As many of you, one of the first things I do every day is read the top news stories on the internet. Yesterday, one of the top stories dealt with a young lady who tragically died while undergoing the procedure known as "female circumcision." (Also known as "genital mutilation.") This gruesome practice's roots run deep in the religion of Islam. Imagine my surprise then, when I read this statement in the Associated Press article,
"Female genital mutilation usually involves the removal of the clitoris and other parts of female genitalia. Those who practice it say it tames a girl's sexual desire and maintains her honor. It is practiced by Muslims and Christians alike, deeply rooted in the Nile Valley region and parts of sub-Saharan African, and is also done in Yemen and Oman."
It is true that a limited number of Christians in Africa practice female circumcision. It should be noted, however, that this is primarily the result of new African converts to Christianity holding on to some of the traditions of thier past. The truth is that the teaching of female circumcision can NOT be found in the words of Jesus, or any other place in the Bible. And, female circumcision has NEVER been practiced in the Christian Church, save isolated cases such as the one above.
Islam, on the other hand, is historically tied to this evil. While the Koran does not explicitly teach the practice, several Hadith (traditions based on the words and deeds of Muhammed) do endorse the practice. Furthermore, a number of fatwa (opinions issued by Muslim scholars) have been issued through the years calling female circumcision "mandatory." Finally, no one would disagree that the vast majority of female circumcisions are performed on girls from Muslim families. All of this brings me to my point...
The wording of this article is misleading at best, and deceitful at worst. It portrays female circumcision as having equal validity in Christianity and Islam. As a Christian, this is highly offensive to me. It seems to me that every time an act of terror, or any other evil, is carried out by agents of Islam, that the media is quick to add, "But Christianity is no better!" Perhaps the best example of this is Rosie O'Donnell who was quoted awhile back as saying, "Radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam." This is one Christian that's growing tired of the comparison.
In lighter fare... Did a little topwater on Finley Creek yesterday morning. Went with my friend, Tim Reed. For the third fishing trip in a row, I was pretty much skunked. The only fish I caught was a little google-eye on a small, silver crankbait. This did make me happy though, as the lure is new, and I wanted to see if it could catch a fish. Highlight of the morning was Tim showing off his crawdad-catching skills. I'm a sissy when it comes to catching crawdads. I'm careful to pinch them right behind the claws so they can't "get" me. Tim, on the other hand, grabs 'em however he can get 'em. With smaller ones, it's not that big a deal. But the highlight of the morning came when Tim picked up a rock that was about the size of the glacier that sunk Titanic, and underneath it was 4-5 crawdads that could have passed for lobsters. He grabbed one just like he grabbed the smaller ones. I was impressed! We thought momentarily about using it for bait, but determined its claws were so big that the fish would probably run from it. Hopefully, the weather patterns will settle down soon, and I'll have some better fish stories to report. June has been a crazy month, weather-wise.
Cardinals thoughts... I've been proud of Brendan Ryan, the former Springfield Cardinal who has been filling in for David Eckstein at shortstop. He's played well. I hope he gets to stick around for awhile... The two new pitchers look good too. Maroth and Percival both had successful debuts. Maybe they can help us turn this thing around!