Contrary to general thought, Christianity has quite a strong presence in Syria. Ever since its early years, Christianity has had its roots in Syria. Damascus is where St. Paul escaped from the Jews by being dropped through a window in a basket in the Via Recta. St. John the Baptist's head is said to be located in the Umayyad Mosque, which used to be a church. St. Simeon the Stylite lived on a pillar for about 40 years to get closer to God. Last but not least the villagers in Maaloula still speak Aramean, the language of Jesus (P). There are several Christian communities, who on a whole constitute approx. 8% of the Syrian population. Christianity in Syria is divided into three parts. Catholic Churches, Orthodox Churches, and the Protestants. The Catholic Churches are divided into the following: Greek Catholics, Syrian Catholics, Armenian Catholics, Chaldean Catholics, Maronite Catholics, and Latin Catholics. All have their own Patriarch, although the highest position is the Pope in the Vatican. The Orthodox Churches are divided into Greek Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, and Armenian Orthodox. These Churches also have their own patriarchs although the Armenians are under the guidance of a Patriarch in Armenia. Protestants are few and are under the guidance of a Thinodus (A level of Priesthood).
http://www.washington-report.org/backissues/0399/9903081.html Few Westerners know much about Christianity in Iraq. Many have heard in passing about a Christian presence in Baghdad. Some have seen television news reports with images of Christmas trees or old stone church buildings. Some even are aware that Christians play a role in the Iraqi government, including Tariq Aziz, deputy prime minister. Yet who are the Christians of Iraq? What is their story? Today there are nearly half a million Christians in Iraq, about 5 percent of the countryâs population. They comprise a variety of churches: Assyrian Orthodox and Assyrian Catholic; Syrian Orthodox and Syrian Catholic; Armenian Orthodox and Armenian Catholic; Greek Orthodox, Latin Catholic, and Protestant denominations.
JEWS, MUSLIMS, CHRISTIANS, SATANISTS, CATHOLICS, PROTESTANTS, SNAKE WORSHIPPERS BLAH BLAH BLAH AD INFINITUM... IT'S ALL THE SAME BULLSHIT! MONKEY BRAINS CLINGING TO IRRATIONAL BELIEF SYSTEMS... THIS IS THE REAL PROBLEM! GET YOUR HEADS OUTA YOUR ACES FELLOW EARTHLINGS!! IF WE ARE GONNA LIVE TOGETHER ON THIS PLANET EARTH WE NEED TO START THINKING CLEARLY!! THIS SUPREME BEING CRAP HAS GOTTA STOP! ONLY WHEN WE RENOUNCE GOD (OR WHATEVER YOUR FLAVOR)AND ADOPT HUMANISTIC VALUES WILL BEGIN TO MATURE AS INTELLIGENT BEINGS!! AND LIVE IN TRUE PEACE!
lol, you obviously have a devout and absolute BELIEF ( faith ) in the absence of God. He He...there's a hypocrite born every minute.
Disbelief does not make one a hypocrite. "GOD" is a pain in the ass. He's been a pain in man's ass for quite a long time now. Time to kick his ass out and make our way back to common sense and reason.
