From the 18th century museums to the present Jewish Museum in New York city

The great museums of the 18th and 19th centuries — the British Museum in London (1753), the State Hermitage in St. Petersburg (1764), the Louvre in Paris (1792), the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (1891), and many others — were encyclopedic in scope and ambition. Born, in part, of an imperial impulse, they aimed to demonstrate the geographical and intellectual range of great national powers by becoming repositories of some of the most precious objects on earth. Simultaneously, they were shaped by the Enlightenment conviction that both the natural and human worlds could be understood and even mastered by subjecting their diverse offerings to scientific analysis and discerning the universal laws at work in the midst of miscellany. The Enlightenment museum tried to answer great human questions: where did we come from? what is the significance of what we see? how have we come to be its overseer?

For humankind such questions are important and should regularly be posed. At the same time musea should be a reflection of peoples and their culture. One expects than enough artefacts, letters, paintings and objects that can be a witness of the culture spoken about.

By the turn of the 20th century everywhere, interest in ethnicity and folk heritage was growing. In 1908, the composers Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály traveled the Hungarian countryside, memorializing the music of Magyars; the American ethnomusicologist Frances Densmore, foremost American authority of her time on the songs and music of American Indian tribes, and widely published author on Indian culture and life-styles, was recording, for the Smithsonian, 3,000 wax cylinders of songs by Indian tribes. In Eastern Europe, Shlomo Zanvl Rappoport (pen name S. Ansky), educated in a Ḥasidic environment was as a young man attracted to the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskala) and to the populist doctrines of the Narodniki, a group of socialist revolutionaries, became conducting an ethnographic survey among the rural Jewish communities of Russia and Poland.

Cyrus Adler (1863–1940), American educator, Jewish religious leader and scholar.

Along with the amassing of music and oral testimony came the amassing of objects. At the Smithsonian, a Judaica collection was begun in 1887 by Cyrus Adler, who, having obtained the nation’s first doctorate in Semitics at Johns Hopkins University, would found the American Jewish Historical society in 1892. In 1904, the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York received a gift of 26 artifacts that it displayed in its library; they became the seeds of the Jewish Museum, which after World War II would move into its current home in the Warburg mansion on Fifth Avenue. A similarly small-scale collection, mainly of family heirlooms, was housed in the Hebrew Union College, the seminary of Reform Judaism, in Cincinnati. In 1913, the holdings became incorporated as the first Jewish museum in the United States; today its successor is the Skirball Museum in Los Angeles.

Such were the halting beginnings of the Jewish museum in the United States, and once again a difference is to be observed. In other museums, collections of artefacts were often associated with a culture’s thriving continuity; the objects were there to testify to that culture’s power and range. By contrast, a Jewish religious object put on exhibit was no longer playing its vital role in synagogue or home; taken out of its context and function, it had been turned into a relic, more closely resembling the artefacts of a fading Native American tribe in a museum of natural history than a 17th-century Dutch portrait at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

JTS building at 3080 Broadway in Manhattan

Warburg mansion in New York, today the Jewish Museum

The Jewish Museum was founded in 1904 with only 26 pieces and was originally located in the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary. In 1946 the museum moved to the Felix Warburg mansion (see Warburg family) located on New York City’s “Museum Mile.” The Jewish Museum is one of the foremost museums of its kind.

The present exhibition and the position of the museum is reviewed in the article: New York Jewish Museum’s Discomfort with Religion

Historian Deborah Lipstadt Assesses the New Anti-Semitism

Historian Deborah Lipstadt has published an accessible and comprehensive book about contemporary anti-Semitism called “Antisemitism: Here and Now.” The book, in which she spells anti-Semitism as “antisemitism” for reasons she outlines—is structured as a series of letters she writes to a fictional student and colleague — both of whom are composites of people Lipstadt has taught and worked with at Emory University in Atlanta.

Lipstadt, the author of books on Holocaust denial and the Adolf Eichmann trial, has experienced anti-Semitism as a result of confronting Holocaust deniers. In the early 2000s, she prevailed in a defamation lawsuit brought by David Irving, one of the more prolific and notorious Holocaust “revisionists.” Her victory was dramatized in “Denial,” a 2016 movie starring Rachel Weisz.

Lipstadt writes that anti-Semitism is challenging to define:

“It is hard, if not impossible, to explain something that is essentially irrational, delusional, and absurd.”

She recently spoke to JewishBoston about her new book and the ongoing scourge of anti-Semitism around the world.

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Is today’s anti-Semitism “old wine in new bottles?”

On some level, it is old wine in new bottles. There are certain aspects of the stereotype which continue to exist and don’t go away. What’s different today is a number of things. First of all, it’s coming from the right and the left simultaneously. That’s different. At the same time, we’ve got a third source, and that is Islamic extremists who have been responsible for dangerous, deadly events in Europe. In some sectors of the Muslim community, it has become embedded among people who wouldn’t think to do anything violent but think evil things of Jews. This combination is different, but the charges are classic.

Actor Rachel Weisz and author Deborah Lipstadt on the set of their film “Denial,” a Bleecker Street release. (Photo credit: Liam Daniel/Bleecker Street)

In your introduction, you write, “By the time this book appears there will have been new examples of antisemitism.”

In some ways, the book is a work in progress. I was sure by the time it was published there would have been a number of instances that could have appeared. Five weeks after I hit the send button, Pittsburgh happened.

Speaking of ongoing anti-Semitism, what inspired you to write a book about it?

I wrote an article right after Gaza happened the summer of 2014 for The New York Times op-ed page. What struck me was the degree of anti-Semitism that got mixed up in opposition to that war. But it wasn’t just the war. There was the 2006 murder of Ilan Halimi. In 2012 there were the murders at a Jewish school in Toulouse. Then there was the shooting at the Jewish Museum of Brussels just before Gaza. Anti-Semitism was coming back in a way that deserved attention. The Times article was very popular, and my agent asked where my book proposal was. I sent him a brief proposal as a favor. He came back to me shortly afterward and said he sold the book. That’s how I came to write a book about anti-Semitism.

You talk about what I describe as “low-voltage anti-Semitism” that can happen casually at dinner parties or in dorm rooms. How do Jews deal with that?

While this book has received mostly amazing reviews, like any author, I tend to linger on the one or two negative ones. One of the reviews said I should not have told my fictitious student Abigail that when she encountered anti-Semitism among her roommates to go back and have a discussion. The reviewer said, “I would have told her to find new friends.” That’s the wrong answer. We’ll run out of friends very quickly if we do that. There is a lot of misunderstanding of what anti-Semitism is and what constitutes it. Our job should be to try to explain that to people. However, when you call me a termite [as Louis Farrakhan did] because I’m a Jew, I’m not going to try and educate you anymore. We have to discern between ignorance and what is absorbed from the ethos sphere, and the committed anti-Semite.

What do you say to young Jews participating in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement? And what are some of the anti-Semitic tropes associated with BDS?

Many people on campus who support BDS probably couldn’t find Israel on a map. I don’t immediately brand every person who supports BDS as an anti-Semite. Some people erroneously equate BDS with their parents’ votes against apartheid. But if you drill down to what BDS is all about it, it calls for the destruction of the state of Israel. That is anti-Semitism. As for the tropes, it’s this talk of power, control and money. It’s the anti-Semitic stereotypes put into a Middle Eastern context. A few days ago, people said the seven Labour lawmakers who resigned over anti-Semitism in their party were being paid to do so by Israel. If that supposition weren’t so dangerous, it would be simply absurd.

(Courtesy image)

Are anti-Zionists and anti-Semites the same?

They are backing into each other. If you look at each of them in 1935 or 1945, they are not one and the same. Bret Stephens had a great article about the difference. I second what he says very much. Look at the division and we now see something quite distinct. We see something that has become this hostility to Israel. Opposition to Israeli policy is not anti-Semitism. It’s important to recognize that. We’re talking about a myopic view that all the troubles in the world are the Palestinians’—the only one at fault in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is Israel. Something is wrong with that.

I recently heard a story about a student in a New York City public high school who asked her teacher to sign a letter of recommendation for a summer program. She brought him the form, and when he saw it was for Israel, he said he wouldn’t write a letter for her. She asked if he would write a letter for a program in North Korea, China, Myanmar or Sudan, and he said yes.

