Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Taxi's

A recent development started happening at the MSP airport in the last couple years, people would buy alcohol at the duty free stores and then bring it with them as they left the airport in clear plastic bags. Hailing a taxi, they would be turned away by the Muslim driver because in Islamic law it is illegal to transport alcohol. This left the passenger to wait for the next driver. Being that now 3/4 of the taxi drivers at MSP are Muslim, some passengers were left for a number of taxi's in a row.

The solution that the MSP transportation committee came up with was a two light feature that distinguished whether a driver was willing to transport alcohol. This, in the eyes of this opinion http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCommentary.asp?Page=/Commentary/archive/200610/COM20061011a.html , this would be a issue of Islam forcing itself on law. " Namely, the two-light plan intrudes the Shari'a, or Islamic law, with state sanction, into a mundane commercial transaction in Minnesota." (A side, I notice that he uses the term intrusion, yet never mentions separation of church and state.)

The author brings up the issue that if this goes through (it was later repealed) where will it stop. Will it be used to keep people off buses? Will it be extended to women showing skin and hair? He then goes on to say that the MSP commission went to a Islamic bod y, the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society, for consultation. From there he starts to state that this society has plans to make the US into a Islamic state.

He uses this as his reasoning for not wanting the two light system. That he views it as a vehicle for Islamic thought and law to be brought into the realm of politics and law. That this is a "stepping stone" (my phrase) to other areas or a "domino effect". hmmm, why does that sound familiar? The term domino effect was used in response to the beginning of the spread of communism. That attitude started us on a path of seeing trouble and trying to "fix" it in countries and regions where we were not supposed to be.

The same attitude is now being compared with how we are seeing trouble in the "axis of terrer (to put it like bush pronounces the word)." We saw that issues started in the world then became internal issues, then spread to the world again. The soviet union is created and a cold war develops between us and them. This turns to internal fear of Communism the "Better dead than Red" phase. The US then started to try and counter communism from developing in countries, getting us into wars We have the situation starting again. And if authors and people with similar thinking become the norm, we could be heading down a road that is worse off than the one we are on now.

I agree with the author's main point that the new system is wrong. But our reasoning is completely different. His argument is that it would give Muslims an "in" to the law system. And that the worst thing that can happen in this world is for us to be understanding and respectful to others beliefs (my own sarcasm). My reasoning counter to his argument is that a separation of any means is the wrong route for this country to go. Counter to his "in", I see it as an "in" for another group. A group that would use this as the opposite, not to go along with one groups beliefs, but to separate that group out and distinguish it. Putting a light on the top of a car may seem like a good idea, but what happens if we have someone disturbed coming through and they now have all their "targets" lit up for them.

Soon we could be marking everything that has to do with every religion, people would have to wear their religious symbol on their shoulder so that everyone knows what things they can do and what they can't do. We would have crosses, crescents,

and even little gold six pointed Stars of David.

CHANGES!!!!!!!

hey, just updated to the news version of blogger,

Had to change the format, I may spend some time later changing it around a bit.

let me know how you like it.


other news, Iowa State - Iowa Game is tomorrow ... oh today, man I need to get to bed. Go Cyclones!!!

Laters

Minjung theology

well pretty interesting day today.

I have a prologue week class this week. It is called Theology in Context. It has been a interesting class, if a bit overwhelming, just because they have covered a subject a bit and then the next day covered something else. While they are connected to each other, it is just a bare minimum of information about the subject and a whole semester probably could be used for each.

The subject today was Theology, and also Lutheran Theology. In our second session of class today one professor Paul Chung talked about Lutheran Theology and Lutheran Theology in Context. The part that really interested me was the Theology in Context, Professor Chung talked about different contexts that Lutheran Theology has fit into. One area was in Japan dealing with the regards to the "Social reality of post-Hiroshima Japan." and the work of Kazoh Kitamori, a Japanese Lutheran Theologian. Kitamori used the term turasa to define the relationship between God and Jesus and also between God and the people that suffered and died because of the bomb. Turasa is a Japanese term that refers to the Father's pain over the death of the son, not just pain but extreme agony.

Chung then turned to Ahn Byung Mu, the father of Asian minjung theology. and it relationship with turasa. Minjung deals with Jesus's connection and solidarity with ochlos a Greek word meaning crowd, usually a poor crowd, (vs Loas meaning the people or regular normal individuals of society). It challenges turasa by asking "Who was there in Hiroshima?" Chung then talked about minjung meaning "the poor mass" and "Han" (outcry of victim) and how the relationship with God is based on God hearing the "Han" or the outcry of the victims.

