Jesus at The Mall

[The Reaper]

That's it.

I am building a 100 foot tall prayer tower in my backyard with 48 ghetto-thumping speakers and blaring out my own call to prayer SIX times per day, since apparently, that is acceptable for certain religions. Tolerance and diversity are enforcable by the State, right?

Or are some animals really more equal than others?

As long as you can keep it inside your store, home, or car, I could care less what you play. I can choose to shop and spend my money elsewhere if I don't like it. Government offices, outside of chapels, should be an exception.

TR

Originally Posted by Team Sergeant

You are free to join just like anyone else, no special privileges will be granted.

From: ruth nasrullah
Sent: Monday, April 05, 2010 8:12 AM
To: deaddrop@professionalsoldiers.com
Subject: my blog

Hello - my name is Ruth Nasrullah. I was informed by my Google alert that your site has been discussing my blog post on the Houston Chronicle, "Jesus at the Mall." I was wondering if you could give me temporary privileges so I can post a response to some of the comments. Thanks for your help.

Oh please yes, join... I am sure there are those here that can give her a unique perspective on some issues. She might consider a flame retardent burqa.

Soooo, I visited her blog, looked up the comments to "Jesus at the mall"... she didn't get a whole lot of sympathy.
blog comments here.
I particularily liked these:

Ruth, you did not do the right thing. Christians are over in the middle east dying for muslims and you sit here on a pedestal and complain about music? You really need to take closer look at your own imperfections.

Posted by: Joe P at March 9, 2010 07:13 PM

If you are a good Muslim woman you should have a husband. And he should beat you for going to the mall without him.

Also, your complaint shows a serious lack of tolerance for something outside your beliefs. I think you should reconsider some of your life choices.

I wish I were the manager. I would have told you and the rag on your head that you call a hajib to leave the store. (Why do you muslim women cover your fat bodies up anyway... while all your husbands wear shorts and sandles exposing their hairy legs and toes?) As much as you and others hate to admit it, this is a Christian country.

Why not write an article about the hundreds of terrorists acts that Muslims have committed over the last hundred years and the outrage that you feel about it? I know why...because you and muslims don't feel any outrage. I fought in two wars against people like you to defend my country from people like you. I am insulted that you would dare to question Christianity in this country. This is my country...love it or leave it!

I lived for many years in Saudi Arabia where I was forced to wear the hijab, could not drive, could not associate with many of the men around me, was forced out of stores at each prayer interval, was harassed by the religious police at every turn, could only eat in specific parts of some restaurants, and in general was subject to incredibly restrictive laws on my freedom. If you want to be "free" of Christian presence, I suggest that you go there and see how free you feel. Your religious and cultural bias is allowed here, even fostered by some, but would get you arrested, perhaps flogged and in extreme cases, beheaded there. Quit your complaining and be thankful for what you have.

Posted by: Phyllis at March 10, 2010 07:47 AM

Having lived and traveled other places, seen truths for my own eyes. I am deeply grateful for being American. I am truly blessed to live in a place that allows for freedom of speech, religion and lifestyle. I am deeply grateful that there are those who would put thier life on the line so that I can have those freedoms. Ms Nasrullah would do well to remember that aspect of her freedom. A freedom she would not have in a country where Islam and Sharia Law are predominant.

AM <----that means, Ms Nasrullah, I am an Army Mom, and MY son agreed to defend the Constitution that gives you that freedom to whine all you want.
It means that I support my son and all those who keep me and you free.. remember that next time you don't like something. I live everyday of my life, like all the other Army moms with the full knowledge that the next knock on my front door could be two guys in green uniforms telling me my son died defending your right to bitch whine and moan about music you don't like. He also keeps me and the wind I sail in free! He is MY hero... who is yours?

Originally Posted by NORMAL550GIRL

She has the right to her religion
She has the right to her opinion
She has the right to voice her opinion
She has the right to voice her opinion about her religion
The store manager had a right to play or not play the music...

What a great country, huh???