Something is wrong when your singular focus is on one country. Something is wrong when you look at this complicated situation in Israel where there are wrongs on both sides. We see a dedication to Palestinian organizations that have a major commitment to the destruction of Israel within their charters. And you have to ask, why this myopic view? That’s when you come to anti-Semitism.

It’s almost Purim, and your middle name is Esther. Do you feel you have a Queen Esther-like role in the Jewish community?

Someone once sent me a quote from the Book of Esther where Mordechai comes to Esther to tell her she has to approach the king, or our people will be murdered. She initially says she can’t go to the king because she will be killed. But then she does talk to him on behalf of her people. In fighting deniers and anti-Semitism, I don’t feel I’m a queen of anything. What I do feel is very gratified that I’ve been given a chance to do this work. I wish anti-Semitism were an old problem, but there’s an urgency to understand it. People are so grateful and appreciative that I do that. I feel humbled and thankful that I’m getting this kind of reaction. I’m not a Queen Esther, but I have been given a similar gift of being in the right place at the right time. This enables me to contribute to an important battle.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

By Judy Bolton-Fasman for JewishBoston

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Related

• 

  Holocaust Historian Deborah Lipstadt Prevails in “Denial”

  

  Judy Bolton-Fasman

l’Enfant caché – l’Enfant sauvé

Présentation, par l’auteur, du livre de l’Enfant caché-asbl intitulé “L’Enfant Sauvé, de la cache au statut”. Elie Wiesel, déporté adolescent, a demandé pardon de ne pas avoir été conscient de la souffrance endurée par les enfants survivants. C’était en 1991, à New York, lors de la première réunion internationale des enfants cachés, à laquelle participait Sophie Rechtman, fondatrice de L’Enfant caché-asbl. Après le rescapé des camps et le résistant, l’enfant caché n’a été reconnu comme tel qu’un demi-siècle plus tard. Les enfants de la guerre sont demeurés longtemps cachés dans la paix. Ce livre, qui retrace leur histoire et leurs combats à travers l’association L’Enfant Caché, rend aussi hommage à leurs sauveurs, dont ils ont reçu en héritage, la résilience.

Le livre offre des études originales d’Histoire et des analyses inédites de Psychologie des enfants cachés. Il est illustré par une anthologie de récits et par un album de photos de sauveurs juifs et de Justes parmi les Nations. L’Enfant caché-asbl est une grande famille qui dépasse les clivages politique et religieux.

Publié aux Editions Institut d’Etudes du Judaïsme- Didier Devillez Editeur Collection Mosaïque avec l’aide de la Fondation du Judaïsme de Belgique, European Jewish Fund, la Fondation Auschwitz, Kazerne Dossin.

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The Mystical Tales of the 1001 Arabian Nights, Symbols of the Heart of Secrets

How many people do not chase a dream they allow mastering their mind? Lots of people are blind to what they should see but want to go looking for something which seems unavailable and far away, but often seems better than where they live, instead of searching the richness in their own habitat.

People should know the treasures are not hidden in a secret cave but are hidden in the own heart to which the own spirit and the set-apart or Holy Scriptures are the key to enter.

Kone, Krusos, Kronos

“We lay veils upon their hearts lest they understand it…”

Qur’an (17:46)

Many years ago in my youth when I meet my Spiritual Teacher, I heard someone ask him what were his favorite movies, to my surprise he said:

“I love those movies, about Sinbad the Sailor, Ali Baba, The thief of Bagdad, and that type of movies.”

I was floored, an avid movie fan at the time I couldn’t figure out a man of his Spiritual realization would care for such cheese B movies made on the fifties, and sixties, with second rate actors like Steve Reeves, and other perhaps more memorable, like Douglas Fairbanks earlier and many others, since Hollywood love for the exotic, an adventures has been a cash cow, and every so many years they bring to the screen the tales of the Arabian Nights in a new form, with little, or any artistic relevance, .

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The written, the spoken, and the audible a part of the soul and a blessing to humanity but also the trigger to those who love Crusades and the Inquisition

Bill Ziegler who started studying the Geography of the Middle East in 1965, two-years before the Six-Day War, completed his M.A. at Kansas State. Having got a translation eduction and Master’s degree at the University of Cincinnati, he followed a year of post-graduate studies at Justus Liebig Universitãt in Giessen, West Germany. Getting Around in German at Tristate German-American School for 22 years 1989 – 2013, now lives in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, where he specialises in

Manufacturing	Business/Commerce (general)
IT (Information Technology)	Construction / Civil Engineering
Telecom(munications)	Materials (Plastics, Ceramics, etc.)

 

As a Certified Teacher of German Language: State of Ohio Department of Education he also is a member of the American Production and Inventory Contro, TriState German-American School. He is presently teaching German language and culture to students ranging from Kindergarten to adults: beginners to advanced levels at the TriState German-American School and integrated techniques practised at Cincinnati Waldorf School to dramatically involve each student’s learning with a wide range of teaching methods.

He is aware that

The culture where I live does not seem particularly interested in learning foreign languages. But the written, the spoken, and the audible become a part of the soul and a blessing to humanity when civilized thought can gain a foothold. {Thinking about Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, Gießen and Savak}

Bill Ziegler writes

Main building of the research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany, Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen

My interest in German language led to an opportunity for study in Giessen, at that time West Germany, from 1971 to 1973. Upon arriving at Justus Liebig Universität I learned German as a second language with fellow students from Iran, Japan, Egypt among others. German was the tongue we shared, so that we could talk to the brain. Then we could join the citIzenry and talk to the heart. {Thinking about Arabic, Farsi, Hebrew, Gießen and Savak}

For him

Learning a second or 3rd or 4th language is like escaping the gravity of your native land. You probe about in another way of being, of thinking, of observing. Better still — if you’ve the inclination — learn another tongue via a second or third language. Meet the stranger in a place foreign to each.  {Languages, Escape Velocity and Bigly Lies}

He reminds us of a fact we may never forget

Propaganda relies upon endlessly repeated mistranslations, designed to obfuscate. Weaponized language to serve hidden agendas, to move geopolitical stakes through sabotage, bigotry, racism, straw men, false flags, pacification, liquidation; in other words, chicanery of any convenient kind. Whatever works. No questions asked.  {Languages, Escape Velocity and Bigly Lies}

In this world we can find lots of people who tell a lot of lies and nonsense bout other people or about other organisations. They are eager to make use of the knowledge that people can not check certain things because they do not know the language of the others. In many countries we find the presidents or leaders of that country telling lies about “the others”.

Mark Chmiel wonders about certain moments in history

Were the Democratic and Republican presidents who consistently lied to the American people merely making slips of the tongue? … or  …. Were U.S. war crimes merely bumbled into, over and over, month after month for years, an oddly uncorrectable error? {Mistake}

A lot of misunderstandings do come from not having or not grasping the essence of what is being said and meant. Everywhere can be found pepole who hate our world, our way of life, the free spirited, the one who thinks differently than some one else, the one who has an other faith than the main stream religions. Some want to have everything in control or want to dictate their own rules and ways of life. Non-Trinitarians and others who preach pacifism and a life where everybody can accept the differences between each other, are by many considered a danger for society, and as such have to be attacked and must be eradicated. This is not new and has happened more than once. Such an extermination of a certain people or a certain faith group has taken place more than once in history.

All dictatorships are sexually repressive and anti-life. All affirmations of life are diametrically opposed to dogmatic regimes. It was logical for Fidel Castro to persecute us, not to let us fuck, and to try to suppress any public display of the life force.
-— Reinaldo Arenas {Our Only Salvation Lies in Words: On Arenas’s Before Night Falls}

Religious groups have always been the target of those who did not like the free thought of others. To silence those who thought differently the most used weapon was and still is disinformation and telling lots of lies, not giving the other the opportunity to defend himself publicly. (One good example for today is how a certain Dave Norris writes lots of articles about several denominations, but has his readers to believe all the nonsense he writes about those groups. Cfr. his loads of articles on the Belgian Bible Students like “The Watchtower Belgian Biblestudents” using a name for an organisation which even does not exists.) Some love to make crusades against others and would love to see the inquisition re-installed.

The Crusades and the Inquisition (The Church Militant) were not good ideas. Spreading lies like Joseph Goebbels lends not a single grain of truth. Truth went into exile from 1933 to 1945. No literature or art of any value springs forth under Fascism. Nothing good comes of Fascism. “When I hear the word ‘culture’…”

Islamophobia (from the xeno family of racism) will not lead to a better gentler world.
~ Arabic is a tapestry

 

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Related articles

1. 12th Century: The Unknown Language
2. Creating an international language a.k.a. not gonna happen
3. On the problem of the fantasy language
4. Giving Up So Soon?
5. Well-spoken
6. Working Efficiently With Language | German Efficiency Series
7. the inherent bias of language
8. Are There Limits to Self-Identity Language?
9. Directions
10. The Matter of a Conversation  We probably talk to an average of 10 people a day. Whether it be a family member, a coworker, a client, a friend, a grocery store clerk, a restaurant server, etc. did your conversation leave a lasting impression? Conversation is good, but …
11. V.J.’s Weekly Challenge #10: Conversation
12. It feels so nice talking to someone, part 2
13. Say What You Mean, Mean What You Say
14. are there any good people?
15. Chapter XXXXII.
16. Talk to someone
17. Talking To Strangers Before Shooting Them Makes A Huge Difference
18. Americans would rather talk about anything other than how much money they make, even politics
19. The Best of Me today
20. 1 Corinthians 9:16 What Needs To Be Said
21. George Carlin – Bourgeois Reactionary
22. Why I’m sick of Trump Bashing
23. Purim… The Invisible Hand – By Marc
24. Don’t Believe the World Elite are Satanists;Watch This
25. Dancing with the devil
26. The hypocrisy of liars
27. Unmasking the Hidden Agenda of the Citizens Emergency Council for the Protection of the Republic of Korea
28. Meh to Social Media!!!
29. Cartoon – We’ve Downsized Everyone Who Knew
30. Cartoon – Put It Someplace Where We can Find It

Institutional Racism

Not only the United States of America has its problems with racism. It is a growing problem in Europe as well where populism and nationalism are gaining terrain.

Several right-wing politicians are helping it to grow and use the immigration as their flagship to make people afraid for Mohammedanism. At the same time the other politicians are too much afraid to loose votes, by giving a clear voice against the exclusion of certain people and religions.

From the church, synagogues and mosques are not enough voices coming up and letting people see their true face.

We can not longer stand at the side and be silent. We do have to play our role to have people their eyes opened and to overcome to see the differences which are not and should not frighten us. We should take care to be in time to disarm those who take every effort to blacken others and to have those who have a gloomy side of things to see the world more positive and to see the others not as a threat.

We need the right people to show others are not the menace to fear, and that we can live together in peace with a multicultural society, which shall enrich us more than deteriorating us.

It is high time to see those to stand up who can and will be the ones who reform policing and empower all to build up one united society.

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To remember

• Much of the resistance to government intervention and assistance comes down to a belief that “They” are getting the benefits – the mysterious “other” that is easily blamed for everything. It prevents us from having a useful discussion about “Us”, a free and united people ready to tackle the changes of our world bravely and directly.
• White Privilege is generally little more than the benefit of the doubt. But when the volume is turned up and the noise is deafening, only baser senses remain. The simple benefit of the doubt often adrenalizes into violent, destructive action. {White Privilege}
• A simple assumption accelerates into a terrible collision. {White Privilege}
• society as a whole is still incapable of comprehending how simple yet terrible it is. {White Privilege}
• We won’t end racism overnight, but we can continue to make progress.
• There is a horrible lack of leadership everywhere in the developed world right now > requires strategic thinking, + strategy = horribly under-appreciated. {Strategy as Leadership}
• separation between Strategy and Tactics is what usually trips people up. {Strategy as Leadership}
• lack of leadership we see at the top = merely a reflection of the lack of understanding of leadership throughout our society, which is to say how to think strategically.{Strategy as Leadership}
• institutional racism, =/= issue defeated head-on > Once lines are set => frozen. Everyone hunkered down in a defensive position, ready for the attacks. => quickly dissolves into trench warfare, = nasty game of inches rather than yards.
• It will take understanding, love, patience, + humor to get at the heart of racism.
• key = to engage it in a way that disarms majority of people who have racist thoughts but are empathetic enough to realize it is wrong. They need tools to cope and an invitation to stand proud rather than hunker down defensively.

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Preceding articles

If you’re going to be a hater, make sure you’ve done your homework.

Refusing to Be Silent

Tact? Knowing when it is better to remain silent!

My Multi-Cultural Childhood Could be the Answer to Racism & Xenophobia

Anti-Semitic pressure driving Jews out of Europe

It’s Time real lovers of God to Stand and Speak Out!

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Additional reading

1. Martin Luther King’s Dream Today
2. Immigration consternation
3. Forms of slavery, human trafficking and disrespectful attitude to creation to be changed
4. Migrants to the West #3
5. Migrants to the West #8 Welbeing
6. Speciesism and racism
7. Rome mobilisation to say no to fascism and racism

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Related

1. More about the Legacy of Race in Seventh-day Adventist Culture
2. Anti-racism – definition of anti-racism by The Free Dictionary
3. Jon Jones blasts Colby Covington for racism, throws shade after Fabricio Werdum altercation
4. Social Issues: #2 Racial Prejudice and Racism
5. Everyday racism
6. AmeriKKKan Racism ~VS~ World Racism
7. Institutional Racism Finally Addressed at Inquest into Toronto Police Killing of Andrew Loku

Barataria - The work of Erik Hare

For Dr. King’s Day, we have to acknowledge there is a war on between races.  It is a war which can only tear this nation apart, as it has done for centuries.  This,from 2016, is on how we have to engage it.

My thesis is this: there is nothing more important to the future of our nation than ending racism, particularly institutional racism. This has become a desperate matter of survival for far too many people when it comes to the issue of police killings. These tragedies happen disproportionately to minorities largely because of racism.

Yet the problem goes far beyond that. There is not a single issue in this nation which does not ultimately become polarized and frozen by race. Much of the resistance to government intervention and assistance comes down to a belief that “They” are getting the benefits – the mysterious “other” that is easily blamed for…

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It’s Time real lovers of God to Stand and Speak Out!

On one article we reblogged over here (and as such did not write it ourselves) and in which there were used popular words by youngsters, somebody felt offended. It looks like she could not feel any empathy with the generation we and the author of the original article were talking about and brought herself calling us stupid people, though missing the whole point of that article and the discussion around it.

Extended Coloured family from South Africa showing some spectrum of human skin colouration

In our world we see still too many people who want to differentiate between skin colour and race. They continue to demand that there would be called or named the differences between people who live at the same place, instead of accepting everybody who lives there for what he is and for how he looks like. They insist that people who live already for many generations in a certain country or area would still have a referral to that long ago place of origin as if that place of origin of so many generations ago brought a blemish on that person. It looks like many do want that lots of people keep running around with the stain of their past and long death ancestors.

Today we see again a movement going on to put on all people labels, like Moroco, Turkish,  Arabic, Berber, Afro-American, etc.. Though those people may already live here for the 3rd, 4th or even 5th generation. As we spoke about the trend the Dutch Press requesting not to use the word ‘blank’ (fair) but now to use ‘wit’ (white) opposite ‘zwart’ (black) instead of ‘kleurling (coloured). Whilst certain newspapers still shall continue words as ‘blank’ and ‘kleurling’ (coloured) not looking at the different skin colour as something negative. Clearly the colour of the skin has become again a point of discussion and we are back to the way of return and pre-Martin Luther King-times, or the time of racial segregation with Apartheid.

Iranian-Belgian human rights activist Darya Safai playtoy of the rightwing political parties trying to limit the freedom of expression and freedom of religion

Several politicians are doing their best to come back to such a time and many migrants are helping them without them having a proper knowledge of what is happening. As such we may find the Iranian dentist Darya Safai who is used as a plaything by the Flemish Nationalists and/or right-wing political parties. The Iranian-Belgian human rights activist grew up in the Islamic Republic of Iran after the revolution of 1979. We can clearly see how she got traumatised with her experiences in Iran. There she experienced at first hand how it was to live as an oppressed woman in a religious dictatorship. But now she thinks this would also be so in Belgium or the countries around us. She insist that parents would have no say on the religious education they want to give at home and want to prohibit any person in our country to wear religious symbols or to have traditional attire.  She finds the schools must prohibit any religious dress-code. By doing so she wants the freedom of religion, the freedom of expression and the freedom of clothing restricted. By doing so see also endangers our democratic freedom.

After she was temporarily released on bail, she decided to flee Iran together with husband via Turkey to Belgium.  Instead of seeing that we want to be a free country where everybody should be able to live next to each other she now wants to create an other Iran where she shall be on the side of the dictators or decision makers. Though she says she wants to fight against discrimination she tries to bring in discriminating  measures, having children nor their parents the right to choose their own religion and how they want to be religious.

In December 2016, Darya Safai was awarded the title ‘Women Of Peace’ by the Belgian Secretary of State for Equal Opportunities at the Belgian Senate, for her fight for women’s rights, though at that time it was already clear she had a more unpleasant agenda.

Last week when  a state school was ordered to let 11 young girls (age 12) to wear their hijab to school inspite their ban on all religious symbols Safai went into heavy reaction again helping to have a growing stir in the debate

because when a judge rules that specific people can ignore a rule that counts for everyone, it will cause more division.

It is true that now other Muslim, Sikh, Jewish parents can go to court and achieve the same override for their kid. On the other hand by Safai her actions to forbid head-covering we now have Sikh kids in Sint-Truiden (Haspengouw Hesbaye), who cannot go any more to a state- or to a Catholic school because they are not allowed in with their head covering. For them and for those who want to wear a head-covering the only solution is to go to a private school. Safai forgets that this would cost the parents a lot more and that such private schools of a certain religion endangers our society more, because than there is no control by the school directorate and then the way to indoctrination is totally free and would be unnoticed. We also could see what happened already in one of the Antwerp Jewish schools a few weeks ago. We must be very careful with an overprotection and giving the opportunity to have youngsters drifting away.

Safai seems to think the same rules count over here as in her birthplace. She argues that the choice to wear a headscarf is not made by girls themselves. By this she underestimate the strong will of many Belgian girls. She says

“It’s not a free choice, when I see six-year-old girls wearing headscarves, I really wonder how they could decide that for themselves-it’s imposed on you and you live with them.”

For Safai the girls their head-covering is indeed a symbol of oppression.

“Men do not wear headscarves, that’s the best proof,”

Orthodox Christian pilgrim

said Safai, to which Vanhecke replied

“With Jews, only the men wear a yarmulke, and that is not seen as a symbol of oppression,”

Safai also forgets or probably does not know that in West Europe all kids from the 1940ies to 1960ies have had to cover their head as girls and we as boys had to cover (like the girls also) our limbs. No bare arms or are knees where to be seen and women at to sit on the left side of the church.  It is all still clear in our head also, how our parents and when we went swimming in the sea we had to cover most of our body. (Later, as hippies we went against those restrictions and ran even naked in nature.) And now a few years later what had to happen then suddenly should not be allowed any more. She also does it as if the head-covering is only a Muslim matter, forgetting that still today many religious Christian groups prescribe head-covering for their members.

Roman Catholic nuns – Roman Catholic nuns singing in choir. – Smith2006

Throughout the centuries of Church history, women have worn head coverings during the meetings of the church – that is, when “praying or prophesying” take place. In Europe the wearing of fabric head coverings in worship was also universally the practice of Christian women until the twentieth century and in several Reformed churches, Baptists, Christadelphian, Brethren and various Mennonites it is still the custom for young and old. In the South of Europe we may find lots of nuns of the Roman Catholic churches with a covering of their heads, whilst many women in the South (like Spain and Italy) still often have the head covering by means of a headscarf. In Eastern Orthodox churches, all women still cover their heads. With the old believers this may only be a headscarf, with the other Eastern Orthodox it may also be a veil.

Vanhecke, with good reason, thinks girls are also oppressed if they are not allowed to wear the headscarf.

“A religion obliges the headscarf, a society forbids it, that is the same principle.”

“You interfere in a fundamental right of parents to make choices for their children,”

says Vanhecke.

That what Safai tries to avoid she helps to create. One should avoid that we get such private religious schools as only possibility for religious people to give their kids an education. When we would have such specific Jewish, Hindu and/or Islam schools we make it much easier to have them a specific religious education or indoctrination and creating a generation which would be less adapted in our culture than those who grow up together with all sorts of kids from different nationalities and different religions. Instead of integrating them in a multicultural society Safai shall help to create a divided society with lots of racism.

So needless to say this situation actually causes the very religious division that the ban on head-covering tries to avoid.

Mieke Vanhecke (CD & V), ex-top woman of Catholic education, pleaded in Terzake for the right to wear a headscarf at school. Darya Safai (N-VA) continues to see it as a symbol of oppression. Vanhecke argues that not only Muslims are victims of the headscarf debate.

“A ban on headgear not only affects Muslims,”

says Vanhecke.

“In Sint-Truiden there were never any problems, the Sikh boys came to school with a turban, because of the ban they no longer have access to our school.”

Safia is convinced that children and young women can not make up their own mind what to wear. For her children nor women who wear the hijab impossibly can do that of their own will and impossibly can be happy clothing themself that way. Many like her she see misogyny and are convinced that they must be under dictation of a male dictator or male bully. Often we hear voices like

‘Her husband must have forced her’

‘Poor girl, she may not dress like she wants’

Safia like many right wing people can only think of suppression, seeing men’s orders and their power over women. Others love to shout

‘Unveil yourself’,

‘Hide not yourself”

‘Let us see your beauty’

Why should they have such a need to see the beauty of that woman? Why can they not respect that woman like she wants to dress herself?

Those people thinking women or girls who like to wear a head scarf of hijab are pushed by their family, do forget that there are enough strong women in Belgium who can make up their mind themselves. They do not need their fathers or their male partner to dictate what they should wear but even less should they have others to dictate what they should wear or may not wear. That last bit is what Darya Safai and many Nationalists and Neo-Nazis love to do.

Lots of those who call themselves Christian but oppose the freedom of other lovers of God, do forget that by doing so they go in against the Law of God. Their strong actions against Muslims and Jews also clearly show that they do not bear Jesus his teachings of love in their heart. Lots of them also do not understand that wearing a covering on the head may represent an ordainment from God and a submitting to the Most High. There are enough places in Scriptures which talk about such covering and reasons why and when to do it.

Those who are an atheist or do not believe in the One True God should not try to put their law above the Laws of God nor should they urge all others to live like them and to dress like them.

Many also do forget the use of a head-covering can just mean those women liberated themselves from the world and its attitudes. For many believers in the One True God it can mean just empowerment, liberation and freedom. Too many underestimate the European female and think they would be like the women in the Middle East used as slaves by the male figures around them. But we can see strong women who have made up their own mind and by their own choice and by their own intentions they dare to show their faith to others and are not afraid to be mocked at or to be looked at as of ‘not of this world’. They do not want to be of this world but of the world of God. For them that is more important than being a slave of this world where every body assumes he or she is free when they can have sex with as many as they can or drink as much as they want to do all the funniest things one can think of.

Mrs. Safai does as if those girls, when they would wear a head dress, never would be able to integrate in our society or would never be able to get work. When they would not get work because they wear a head covering, does that not tell more about the party who does not want to give her work? And does that not show how certain people do not want others to integrate in our community?

By the way, lots of right wing people do as if those Muslim girls who want to cover their head are foreigners, but a lot are girls and ladies who were before ‘white Belgian citizens’ and even belonging to Catholic families.

That many people are so much afraid that there would be so many converts to Mohammedanism tells also a lot about the weakness of most members of that faith. Lots of Roman Catholics and Protestants even not knowing the Name of God and never having read the Bible. If they would be standing strong in the faith we see no reason why they and others should be so afraid. The other way, Christians should come out and proclaim their faith to those who are no Christian. They should show people that Jesus is the way and show that Jesus his teaching is one of love and of comprehension and compassion. But most Belgians, Dutch and French people just show the opposite, showing their hate against immigrants and people who are different than they or who think differently than they.

Lots of people seem to have forgotten how we and our parents had to cover our body a few decades ago. Lots of them also forget that just because their western values don’t fit with a woman covering her hair and beauty, it still could be a personal choice for that person covering herself. Many do forget that their Western values are way out from our Christian Western values and norms.

