Restructuring work

The bad news is I've not done any restructuring on my blog since 2012. Probably missed this one due to the blog shutoff between august 2012 - Feb 2013.

Good news is thanks to the shutdown, I didn't get to write a lot of articles so the restructuring work should be easy.

So far, I've update the index under the Zaydi and Battriya sects here
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Couple of articles have been added under the index Batinis especially about the Qaramite sect

Couple of update under the Kharajites and Waqifa sects

As far as what's not being updated are articles about Shia, Sunni, Mutazila or Salafi. Articles on these sects tend to grow the most on my blog because I've most interest in writing them. You should be able to get to everything about these sects via the header on the top of my blog.

References
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/p/index-to-shia-pages.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/p/other-sects.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/p/kharajite-sufi.html

Unpleasant tasks ahead

End of the year is generally when I restructure my blog.

The process takes a long time and sometimes that's not very pleasant for me.

Afterward, I create a summary of written articles, what I've accomplished this year and what my visitors like to see on my blog.

While I can see the value of going back through each of my posts and linking them to indexing pages for easy retrieval but this work can also be a waste of my time; my time could be better spent writing new articles rather than revisiting old work. Besides, my earlier research about Islamic sects has almost nothing to do with most of my recent posts which are generally about politics, social, current events and sometimes completely random stuffs.

I definitely will continue my work in researching other sects but I don't plan to delve too deep into any single sect. I do feel the need to keep my sects related materials only at introductory level.

I also believe that some ideas (religious or non) are very interesting and I pursue them because doesn't matter what is the origin of it, if it's worthwhile then we should learn and know it.

References
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2011/12/restructuring-blog.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2011/12/this-is-taking-longer-than-i-originally.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2012/01/finally-done.html
http://researchintoothersects.blogspot.com/2012/01/end-of-year-report.html

Just like everything else in Christianity

Christmas also has nothing to do with Jesus or Christianity. It was supposedly a pagan holiday related to the winter festival related to a bunch of superstition. I’ve seen efforts by some apologetic Christians to de-link Christmas from the stigma of being a ‘pagan’ holiday by quoting a bunch of vague and obscure narratives/snippets about early Christian’s festivity and passages from the bible to give a ‘Christian’ spin on the holiday. Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, really depend on how you choose to look at it, Christmas is soo commercialized nowadays that no one really cares about the religious or the pagan significance of the day.

While the western world has standardized Christmas to fall exactly on Dec 25th, other Christians like the Orthodox Church prefer to celebrate Christmas on January 7.

Noteworthy comments

I sometimes get very interesting and thoughtful comments from my readers. I, of course, don't get to respond them in a timely manner because I sometimes disappear from my blogs for days or weeks, I'm busy working on other interesting topics, due to a diversity of topics on my blog I may not be in the mood or ready for that comment or I may ignore it for a while...only because I know I'll respond better when I'm not tired, hungry, sad or lazy.

A recent noteworthy comment that you may want to check out is in this topic

I do appreciate my readers who take the time to read and respond to my articles. Don't get upset if we don't see eye to eye on most issues.

Ancient religions apparent contempt and hatred against homosexuals

Ancient religions (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism...etc) have zero tolerance against homosexuals or the act of homosexuality. These religions view homosexuality as a grave sin because it's an unnatural act because god created male and female for marriage and procreation because doing it any other way will cause a huge destruction in the world.

If you are living in a place where everyone thinks alike, and if everyone is completely opposed to the idea itself, then you probably wont think twice before agreeing/siding with the majority. That's why, whenever you sees these surveys done on population living in Muslim countries, the result from every single one of them seems to indicate that the majority of Muslims have a very homogeneous views/opinions/perspectives about life in regards to the teaching of Islam.

However, when people are living in a society that doesn't emphasize too much on living according to the ancient scriptures but places a greater emphasize on equality, respect and protection under the law for everyone then people generally tend to adopt a more moderate philosophy/approach to life. It's like, hey! he's living his life and I'm living my life. He doesn't bother me so I shouldn't bother him.

The main dilemma for religious people living in a non-traditional setting/ environment (secular nations) is the question of whether to accept/reject homosexuals/homosexuality.

I've observed that deeply religious people, no matter where they live, can never be convinced to accept homosexuality because religious people are always very susceptible to bias that are already built into their belief system.

I've been following this topic with interest.

Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), joined a broad interfaith coalition, calling ENDA a measured, common sense solution that will ensure workers are judged on their merits, not on their personal characteristics like sexual orientation or gender identity.[1]

As expected, a lot of Muslims see this action as a betrayal of Muslim's trust and the Islamic faith; How dare they claim to represent Islam and Muslims but go for the very act that has been strongly condemned and forbidden in Islam. That, seems to be the general consensus by people who are completely and totally opposed to the very idea of homosexuality.

However we see differing views/opinions by Muslims who think that there needs to be a greater tolerance and understanding and that we shouldn't really be very judgemental or promote self-righteousness.

I'd say that homosexuality is undoubtably a test - it is still experienced as a test by non-religious people in cultures where there is no longer punishment for gay sex and there is a level of accommodation for it. I would also say that it is not just a test for people who find themselves in that reality, but a test for all people. That more witnesses are required for sexual trangressions than murder has always been striking to me, and i think this is a reflection of the fact that when it comes to sexuality we are hugely compromised by our emotionality regarding it - the ego very much gets involved. We are disposed to use it as a vehicle to attack people, whether its a spurned suitor, a jealous wife or husband, a vindictive divorcee or the fear of rape or abuse or 'abnormality' that influences how we perceive and treat others. So when we are faced with issues around homosexuality it is a test - we can either let fear, ignorance and digust lead the discussion or we can attempt to manifest in ourselves virtuous qualities as we attempt to understand what it is we're actually talking about and what the sources actually say on the matter and how they can reasonably be understood and reconciled with other evidence that can be witnessed and measured. See ShiaChat user Ruq in post #151:

I'm not able to do a detail analysis of the topic or the posts. Please read the original discussion to form an informed opinion, whenever possible.

Reference
[1] http://www.shiachat.com/forum/topic/235018864-isna-supporting-sodomite-agenda/