Letter #11 - Letter to Elijah.....July 22, 2013

My son, Elijah Frederick Douglass Meeks, I write this letter to you while your mother is in labor, which she began shortly after midnight, and you are yet to emerge in this world. Your family waits with great excitement. It is interesting that across the Atlantic Ocean, approximately at the same time that your mother began labor, a woman named Kate Middleton, who married into a British so-called royal family, also went into the early stages of child labor. The American media has been abuzz about the birth of this so-called royal baby for some time now. This so-called royal baby is a stark contrast to you. While you are born of working class parents, this so-called royal baby will be born to a life a wealth (accumulated from imperialism of the past). This is capital and this so-called royal baby will not be the only infant born into, but there are many more infants, such as you, that are born into working class families and have opportunity to advance individuals, collective communities, and even possibly contribute in a positive manner at the nation-state level. The world before is filled with unlimited possibilities (through education, discipline and strong ethics) and contributing to society and humanity in a positive manner makes the acquisition of personal wealth look like idle apathy and the greed of the royal families' ancestors, who raped foreign soils and committed genocide, appear truly naked for what it truly was. 

While this so-called royal baby will never want for anything and will certainly have a life of ease and leisure, you, my son, will emerge facing a harsh American society with little starting capital. Throughout your life you will hear the media speak on this so-called royal baby, from its youth to its marriage, and I hope you will come to understand the contrasting position of your births, and embrace and take pride in this contrast, and use this contrast as strength for your advancement and the advancement of the communities around you. You see, in this American society, there are so many social and economic traps awaiting young men such as yourself, and these identified traps I plan to educate you about and prepare you to overcome (either in person or in writing). You should realize from the earliest point possible that nothing will be given to you in this world and that you will have to grow strong physically, intellectually, and morally in order to earn resources and advance yourself…and one day your future family. Education, for your mind and not so much for material possessions, is paramount to fully developing into a true man and contributing to the human element to the best of your abilities.

You are probably wondering about your name. Your mother selected the name of Elijah, who was indeed a biblical prophet (which we will discuss in depth in the years to come), while I selected your middle name, Frederick Douglass. By the time you read this letter, I assume you will know who Frederick Douglass was. Douglass was born a slave in America and advanced himself not only to freedom, but to one of the highest political positions in the nation as an advisor to the American president, Lincoln, during the years leading to the Emancipation Proclamation (hand in hand with the Industrial Revolution, which is what really caused the American Civil War). The two points in the life of Frederick Douglass that most impacted my decision to name you after him were 1) Douglass self-educated himself. Despite the systematic society that prevented slaves to educate, Douglass managed to not only learn to read and write on his own, but to truly educate himself throughout his life. I can’t tell you how important that continuous intellectual development is to you and those you care about. The system of slavery attempted to keep knowledge from Douglass, but his hunger and drive for knowledge was undefeatable. Douglass once stated that an educated man was unfit to be a slave. As you grow up to understand the domestic and international political stage, you will come to see similarities between the social-economic era that Douglass advanced under and the system that you are being born into; A system that puts forth great exertion and effort to divert the attention of the American youth from educational and intellectual development. 

The second point that has always stayed with me about the life of Frederick Douglass was that during the early stages of adulthood and education, Douglass was sent to the plantation of a reputed slave breaker, Mr. Covey. One day while working in the barn, Mr. Covey struck Douglass and Douglass, a slave…remember, physically retaliated. The two men, slave breaker and slave, fought for an hour until both were bloody and battered. No other slaves came to help Mr. Covey’s cries. After that fight, Mr. Covey, the regionally reputed slave breaker, never laid a hand on Frederick Douglass again. The lesson here is not to be violent for senseless reasons (and you will earn the difference between meaningful and senseless through education and history), but to be physically strong for self-defense and the all-out defense of your family, especially your mother and sisters. We will certainly discuss this responsibility further in-depth. My daughters….never place your brother in a position under false pretenses or shallow-petty drama (I do not expect that you will because I will educate you both until my dying breath). As my son, Elijah is expected to give his life (if required) in defending both of you and the mother who created all of you (should an evil day ever come that truly requires self-defense and/or sacrifice). As the American Nathan Hale once said, “I only have one life to give”. Do not have him throw his away on foolishness or troubles caused by your own instigations. Take care of each other and protect each other.

Keep in mind that a name, is only a name. A name does not make a man or woman. It is the man or woman that make the name.

It is now 3:22 am and time for your sisters and me to head back to the hospital to meet you for the first time. God is indeed Beneficent and Merciful.

Strides in Education - 'My Bondage, My Freedom' by Frederick Douglass (Discussion of Chapters 6 and 7)

Strides in American Education: In preparation for the upcoming 6th grade, my daughter and I are currently reading 'My Bondage, My Freedom' by Frederick Douglass.  This is a recorded discussion on those chapters.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lclo41hngWg

Supplemental Letter - Question and Answer Session with My Oldest Daughter on Chapters 3 & 4 of 'My Bondage, My Freedom' by Frederick Douglass

The following is an excerpt from a question and answer session concerning Chapters 3 and 4 of Frederick Douglass’ historical book “My Bondage, My Freedom” which occurred on July 16, 2013 between my daughter and me.

Question #1:

Did Christian preachers own slaves?

Answer #1:

Some American Christian preachers did, and some did not.  Some Christian preachers supported the institution of American slavery, and some supported the abolitionist movement.  There were Christian preachers who not only owned slaves, but received significant amounts of financial support (generated from slave labor) from wealthy slave owners in exchange for so-called spiritual guidance.  Many of the Christian preachers, and Christian slave owners, during Frederick Douglass’ time justified slavery through twisted biblical verses such as the curse placed on Ham.  It is important to understand that when the Catholic Church and the Holy Roman Empire began the transatlantic slave trade in the 15th century, with the issuing of Papal Bull Dum Diversas, that Portugal was given the monopoly to trade for, and kidnap, non-Christian ‘heathens’ and tribal war captives, which would then be enslaved and supplied to the Spanish colonies in the Caribbean.  After the Protestant Reformation and the climax of the British Empire, Britain had elevated the transatlantic slave trade to new heights in supplying the North American colonies with Africans.  After the American Revolution, in the first decade of the 19^th century, the transatlantic slave trade was abolished in the United States (more to damage Britain economically than out of moral reasons) and the process of reproducing slaves domestically was increased (although the illegal import of African slaves continued) in the U.S.  Due to slave revolts in places like Jamaica and Virginia (Nat Turner), slave owners began to utilize Christianity on American slaves to imbue them with a passive, submissive, and accepting ideology based on an afterlife heaven which would reward the physical sufferings of this world.  Since the majority of slaves in early 19^th century U.S. were now raised on American soil and indoctrinated with Christianty from youth, many overzealous and devout Christian slave owners (especially the slave owner wives) began to question the afterlife penalty of Christian enslaving Christian.  During this period, the original religious-based slavery transformed to race-based slavery and Christians began to use biblical justifications (toward the enslavement and inferior position of black slaves) such as the curse placed on Noah’s son, Ham.