Today so many oppose people who have an other opinion. We also see the right wing people wanting so much that every body would dance to their will.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said,

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

These days we are going backwards because several people want to push their will unto others. They want an exclusive white state for themselves with only believers in that what they believe and in that what they call Christian values, but are not at all Christian values.

In Belgium we can find  more and more Muslim children in community education, especially with regard to other educational networks we may find a larger influx of students from other cultures in general in the state schools. When these children want to show their own faith in the form of clothing, they often do so out of their own convictions, but because these young people are not yet adults, they often take over the prevailing morality of their immediate environment and of society. If we compare this with the Flemish youths of indigenous origin, we notice a big difference, but according to us that is easy to explain. After all, with many Flemish young people there is a great ignorance of the church, while the Muslim children are more often socialized in their ideology.
The total banning of religious signs would thus be a violation of religious freedom. We should resist such a thing.
That a lot of inhabitants of Belgium, Holland and France do not want to stand open for other cultures we should try to avoid in the next generations by introducing the various cultures from the early years in childhood.

Dyab Abou Jahjah in 2008.

The Belgian-Lebanese Arab political activist and writer Dyab Abou Jahjah, claims that

‘hatred in Flanders is mainstream’

and

‘racism determines the agenda’.

When you follow certain reactions and talks it gives the impression not enough people want to react against that dangerous trend.

Christian people should let others know that all people have the same value because we are created by the same One True God. We all are being allowed to live on this globe and are given talents which can be used to help others. All people in a community have to complement each other.
Each person should know that racism devalues people. Non believers should come to see that Christ has broken down racial doors and overcomes divisive thinking by creating for himself a new nation through his death and resurrection. Every Christian should help to build a loving world by showing his love for others, be them of no believe or any other believe than Christianity.
When the politicians are not doing their job properly to build a multicultural peaceful state, the Christians needs to lead the way.
When you are a Christian do not wait until it is too late!

Let your voice be heard and speak up for the weaker ones in our society and for those who humiliated and shut out.

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Preceding articles

What is important?

Enough with the Clothes Shaming of Muslim Women

Anti-Semitic pressure driving Jews out of Europe

The Mountain: Radical Love

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Additional reading

1. Vliegend spaghettimonster en Gelijke behandeling voor elke overtuiging
2. Parenthood made more difficult
3. Uncertainty, shame and no time for vacillation
4. Migrants to the West #2
5. On French beach French police forces woman to undress in public
6. Pew Research: How People in Muslim Countries Believe Women Should Dress
7. Allowing dress code according liberty of religion
8. Coverings Worn by Muslim Women
9. The Dress Code for Women in the Quran
10. Meditating Muslimah on “hijab to be a religious obligation”
11. French showing to the whole world their fear and weakness
12. Christians, secularism, morals and values
13. Trusting present youngsters who are not necessary evil
14. Overprotection and making youngsters drifting away
15. Today’s thought “And he counted it to him for righteousness” (January 12)
16. Listening to the lessons of the Bible and looking for ways to please God

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Related

1. Hijab 1
2. Hijab 2
3. The Meaning of Hijab
4. I Tried Wearing a Hijab (sort of)
5. The hijab of ignorance
6. Cultural Bias
7. An Imagined Offence
8. The Irony of Hijabs!!
9. Transition: My Hijab Story
10. Hijab: Oppression or Freedom?
11. Hijab in Islam and other religions
12. Hijab | Zanzibar, Tanzania
13. Women unite for World Hijab Day, which is Today
14. Happy World Hijab Day 2018!
15. Pearls and swines – loose priorities – the hijab-saga in perspective
16. Hidden Pearl Hijab Review
17. Hijab ‘Attack’ Condemned By Canada’s Prime Minister Was A Hoax
18. My Hijab Story
19. The Secret Hijabi
20. What My Hijab Means To Me
21. Perspective: Hijab is Oppression or Freedom?Newspeak and the politics of fear

Several artists and stories and endless opportunities for discovery and learning

If you would love to know more about the man who exemplifies High Renaissance painting with his grand renderings of the Madonna in landscape settings the figurative scenes with which he decorated the Vatican we can advice you to find a website which offers some beautiful pictures of 31 works by Raffaello Sanzio better known as Raphael.

This master painter and architect of the Italian High Renaissance has received a special place at the web, which also presents lots of other artists, exhibition and offers a wide gamma of articles. Italy has been a crucial center of discovery in art and culture, whether it be the many phases of the Renaissance or the exploration of new lands by Columbus and Vespucci and as such it is the real place to go and look at the wonders of visual arts. Rome itself, as Western civilization’s political and religious capital, contains both the history of the Roman Empire and Christianity, earning the name “The Eternal City” by poets and writers. It’s clear that we owe more to Italy than Vespas and pasta, as the country hosts some of the most stunning architecture ever built, from the Colosseum to Brunelleschi’s Duomo to the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Beyond the over 100,000 monuments and museums that exist in Italy, art lovers find themselves at “The Floating City’s” Venice Biennale every two years, traversing islands to see the best in contemporary art during each edition. Enjoy the fascinating, endlessly influential History of Italian Art in a nutshell. Therefore do find such articles looking at the marvellous talents of these creative men, like Giotto di Bondone,  Massacio,  Donatello,  Michelangelo,  Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Vasari, Caravaggio, Boccioni, Lucio Fontana,  Francesco Vezzoli

1. Italian Art History, in a Nutshell
2. A Brief History of Color in Art
3. These 8 Italian Artists Set the Renaissance in Motion
4. The Most Remarkable Art-Historical Discoveries of 2017
5. Decoding Animals in Art History, From Immortal Peacocks to Lusty Rabbits
6. The Unlikely Friendship of Duchamp and Dalí

You may browse over 50,000 artists at Artsy net:

Artsy’s mission is to make all the world’s art accessible to anyone with an Internet connection, offering a platform for collecting and discovering art. They also offer an Art Genome Project with the classification system and technological framework that powers Artsy. It maps the characteristics (they call them “genes”) that connect artists, artworks, architecture, and design objects across history. There are currently over 1,000 characteristics in The Art Genome Project, including art historical movements, subject matter, and formal qualities. The result is endless opportunities for discovery and learning, connecting works being made today to works with similar attributes, including art made decades or even hundreds of years ago.

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Related stories

Duchamp’s Last Work May Hold One Final SecretThe Greatest Bromances in Art HistoryWhen Dalí and Hitchcock Brought Surrealism to Hollywood

Grant Wood’s Menacing, Mesmerizing Portrait of Rural AmericaHow Paul Klee Influenced a Generation of American Artists, from Pollock to Motherwell

Readers, likes and comments

Mostly the articles placed on this and our other platforms are not so much placed to open a debate, or better said are no part of a “forum”.

that does not mean we do not like to receive reactions like “likes” or some comments. You can imagine that it takes time to create a post and when we can notice in the statistics that they are read. That may be a stimulant to continue, but also to see a reaction brought by the reader, either by clicking on the “like” or “share” button, this last one giving us the opportunity to receive more readers for that particular article.

Voxate Writing & Editing which was established in 2008 and since then, has been providing writing, editing and SEO services for South African and international clients writes

Reader comments aren’t only a little boost to the blogger that spent hours crafting a post, although they certainly help! They’re also important for search engine optimisation and for letting the blogger know what his or her readers value in terms of content. A good comment can be integral to generating leads, and the commenter may also benefit by directing other readers to his or her own content or blog, since they can usually click your username to be taken directly to your site. It’s an all-round score.

On this site you may find a.o. news articles which discusses current events or recent news of either general interest. Bringing such headlines or talking about recent incidents we do want to bring up some thoughts around those affairs. They are used to focus the reader’s attention on a particular (or main) part of the article or that what we think is important for people who want to make something of our society. At the same time looking at what we think may be a major event we also try to give facts and detailed information following answers to general questions like the Five W’s: who, what, when, where, why and how.

Our intention is also to offer some encyclopedia articles or reference works, offering a more in-depth informative article with a primary division of content. For this we are still looking for more contributors, willing to share their knowledge around specific subjects like ‘life’, ‘living’, ‘history’, ‘culture’.

