one nation under allah????????

[Irving]

My imaginary dude in the sky can beat up your imaginary dude in the sky

Oh your back from fishing. How was the trip?

[Ah Pook]

Oh your back from fishing. How was the trip?

Don't encourage him. The fish were probably jumping into his net.

[hatidua]

Oh your back from fishing. How was the trip?

-palm tree's, 93*, daily breeze, large extensive flats, good sized bonefish....and far too many airports. I like being in those places but wish I could fax myself there, I've come to hate airports.

[rockhound]

Blindly swearing membership in anything is bad. And considering how many members on this forum spend the day bitching about the country and the people who run it, I'm surprised my statement would be met with any disagreement. There is nothing wrong with diversity in it's core. It's when diversity is lifted up and other ethnicities and groups are raised above others that it becomes a problem.

first: to question your govt and its propensity to take away your freedoms is by definition patriotic and those of us that believe in what this country stands for will be the reason it has any chance to survive

second: every ethnicity, ideology, religion and political ideology is being raised above mine that is why we are pissed.

You can only be a racist bigot, terrorist if you are a white, republican male. your opinion only means something if you are an illegal alien, an actual terrorist, a minority race of some kind, or gay democrat

I dont care if you are gay, i dont care if you are black, mexican, chinese, japanese or pink with yellow polka dots, i don't care if you are muslim, christian, jewish, or believe that some spaceship is going to come out of the sky probe you in the rear and send you to eternal bliss. Just obey the law, speak english, pay fricken taxes like I do. stop shoving your agenda in my face, and stop trying to get my kids to consider your religion your lifestyle, your belief in global warming, your drugs as something they should partake in.

the whole goddam reason they did this in a school is because that is the only place they can get all the kids in one place without their parents, their pastor, or some other proper role model to stand up at the time they do it and call bullshit before it happens.

[roberth]

first: to question your govt and its propensity to take away your freedoms is by definition patriotic and those of us that believe in what this country stands for will be the reason it has any chance to survive

second: every ethnicity, ideology, religion and political ideology is being raised above mine that is why we are pissed.

You can only be a racist bigot, terrorist if you are a white, republican male. your opinion only means something if you are an illegal alien, an actual terrorist, a minority race of some kind, or gay democrat

I dont care if you are gay, i dont care if you are black, mexican, chinese, japanese or pink with yellow polka dots, i don't care if you are muslim, christian, jewish, or believe that some spaceship is going to come out of the sky probe you in the rear and send you to eternal bliss. Just obey the law, speak english, pay fricken taxes like I do. stop shoving your agenda in my face, and stop trying to get my kids to consider your religion your lifestyle, your belief in global warming, your drugs as something they should partake in.

the whole goddam reason they did this in a school is because that is the only place they can get all the kids in one place without their parents, their pastor, or some other proper role model to stand up at the time they do it and call bullshit before it happens.

Exactly.

[TheWeeze]

I don't have a problem with it if the Muslims in question are the peaceful ones I've normally met in the past. I DO have a problem is the translation is intended with irony and their Allah is the one followed by the likes of the Ayatollah Khomeini or Osama bin Laden or the Tsarnaev brothers.

It even says it in the story in the OP's post. Even Christian Arabic's use the word Allah in the place of God. Because the word Allah is translated to English as God. If anybody here thinks the students that ran this whole exercise did so to convert anybody to Islam, then I don't think there is a reasonable bone in your body. If you think High School Students have the wherewithall to think this deeply and scheme like this, then there is no hope for you. I'd be willing to bet that they took the words of the Pledge and put it through Google Translate and then read them. Took 5 minutes thought and they ran with it. Everybody needs to calm down and realize that this isn't a social injustice, this is High School Student's thinking globally about as well as our school system can teach them to.

[bellavite1]

It even says it in the story in the OP's post. Even Christian Arabic's use the word Allah in the place of God. Because the word Allah is translated to English as God. If anybody here thinks the students that ran this whole exercise did so to convert anybody to Islam, then I don't think there is a reasonable bone in your body. If you think High School Students have the wherewithall to think this deeply and scheme like this, then there is no hope for you. I'd be willing to bet that they took the words of the Pledge and put it through Google Translate and then read them. Took 5 minutes thought and they ran with it. Everybody needs to calm down and realize that this isn't a social injustice, this is High School Student's thinking globally about as well as our school system can teach them to.

I think you may have a point here...

[davsel]

Don't be fooled

From: http://www.menorah.org/askpr18.html

Our Question:

Dear Pastor Reuben,

I am in a group that has Arab Christians in it and they refer to hwhy-Jehovah/God as "Allah”.
They say that Arab Christians before the onset of Mohammed and Islam called Jehovah "Allah”
I responded that Jehovah should never be called "Allah" because "Allah" was a pre-Islamic god worshipped by pagan Arabs at the Kaaba. I appreciate your help as this does not seem to have an easy answer and I do not want to irritate Arab Christians if I'm wrong.

I appreciate your thoughts on this.