Question #2:

What would happen if an overseer was disguised as an abolitionist?  (Note: I had to instruct her that this question made no sense, but took the time to explain overseers and the economic levels of white American society during slavery).

Answer #2:     What is indeed the difference between a land owning slave owner and an overseer?  One main answer of distinction, among many similarities, is capital.  Not every white immigrant in the colonies or the young United States had capital to buy land or slaves.  While the modern media purposely leaves Jewish capital out of the history lessons and attempts to paint a basic black-white historical picture of slavery, the economic structure is often neglected.  There are no excuses for the atrocities committed within the institution of slavery, whether by owner or by machine part, but the economic structure needs to be understood.  Overseers, in the vast majority of cases, owned no capital to buy land or slaves and were reliant of those with capital (the landowners and slave owners) for employment.  Often, the overseers were poor, uneducated white men with no trade or technical skills.  They were often bitter about their plight and position in society, and often brutally took it out on slaves.  It is important to be able to identify whites who brought capital from the old world, whites who owned capital generated in the new world, whites who had no capital and worked within the system of slavery to generate capital through labor, and the poor unskilled whites of great ignorance.  As Marx states in his multi-volume book entitled “Capital”, one must own capital to generate capital.  With this being said, a person with no capital has only one way to generate capital: labor/work.

Question #3:

Did slave owners agree when overseers treated slaves?  (Note: this was another question that I instructed her needed refinement)

Answer #3:

I assume you mean when an overseer punished a slave in excess.  This would probably depend on the personage of the slave owner.  As Douglass mentions, slave owners viewed their slaves a mere property no different than horses or cattle.  Today, some car owners do not take care of their vehicles while others take very good care of their cars.  I would assume in some scenarios that slave owners would endorse heavy punishments for incidents such as running, drinking, or being late to the fields, etc. (anything decreasing profits) in order to maintain estate discipline.  At the same time, slave labor was what generated capital for the slave owner and if an overseer implemented excess damage or starvation (for disgruntled personal reasons) to the slave owner’s property that devalued it or decreased the profits generated from it, I would assume that the overseer would have been disciplined, docked pay, or dismissed.  Again, the overseer class in America usually consisted of the most uneducated class of poor whites.

Question #4:

Why did Frederick Douglass have to learn the Lord’s Prayer?

Answer #4:

As mentioned previously. Frederick Douglass (somewhere between the age of 8-10) and the other slave children in that age group were forced to learn this prayer, and Christianity in general, in order to indoctrinate slaves from a young age to except their position as slaves in this physical world (based on the Bible and an afterlife promise in heaven) in order to discourage slave revolts and encourage submissive productivity.  Christianity is the perfect religious ideology to create a passive/submissive population of laborers.

Question #5:

Would the slave owner punish Frederick Douglass like he did Esther if he saw him spying?

Answer #5:

You clearly did not understand what Esther was being punished for, which is the real topic here, although we have discussed this before.  In past conversations, we talked about the vulnerability of female slaves who faced the lust of their slave owners.  The female slave had no protection from the slave owner’s advances or rape, since by law she was his property.  Many slave owners took slave women and, as we spoke about in Chapters 1 & 2, this often brought the vengeance of the slave owner’s Christian white wife down of the slave woman who was victimized (and in many cases impregnated by the salve owner).  After all, if you recollect Chapter 2 or 3, there were whispers around Colonel Lloyd’s plantation that Frederick Douglass’ father may have been the slave owner himself.  In the particular case of Esther’s whipping, which Frederick Douglass spied, the slave owner was in lust of her.  We do not know through the written account if the slave owner had taken her previously, but the fact remains that Esther had fallen in love with a male slave of her own age (on the plantation) and the slave owner, in his pathetic blind jealously, forbid her to ever see him.  Love can be a strong human element, and Esther defied the slave owner’s demands and was caught with the slave that won her heart.  She was whipped with the lash and the flesh torn on her back, broken open and bloody, because of that slave owner’s lust and jealousy.  This topic will be discussed again in this book, and the Harriet Jacobs book which we will read later.  To answer your original question, I highly doubt that the slave owner would pay much attention to Douglass since he was so young.  At the same time, I suppose it would depend on the personality and the mood.

Supplemental Letter - The Breeze

I woke up this morning and poured a cup of hot coffee. The sun was bright and a fresh breeze was blowing. I scanned the news around the nation and world. There were no murders in Chicago the night before, and as I searched the local wire I found that there had been no murders at all. Through the windows I could hear a group of children playing and in a yearning for my lost youth; I listened to... their conversation for a long duration of time. They were discussing history and science, and two of them were competing to correctly complete mathematical formulas. I stepped outside in the crisp morning breeze to retrieve my printed newspaper, which boasted of unprecedented bipartisan cooperation in cutting foreign aid, increasing domestic investment, health care, education, and job creation. A diverse group of my community neighbors were gathered speaking and listening to each other on various topics that impacted the nation and community, and they discussed plans to gather the children together later in the day for educational development. I waved to them and they waved back. As I drove to the store for necessities with my windows down and the fresh breeze against my face, I passed the playground and saw fathers playing with daughters and mothers playing with sons. Further down the road, I saw young men in their teenage years rebuilding an elderly woman’s dilapidated home and I saw modestly dressed young women in their teenage years feeding and clothing a homeless family and providing their children with books.

The morning breeze that day was so fresh and exhilarating, and oh so real. It was indeed a dream, but every morning I go to my window and my door and anxiously await that breeze.

Letter #10 - Trends of Teacher Sexual Misconduct and Consideration of Gender Segregation in American Classrooms

My daughters, there has been a disturbing trend across the United States which has become more and more frequent over the past few decades and that trend is the inappropriate behavior of teacher misconduct, especially in instances that are sexual in nature.  These manipulative and predatory incidents, without question controlled by the adult, occur with adult teachers of both genders.  In the contents of this letter, I will analyze a few cases that have occurred in the current time era and in order to determine whether this immoral trend has increased, maintained consistency, or decreased when your children are brought forth….you may research news reports and statistics at that time and make historical comparisons to the time period in which I write.

The first thing that needs to be noted is that there is a stereotypical attitude in American society that when an adult female teacher conducts sexual misconduct and manipulation of a school boy it is less disdainful compared to the male adult teacher who commits sexual misconduct toward a female student.  I took a quick survey of views while writing this letter and for the most part everyone surveyed agreed that both gender scenarios were immoral and wrong, but I noted that the men surveyed considered the manipulation and exploitation by a male teacher on a female student considerably worse than a female teacher having a sexual relationship with a male student, while the women who were surveyed considered both gender scenarios equally immoral and damaging to the youth.  I have to assume that the different views on this subject from the different viewpoints of men and women are shaped by the current, and even historical, norms and values of American society which, without question, is a rapidly degenerating society.  This degeneration must be attributed, at minimum to some level, to the mass produced inorganic popular culture this is force fed to our people from youth.