This Blog as such may have blog articles which are like magazine or newspaper articles whilst others may be written more like entries in a personal journal. More important as lifestyle magazine we do hope we may offer some different opinions about several important life issues, of which the religious and spiritual aspects are not gone out of the way.

Being aware that today not many people have lots of time to read serious articles, we do love to present on this site an overview of articles we think would be interesting to read. Therefore we offer next to our own articles a selection of reblogged posts. We may not bring a Listicle,  or a specific article whose primary content is a list, but at the end of the postings presented over here we also do try to offer a listing of other additional readings or related articles we could select from the blogging world. We also do hope to bring here a sort of Readers Digest and are still hoping some more writers would join us to help us to succeed in those efforts.
Concerning the “Related articles” service we offer, we regularly do get some irritated bloggers who ask us to take their writing of the list. This discourages us a lot for doing all that research work, checking all those posts, looking for them of being of interest. Therefore we reduces already the time for searching and reading so many blogs, to look for something to share. We also can use more people to help us looking for interesting writers, photographers, to present their articles or work to our readers.
Normally we would think there must be enough people who read several blogs and would be able to find something worth reblogging, this being an extra place to do so, next to their own blog, and at the same time giving them the opportunity to link to their own articles. As such we can offer additional readers to those who are willing to join this effort of sharing information and promoting a multicultural and multicoloured world.

In our articles we talked already a lot about how we use are time and on what we are willing to spend time in our time limited day and world. Being aware that not enough people do take time to retreat and to take some time to look at things, wondering how everything is going good or bad and why certain things evolve a certain way, we are trying to bring some balance and are willing to give some material for thought. Having only certain moments a day for ourselves or to do something else than our job, being limited in time we sincerely do hope to be able to offering some interesting material. If not so let us know.

The small thoughts or quotes we offer a day, we do hope can give something to think and are a welcome meditation for the day. Perhaps they can bring you to some daydreaming or musing.

In 2014 we started and reached 1847 visitors with 3124 views offering us 263 likes. Last year we got 5018 visitors fetching 6888 views willing to give us 486 likes. We are pleased to find 279 WordPress followers and only 2 e-mail followers, making us not such a popular blog it seems. Or do you find we do not do enough our best as a team? What can we do more?
Comparing with my personal (political) site I generate 256 WordPress followers and 9 e-mail followers. It is also not so much but there I bring very personal views and spend not so much time as on my other (religious and lifestyle magazine) blogs.

Looking at the statistics it may give the impression we are not doing well or it may be very discouraging. So what can we do to make it better?

Steve Hayes also may have a similar feeling like me. He writes

Speaking for myself now, one of the reasons that I write blog posts is that I have some half-baked ideas floating around, and I’m hoping that others will read them and help me to bake them. So it’s pretty discouraging when there are no comments at all. {The importance of blog comments}

WordPress does a wonderful job diverting spam from the inbox.

For me the talking we do bring here on certain matters and bringing comments on some expressions of others or on certain blogwritings is giving comments on the quoted blog, though most often nothing of our comments is quoted on the discussed page or no link to the article is mentioned. When we get some feed back it is mostly somebody who is angry that he is quoted or that we dared to link to his article. Most often when we get such reply we are asked to delete the link or the mentioning of that person’s name. For that reason it can be that after some time you come to read an article again some related articles may not appear any more in the list. Those negative reactions concerning the links to related articles made us also to decide to reduce this service we thought would be productive for both sides. What surprises us that several blog writers do forget that when they with writing on the net and not making their blog private, have the possibility that from everywhere  all sorts of people may come to see and read what they have written and should as such also not be surprised when people react on their site (what we also do, but not have it appreciated all the time – certainly not on the religious front.)
One big problem is also that we daily get in a lot of spam or ridiculous mail nothing to do with the article or articles. Spam luckily enough gets straight in the Spambox to be deleted.

Spending hours moderating comments and determining what is or isn’t spam can be extremely frustrating.

I do agree this blog and my ‘personal’ blog are not really blogs about me or an other person his personality. when I look at some very popular blogs I notice that most often they are about the person himself or herself or really commercial blogs without the followers noticing it or being aware of it that it is a blog full of advertisements or promotional articles. Dominic Sceski (Aul) a sixteen year-old home-schooled student formulates it this way

You might have a huge following, but if you don’t have a sense of personality, people will stop treating you like a blogger.  They’ll see your blog posts, they’ll Like them, hopefully they’ll read them…but if you are only putting your writing forward, or whatever you’re trying to promote, people won’t care about you.  They won’t know YOU.

People might like your blog, but they aren’t going to comment unless they like you.

Think about it.

If your blog, your writing, lacks a sense of YOU, what will people be seeing?   Just words.  They might be some good words.  But if they aren’t able to attribute them to you, then why would they comment?  Who are they commenting to?  Not a person.   Just words.  And no one praises or converses with random words, however good they are.

Of course, maybe you ARE putting yourself into what you write…but maybe it’s too much of yourself.  I see this sooooo often.  Those bloggers who get big and popular and then all they do is blog about themselves and their own personal endeavors.  The titles of their posts are eternally:

“Hey, check out my new book”

“PLEASE buy my new book”

“Hey, guess what?  My new book is out”

“Update on my story”

You get the picture.

I’ve said this multiple times and I’ll say it again.  If you want followers and an active audience, blog about things people CARE about.  Blog about things that HELP people.  Make them WANT or NEED you.

Are we according to you then not blogging about matters that can help you or others? We do agree we talk more than once about God and the way of life according His rules, and not so many people are interested in that. Is that a reason why we have so few followers? Is that what we try to offer our readers not something some people want?

Voxate comments

Although time is scarce and we’re often reading other blogs between other must-do’s on our daily schedule, making the time to comment is important – both for the link it may allow you to include to your own blog or site, and to the blogger.

I take the liberty to reproduce the result of Voxate his inquiries posed in his article Why Reader Comments Are The Cat’s Pajamas concerning

 

• reader comments that meant the most to them (I’ve included them as written and submitted):
  

  Gaynor from Tulips and Phoenixes said:

  The comments on this blog post of mine have been the most special to me because of the wonderful feedback I received from various people. It showed just how fond people were about the area of Tsitsikamma and how willing they were to share the love for it. This is why I blog – I love seeing comments like these!

  ___________________________________________

  Steve, who blogs at Khanya, said:

  The comment by Nomtha Gawe on this post. It gives a complementary experience to that described in the blog, and thus a different persective on it, while remaining on topic. She immediately grasps what the post is saying, relates it to her own experience, which is similar in some ways but different in others, and explains it lucidly.

  ___________________________________________

   

  Luchae, from My Spreadsheet Brain, added:

  Marcolene’s comment really meant a lot to me. It feels good knowing my oversharing brought some sort of peace to someone else’s crazy thoughts…

  ___________________________________________

   

  Lizna, from With Elizabeth H, shared a candid post about her weight struggles.

  She really appreciated Ilona Fourie’s comment, which read, “What a awesome post. Whilst I was reading it so much rang true to me. I have been on a roller coaster with my weight. I have lost 26kg but have not been able to move any more in the last year. I have tried and tried and are failing miserably. It has made me so negative and I keep asking myself whats wrong with me. This is a war that few people understand and I am so grateful to have read your post!” Lizna said:

  It meant a lot to me because I am not alone, me and her became such great friends that we are actually living together now, you find best friends when you least expect it. 

  ___________________________________________

  JustEllaBella also shares some really personal stuff. Ella says:

  Over there years I’ve opened up about losing my son. Sometimes it felt a little self indulgent and that people would surely be rolling their eyes at me BUT I speak about him because of comments like these. People who can relate, I have somehow told them it’s okay not to be okay and for that I am grateful. This one particularly struck a chord, “i simply love this blog. lost my baby girl also two days after she was born in hospital 7 February 2017 and to this day she is a big part of our lives. This is the first time i ever spoke about her to anyone besides my husband.God decided he needs her more and she is now one of heavens angels im just glad to have had the opportunity to meet her. i also hope that the best part of her 48 hours on earth was meeting mom&dad.
  -Forever Gianni Hendricks-“

  ___________________________________________

  In Africa and Beyond is one of my favourite travel blogs. Sara shares some of the reader comments that touched her the most:

  On my post about “30 Photos of South Africa That Will Fuel Your Wanderlust” Erika said, “I was tearing up looking at these photos. Going to South Africa has always been a dream of mine. I loved seeing it through your eyes and hope to see it through mine one day soon.”

