THREE WORLDS DIARY
The Islamic Threat? Norway Reaction
Will Europe be taken over by Muslims? Is Europe in danger of Islamic terrorism. The attacks in Norway this week (which most assumed would be attributed to Al-Qaeda) turned out to be an attack by an ultra nationalist-Christianist. On this week's episode of GPS, Fareed Zakaria pointed out that in Europe over the past two years, only .3 (yes, that's .3), and 1% of terrorist attacks were done by Muslims. The rest have been done by separatist groups and nationalists, having nothing to do with Islam. As I've written before, the trouble with Osama Bin Laden's vision for an Islamic theocratic government ruling Europe and the World is that it is difficult to get people to submit to anything--especially religion--and more so when it is done by force. Christians teach in original sin and rebellion (separation) from God. Therefore it should be no surpise that even in the Islamic world, attempts to force Islam down everyone's throats is not working.
Drug usage ( a way to escape confining societies) drugs, and atheism, are at all-time highs in the Middle East. And birth rates by Muslims in the Middle East and Europe are declining now). And then, as I've mentioned before. There's porn which has become endemic throughout Islamic lands. Even Osama had his little porn stash.
Western media makes it sound like it is so easy to indoctrinate people into becoming Islamic terrorists. When in fact, people abhor having religion (any religion including Christianity) shoved down their throat. Increasingly there is secularization and atheism throughout the Islamic world.
And Western Europe which has secularized Christianity can easily do the same to Islam and very well might.
And Muslim-born activist explains why she is now an atheist:
"I suppose people can go through an entire lifetime without questioning God and a religion that they were born into (out of no choice of their own), especially if it doesn't have much of a say in their lives. If you live in France or Britain, there may never be a need to renounce God actively or come out as an atheist. But when the state sends a "Hezbollah" (the generic term for Islamist) to your school to ensure that you don't mix with your friends who are boys, stops you from swimming, forces you to be veiled, deems males and females separate and unequal, prescribes different books for you and your girlfriends from those read by boys, denies certain fields of study to you because you are female, and starts killing indiscriminately, then you have no choice but to question, discredit and confront it - all of it. And that is what I did."
Once this Norway attack blows over, there will be more straight-line projections about the future of the Middle East and Islam. But let's not forget that thus far, in this very volatile era where Fundamentalist Islam is very much hostile and under threat, the number of attacks was .3%
Something to think about on occasion.
Anti-globalization movements (of which Al-Qaeda is just an Islamic version) may be the bigger threat, particularly as the divide between rich and poor increases dramatically in the coming days (although--as pointed out a few weeks ago on this diary--the poor will be wealthier than the poor of any previous era).
Speaking in Columbus, Ohio on Wednesday
I am giving a talk on Wednesday. See details here: The talk is from 11AM to 3:30PM with a lunch break. The presentation will revolve around findings "Mosaic" as they pertain to the Church of God internationally. It will also discuss the creation of Three Worlds as a response to the international challenges.
"A Sort of Homecoming"
Greetings from San Jose, Costa Rica. We are down here visiting my father. It's been great to be down here. We try to come back every 2 years so that Marco can see his Grandpa--and we usually stay 7 days. This time we are here for 14 days which is nice. We took my Dad and his wife Julia to the beach this past weekend. We usually go to the same beach every year, but this time we tried a new place. I think we all agree that the old place is better, but it was nice to have a change of scenery--literally. We headed out to Tamarindo far out on the Northwest "arm" that extends out into the Pacific Ocean. It was not far from here that I used to go to the beach with my parents as a kid Marco's age. We often went to Playa Hermosa and we had to cross 52 rivers to get there. Oh, no bridges either.
Many of these rivers were very deep and had strong currents. I remember a few rivers nearly covered our entire car. The water would be at about the window level and we'd be pulling a Mazda van behind our Land Rover. It was truly wild. But it also seemed normal.
Now, there are nice paved roads that go to these beaches and the drive is anywhere between 90 minutes and 6 hours. Costa Rica has always done a poor job when it comes to infrastructure, so compared to Thailand (another tourist, tropical paradise) it has very bad, slow roads. But the roads that are here now are far better than what we had in my childhood.
Jamie always enjoys her time down here, and Marco really loves it as well. SInce he is 1/2 "Tico," (Costa Rican) I'm always thrilled that he feels so comfortable down here and feels like it is one of his homes.
Not many great photos to choose from. I'll post some soon. My Dad says "hi' to all those that ask about him. Of course my Dad was famous for being in the Anderson Trumpet Trio---The Beatles of the Church of God. People still always stop me wherever I go and ask me how my Dad is and if he still plays the trumpet. Yes, he lives down here in Costa Rica and still plays his trumpet--and gives Marco free lessons.
Funny Marco Quote: In Costa Rica
So we arrive in San Jose, Costa Rica and as we enter the airport terminal Marco looks around at all the Costa Ricans and says: "Finally! A country where they won't think we look like terrorists!