Blessings, Brad

Pastor Reuben's Answer:

Shalom Brad,

I greatly appreciate your concerns and stand with you. We work a lot in face to face witnessing situations taking the Gospel to Muslims. Two Islamic scholar Christian friends gave me these answers as I revisited the topic with them:

1. There are factual errors here. The pre-Islamic use of “Allah” was widely used in the polytheistic Arab communities. The reason that “Allah” became a name for the Judeo-Christian Jehovah was that Christian missionaries in the Middle East (late 2nd century-600 A.D.) used the name “El-Ilah” or “Allah” for the Arabs to understand that Jehovah was above their other gods. The use of “Allah” by Arab Christians in the early centuries after Christ ascended is attributable to lax missionary language in their attempt to get the polytheistic Arabs to understand a monotheistic God. Mohammed simply co-opted “El-Ilah” or “Allah” after this to help bring Arab polytheists into monotheism.

2. Yes, Allah was used by pagan, pre-Islamic Arabs to refer to a specific idol, who had three daughters named Al'Lat, Manat, and 'Uzzah (or al-Uzzah). Muslims claim the Allah they worship is the same God that Christians and Jews worship - except in Malaysia, where it is against the law in this Muslim nation for any Christian literature to claim Christians and Muslims worship the same God.

There is vague ambiguity among Muslims, because Allah is the name of their God, and it is also a generic name for God. So if you ask them, does Hinduism have thousands of Allahs, they might say no, because there is just one Allah. Then you can ask what Hinduism has thousands of that they worship? They would say idols. Then what did the pre-Islamic Arabs worship that had three daughters named Al-Lat, Manat, and 'Uzzah? Why did Mohammed never explain to these same pre-Islamic Arabs who Allah was?

Mohammed's father was named 'Abdullah meaning "slave of Allah". A tribe of Jews was called 'Abdullah bin Salam in Bukhari vol.5 book 59 ch.13 no.362 p.241

It is true the Christians prior to Mohammed used the named "Allah" for the One True God. It may have come from the Semitic word for El. The people of Ugarit (in northern Phoenicia) also used the word "El" for God, and they used it for a specific deity in their pantheon.

Today, many Arabic Bibles use the name "Allah" for God. Other Arabic Bibles do not. Arabic-speaking Christians disagree about the best name to use today for God. Indonesian Bibles also use the word "Allah" for God.

So while I would not use the name "Allah" for God in English, I would not get too hung up on whether a particular Arabic-speaking Christian used the word Allah for God or not. However, we need to make it clear that regardless of names, Christians and Muslims do not worship the same God, any more than all religions that worship a Creator worship the same God. Likewise Muslims claim to honor Jesus, but it is a different Jesus than Christians have, not the Son of God.

When a Muslims tells me that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, one response I give is as follows:
Christians worship the Father. Do Muslims worship the Father. [No]
Christians worship Jesus, God the Son. Do Muslims worship Jesus, God the Son. [No]
Christians worship the Holy Spirit. Do Muslims worship the Holy Spirit as the third person of the Godhead. [No]

Who told you that Christians and Muslims worship the same God? Which part of the Trinity do Christians and Muslims both worship?

We Brad, clearly see the error as you do. That it is not correct in a true Christians life to insist on using a name that is primarily used to = the god of Islam when most of the world understands it as such. Why confuse the matter among the unsaved or misguided/misinformed? Certainly seems only to further worship of a false god to me.

Hope I have been of some help. www.menorah.org/false.html

God bless you,

[TheWeeze]

I never said that they mean the same God. Only that the word translates that way. You're arguing semantics here, @davsel. Just because their God isn't the same God doesn't mean that the word Allah in Arabic doesn't translate to the word God in English. No one said they were reciting the Muslim/Islamic Pledge of Allegiance, they were reciting the Pledge in the Arabic language. Big difference. And just because some Pastor of a religion I don't believe in says something, doesn't make it the truth. Who's this guy to say that I'm not a true Christian just because I use two words interchangeably, nevermind I mean them in the exact same way. Should we be angry with people who speak Spanish who call God by the word Dios? Or French who call him Dieu? Or German who call him Gott? Or Russian who call him бог? They all mean God, so does God only think that English is the proper way to say his name?

So while I would not use the name "Allah" for God in English, I would not get too hung up on whether a particular Arabic-speaking Christian used the word Allah for God or not.

And if you think that these high school students really meant to say One nation under Allah (the Islamic deity), don't you think they would have said that instead of translating the entire pledge? You're all giving these KIDS too much credit.

[funkymonkey1111]

I never said that they mean the same God. Only that the word translates that way. You're arguing semantics here, @davsel. Just because their God isn't the same God doesn't mean that the word Allah in Arabic doesn't translate to the word God in English. No one said they were reciting the Muslim/Islamic Pledge of Allegiance, they were reciting the Pledge in the Arabic language. Big difference. And just because some Pastor of a religion I don't believe in says something, doesn't make it the truth. Who's this guy to say that I'm not a true Christian just because I use two words interchangeably, nevermind I mean them in the exact same way. Should we be angry with people who speak Spanish who call God by the word Dios? Or French who call him Dieu? Or German who call him Gott? Or Russian who call him бог? They all mean God, so does God only think that English is the proper way to say his name?



And if you think that these high school students really meant to say One nation under Allah (the Islamic deity), don't you think they would have said that instead of translating the entire pledge? You're all giving these KIDS too much credit.

doesn't make you any less full of shit, either.