Charlie Hebdo: are our leaders taking us for fools?

Hmm that is an extremely false assumption is it not especially when talking of the Middle East?

Our enemy's enemy is our friend?

Indeed!

And of course Netanyahu!

rosequartz : No, I'm still here - it's just that I've been out all day so haven't logged on since breakfast time

Not you!

I thought I had killed the thread

". . . . . The rest is silence"

Has anybody commented on the presence in Paris last week of representatives of those well known liberal regimes of Saudi and Egypt BTW?
Who is being taken for fools now?

[sun]

I don't know where the original poster has gone, perhaps given up in despair as this thread seems to have veered from answering her question to a discussion (yet again) of soon-to-be's ideas of christianity.
There is already a thread on that subject.
And how could a christian woman not know about FMG?
I usually try to be patient but .....

The sun is shining and the outside world beckons.

I expect soontobe will again " agree to differ" when confronted with facts which do not fit her in my opinion misguided but no doubt sincere point of view.

Methodism is modern, a newcomer to the family of Christian denominations, it has only been around for about three hundred years.

"Methodism has its roots in eighteenth century Anglicanism. Its founder was a Church of England minister, John Wesley (1703-1791) . . . .

. . .in 1739 he began preaching to crowds of working class men and women in the outdoors. This 'field preaching' became a key feature of the Revival, when thousands came to hear Wesley preach up and down the country. He formed local societies of those converted and encouraged them to meet in smaller groups on a weekly basis. He insisted, though, that they attend their local parish church as well as the Methodist meetings. . . . . He declared "I live and die a member of the Church of England" . . . "

www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/subdivisions/methodist_1.shtml

The Roman Catholic church has been around for almost 2000 years. The word "catholic', without the capital C, means "universal" which it was (apart for the Byzantine side of Christianity) for 14 or 15 centuries. They are using the same texts and Bible books as they started with - they had removed a lot of the texts, rather than adding extra ones!

Do you think that god will stop it by sending a thunderbolt on those who do it, soontobe? Wave a magic wand?

To influence what is done by humans to other humans takes a change in the laws of that country. That will come about as a result of international outcry - by human beings. Prayer may concentrate your mind toward doing something yourself (signing a petition, writing to somone, campaigning on the internet . . . ) but passively waiting will not.

Just BTW Soontobe please do not go on about the Catholic Church adding books to the Bible -it was in existence as was presumably the Bible used in the liturgy, long long before John or Charles Wesley.
If different denominations choose NOT to include certain books, that decision has presumably been arrived at after long and learned discussion, so less please about sounding as if any other denomination has "erred and strayed" from Methodism.

I'm sorry soontobe, but if you think that cutting large parts of little girls, without anesthetics or antiseptics- causing not only huge pain and trouble for life, but also the death of many due to the conditions - is not worth lobbying your Church to try and stop this- even from afar- then I truly despair. The Eritrean will not deal with the problem themselves if it is so ingrained in their culture mixed with religion and 90% of girls are 'done'- pressure will have to come from outside and the Catholic Church, supported by others, is the best to do this.

I will pray about femail genital mutilation though, now you have brought it to my attention.

Eritrea was an Italian colony- and much of their culture was hidden under Catholicism- but some of the worst elements never did disappear, but was included into their form of catholicism, like female genital mutilation. If there are any Catholics here, please, please lobby your Church to condemn this LOUDLY AND CLEARLY. Problem is, with falling congregations in the West- the Vatican is holding on to its members in other parts of the world and won't upset the apple-cart- which is shocking.

BTW here where I live, Catholics and Protestants work together- taking services together for joint congregations, including weddings, funerals, etc. Partly because many want to stop the division between them, partly due to dwindling membership (people here who are members of one or other Church HAVE TO pay taxes for that Church- not just the odd coin in the hat) and partly that due to massive immigration from Italy, Spain and Portugal, there are now so many mixed marriages- it's the only way to go.

The plymouth brethren post - I will attemp to answer later in the day.

I meant that there are exceptions to a few people are and should help others further afield.

granjura.
No. I will not be doing as you say.
I believe that christians are put in the places that they are supposed to help out in.
It is for christians in that area to deal with that problem.

There are people in my own area that need help.
There are always people in your own street and neighbourhood that need help.

There are exceptions to this, but only exceptions.

Yes, I am concerned about why the media in general, if not totally, try to sell us a message that is not true.

Why dont they pan out, and show us true numbers in demonstrations. What is their point in hiding things. And why do they all seem to do it.
Discalimer, I do not watch all channels, so there may be one or two that are more accurate in what they show us on our screens.

I would consider the most local Roman catholic church which is about 6 miles away.
It probably adds books to the bible though, which would rule it out for me.

I would add that I know 2 Roman Catholic women. From our discussions, they agree pretty much exactly with me about christianity.

Referring back to the OP and whether or not they are taking us for fools - perhaps theyare the fools.

As the Queen said about the financial crisis 'how come no-one saw this coming?'.

Sincerely hope that now you've watched the CNN interview- and that you now know that in Eritrea and Ethiopia, where the % of female genital mutilation is endemic (90% and 70%!!!) - both Christian countries- you will all be lobbying your Church to tackle this, fight against it and loudly say 'NO, not in our name' and do everything they can to stop this criminal use of religion. As said, the issues with Islam in other parts of Africa, Saudi Arabia and Iran, and to some extent Pakistan, are culturally based, via their weird form of Islam.

Nobody ever talks about the equality of women, and 7 State leaders, not 5, in Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey (although things are getting worse in Turkey now). My women Muslim relatives are in South AFrica, Indonisia, Australia and Tasmania- all well-educated and free, all with excellent jobs- go and tell them they are not equal and they will laugh a great deal.