I left my heart in San Francisco
I really did leave my heart in San Francisco. We lived here when I was younger and I think I was deeply impacted by the multi-cultural environment. Almost everyone in my class were first generation immigrants to the USA, myself included. You could see people from around the world every day throughout the city. We attended a black church in Oakland and a long love oaffiar with 70's soul and funk was born. I think my obsession with strong bass lines started here. The Asian influence convinced me to study East Asia and led me to live there for 11 years (in South Korea and Hong Kong). And living in the most scenic city in the U.S.A. made every other place seem dull. Being back in SF has been a blast. We passed through here with Marco once but he doesn't remember too much. This time he is old enough to experience the city. You could spend weeks discovering the Bay Area--a couple of days was not enough, but we tried to maximize the time. I got spoiled here. Became determined to not live in boring places. And I spent tons of time at the airport with my Dad watching the planes take-off and land from countries I was absolutely determined to visit when I grew up. My Dad was always up to watching the planes land with me for hours at the airport.
I guess I never really thought about how many of my dreams, values, and goals were formed during my time here. But it has all come flooding back as I take Marco and Jamie to key sites where my life was deeply impacted. I knew my Asia fixation started here, but I didn't realize how many other things started here as well. I remember watching the 747 British Airways planes take off and being determined to one day get to know London inside out--and it is now my favorite and most visited place. I spent my birthdays at the SFO airport because that's what I wanted to do on my special day instead of have parties. I just wanted to watch planes and dream of the day when I would see the world.
Wow. There's a strong sense that it I've come full circle. I thank God for the many opportunities I've had and the dreams that have come true. But nothing has been more rewarding in life than my wife and son, and to share it with them has been special.
Thank You California!
We're back from California. We had a wonderful time visiting our supporting church in Citrus Heights--Antelope Road Church of God. It was great spending time with Pastor Pringle in his home (Marco got to swim with their dog!), and our hosts Warren and Pat were amazing! We love you guys. We then headed to Diamond Arrow Camp to speak 4 times about Three Worlds. Thank you to all who turned up for these 4 sessions.
We left Diamond Arrow and California deeply moved and encouraged by the kind words of encouragement from the people, and the support for Three Worlds. This was really our first time to present 3W to the church in the USA, so we thank all the folks from Arizona and California who were such an encouragement to us. It was a great way to end the first year of 3W and begin the start of year two.
Our speaker was Pastor T. Dougherty of Boise, Idaho. Dougherty was chased by a bear one night during the camp. We're not kidding. He pulled a ham-string running from a bear. His room was next to ours, so apparently the bear followed him back to our room area and was outside. We were all asleep. So the story is funny. But I have no idea what my reaction would have been if I had woken up, looked outside my window and seen a big black bear. What would that have been like? I have no idea.
But it didn't happen, so it's just funny and there were many bear puns from everyone throughout the weak. It was "unbearable." Well if you know T. Dougherty, you know that there are only 2 people in the world that would get chased by a bear at a church camp. Tom and his brother Dave who was my first mentor/internship experience at Hoodview CHOG in Woodburn, Oregon. It's actually quite a fitting story for Dougherty to get chased by a bear. So the Tom story will go viral on the internet and we want to make sure it stays that way.
Lots of love to all the people of California and Arizona.
Tomorrow we head "home" to Costa Rica to visit my Dad for 2 weeks. This is our vacation time. Usually good internet connection where we live is non-existant or rare so we may slow down so response to email may lag for a few weeks. But the small group of magical elves that work for me (not the 3W team) will be posting a few more things on the web in the coming days. It will be great to see my Dad after a long time, and for Marco to have some time to play and bond with Grandpa. It doesn't happen often with our life so it's important. After that, it's back to Germany.
Here's one last, lousy, over-exposed photo for the road.
Finally, a Good Picture!!!!
Hey, this diary has been around for 9 years or so---and everyone knows I am an awful photographer. But finally, I got a good picture. It's only the 2nd good picture I've ever taken in my life. The first is on the front page of this website---a picture of the final stop (the end of the train tracks) in Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland. So here is my 2nd ever good photograph taken. Behold the beauty! Of course, this was taken in Sedona, Arizona where even a blind chimp could take a nice picture. It's the Richard Gere school of photography, but still....praise me!!!!
San Francisco & Sacramento
We left behind the super hot weather of Phoenix and landed in San Francisco where the temperature was about 75 degrees. We had some time as a family to enjoy Fisherman's wharf and visit some of the places where I grew up--including my old elementary school. I hoped to post some pics, but I haven't had the opportunity to do that--so I will try in the near future. We then traveled to Sacramento to visit Antelope Road Church where my grandparents and my Aunt and Uncle attended. As a child, we made many visits to this church. The church is doing really well and is very globally-minded. We had a great reception which included a BBQ at the pastor's house. We are staying with the Popps family who have known the Nachtigalls since---the 19th century I think. Our families go way, way, way back. