Why?
Well for photo #1 I told them that they were Smurfs making blue smurf poops, he thinks anything "poop" is funny so no problem and a smile to boot! #2 He is Ben Ten demonstrating his superhero power holding up the asteroid which is threatening planet earth.
"Ramadan Kareem" will be the greeting of the day today from EVERYONE I meet! It means a "generous Ramadan" as generosity is the focus of the holiday. God's generosity towards them and hence their generosity towards the poor. But I guess like all good things humanity manages to distort and pervert it in ways, I mean isn't that really the essence of all sin, we take good things from God and warp it. God is generous with us and we think we "deserve it", God gives tasty food and we binge on it, He creates sex and we abuse people with it etc...
So anyhow, with all that is going on here in this country among the "devout" and their influence over politics and hunger for more, it made me think about the role of religion in politics. I guess I am being struck a bit by some inconsistency in my own thinking or maybe just how I communicate what I am thinking.
The big concern here right now is the degree of influence that Is. is going to have in the new politics of Egypt. Our biggest concern is that we are going to follow in the footsteps of iran after their revolution in the 70's. I can certainly tell in the 18 years that I have been here that we have shifted significantly more conservative and so the fear is that without the strong arm of the government keeping things in check we could spiral into a "theocracy" which is really what they would define "sharia law" as. This thought threatens believers in this land greatly, but it also is a real scare to the secularist, capitalists, and anyone else that wants to see this great country move forward. So here I am praying passionately for a secular government! Does anyone else see the irony of that?
I don't agree with their beliefs and I don't want them to force their ideas, which they genuinely believe are God ordained and in the best interest of the people, on me. I have different ideas and a different understanding so I want the freedom to practice my ideas as well. So this is my internal conflict, when in Egypt I am all about secularism, but if I were in America I would be more of a fundamentalist! Aren't I saying in many ways the same thing? Of course I think I am right, I know the one true God, I know His moral law, I respect life and marriage and truth, and modesty etc...I mean really if you compared my values to their values we would be in agreement on the vast majority!
Now don't panic and misunderstand me, I am not converting by any means nor do I think they have the "truth" as revealed in Bible BUT I am saying that if one were to judge the rhetoric and underlying mentality, is there much of a difference between the demands of fundies here and say the rhetoric of evangelical's in America?
The fundamental question I have is "How do I genuinely live out the truth I hold without trampling the rights of others who disagree?"
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