everything is moving like whipping winds. i’ve been back in new york for about 24 hours now, but in thirty minutes i have to leave for the airport to catch my flight to Honduras. i’ve been excited about this trip all semester, but now that it’s here, i wish i could have a little bit more time to be alone before plunging into all the work, laughter and camaraderie. there are so many things to think about. i just spent about forty five minutes hurriedly writing down all my thoughts on the church burning issue that’s going on at home, but i didn’t finish the post because there’s just too much to say and i have to go soon.

but the gist of what i want to say is that there is a difference between a muslim issue, a malay issue, and a political issue. why don’t proponents and opponents of the matter at hand stop to ask, exactly how does this new ruling or the removal of it benefit my race and religion? nothing else really moves besides the position of the party that quickly rushes to represent the change in law. before we accuse another religion of being hypocritical and violent, we should examine how exactly it is that we represent non-hypocrisy and the love of peace if we are so quick to judge, form assumptions, and badmouth (and not just in recent times, either). and before we accuse another religion of stealing what ‘belongs’ to us, perhaps we should understand what exactly the other side of the argument is before blindly stating ‘what’s ours is ours’. what exactly is this ‘what’ that belongs to you?

as always, this seems to be less of an issue surrounding the love of god than it is an issue about power trips and the need to have special rights above others. let us remind ourselves of why this culture of loving special rights (and on the flipside, hating these rights) is so endemic in our country. the fact of the matter is that it is NOT just a word. it’s a very legit battle that needs to be understood before we start taking up firebombs or going onto blogs and screaming that certain races/religions should be wiped out because their religion is more hypocritical or more violent than ours. the question that has been floating around but has yet to be answered: why is it that only malaysian muslims have a problem with other religions using the word Allah, whereas muslims in indonesia and the middle east do not? what exactly does Islam gain if other religions do not use the world Allah?

so much to say but no time. talk soon, folks. it’s sunday tomorrow and i’m particularly interested in knowing what the messages in church are going to be like. keep me posteddddd.

see you in a week! i’ve asked someone to guest blog, so hopefully he will, if he’s not too lazy. he’s got lots of things to say about the church issue i am sure. :)