A Spiritual Mystery . . .

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O.K., help me out here:

Egypt has recently been suspected of persecuting Shi‘ite Muslims.

Egypt has recently been accused of persecuting Baha'is.

Iran has a predominantly Shi‘ite population.

Iran has been persecuting Baha'is.

The Baha'i Faith arose from a transformation of "...a heterodox and seemingly negligible offshoot of the Shaykhi school of the Ithna-'Ashariyyih sect of Shi'ah Islam...".

Is this some kind of Spiritual Merry-Go-Round?

Are certain humans just profoundly perverse?

Are all religions from One God?

Are we really just One Human Family . . . that's horribly dysfunctional?

Is there any end in sight for such madness?

Will prayer and meditation really calm me in the midst of this storm and help me carry on?

I think I'll only answer the last question:

Yes!

Dangerous Blogging

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Blogging can be dangerous ( Check out two and three posts before this one...) .

Just this morning, on the way to a religious party with my best friend, the topic of blogging and controversy came up--the tact necessary, especially when one steps into the arena of Spiritual Commentary On Current Events...

The other day, as I responded to a discussion post on a spiritually-oriented site (mentioning my Faith), I was met with extreme prejudice--"How in the world can you believe that?!" I responded with as much tact and gentleness as I could muster and will lay low for a bit in that particular discussion thread...

I want to mention our B.I.D.E. Global Blog Feed again (down the sidebar on the left).
I found the meat for this post there: Free Kareem: Egyptian Bloggers Speak Out.

A blogger being jailed (if the appeal doesn't work) for speaking his mind. . .

Here's a snippet of a very interesting blog post:

"Once again a religious institution is confusing itself with God: instead of seeing that they are part of the problem, they interpret any criticism of the institution as criticism of Allah, whereas Karim only did what Allah has told every Muslim to do: [Qur'an 4:135]: “O you who believe! be maintainers of justice, bearers of witness of Allah’s sake, though it may be against your own selves or (your) parents or near relatives; if he be rich or poor, Allah is nearer to them both in compassion; therefore do not follow (your) low desires, lest you deviate; and if you swerve or turn aside, then surely Allah is aware of what you do.”

Blogospheric Response To Egypt's Action

Amazing speed of supportive action for the blogger arrested by the Egyptian Government!

He's being nominated for the 2007 Index Awards Ceremony.

Plus, the folks who created FreeKareem.org had this to say:

"This campaign is our way of fighting to further the cause of brave people who continue to practice their right to freedom of expression even when such rights are not recognized.

"Kareem is a writer who always found the courage within him to keep speaking his mind freely in the name of not only freedom of speech, but the freedom to think in an otherwise sheltered society. Because of that, he was interrogated and arrested this morning, but apparently not for the first time. We stand by and fully support Kareem through these difficult times and will continue working on this campaign until he is freed."

They also created a Forum to discuss his case.

Independent Investigation of Truth is sorely lacking in our world-at-large. Without this important principle in place, censorship and blind imitation of the past can unleash rank oppression:

"One of the main sources of conflict in the world today is the fact that many people blindly and uncritically follow various traditions, movements, and opinions. God has given each human being a mind and the capacity to differentiate truth from falsehood. If individuals fail to use their reasoning capacities and choose instead to accept without question certain opinions and ideas, either out of admiration for or fear of those who hold them, then they are neglecting their basic moral responsibility as human beings. Moreover, when people act in this way, they often become attached to some particular opinion or tradition and thus intolerant of those who do not share it. Such attachments can, in turn, lead to conflict. History has witnessed conflict and even bloodshed over slight alterations in religious practice, or a minor change in the interpretation of doctrine. Personal search for truth enables the individual to know why he or she adheres to a given ideology or doctrine."

Bahá'í International Community

The Truth Shall Set You Free..

Dave Lucas published "Egyptian Blogger Sentenced to Prison" today.

I haven't checked out the facts to assertain the guilt or innocence of the blogger in question, but the posting made me remember a link off the site I've recommended here a few times, GlobalVoices ( Dave likes it, too!) .

The link takes you to a "Handbook for bloggers and cyber-dissidents" which helps those under governmental oppression get their words out to the world.

After this foray into the story's context, I went to GlobalVoices itself and found Much More Coverage...

This in turn reminded me of the oppression of a religious group in Egypt. Here's that story...