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Comments: Ban on Rotary, Lions clubs
A group of hard-line clerics calling themselves the People's Ulema Forum (FUU) have demanded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ban the international charity and social organizations Rotary Club and Lions Club, claiming they are part of a Zionist movement
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A group of hard-line clerics calling themselves the People's Ulema Forum (FUU) have demanded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ban the international charity and social organizations Rotary Club and Lions Club, claiming they are part of a Zionist movement.
The clerics said Yudhoyono should revoke former president Abdurahman Wahid's 2000 decree that allowed both clubs to operate in Indonesia again after they were banned by a presidential decree in 1962.
Your comments:
They are obviously making such a ruckus to appeal to their own narrow-minded, overzealous, cherry picking constituents who are as ignorant as they are.
Unfortunately, there are still too many elements in society who lap this up and applaud these people for being such "patriots." Seriously, their position cracks me up.
Banning Freemasonry because it "endangers" Muslims? Is the nonsmoking fatwa still on? I think this guy has been smoking the really potent stuff.
Cracked
May I say that these cleric's arguments are false? I have never heard of the Vatican banning Rotary or similar organizations.
These organizations are aimed at networking and charity and are not connected with religion. They are a threat to Muslim extremists, yes, because they strive for a world in which people of different faiths truly live together as equals.
They show that charity can be done by neutral organizations. They bring people from different backgrounds together. Their vitality shows that their concept is not Western, but can be shared by people from many nationalities. They do not exclude Jews, which might be a difficult point for Muslim extremists to accept.
They do not exclude Chinese either, or Balinese. But, in fact, all extremists benefit from isolation and from xenophobia. They try to trigger fear in people that are vulnerable. Islam is strong enough to be attractive in a world in which other concepts are also being perceived as attractive.
If only by hatred and turning others away Islam may prevail, then this might in fact be making a deal with the devil. This extremism, and not Rotary, is the real enemy of the love of God.
Ed
The Hague