The problem now arises that we did not delve into this any further, Chung stated that he talks about it more is his book Martin Luther and Buddhism. I look forward to learning more about this subject and how I can use it.

My first reaction was the thought that "Can it be modified to the change that has happened in the US with regards to 9/11?" It is a subject that would be interesting to ask Professor Chung during the class.


well, that should give you something to chew on for a while,


laters

Why 24 hour news stations are not news but entertainment.

Ok, this is quick. I was just flipping through the channels and saw that the President was on. As usual I then switch between channels to see if there are better angles or coverage. Of the 4 big 24 hour news channels only two (CNN and Fox News also C-SPAN but it is not news) had the president on. This is a live speech by Bush about Katrina and New Orleans, the most damaging storm in US history on the one anniversary. the other two channels? (CNN Headline news and MSNBC) well they were reporting on the Jonbenet Ramsey case, which the guy they just talked about for a week is found to not have done it. well that certainly seems more important. A case that is 10 years old and still not solved. Go news!!!



laters,
Erik

Ok I guess that I can only have 4 pics per update Well these are the last two, they are of the shelve that I made in the living room.

Pics from apartment

These pics are from my apartment the first ones of when I was moving in the second are of two new shelves that I made yesterday.

Finally updating, greek and baseball

Hey all, yep I have finally updated, been awhile.


Well, I am now in Dubuque, IA. I have been here since mid July. Started Greek at Wartburg on the 20th and have three days left now. Well two and a half, we have class on Monday and Tuesday and then get our test after class on Tues. We have to turn it in by wed at noon. Greek has been fun, but intense. The course is a full years worth in 4 weeks. we have three hours a day in the morning and a test every week. I did decent on the first test and really good on the last 4 which is what I expected. The first week I spent most of my time working on vocab and the alphabet and not much on sentences, once I had the new alphabet down I could look at sentences more and get more practice.


Well, I was watching the Twins last night, it was a really good game but the cable I have does not get Fox Sports North or another channel that carries the Twins broadcast team, so I had to deal with the White Sox team, and to be polite, THEY SUCK!!, they are not terribly bad at play by play and color commentary, besides focusing on the White Sox and having no stuff to say about the twins, but really makes them bad is the continuous catch phrases they use.

After every homerun by the Sox "YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD ... YES!!!"

After every strikeout or big out "HE GONE!!"

and when saying the scores between innings before going to break "bad guys 8 sox 7"

And the fact that his nickname is "Hawk" seriously get a better one.

well the game went well, it was annoying when the twins kept on letting them back into it.

ok, laters

2 things

Well I have two bits of news from the world of Erik the Super Awesome.

They are good and bad,

The Good: I just got a note from Wartburg Seminary saying that I received the Campus Ministry Leadership Award Scholarship. This is awesome!!! I might be able to afford it now (ok, I could have anyways, but this certainly helps keep loans down) So I am pretty excited about that.



The Bad: I just heard that my good friend Alice's Grandmother was diagnosed with lung cancer just this last week, she did not find out about it until Thursday because her mother did not want her to ruin her birthday which was on wed.

So definitely keep Alice and her Grandmother in your prayer's.


laters,

Leo Kottke

As you know I took as my Lenten Discipline giving up TV, during this time I started to really listen to A Prairie Home Companion. I had listened to Leo Kottke before and really enjoyed him. When I found out that he was a frequent guest of the show, I started to look up the shows that he was on.

I found the song, Twice, on an episode from Jan 8th 2005. It is incredibly done and despite what it says on his first album cover, he actually has a very nice voice. His first album states that his voice sounds like geese farting.

umm yeah

Here is the link to the show, the segment with Twice is number 5.

http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/2005/01/08/

If you listen to the whole show, the Croatian singers are very good and interesting as well.


Laters,

Hey all, today I bring you pictures from my visit to Wartburg Seminary in Dubuque , IA. I really enjoyed my day there and will attending there in the fall. Starting with Greek in July. As you can tell, it was an absolutly beautiful day there.















View from the back parking lot













Through a break for a view of the clocktower

















Inscription on the wall
"Gottes Wort und Luthers Lehr' Vergehet nun und nimmermehr"
"God's word and Luther's teaching will never pass away."

















Statue of Luther in middle courtyard













View from down hill near living area's