Christians in the Middle East Under Attack? So It Would Appear.

http://bikyamasr.com/62210/christians-angry-as-saudi-grand-mufti-calls-for-churches-to-be-destroyed/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Who is this guy to say it is “necessary to destroy all the churches of the region”?!  Why doesn’t he focus on his own country and mind his own business anyway?    “Imagine what would happen if a Christian counterpart to the Grand Mufti, say the Pope, were to declare that all mosques in Italy must be destroyed; imagine the nonstop Western media frenzy that would erupt, all the shrill screams of ‘intolerance’ and ‘bigot,’ demands for apologies if not resignation, nonstop handwringing by sensitive politicians, and worse.” (Raymond Ibrahim)

“The Saudi government needs to change its own intolerant ways before it can promote religious dialogue abroad.” (Christoph Wilcke, a senior Middle East researcher at HRW (Human Rights Watch), referring to a Saudi-funded “centre for interreligious and intercultural dialogue” established in Vienna last year.)  Hear! Hear!

Thank God the people of Oman are not as intolerant as their neighbors!  And here’s another fine example of “tolerance” from another of Oman’s neighbors, Yemen: http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/18/world/meast/yemen-american-killed/ 

Makes it seem like Christians in the Middle are under attack.  Here is an article about that very topic, not from some western publication like CNN or BBC but from Al Jazeera.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Unusual

To find pictures that would adequately represent the “unusual“, I knew right away which album I could find a few from…my album from last summer’s unforgettable 2-month vacation in the Philippines!

This unusual flower, native to the southern province/island of Mindanao in the Philippines is called The Mickey Mouse Flower for obvious reasons.  They are so colorful and last for months so people string them up in their homes as decorations.  While in Davao, we saw a lot of these being sold on the side of the road.

Another unusually beautiful flower native to Mindanao, Philippines

This is definitely what I’d call an unusual tourist attraction.  This spot, known as The Montfort Bat Colony, located in the Montfort Cave on the Samal Island in Mindanao, Philippines is the largest colony of Geoffrey’s Rousette Fruit Bat (Rousetteus amplexicaudatus).  As per an estimate from Bat Conservation International in 2006, the population of the Montfort Cave was approximately 1.8 million.

This creature is the Philippine Tarsier.  What makes them appear so unusual (like a gremlin!) is the fact that they are very small animals with enormous eyes.  I was very fortunate to get this photo as tarsiers are extremely shy animals!  They lead a mostly hidden life, asleep during the day and only active to look for food during the night.  The sun was just going down when I captured this photo.

This critter is the Asian Palm Civet, which is like the Asian counterpart for the North-American Raccoon.  What is SO unusual about this animal, you might be asking?! Well, check out this highly unusual and disturbing way that they use this animal to make coffee..

“The Heavenly Coffee“, they call it!  Did you read that?  Did you get what they said there?  Coffee beans that “come out” of that animal are used to make coffee!  Why on earth would anyone ever imagine doing such a thing to prepare coffee beans anyway?!  Nasty!  You can be sure that this was one tourist item that I did not fill my carry-on with!  😉  Talk about UNUSUAL!