Selecting one of the misconduct reports to analyze, I have selected a report out of Kansas City were a 25 year old male teacher is accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship will a 14 year old female student.  Below is an excerpt of the news report by KCTV 5:

“The girl told authorities that they had sexual relations inside Rigby's classroom and at her home. She said they exchanged nude pictures of each other via cell phone, and they had sex twice at her residence and at least twice inside the classroom since last fall.  In an interview May 16, the girl told police that she had feared she had become pregnant and he had her take a pregnancy test, which was negative. She claimed that he would have forced her to have an abortion if she had been pregnant, according to court records.   In an interview with Kearney school administrators, Rigby denied having sexual relations with the girl. He said he had not sent pictures of himself or received pictures of students on his cell phone, according to police.  An administrator found a pregnancy test package in Rigby's desk drawer. One of the tests was gone while the second, unused test remained in the packaging.” – (KCTV June 3, 2013)

The report, one of many similar reports across the United States, brings forth a plethora of questions for consideration.  The first question is where was the parental monitoring of this young lady?  The allegations report that this sexual relationship not only took place in the classroom, which is disturbing enough, but twice at her home.  Why is this 25 year old man at this 13-14 year old girl’s home?  And why is she alone with this male teacher in the classroom (which is obviously isolated enough for sexual contact without notice from the staff).  What is the mindset of this so-called teacher in his middle twenties and how did he slide through the cracks to become a teacher in charge of minors?

In a second example from spring 2013, a male New York Middle School teacher named Daniel Reilly was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, sexual misconduct.  The following excerpts are from New York Daily News:

“A predatory former sixth-grade teacher who used cellphone code names to hide an affair with his 14-year-old former student pleaded guilty to statutory rape Monday.  Former Queens Intermediate School 237 teacher Daniel Reilly, 36, admitted to bedding a 14-year-old girl as recently as last month in the Queens apartment he shares with his wife and baby daughter.”

From the same story, but from an ABC7 report:

“Police say 35-year-old Daniel Reilly carried on a more than nine month affair with a former student that began when the girl was 14 years old.  Reilly was arrested at IS 237 in Flushing, Queens, where he works as a sixth-grade English teacher.  Police say the suspect taught the girl when she was in elementary school, and she is not presently a student at the school where he now teaches.  The child's parents called police Monday after the girl's sister read a series of sexually-explicit text messages between Reilly and the victim.  The sexual encounters allegedly took place at Reilly's Forest Hills residence between August 2012 and April 2013.” (ABC 7 report – April 9, 2013).

Again we see a sexual relationship that has developed between adult male teacher and a young female student.  Despite being married with children, the sexual encounters occurred at this teacher’s home.  Again, the absence of parental monitoring should be questioned and several hard questions must be posed: 1) Are our American children given too much unmonitored freedom under the current moral condition of American society? 2)  Do our young people attempt to enter an adult world too quickly under the mass produced impressions of inorganic popular culture?  3) Are these teenage victims responsible in any manner at all or have they been mentally and emotionally manipulated by a predator to go to a married adult male teacher’s house or other scenarios of manipulation?

For the third example, as the examples of teacher sexual misconduct are limitless, we will look at a report from Pittsburgh in May 13, 2013 reported by CBS affiliate KDKA:

“….high school English teacher is now facing criminal charges.  He’s accused of sexually assaulting several girls.  Jonathan Crum, 28, an English teacher at Moniteau High School is in the Butler County Jail facing 26 different counts of sexual misconduct involving students at the school.  “A lot of the sexual abuse includes asking the children under 18 for indecent photographs and there was some indecent contact as well,” a police officer said.  State Police say the contacts started back as early as September of 2009. They happened in school and included physical touching, sexual pictures and other contacts, with at least five girls — all underage at the time.  “As far as our investigation has led, the crimes all happened on Moniteau property some inside the classroom,” the officer said.” (KDKA)

The fourth example is about a 28 year old female teacher in Los Angeles who is accused of becoming pregnant by a 15-16 year old student.  The news report was published in the L.A. Times on July 6, 2013.

“Laura Elizabeth Whitehurst, 28, joined the Redlands Unified School District six years ago as an English teacher at Redlands High School and allegedly began sexual relationships with two boys, one as young as 14, authorities say.” (LA Times – July 6, 2013)

“Since the teacher's arrest, other former students have come forward.  Police said a 20-year-old man told detectives that he began his relationship with her in the fall of 2007 when he was a 14-year-old freshman, Redlands police said.  He said he and Whitehurst had sex in her classroom before school, in her apartment and in her car, said Redlands police spokesman Carl Baker. He told police the relationship ended in early 2008.  Another alleged victim, now 22, told police he had a sexual relationship with Whitehurst while she was his teacher at Redlands High. He said the relationship took place when he was a junior at the high school in 2007 and 2008, according to Baker.  The man told authorities the relationship began after a discussion about an English paper about dreams and she told him she had a dream about kissing him. Whitehurst left Redlands High in 2009 and worked at another school before going to Citrus Valley High.” (LA Times – July 6, 2013))

These four examples are all reports from 2013 and I could probably post 10 pages of similar reports.  We will stop with four examples for this letter and begin to contemplate the causes and possible solutions for this troubling trend.

The top cause would be a disintegrating moral fabric within society and, specifically in these types of cases, being mastered by lower, animalistic base desires on the part of the adult.  The intellectual level of the adult must also be called into question if they are actually engaging in a relationship with a child, but in many cases the victim is being mentally and emotionally manipulated by the predator.  One may question the statement concerning intellectual development of the adult, since we are discussing teachers, but many teachers are not truly educated, intellectually developed or morally disciplined…and have only managed to earn a college teaching degree and a job recommendation in order to earn a paycheck in a position of authority over American children (and this also is a problem with the lack of true education in our American schools). 

Another conundrum is the social positioning of our young women in American society, which is clearly a confusing double standard.  On the one hand, our young ladies are considered children until the age of 18 while in many cases their bodies can give birth much earlier even though their emotional and intellectual development is still childlike.  Should more emphasis be placed on their protection and education?  Should we begin to prepare our children from an earlier age?  We know that the American school system barely covers these issues.  Another area of society that complicates matters is the mass produced inorganic popular culture that influences our young ladies and subconsciously and conscious develops what is considered cool and stylish in their society.  In many cases, young ladies as early as 13 or 14 will attempt to dress as adults, imitate adults and inorganic popular culture, and enjoy adult freedoms.  Please take some time to watch the television programs aimed at young adults and see how many of these ‘harmless’ television programs encourage lying to parents about things, maliciously self-destructive peer pressures, sexual promiscuity, and careless social behaviors.   It amazes me that many parents, even in a society filled with predators and consequences, will allow their daughters to go out during weeknights or weekends with only a slight understanding of where they are and what they are doing.