You betcha it is a great country. Many men and women died to keep it that way. I might dislike her attitude, but it is her right and it is my right to not read her blog.. my personal favorite blog is Dave Barry. I think laughter is far more imporant than hate rants and getting my knickers in a twist over someone's choice of music.

Speaking of offense, I was personally offended this morning when I got up and realized that my dishes had not magically washed themselves in the night. I extolled them to better themselves by becoming self cleaning.
AM

[csquare]

"If you are a good Muslim woman you should have a husband. And he should beat you for going to the mall without him."

I had to replace my keyboard by taking my co-worker's. And wipe down my computer screen. That comment is classic!

[Richard]

I live in Texas - go to any mall around here and announce "Is Jesus here?" over the PA system and you'd get a hundred guys either raising their hands or running for the exits.

And so it goes...

Richard's $.02

[ZonieDiver]

Originally Posted by Richard

I live in Texas - go to any mall around here and announce "Is Jesus here?" over the PA system and you'd get a hundred guys either raising their hands or running for the exits.

And so it goes...

Richard's $.02

If Jesus was Jewish, how come he had a Mexican name?

[greenberetTFS]

Originally Posted by ZonieDiver

If Jesus was Jewish, how come he had a Mexican name?

Funny,very funny Zonie.............

Big Teddy

[Pete]

OK, funny guys.

Just wait until some priest checks out this thread.

When he issues that fatwa for your head we'll see if you're still laughing.

[akv]

I took a few minutes rereading Ms. Nasrullah's blog, and went through her site. IMHO, she is self absorbed, insecure, and whiny, definitely not someone I'd want to spend much time around, but labelling her as some sort of radical anti-American Islamist etc. seems excessive. My read of her "Jesus at the Mall" blog was that if anything she is more guilty of expressing a regional northeast elitism than, ( those backwards southerners) than religious fervor, she might have been better served to say religious music in general bothered her than specifying Christian music, her hijab statement is the most ludicrous, is she so self absorbed that she thought some clerk at the store deliberately put on Christian tunes in hopes of offending someone in a hijab, I would guess the vast majority of Americans couldn't differentiate or care between a hijab, a sari, or a sarong. She has a great life if this is the kind of thing that offends her.

In fairness however before burning her in effigy as a radical, take a look at some of her other blogs below , the first subsequently admitting she was wrong in her " Jesus at the Mall", and the second an earlier blog condemning the actions of Hasan at Ft. Hood.

It's called a blog

My last post was a thoughtful and honest piece in which I acknowledged that I might have been wrong in my actions, and I asked readers for their thoughts. I heard from readers whom I know and others whom I don't, and the strong consensus of the rational and courteous readers was that I was wrong, and although I do still have a lingering distaste for hearing religious music in the setting I described, I agree. Would I complain if I heard it again? Probably not, after mulling over what my readers said.

Unfortunately, most commenters did not read thoughtfully. What many of them saw when they looked at the words I had written was this narrative:

Damn Muslims - they're a threat to our country yet they're always making demands as though they deserve more than the rest of us...

And...that...is...not...what...I...said.

The misunderstanding grew worse when the Chronicle put it on the home page with a headline calling it a "rant."

I did not rant. I did not whine. I related something I did, expressed my thoughts about it, and invited discussion.

It's called a blog.

Virtually all us Houstonbelief bloggers have complained at one time or another of the rudeness and hatefulness many readers display, and increasingly so. We have also shared discussions regarding the value and rightness of censoring.

My last post was a watershed. I want to make sure The Straight Path remains a blog, not a forum for personal attacks or hateful comments. That means one of two things: quit blogging or censor with a heavy hand.

Readers, please be nice.

Posted by Ruth Nasrullah at March 12, 2010 03:58 PM

November 06, 2009

Yes, I do condemn it

It should go without saying for those who know me, but let me state clearly that I condemn yesterday's shootings at Fort Hood, as I condemn all killings of innocents whether by Muslims or non-Muslims. I know with certainty that attacks such as yesterday's are neither required nor condoned by Islam, but in fact are prohibited.