  On my series about Lesotho, I received many comments from people who had never heard of Lesotho before.

  On the hotel review, Yukti said, “I never heard of Lesotho and thanks to you as it is now added into my wishlist” and Raghav said, “I feel so bad because I had not a clue Lesotho even existed.”

  I love influencing people with my travel writing and photos and making them aware of new places to discover and explore. It is gratifying and makes me feel as though I am doing something worthwhile and helpful. I also get told often that I am a great ambassador for South Africa which feels good as I love showcasing South Africa’s beauty.

  ___________________________________________

   

  Jonelle, from Tyranny of Pink, had an understandably tough time:

  I’ve narrowed it down to this post, but I can’t choose a specific comment. A lot of comments are also sent to me privately because my blog is so raw and personal but each and every comment on my blog is a reminder of why I blog. The sense of community, that feeling of not being alone. The understanding that it’s okay to not be okay. The affirmations from other women who are in the same position as me. I treasure every comment, many of them moving me to tears because other women GET me and other women feel what I feel and in many cases, it’s a rawness that they share with me about their own experience with loss, grief, parenting and just being. Comments remind me in the times that blogging feels like too much that this is my tribe, these are my people and I’m never alone!

  In this article, Zena posted a comment that was meanginful to me. She said, ” Jonelle you have such courage to have written this great story, a tribute to your hero. You have inspired me. I work everyday for a foundation in memory of Hassan and its been 8 yrs since his passing and 4 years working here, and still have not had your courage to even speak or write a sentence, I believe the time will come.”

  ___________________________________________

  Shante Hutton of Rose For Thorns shared a very personal post, and valued this comment:

  Beautiful Shante, your story touched me so deeply that I found it difficult not only to find words, but to actually find my voice. You told your story in such a delicate yet profound way and I’m in awe of you right now. Reading your story, your pain and then how the birth of your daughter opened your heart to this incredible love again is wonderful. And isn’t it amazing how the opening of your womb caused an opening of the heart! Like a flower you have opened and become even more beautiful than you already were.
  I also lost my brother 34 years ago. I was 23 and he was 26 and because we were the last two of 8 kids, we were very close. So one sunny morning 34 years ago, I kissed him goodbye as I dropped him at work, not knowing that as I watched him walk away I would never see him again. For many years I would search for him on a crowded street or shop or anywhere thinking, it was just a mistake and that he was alive somewhere and I suppose that was how I coped.
  So thank you for your story, we all need to be reminded of how God, in His infinite wisdom can bring us out of darkness and into His beautiful light.
  Never forget how strong, courageous and breathtaking beautiful you are.
  love n blessings
  Connie

  ___________________________________________

   

  For the Bloggers

  To encourage your readers to comment more on your posts, you could:

  • Ask open-ended questions that prompt them to answer in the comments
  • Have a numbered list (e.g. 9 Ways To Clean Your Ears) and then ask them to add to this number
  • Write a controversial post; this often leaves readers chomping at the bit to include their pro or anti opinion
  • Reply to the existing comments – this starts a conversation
  • Comment on other blogs
  • Encourage commenting on your social media platforms

  To Wrap It Up

  Don’t underestimate the power and reach of your comments on the blogs and posts of others. By using this powerful tool, you play a big part in SEO and engagement – both for the post on which you’re commenting and on your own site.

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Now we come to the end of this article, we dare to ask you some questions and perhaps you would not mind to answer some of them or to give us some advice.

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Questions you are welcome to answer

1. Are the articles we present over here stuff nobody or not many are interested in?
2. Is a sense of personality lacking or really necessary?
3. Are we wrong to think our words are not just random words? Or are our words not of any interest to the present generation?
4. Would you still like to see a “Listicle” of “Additional Reading” and of  “Related articles”?
5. What do you find of such selection we like to present our readers?
6. Looking at the statistics it may give the impression we are not doing well. So what can we do to make it better?
7. Do you like us to regularly to search for interesting blogs to Reblog them or to discuss them over here?
8. Do you like the small thoughts, quotes or musings for the day. Would you appreciate it to have them regularly?
9. Are there any subjects you want to see covered more?
10. Would you not be willing to share some readings you liked or did find interesting or important to read?
11. When you love your job, would it not be interesting for you to share some thoughts about it with our readers?
12. When you are a historian, a psychologist or a philosopher would you not mind writing some articles about historic facts, human evolution and human activities, ways of life, human manners and events, crimes against humanity, a.o.?
13. Do you belong to the people who have no comment on the state of our society?
14. would you not appreciate an extra place where you now and then can share some thoughts which would be interesting for others to hear?
15. When it is considered so easy to click a like button why does it not happen more? Why can we not have more “Likes”?

You too may join a movement the world needs.

 

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Preceding articles

From Guestwriters 2015 in review

From Guestwriters 2016 in review

Be realistic, do not pretend

The Culture of Excesses- Losing Humanity

Thoughts and reflections taking only a few minutes

The Scensual World – Mission & Vision

Awards, prizes, Peace and Working together

Again nominated for the same award

Do you have a writer or presenter in you?

1000 articles placed on From Guestwriters

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Additional reading

1. My blogs 2014 in review
2. A new voice calling for peace
3. Americans wrongly informed about situation in Europe

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Related articles

1. A Comment Issue
2. Comments How do you get more comments on your blog? Just asking.
3. The comment section…
4. The Reason Why People “Like” But They Don’t Comment
5. Is It All About Likes/Comments When It Comes To Blogging?
6. The Awkward Duty and Ecstatic Joy of Comments // The Blogging Life
7. More Comments Without Context
8. Kan du kommentera min sida / Can you comment on my page
9. Candid Comments
10. No Comments!!
11. Anonymous Comments
12. A Comment on Anonymous Comments
13. Trash Talk — I Need to Monitor Comments
14. The Habits of Certain Conservative Trolls Based on Comments and Blogs
15. Reminder: General Guidelines for Comments
16. The Potpourri of Blogging Comments
17. Is it time to turn off comments on your blog?
18. Diversity in YA: Should We Comment If We’re Not Diverse? Ft. Opinions. > The Reason Why People “Like” But They Don’t Comment
19. Just a quick comment.Comment Respectfully
20. My Comments on Your Posts May Be in Your Spam Filter!
21. Don’t forget to comment!!!!
22. Polldaddy URL on Blog Comments
23. Why I Hate Comment Moderation
24. The return of the comments malfunction !
25. What is Spam and Where Do Those Strange Comments Come From?Spammer’s Delight
26. The Joys of Spam ~ Amusing Comment
27. Interesting and Nonsensical Spam Comments
28. The Real Reason Why Nicki Minaj Turned off Her comments and Erased her Instagram Profile
29. Response to Some Comments
30. New Rule – No spoilers in comment
31. A comment on the state of society

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #2 War on God’s Plan, Name and title

There are Americans who think when God/Allah the Elohim Hashem Jehovah said He would provide a great nation an make its name grate that it is all about the United States of America. They often quote than Genesis 12:2-3 and at the saying

 And I Will Bless them that Bless thee

add

( Israel and USA ), {like e.g. Kristi Ann does in {Muslims bow and worship allah / satan Everyday!!}

The 45th president of the U.S.A. considers it his right to decide which city is going to be the capital of Israel. He thinks he can play for god and like several others can think he can hasten God’s Plan. Real lovers of God do know that Jerusalem shall become the capital not only of Israel but of the Kingdom of God here on earth. By his actions and the shouting of Neo-Nazis, Alt-Right people, Tea-party people against the use of “Allah” and against Muslims, several Muslims came to consider a country which is against them and started to hate it.

“We tend to see more negative sentiment among Muslims in the Middle East, such as those from Egypt and Jordan,” noted Bruce Stokes, director of global economic attitudes at Pew, as reported by the BBC. Read the rest of the article about what Muslims think about America.

