homosexuality under this law, is not only a sin, but a punishable crime against God.

In the case of homosexuality, how it is dealt with differs between the four mainline schools of Sunni jurisprudence today, but what they all agree upon is that homosexuality is worthy of a severe penalty.
In the Hanafi school of thought, the homosexual is first punished through harsh beating, and if he/she repeats the act, the death penalty is to be applied. 

And what do the Catholics believe? 

 

Full Question

Most people who are gay feel that they were born that way and cannot change their orientation. They are rejected by society and faith communities. How can we be more like Jesus and accept those who are rejected?

Answer

Accepting sinful behavior in other people does them no good. Pointing out the sinfulness is not rejecting them: It’s rejecting what is evil. We owe each other the truth. Because some people with same-sex attractions feel that they were born with such inclination doesn’t make it so.

There is no proof for such an assumption. Such people assume they are born homosexual because they can’t remember ever feeling any other way. What we do know is that for whatever reason these people have not identified with the parent of their sex. The prevailing spin that our culture puts on this dynamic is that the culture must adapt to the needs these people perceive they have—to live as though the behavior that such feelings suggest is good and ought to be the norm for them.

Our culture insists that everyone has a right to sexual gratification. Never mind about context; let pleasure be the guide.


Have you ever read anything so ridiculous?

A few of our gay/lesbian citizens who make the world a wonderful place. 


Elton John


Derrick Gordon

     Lily Tomlin
Retired US Rep. Barney Frank

By acknowledging their sexual orientation, these brave men and women unburden themselves from living a double life and also offer hope to the millions of scared homosexuals and transgenders who live in secrecy for fear of recrimination.

 Bob Lennon and fellow Humanists like their lifestyle.

"We live without threat of punishment for doing something bad OR receiving a reward for doing good."

Bob was brought up in a religious family but at some point he lost faith and never looked back.

A couple people in the audience seemed on a mission for Bob to admit that w/o a specific religion you could not be a good person, asking where do you get your morals and values from?

Afterward a few of us met downstairs in the Coffee Shop.

Thanks for the coffee, Saul.

 Saul said he recently celebrated his 46th wedding anniversary! And, yes, he has a good marriage.

 Renu and Saul took two left-over impatience flowers I bought at the Giant.

 And look who was at our program and then went shopping - with husband Bob - at the Giant. Kim gave us our Abe Sandler, who spoke about Judaism, even though he's now a Christian.

Kim recognized Saul from when we hosted our Musical Fundraiser last year at The Willow Grove Bible Church.

Kim and Bob Ruby are so lovable! Why? It's not b/c of their religion. They are good to the core. Where did they learn it, I submit to you.