I NEVER said that "we should kill more arabs because they hate us"...NEVER...show me where I came close to implying this. I clearly said that I think that the Palestinians have been treated poorly by the Israelis. I clearly said it was shameful that the Palestinians seem not to want peace and have scared the Israelis into backing a bad and belligerent leader (Sharon) because they have been led to believe that Arafat and Hamas and the leaders of the Palestinians understand nothing but force and strength. I think this is sad. I KNOW FOR A FACT that these leaders, on both sides, do NOT represent the feelings of the majorities ON BOTH SIDES. I believe the people they lead all wish only for peace (with obvious exceptions on both sides). I don't know how I could have made my position clearer. Yet you accuse me of saying something, believing something I am strongly AGAINST!!!!!! I absolutely believe the Palestinians should have their own state. I absolutely believe they could already have had it. But for Arafat refusing to accept the Camp David Accords, they would now have their own nation. They did NOT have to agree to the accord as it was written. They could have said..."ok, it's a start...let's negotiate from here". But instead, they rejected it and declared "infatadah". No one gets 100% in a negotiated settlement. But peace is not the objective of these fanatic Palestinian leaders. Nor do they truly represent the majority of the Palestinian people, who just want an end to the fighting and a peaceful existence. And once again, I believe that the Palestinians have been used as pawns of the neighboring Arab states as an excuse to vilify Israel. If not, why then were the Palestinians never accepted into the countries, the societies of these other Arab states in which they had been confined to refugee camps? Why did they not take up residence in Jordan? Obviously the leaders of these arab states NEEDED the palestinian issue as an excuse to stay at war (hot and cold) with Israel. It is always politically advantageous to have an enemy. And you talk about Israel occupying the left bank and Gaza. Yes, they do. But they wanted to return those lands. Along with the Golan Heights. And the government even now is trying to reverse and cease settlements "THEY SAY ARE ILLEGAL IN THESE AREAS" now held by jewish settlers. But Syria occupies Lebanon. Why is not one word ever mentioned about this? Why is it OK for an arab country to occupy what was a sovereign state, and it is not ok for Israel to "occupy" land it obtained in a war of self defense? Who started the war in '67? 73? 48? 56? ..I have asked you this too many times, and not gotten one answer. And what was the objective of the arab states in starting these wars? Again, you have managed never to answer. As far as Morocco, and Algeria, Tunisia, etc., I just said yesterday that the arab nations BORDERING the "holy lands" are the nations that have no freedoms and strive to exist in the past. (There are exceptions...Libya is no bargain). Even Egypt has come a long way. A very long way. But at such a cost. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned from this. Sadat paid with his life to advance Egypt from the very dark days of Nasser. And yes, Rabin paid with his life too. The extremists will do anything to avoid peace. It is time for the peace loving majority to say NO to the extremists....not to fear and cater to them because of their fear. True patriots will die for their cause. But those who die for their cause by dying in a way that takes the lives of innocent civilians and children with them are desperate cowards of the saddest kind. And those that encourage them (Hamas, Arafat) are worse even than the suicide bombers themselves. Peace, rs7 PS: "Saints and Synagogues? I did not know there were jewish "saints"...explain this to me. I am intrigued.
you talk as though the spanish were a separate group from the visigoths, which is simply untrue. the visigoths (among others) are the spanishfor practical purposes.. and i'm sure that if the moors weren't defeated in france they would've happily came to such "favorable terms" (what a freakin joke) with the rest of europe (the world) right? talking nonsense as usual.. of course you have quite conveniently skipped over the fact that the arab/muslim expansion DIDN'T take place as nearly as peacefully as you say it did even through regions of north africa... and i suppose you've heard of the ottoman empire right? i wonder by what magic you're going to explain that that was a peaceful expansion too... oh, and since you're so fond of quoting 20th century events, does the little event known as the Armenian Genocide mean anything to you? 1,000,000+ armenians slaughtered by the peaceful islamic empire of the turks?? ( not saying religion had everything to do with it, but you can't deny it played a role (large)) i'm not sure why you find it so difficult to admit to such obvious facts of history. so what! they happened! nothing you can do about them now... just face it if it makes it easier, everybody also knows what a pack of murderous scum the catholic expansionists were too... so i'm being pretty fair about it...
I have intentionally stayed out of all these discussions but cannot restrain myself any longer. As an active member of a small but flourishing New York-based community of Visigoths, I will not sit back and let my heritage be dragged through the mud with false claims and assertions. If you want to pick on someone, the Ostrogoths would be a good place to start.
HA! I never told my boy this, but he has been dissing me by not calling home like a good son. He has Vandal blood (from his father's side of course) in his veins. So I think it is highly inappropriate to be so arrogant about his Visigoth heritage. Even I, who can honestly claim to be 61/64ths pure Visigoth have a bit of Ostrogoth blood in me. And I am proud of it. I have heard wonderful things about my ancestors on the Ostrogoth side of the family. Totila that wonderful jokester, is actually the source of my boy, MrSubliminal's great sense of humor. I have often heard relatives say how they couldn't help but think of the old boy every time MrSub acted up and made people laugh at family gatherings. MrSubs' Mom