Already in June 2015 Trump announced that he would be a candidate in the U.S. presidential election of 2016 and ban immigration by Muslims. Trump wrote about those and other issues in Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again (2015). Already on the campaign trail, the true nature of Donald Trump could be seen. Strangely enough his attitude towards women did not get him into jail. With his big mouth he managed to quickly established himself as a political outsider, a stance that proved popular with many voters — especially those in the Tea Party movement — and he frequently topped opinion polls, besting established Republican politicians. After his election people could see even more controversy than in the times of his campaign. He saying that others brought fake news seemed to be the champion on bringing nep news and many lies in speeches and via his preferred social medium  Twitter. Trump continuously made and makes inflammatory remarks, some of which were deemed offensive, especially to Mexicans, Muslims, and women.
Trumps also made it known he loves the poorly educated. and could count on them for their votes, them also believing everything he was promising. Several thought wrongly that he would loose the election by loving and accepting money from the Alt right and by himself not being afraid to show off his

mode of complete egomaniacal self-indulgence. { veteran GOP strategist Mike Murphy} {When so desperate to hold onto power}

He even was not afraid to have his family connection with the Russians to be used to attack Hilary Clinton and to have a strong weapon in his hand, which in the end made him win the election whilst he got not imprisoned for high treason.

In the daily Bible readings of January 22 we could read about the stars, the moon, the sun, and signs which should be something to get us think about a time coming. Though we are told not to turn one’s head from what is going on, but also that we should not rack our brains over when Jesus would return and the end-times start. Though let us be convinced that Jesus warned that we should be ready at every moment and that we can see signs of it coming our way.

Trump me make others afraid that he shall not hesitate to start a war, but that does not mean he shall be able to start a war which is going to destroy the world.

“4  And Jesus answered and said unto them,

“Take heed that no man deceive you; 5 for many shall come in My name, saying, ‘I am Christ,’ and shall deceive many. 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that ye be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.” (Mt 24:4-6 KJ21)

Jesus warned his disciples that everybody should be prepared for the return of the authorised one from God, who shall return to judge the living and the dead. The world has to know that it shall have to undergo the beginning of the misery when people shall start to hate each-other so much that they shall try to set up eachother against those who think differently and against those who have a different religion than they.

“7 For nation shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.” (Mt 24:7-9 KJ21)

Jesus was also aware that many would not want to have something to do with him or would not believe that he is the sent one from God, the son of man and son of God, who is authorised by God to speak in His Name. The ones which would have made him into their god shall come to roar and bellow with anger. At the different Facebook Groups and in several blog postings we can see how so called “Christians” oppose those who accept Jesus his ransom offer but do not want to make him into their god but keep loving the God of Jesus and the God of Abraham, Who is an eternal Spirit no man can see.

We are also warned that many shall try to bring the true believers of the One God Who is One, to worship false and even plural gods.

“And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” (Mt 24:12 KJ21)

Instead of showing the love for their neighbour they shall try to bring hate against those which they start considering a ‘taker of their place’ and ‘an intruder’ or an ‘unwanted refugee‘. Those who love Jesus Christ shall be able to see how many who call themselves Christian shall not keep to the teachings of Christ and shall not keep to the Golden rule or Royal commandment of Christ. Many of those false teachers shall try to have the others to believe they should not do anything any more and that Jesus saved them and as such all shall come into heaven. Many of those false teachers shall like to convince the others no ‘Works of faith‘ shall have to be done and that one can enjoy all the Works of the flesh.

The world shall come to see that lots of people who call themselves Christian make a mockery of god by telling He knows everything but having Jesus as their god who did not know a lot of things, even not the very important matter of his return. Their teachings shall bring a lot away form the one who is the way to God. Those false teachers also wanting to take away the title of God (like Allah in certain languages) and taking away the Name of God, replacing it with “Lord” are making it that it even becomes more difficult for others to come to recognise the Only One true God, Jehovah, and the sent one from God, Jesus Christ the Messiah.

Many english speaking ones are wanting that others use their word for the title ‘god’ and by pressing others to take away the word ‘Allah’ (The God) and to replace Jehovah the Name of God with Lord, they should know they make it even more difficult for non believers to come to see Who the Real and Only One God is. Today we already find lots of Christians who are confused between Jesus and God.

The World Evangelical Alliance (WEA) recognised already the problem of certain translations in other languages than English and wrote:

“that there is significant potential for misunderstanding of the words for ‘father‘ and ‘son‘ when applied to God, and that in languages shaped by Islamic cultures, the potential is especially acute and the misunderstandings likely to prove especially harmful to the reader’s comprehension of the gospel.” {5 Reasons “Muslim Friendly” Bible Translations are Counterproductive}

Though several English speaking people seem to be very cross with the common title “Allah” for what we consider “The God” and therefore attack such bible translations like what they call the “Muslim friendly” bible translations or “Muslim Idiom Translations” (MITs), though in those regions those books are spread, already for many centuries “Allah” has been the common title to talk about The God, by non-believers, believers, be them Christians or Muslims or even Hindu.

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Preceding

Americans their stars, pretension, God, Allah and end of times signs #1 Abrahamic religions

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Additional reading

1. Looking for answers on the question Is there a God #2 Pantheon of gods and celebrations
2. Another way looking at a language #5 Aramic, Hebrew and Greek
3. Another way looking at a language #6 Set apart
4. The Bible and names in it
5. The Almighty Lord God of gods King above all gods
6. Jehovah God Almighty greater than all gods
7. Hashem השם, Hebrew for “the Name”
8. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #13 Prayer #11 Name to be set apart
9. Written to recognise the Promissed One
10. Lord or Yahuwah, Yeshua or Yahushua
11. Lord in place of the divine name
12. Lord and owner
13. Names, Titles, and Characters of Jesus Christ
14. Old and newer King James Versions and other translations #11 Muslim Idiom Translations
15. Kingdom of God what will it be like
16. When so desperate to hold onto power
17. Gates to different belief systems in this world
18. A Royal Rule given to followers of Christ
19. Thought for those who think it is not necessary to do any works any more
20. When having found faith through the study of the Bible we do need to do works of faith
21. Faith, storms and actions to be taken
22. We Are The Children Of God
23. Worthy partakers of the body of Christ
24. God loving people justified
25. God’s wrath and sanctification
26. Religious people and painful absence of spring of living water
27. Christian clergyman defiling book which did not belong to him
28. Matthew 6:1-34 – The Nazarene’s Commentary on Leviticus 19:18 Continued 2 Prayer and neighbour love

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Related

1. Limited Atonement and the Divine Command to Believe Falsehood
2. I was wrong – but I am right – Calvinists preach a false gospel.
3. Ashamed to be muslim
4. How Not to Be Muslim..
5. Obama “Muslims must be cherished and nurtured…”
6. The Racists Are Complaining About Muslim Indoctrination In Their Schools — Reblog
7. Love, Hate and Other Filters – A Muslim girl faces Islamophobia, love and her Dreams
8. Book Review: What would a Muslim say?
9. Muslim writer wants his “Allahu akbar” back
10. Muslim Tells Aussie Christians The Truth!
11. Why do so many Muslims hate America?
12. Muslim Vikings and Abuses of History
13. Hidden History: When Muslims Ruled in Europe
14. The ‘I’ and ‘We’ in Independent Sri Lanka
15. #WATWB: Muslim Man Who Saved Christians from ISIS
16. Mosul’s Muslims to its Christians: Come Back To Your Home
17. Sign of Hypocrites
18. Debate: Is the cross necessary for salvation? (Adnan Rashid vs. James White) (and interaction with a Roman Catholic Response)
19. The Week So far – With Yvonne Ridley – Impressed with Turkey, perturbed by Trump, concerned with UK Mosques, Khans boycott Israel and the helpless SAS
20. Jews join forces with Muslims to help Invaders in Europe
21. Social Media and Democracy
22. Are We Questioning The News?
23. The (almost) complete history of ‘fake news’ – BBC News
24. Submitted: Mercer County Mafia Uses “fake news” Outlets
25. Did “fake news” drag down journalism? No, it just exploited a vulnerable industry: journalism’s collapse cannot be blamed on fake news.
26. HuffPost’s Blogger Platform: A Brief History of Fake News
27. Twitter will email 677,775 users who engaged with Russian election trolls
28. Plato, Trump and the Wall
29. What is The Trust Project?
30. America’s Future at Risk
31. The Rise and Fall of CNN: The Most Busted Name in News
32. Fake News is Less Manipulative Than Thought
33. To avoid fake news on Facebook, just avoid all news on Facebook?