I urge readers, as I constantly do, not to blame all Muslims, or associate all Muslims, with the violent acts of a few.

Public statements by Muslims organizations are being issued, including these:

From the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation - copy of the text of a letter to Gen. Cone:

5 November 2009

Lt. General Robert W. Cone
Commandant, Ft. Hood Military Base
Ft. Hood, Texas

Dear General Cone:

I am writing on behalf of the Muslim American Society (MAS), and our thousands of members throughout the United States, to express both our shock and our deep sadness in the aftermath of the shooting at Fort Hood that killed eleven individuals and left many more wounded. This unprovoked and unconscionable act of violence against American military personnel and civilians alike is utterly reprehensible, and against every tenet of faith and morality..

We offer our prayers and condolences to you, to the Fort Hood community, and especially to the families of loved ones of those who were killed and injured in this attack. May God Almighty comfort all of you in this time of great loss and sorrow.

Sincerely yours,

Imam Mahdi Bray
Executive Director
MAS Freedom (Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation)
1325G Street NW, Suite 500
WashingtonDC 20005
Phone202) 552-7414
Toll Free: 1-(888)-627-8471
Fax703) 642-6191

So respectfully, IMHO she is an affirmation seeking whiny liberal who needs a tougher skin, but as an American she is entitled to her views and dissent, and harmless.

http://blogs.chron.com/thestraightpa...ondemn_it.html

[Sigaba]

Originally Posted by frostfire

Sigaba, I see your point. I'd presume that you meant to say "Ms. Nasrullah is not the ONLY problem in the situation she described."

Frostfire--

I said precisely what I meant to say.

[Richard]

If Jesus was Jewish, how come he had a Mexican name?

Guess the copyright laws back then weren't as strict.

By my way of thinking, hang around a mall long enough and you're likely to see about anything...and if somebody named Jesus is wearing sandals and walking across one of the fountains, he must be Jewish - but if somebody named Jesus is carrying his sandals in his hands and wading across one of the fountains, he isn't...but I'm just sayin'...

Richard's $.02

[Sigaba]

Originally Posted by NORMAL550GIRL

Agree.
What else bothers me is...she asked for readers' opinions, and she got them -- in spades -- the good, the bad, and the ugly. She did something she knew would be unpopular, blogged about it ,and then asked for opinions. If she was fine with what she did, why ask for others' opinions?

I think you misread her initial post in which she expressed an internal conflict over the propriety of her response. She asked:

Was I right to be offended? I'm entirely open to discussion because I'm not certain my response was right. I can only say that every time I think about it I just can't help but feel they were wrong to play religious music in a non-religious setting.

Originally Posted by NORMAL550GIRL

Her shock and dismay at the "hater" comments and the dissension [strikes] me as completely disingenuous on her part.

Agreed.

She should know better than to expect civility in the blogosphere.

[Surgicalcric]

Originally Posted by NORMAL550GIRL

...I think she knew that her actions were "unpopular" when she did them.

She is an attention whore...nothing more, nothing less...

Originally Posted by Pete

OK, funny guys.

Just wait until some priest checks out this thread.

When he issues that fatwa for your head we'll see if you're still laughing.

He will have to stand in line behind my Ex, who thinks he has first call on my demise...

[Pete]

What's nice about this country is if you don't like what is happening at a store while you are shopping you are more than welcome to voice your displeasure with the management.

The key question is to be asked of yourself - "Why am I upset?"

So was she upset because it was Christian music or just because it was religious music. Does she want to be "Christian Free" or "Religion Free"?

If the clerk would have been from Africa playing a tape of local dialect Christian music would she have asked what it was to be sure it wasn't bad music? Would she have cared?

If the clerk had been from a Muslim country and the tape was in Arabic but with a religious slant would she have demanded that it be shut off or would she have said "My, what nice music. So nice to hear it."?