Proposal, arguments, and counter arguments for gender segregation in public schools:

Proposal:

I strongly support gender segregation in public school classrooms with male teachers teaching male students and female teachers teaching female students.  Under proper gender segregation, teachers and students of the opposite sex would have no contact (especially one on one contact).  These prevention mechanisms would greatly reduce incidents of teacher misconduct, sexual assault, and would enhance concentration on educational development.

Argument #1:

Gender segregation in the classrooms would not stop same-gender advances, teacher misconduct, assaults, and manipulation by predator teachers who have slipped through the educational system.

Counter argument:

No, it would not, but gender segregation in public schools would reduce the number of teacher misconduct, sexual assaults and inappropriate relationship incidents by, at a minimum, half.  If there was an option to reduce by a large percentage these negative incidents against our American children, why wouldn’t a reform policy such as gender segregation in classrooms become implemented, or at minimum become an option for tax paying citizens?  There should be an option for tax paying citizens to decide if their children will attend gender segregated or gender integrated classrooms.  For the most part, the only other option is private schools, usually religious in nature, which brings various forms of fairy tale religious indoctrinations with it.

Argument #2:

The ACLU, liberal views, and proponents of Feminism claim that gender segregation in public schools would take the position of females in society back several decades and that differing curriculums between classrooms would reinforce old social stereotype of a male dominated society structure.  The argument of reduced social interaction between boys and girls, which indeed can be productive to educational development, is also placed forward.

Counter argument:

The proposal is not to alter public school curriculum, as parental involvement is paramount to educational success, but to segregate male and female students from same-gender teachers to reduce the current trends of sexual misconduct by teachers.  The proposal is put forth to maintain equal state (or nationally) regulated academic curriculums in both female and male classrooms with no differences between curriculums.  It is proposed that public schools offering gender segregated classrooms hold regularly scheduled inter-gender academic exercises, debates, and events for intellectual and social exchanges between students, but that under no circumstances should a teacher of one gender be allowed to establish contact, especially one on one contact, with students of the other gender.  Gender segregated classrooms 1) would be aimed to reduce the vulnerability of our children by predator teachers of the opposite gender, not to completely cut-off social integration with opposite gender students  2) reduce the social distractions of the opposite gender and social norms and values (during classroom time) in favor of increased classroom attention and intellectual development 3)  Does not support superiority of either gender as the development of educational, moral and intellectual values  of all American students are pertinent for the future of the United States.

A few supplemental cases of teacher misconduct from 2013:

Kelly Ann Garcia (Houston) June 2013 (same gender misconduct)

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-57587409-504083/kelly-ann-garcia-houston-area-teacher-accused-of-sex-with-16-year-old-girl/

Kahtanna Culp (Houston) March 2013 Sexual relationship with student

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/27/kahtanna-culp-teacher-blackmail_n_2964898.html

Elyse Cromwell (New Jersey) February 2013 Accused of a sexual relationship with a 14 year old

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/01/elyse-cromwell-teacher-sex-new-jersey_n_2599095.html

DaNita Wilson (Georgia) January 2013 32 year old teacher accused of having sex with seven students

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/31/danita-wilson-accused-sex-with-students_n_2593157.html?utm_hp_ref=crime

George Hernandez, 45 (California) February 2012

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/02/23/los-angeles-soccer-coach-charged-with-child-sex-abuse/

Mark Berndt, 61, (California) charged with committing lewd acts on 23 boys and girls, ages 6 to 10, between 2008 and 2010 at Miramonte Elementary School

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/mark-berndt-photos_n_1248359.html

Alain Salas, 40, (California) February 2012, lewd texting to a 15 year old girl

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/14/alain-salas-los-angeles-t_n_1276225.html

 

Letter #9 - Temporary Physical Beauty, the Renassaissance of the Woman as Queen of Civilization, and Selective Breeding

"He looked at her as a man looks at a faded flower he has gathered, with difficulty recognizing in it the beauty for which he picked” – Tolstoy (Anna Karenina)

"And you're sorry that the ephemeral beauty has faded so rapidly, so irretrievably, that it flashed so deceptively and pointlessly before your eyes” – Dostoyevsky

"I'd rather be thought of as smart, capable, strong, and compassionate than beautiful. Those things all persist long after beauty fades." – Cassandra Duffy

“Beauty is the first present nature gives to women and the first it takes away.” – George Brossin

My daughters, beautiful and strong and intelligent…

I have always stressed your intellectual development and placed emphasis on critical thinking, ethics, and dedication to self- and family advancement and self-discipline.  While physical beauty is ephemeral or temporary, the qualities that you will, or have, developed within yourself will be the pillars of the life you live, the contributions you make to society, and the example you set for your children.  The goal for families like our own, those that have emerged out of the lower economic working class, should be to advance our position and the position of our children while strengthening the economic, moral, political, intellectual and social structure of our local communities (which if undertaken by enough small unit families within enough communities can bring positive national reform).  As women, you are the leaders of society, culture, and family…while you are also the force behind building and strengthening the pillars of future generations.  This responsibility is not an easy task, especially in a society of consumerism that is morally degenerated by the mass produced images of sexism, the exploitation of physical sexuality, and false images of how a so-called real woman is depicted (usually half naked, or in a sexually degrading position, or stereotyped as over-hysterical).  In a population of working class masses divided by race, ethnicity, religion and economics….the controllers of capital have found one further element to divide working class populations in order to prevent them from collective advancement and positive reform, and this is the splintering (and eventual break down) of the family unit by pitting man against woman and father against mother.  These destroyers of culture are slick in their mass production of promoting loose morality, “free love” and violent pornography, and the infamous individual dramas that are so heavily glamorized in the flood of media entertainment (which is often subconsciously and consciously mimicked by youth and uneducated adults alike).  The boundaries of these inorganic norms and values become more damaging and destructive to family units, communities and nation with each decade.  Yet, we can’t honestly blame the complete degeneration of a society of these owners of mass capital (who poison the minds of Americans through mass production) without first taking responsibility of our own intellectual and educational conditions and developmental voids which have left ourselves and our children vulnerable to such heavily repeated and glamorized images of desensitized degradation. 

You, the women, are the solution.  Physical beauty is temporary and fades with age.  Therefore it is vital for you, as a leader and example to society, to build your confidence, self-worth, mental stamina and moral discipline to be as strong and powerful as can be possibly attained.  Never stop evolving mentally or intellectually.  There is nothing more pathetic, and damaging to society, than a woman who has been forced to rely solely on physical beauty (and sex appeal), who is left empty, insecure, uneducated and lost after that exterior beauty and sex appeal has faded away.

The falsehood of fast fame based on physical beauty:

Take a look at the amount of your peers that are pursuing modeling, dancing or singing paths with irrational expectations of possible fast fame and fortune with nothing substantial to fall back on.  Pursuits in useless, short-lived areas such as these are a fool’s path that, in the vast majority of cases, results to exploitation or lost time (and money).  It is much wiser to build your intellect, devise your long term plan, and develop self-worth and further confidence that will outlast physical beauty.  Of course, there will always be that half-wit liberal voice in the wind crying “Let them shoot for their dreams!” or “You never know until you try!”  Is it even possible to explain to a sleeping dreamer the harsh realities and challenges of the real world ahead?  Modeling is based on consumerism, as singing and dancing is.  These fields are usually only accessible at the lowest levels aimed at exploitive consumerism based on sex appeal or individual exploitation.  Do you know how much pay that a half-dressed woman who shakes her ass and chest in a music video gets paid?  What is worse is that our ignorant American youth who pursue to be exploited by modeling and the various entertainment fields have no understanding of the actual economic structure of these fields, nor do they understand the demographics of ownership.  There are so many con-artists with ulterior motives in these so-called entertainment fields, each licking their lips for the lost lower economic girl with no educational development.  So-called professional photographers will eventual work to persuade you into skimpy swimwear and soon after out of your clothing with promises of modeling fame and fortune; while the unaffiliated lower parasites of music and acting industry, who lie about their connections, promise the world while trying to rub up against and seduce women.  Intelligent and confident women do not get bamboozled in this manner.  It is better for your future and the future of your children to build yourself mentally, morally, and economically in order to stand on your own and not be vulnerable to such exploitation and empty promises of fool’s gold.  Young women with well-developed mental stamina and strong confidence are usually immune to the false lures of this crooked path.  Sadly, it is usually the young women who are led into adulthood without positive mentorship that have been left uneducated, emotionally undisciplined and intellectually deficient, and thrown into the adult world while unaware, in symbolic Little Red Riding Hood fashion, of the social ills and traps waiting.  What is worse is when a vicious cycle develops.  One of the most despicable and lowest trends of our current society can be seen with these mentally diseased mothers painting heavy make-up on the faces of young girls (as young as 2) and dressing them in modeling outfits while prancing them across a beauty contest stage.  These poor girls first lesson in life focuses on the importance of a deteriorating physical shell, and many of them will be doomed to emotional insecurity.  My daughters, the futures are yours and the decisions of the future are yours.

The male suitors:

Sometimes I wonder just how much women truly understand the heart, minds and souls of men and, in return, how much men understand women.  I assume the answer falls with the mind and intellectual understanding of the beholder.  I, as a father and a man, feel that I understand women to some extent.  I have studied women since I was born.  I studied my mother for many years and came to understand a particular form of strength within women that does not exist in men, especially when it comes to their children.  I have studied, and gave thanks, for the strength, discipline and wisdom of your mother.  In my early youth and early adulthood, I chased the pretty girls with their physical beauty and hollow minds, as I also had no substantial thought process or education in my head.  Without intellectual development and understanding of society or history, I myself did not understand what the most prominent and most vital qualities of a woman were.  This pre-self-education epoch in my youth provides much mental thought today in my older years as I can now see my errors in those physical beauties I pursued in romance.  The largest error was that these pursuits were solely based on physical beauty and temporary romance and were not designed for longevity, mutual interests and goals, or mental stimulation.  How many young couples have made a life-long commitment and brought children into the world based on temporary physical attraction or illusionary romance, with no other structural bonds between them, which have resulted in divorce and the disbursement and separation of the children (which hinders development and advancement)?

My beautiful daughters, the male suitors will be coming to court you with sweet words and flowers.  I have no doubts.  The moral of the story above (about your father) is to be wary of a handsome face and a dashing smile with only foolishness, immaturity, ignorance and emptiness behind it.  Without inner substance, there is nothing but plastic.  Without a passion for future development or the desire to better themself, there is only plastic.  A Ken doll is unable to properly raise children, nor can it reform a future society, nor can it provide and protect for you or your family.  Without mental and intellectual substance, the Ken doll can only look handsome.  One thing I have never been able to figure out is why women allow the condition of men to remain so base and so uncivilized in nature.  Perhaps it is because many women have lost the identity of who they really; mothers of civilization and leaders of society.  In our current culture, it is the male that pursues the female most of the time.  One element of social reform would be for women not to settle for barbaric, immature, foolish, ignorant or selfish suitors.  By rejecting these weak character traits in suitors, men would eventually reform themselves to achieve levels expected from the leaders of our society, the women that they seek to win the hearts of.

This brings up the wolf.  Men have been, and always will be, physically attracted to your beauty and your body, and many men, especially in this degenerated society, will say all the nice and romantic words that can they conjure upon their lips to have you.  I hope by the time you analyze this letter that you understand this game, can identify the wolves from the good men, and have come through your youth with a better understanding of such ridiculous social norms and values (of dating).  Once again, develop your mind and make men respect you for more than your physical body and your physical beauty.  If only you could hear the way a good majority of men speak of women in a room of only men listeners.  Disrespectful could not define it.  Perhaps this is men’s way of showing off and proving themselves to other men, but it is uncivilized at best.  Keep in mind that there are multiple levels to the wolf.  I strongly advise you to research sexual assault and rape statistics, news reports and crime trends.  Always protect yourself.  While the stranger who grabs the young women from the bus stop is real, the wolves you know and work alongside of, with sweet words and intoxicating liquors, are more numerous in number.  I pray God gives you wisdom and protects you as a woman in this Sodom and Gomorrah culture.  It can look so innocent.

A man desires a woman in two ways: 1) physical attraction and 2) her characteristics, attributes, and qualities.  As we have noted, physical beauty fades with age just as physical attraction loses magnetism.  It doesn’t mean that physical attraction evaporates altogether, only that it diminishes over time.  It is animalistic in nature.  The attraction to inner-characteristics doesn’t diminish, and the characteristics that a man is attracted to can clearly illustrate the characteristics of that man.  For example: there is an old humorous saying about “liking bad girls”.  What does this tell you about a man’s mind state?  What does it tell you about the characteristics he desires?  What does it tell you about the characteristics he is made of?  A man who like “submissive” girls?  Many men have control issues.  Do not tolerate anything less than equality in a relationship.  From the other side of the perspective, there are many men in this world, hopefully a growing number, that value intelligence, morality, humility, honesty and other positive life-long qualities.  Read the characteristics of men closely, my daughters, because suitors will mask their true characters during the early phases of courting or relationships.  You, as a woman and future mother, should want your self-worth, intelligence and character to be what attracts, and demands respect, from a suitor….instead of simple outer beauty and sexuality.  Why be one-dimensional?  Enjoy the youth and the beauty you have, but build your inner-character and mental strength for your entire life.  Mere beauty does not demand respect.

A mentally and intellectually developed, emotionally disciplined, and confident woman, one that does not concern themselves with the petty judgments of others, is not denied respect in society.  She is impossible to deny respect!  Do not tolerate foolishness from men, nor pettiness from anyone.  Do not waste time with a dead beat man without a solid work ethic, without morals, without well thought out rational plans, without desires to better himself, and without a livelihood.  To do such is the same as self-destruction.  Build yourself and set personal development goals to the highest levels and work hard within society to a position where you will never be forced to solely rely for your subsistence on a man (economically, domestically, emotionally, or elsewise).  Too many “empty” women find themselves emotional slaves to a man.  He becomes all they have, because they have nothing in themselves.  When a man breaks off relationship or betrays the relationship…the woman is often left in social or economic disarray, sadness, and depression (sometimes with children to take care of).  It is also this emotional bondage that keeps women in abusive relationships where she is disrespected, beaten and demoralized.  Look at the reports of domestic violence in today’s society.  Look at all the news reports of husbands murdering wives, wives murdering husbands, Husbands or wives murdering children (to get revenge as a jilted lover).  This trend is a sign of weak character and weak emotional discipline, not to mention serious moral disease).  It is a sickness.  I pray neither of you ever place yourself anywhere near a position of such uncivilized depravity and mental captivity.

You, the woman, should be respected, protected and honored above all else in society.  You are the temple that creates life.  Yet, the owners of capital and their mass produced inorganic popular culture (through television, music, radio and internet) has fooled our previous, and the current, generations to view women as mere meat, property, sexual objects and a weaker gender when you, the women of our nation, are the concrete pillars of society, the Queens of this planet, and the mothers of human civilization.  Look around you and see how our future mothers are willingly defiling and disrespecting their physical bodies, the temple through which life is created, with piercings, ink and depravity.  How did an entire society come to this low point?  It is upon you and your peers to break this vicious cycle of uncivilized tricknology, and teach the daughters of tomorrow through your actions in this generation.  Every man and woman should protect the righteous and learned woman; woe to the uncivilized devil that strikes one of our mothers of civilization and shameful disgrace should rain down on the man who allows this crime to occur within his awareness.

Selective Breeding:

I’m sure this is an awkward sub-title concerning the main topic of this letter, but it is an area I thought worthy of consideration.  A week ago EJ and I were working some home educational assignments on science and covered the concept of selective breeding.  Some of the examples we discussed were the Kentucky Derby and pedigree dog shows (both events worthless to society).  I explained to her the process of selective breeding by explaining that the most successful horse breeders only breed horses with the best qualities they are looking for: examples could be long legs, strong skeletal structure, or long necks.  Whatever the combination of physical traits is that make the fastest and most physically strong thoroughbreds, these breeders ensure that both male and female being bred possess those strongest qualities.  Anyone who has studied 6^th grade science should understand how dominant and recessive genes work in reproduction.

Understanding what we know about DNA, recessive and dominant genes, and human reproduction, I began to contemplate human reproduction.  When you reach the point of considering a family, hopefully long after you have developed yourself into a well-rounded intellectual with solid morals and a contributing, self-sustaining position in society, I would have to recommend to you that you consider this scientific method.  When that period in your life arrives and you consider a relationship perspective to create a family around and birth children to, you should consider the following:  1) Hereditary diseases.  If a perspective mate comes from a family with a history of heart disease, lung disease, kidney failure, or any other health defect or life shortening disease, why would you birth children with him and risk those diseases being passed to your children?  2)  Weak DNA.  You should observe weak bone and muscle structuring (injuries), poor hearing or vision, trouble with breathing, weak immunization systems (meaning always catching colds), allergies, and any other notable weaknesses in the physical longevity or the ability to work and contribute to society and provide for family.  Why wouldn’t you consider hereditary health defects?  You must ask yourself how smart it is to create children with someone whose parents and their parents before them have developed problems with their ankles by their late 30s, or who are constantly sick, or whose hearing and vision had deteriorated early in life.  These are weak strains in DNA and are defects.  I am not telling you to base your choice solely on these considerations, but you should at minimum consider it to some extent.  3)  DNA/Mental capabilities.  I would say you SHOULD base this consideration on your decision in this field.  Not including the ignorant and the uneducated, there are book smart people and there are people that are naturally imbued with intelligence (common sense, IQ, the ability for mental reflection, understanding and critical thought) that is carried in the genes.  While conversing with your potential perspective, try to gauge his natural intelligence level.  Oh, what a fun and innocent second or third date it would be to conduct separate IQ tests together (just for fun, of course).  Why would you want to create children with a man whose hereditary intellectual genes are deficient or below average?  Do you want your children to stare into space with a blank look on their face as drool drips from their bottom lip?  Like I said, you are the queens of humanity and civilization.  It is you, the mothers of the Earth, who create life and you DO have a choice on how the DNA of that life is constructed.  I do not think many men or women consider this, probably because they are so caught up in the mass produced bullshit pumping over the movie and television screens promoting silly temporary romances based on temporary physical beauty that will one day fade away…..instead of self-building, family building, community building, nation-building, and humanity-building.

 

Letter #8 - Monotheism, Judaism and Islam

It has been awhile since I wrote a letter and I have owed you my letter on the other two Abrahamic religions for some time now.  As you know, those two religions are Islam and Judaism (Judaism being the oldest of the Abrahamic religions, formed approximately 500-600 BCE with historical ‘written’ origins stretching back to Hebrew writings from approx. 2000 BCE) while Islam (600 CE) exists as the youngest of the three religions.  The religion of Christianity, being the middle creation, stands as the most different in nature and ideologies from the other two.

The similarities and positive attributes of monotheism are large in scope, and there can be no question that both Judaism and Islam, unlike Christianity, are monotheistic religions in structural ideologies.  The key positive attributes of monotheism is the undivided worship of one God, an unseen creator or creation force that encourages collective servitude, collective morality, and collective worship under one entity, unknown and unseen to humanity.  The ideology alone suggests moral structure, collective efforts, and brotherhood under one creator and as one creation.  Monotheism discourages the often experienced division which man-made religions (and greed) tend to have on humanity, whether worldwide or within man-made nation-state borders, that cause destructive conflict in the name of multiple Gods.  It should be noted here that man, in natural form, has even succeeded in dividing up monotheism and causing conflict among themselves when there was no necessity for division (other than greed or power).  These man-made divisions can be seen in all three Abrahamic religions to some extent, but a main example of this division in Monotheism is the Sunni-Shite division in Islam: a division that was originally caused over the political election of a caliph (leader) following the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632 CE.  The split was based between Muslims holding the view that the next leader should be a follower of the traditions of Muhammad’s teachings and those holding the view that the next leader should be a direct blood relative/descendant of the prophet Muhammad.

Many modern Christians have been so heavily indoctrinated to avoid even learning (a basic understanding) about other religions, especially Islam, that the average American Christian today does not even understand that the word “Allah” is actually the word “God” in the Arabic language instead of some vastly different alien God possessing different attributes that oppose the God described in the Torah and New Testament.  The Quran actually teaches about the same God and the same prophets that are written about in the Torah, Old Testament, and the Quran even teaches the same accounts of Jesus (only as a prophet), yet over the last decade we have seen highly covered media events of Christian Americans burning, defecating on, and immorally disrespecting this book, likely out of ignorance during a decade where national sentiment was inorganically shaped through media towards Islam-phobia in conjunction with foreign government regime disposal, military occupation, and replacement puppet regime building in Iraq and Afghanistan.  To burn, befoul or defecate on a book that contains the same accounts of Old Testament bible prophets that are held sacred by both Christians and Jews, what does that say about a Christian’s reverence for Christianity or any other religious moral structure of a human being who behaves in such a foul manner?

Looking deeper into Torah and Quran scriptures we find that the similarities between Islam and Judaism stretch beyond basic monotheism. The books both share accounts of Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Moses, Noah, Jacob, Esau, Lot, and the Hebrew Tribes.  The accounts are basically the same in content, only different in format as the Old Testament is a chronological history while the Quran uses these accounts with repeated moral lessons.  A major difference centers on the status of Jesus, whom Muslims consider a prophet and the Jews consider neither prophet nor God (as Christians believe Jesus was either God in human form or God’s son or a manifestation of God – are all of the above).  Since the time of Jesus was after the creation of the Torah, he is not mentioned in the Torah nor the later Old Testament (although Christians will certainly attempt to associate vague prophetic passages to prove the divinity of Jesus); while Jesus is heavily quoted and taught about in the Quran almost 600 years after his alleged crucifixion.  Again, the main difference in these two scriptural formats are that the Old Testament Torah (and afterwards) is a chronological history of the Hebrew people and the establishment of the Kingdom of Judah, while the Quran is a collection of surahs that, using the accounts of the Old Testament prophets, repeatedly teaches various lessons of monotheism, the encouragement of zakat (providing for the poor), the prohibition of polytheism, the admonition of excess pride and excessive religion, and many other moral lessons.  As your historical study will show you, the Quran collection was written over different periods of war and peace on the Arabic peninsula, and this is the reason why you will find teachings that contain passages on violent fighting in the name of God and others that teach living in peace with Christians and Jews.  Sadly, those who slander Islam concentrate on the war-time surahs in order to attack Islam while at the same time Islamic (political) extremists often use the same passages to justify violence against foreign occupation and, in worse cases, against civilian populations.

Differences and Discrepancies

The brief overview of the two monotheistic religions of Judaism and Islam would seem to show two religions that could easily be the same religion, so what is the difference and why does such animosity exist between the two?  The answer is simple: Judaism is a monotheistic religion based on an ethnic monopoly on monotheism and based on the covenant between the Hebrew-Jewish people, referred to as the chosen people of God, and God.  There is an ethnic barrier around Judaism, as Judaism is about a specific ethnic group (spread throughout the Earth) and the ideological theology of that religion centers on that specific ethnic group.  If a person is not racially-ethnically Jewish, they are gentile.  There have been many modern gentiles that have ‘converted’ to Judaism, but they are not ethnically Jewish and never will be.  These converts, often wealthy, will never be fully accepted by the Orthodox or many of the other demographics of the ethnic religion.  A gentile born into the world may be born under any religion and eventually can convert to a different religion while a Jewish person that is born into this world is born both into an ethnic race ‘and’ a religion based on that ethnic race.  As I have told you many times, I respect all sections of humanity and have no hate for any specific section of our human family while at the same time I demand my human right to be able to analyze any form of religion, political occurrence, or history.  I tell you this once again because there are those in this world that often use political and social smear tactics, accusations of anti-Semitism, against anyone who rationally and honestly speaks on topics such as the Jewish religion or the modern nation-state of Israel (and does not paint these entities in a positive light, whether falsely or honestly).  This tactic, which stems from what the great Jewish academic Dr. Norman Finkelstein terms the Holocaust Industry, has become very tired and nearly exhausted (especially in educated circles).  The anti-Semitism smear tactic is specifically used to defend the modern nation-state of Israel in areas of irrational U.S. foreign aid funding (under massive U.S. debt), Israeli human rights violations against Palestinians, land confiscations and home demolitions, illegal settlements, and the Israeli government’s exemption from the non-proliferation treaty.  If you criticize this government, even with facts and rational arguments, the counter-result is usually smear tactic accusations of anti-Semitism.  Yet, it is important to distinguish tactful political criticism of a nation-state government from blind hateful speech against individual civilian ethnic groups.  These acts are not the same.  History is filled with many atrocities and injustices, and each group must understand and accept the responsibility for their ancestral and current historical actions, and the ramifications of those actions, in order for the collective human race to move forward in positive manner.  It is very important to analyze history to the best of our ability.  God gave each of us the ability for critical thought and the use of that ability, and when conducted justly and with clear eyes the application of critical thought is not a hateful act even though the lessons learned are often painful.

Gender discrimination is evident in both Judaism and Islam.  In Orthodox Judaism, there is the current discrimination issue of women praying out at the Western wall.  Is this a World Jewish issue or an Israeli issue?  In Islam, Woman and men are segregated during prayer.  I can understand the Islamic view of gender segregation during prayer due to the physical (animal) nature of man.  Women are beautiful, and stir physical elements within man, that are distracting (from the path of spiritual/moral discipline towards the diversion of more physical base desires) and that distraction deters from inner reflection and outward prayer to God.  This is the physical weakness of man, even though through continuous mental and spiritual discipline men can overcome the majority of base physical desires.  This is one faucet of fasting as it mentally disciplines a person to control and master one of the most basic physical needs, although excess in areas of this exercise is dangerous and unhealthy.  While I understand Islamic gender segregation during prayer, I would also support an occasional joint prayer between men and women in order to exercise and promote joint collective humanity.  In Islam, as it should be in all cultures, the modesty of a woman is a very important element.  Depending on faction or geographic region, the requirements of this modesty varies greatly: from the free choice of the proud Muslima in the U.S. to the strong Afghan women clothed in heavy black material from head to toe, and to the stylishly modest young Muslima of Saudi Arabia, with their bright colored silk head scarfs and stylish materials that cover arms and legs.  Can there ever be moderation in modesty?  As I once studied an older Afghan Muslim woman dressed in heavy wool garb carrying basket in the unbearably hot Afghan desert, I personally thought to myself that this mandated modesty was physically too much.  In similar manner, I have contemplated the loose dress of the American female, sadly noticing that our women, and especially American girls as young as puberty, run about public places barely dressed; a contemplation which consistently brings strong concerns as to the large amount of sexual assaults and rapes that take place in the United States.  The mass producers of popular culture and fashion styles call these scanty clothes: the newest style.  Is there a co-relation between immorality and these inorganic popular culture fashion styles, along with a lack of spiritual and physical discipline in American culture?  Personally, I believe female modesty of dress is very important to the overall structure of a healthy society, as females are the mothers of the Earth and their bodies are the temple through which life is created.  Women are not lesser than men in any form, and in reality the woman could be considered the most important gender within humanity.  Without the woman, the man (and humanity collectively) has no chance to develop or survive.  It can be argued and questioned whether Western culture, or more specifically the creators of inorganic popular culture, created the ‘Women’s Liberation’ movement as a required social evolution, or purposely designed to splinter the basic family structure and to hinder collective family advancement.  I would have to assume the answer lays somewhere in the middle.

A last thought concerning women in Islam is on the Quranic teachings of taking more than one wife.  This is often a point that is attacked in the West when Christian Zionists or xenophobic voices slander Islam.  Once again we must return to the historical point that several of the Quran surahs were produced during times of war, and in many of these early peninsula conflicts we find small numbers of Muslims greatly outnumbered on the battlefield against the Christian and Jewish tribes that were attempting to extinguish the new religious movement.  The taking of more than one wife in Islam was originally a community effort to provide support to the widows and orphans of fallen Muslims on the battlefield, not a pleasure-based motive as is perceived by modern Western Christian culture.  Although, what once may have been a noble effort for collective protection and provision, has certainly been tarnished over the centuries of history by various Muslim leaders and communities around the globe. Concerning this, I can only refer to the concept of cultural relativity and attempt to study the phenomenon in unbiased manner. 

An Orthodox Muslim would respond to my contemplations on Islam with the argument that it does not matter what my thoughts are, that all Islamic regulations are God’s divine law passed down through the last prophet (the gentile prophet).  We now arrive at the meat of the problem with the religion of Islam, which is overall a good religion with very positive moral elements.

Muslims believe that every word Muhammad spoke in the surahs were directly from God (Translated Allah in Arabic, the language spoken where Islam originated), a belief shared in some extent or another by members of all man-made religions.  Therefore, any attempted modifications made to cultural or social elements viewed as outdated norms and values from a 21st century Western perspective, such as excessive mandated dress codes, the taking of more than one wife, the restriction of music, and so forth are met with resistance and rejection leaving the most important moral pillars of monotheistic Islam guised as a religion wrapped in 7th century Arabic culture because:

A) Any modification would be going against the words of God divinely passed through the last prophet.

B) Any modification would challenge the assumption or belief that every word spoken by Muhammad was divinely issued by God (Allah).  Therefore, while the pillars of Islam are morally positive, we are still faced with 7th century Islamic mandated rules on women’s dress and music that discourage 21st century Americans from investigating the more important moral values of monotheism, zakat, the proper treatment of parents, the importance of modesty and humility, brotherhood and prayer (inner self-reflection), and most importantly improved collective morality.

Again, the Muslim will respond to my statements that these things are unalterable, because they were divinely revealed through the last prophet, and that I can follow the rules or burn in Jahannam (hell fire).  My daughters, I believe no organized religion to be 100% divinely revealed, and quite frankly believe that all human beings have the God-given ability to bring positive change to human society without the human conjured requirement of physical divine intervention from a creator outside of nature (a perfection created by that creator).  A creator that has created the many magnificent heavens and the marvelous earth, and all the mysteries and science in between, clearly does not error.  I hold the belief that divine positive revelation can develop naturally within man through spiritual contemplation, prayer, education and reflection.  The quantitate rules of natural science does not need to be stretched or bent in order for positive divine revelation to develop through humanity (God’s creation).

I have previously critically analyzed the discrepancies of Christianity and have pointed out the ethnic monopoly (to exclude the majority of humanity, which is gentile).  People take offense to criticism of their religion (because most humans are emotionally invested in their indoctrination, and many are quite obsessed with their individualism and emotionally need to believe in an continued existence in an afterlife), but as a father whom God has blessed with beautiful and intelligent daughters and has also blessed with the ability for critical thought and analysis, I would be a parental failure not to share my personal views based on my studies on each of these influential religions. 

The main instability that lacks verification with the Islamic ideology that the prophet Muhammad was divinely given each surah by God (Allah), and thus these laws can never be changed or adapted to modernity, centers on the New Testament, and the fact that Saul/Paul authored over half of the New Testament while the synoptic Gospel accounts of Jesus (and those gospels accounts of Jesus that were not included in church canon) have unverified authorship.  How can a rational person believe in the divinity of writings and declare them directly issued from God, when there is no evidence of the human author who spoke or wrote the words?  We already know that human beings are susceptible to lower base desires and error.  Many Christians, Muslims and Jews believe in evil spirits and demonic possessions, but do not pause to question the authorship of the Torah, Old Testament, New Testament or Gospels.  Is this rational?

At this point we have two considerations concerning the references to Jesus in The Quran, which offers the question on whether everything taught by Muhammad with divinely issued from God (Allah) from outside nature:

1) The possibility that both Saul/Paul and Muhammad were both divinely instructed by God on the accounts of the New Testament.  This would seem to be a problem because Saul’s alleged vision came from Jesus, while Muhammad’s instruction came from Gabriel and God with the teachings that Jesus was only a prophet, not God’s only son or God in human format.

2) The possibility that Muhammad was familiar with the teachings of Judaism and Christianity.  Judaism and Pauline Christianity had strong economic-political influence on the peninsula of Arabia where Islam formed.  I am unable to believe in the validity of Saul/Paul’s self-proclaimed vision on the road to Damascus, as I require more than a self-proclaimed vision of Jesus (who I already rationally accept as a great human teacher) by Saul; and I hold the view that Saul purposely created Pauline Christianity for the gentiles in order to maintain the ethnic monopoly on monotheism.  At the time of Jesus, Jerusalem was a great center of trade at the center of commerce between Egypt, the European Roman Empire and the East.  Many gentiles were becoming interested in monotheism at this time (Egypt and Europe were polytheistic in nature), and the revolution of Jesus’ teachings greatly enhanced the regional gentile interest in monotheistic Judaism even.  Let’s face it, being reputed as a special ethnic group favored by God has its economic and political incentives.  If the more populous gentiles were allowed to take over majority membership of the Judaic religion through mass conversion, what would the result be?  The monopoly would be dissolved.  I am unable to validate the New Testament and consider it created by political design.   

Muhammad’s first wife, Khadijah, was the daughter of a great trader in Arabia and often traveled with her father, trading with the Jewish and Christian tribes where she could not have avoided learning to some extent the Christian and Jewish religions.  I hold the belief that it was Khadijah that taught or familiarized the prophet Muhammad with the core values and beliefs of Judaism and Christianity, and that Muhammad, through natural revelation, developed the positive ideology of submitting to one God, the great moral lessons repeated in the Quran, the moral cleaning of the Arabic peninsula, and the morally pure early structure of Islam.  Therefore, despite viewing Muhammad’s teachings as excellent, if I believe that a portion of the basic teachings of Islam are based on Saul’s writings, I am unable to accredit the Quran as completely divine (outside of positive natural inspiration).

3) An alternate pro-Muhammad consideration could possibility that the divine revelation revealed to Muhammad was pure, and corrected the inconsistencies and corruptions of Saul’s writings which placed an emphasis on Jesus’ divinity for the gentiles to worship.  There is no question that Muhammad’s teachings took the religion of Islam back to the roots of Hebrew monotheism, and left Christianity the oddity of the Abrahamic religions.

My daughters, religion plays a very strong role in humanity and international politics.  I encourage you to study deeply into these religions from a rational and detached position in order to better understand the human element, to develop self-reflection, and to be able to predict and understand the views and actions of humanity.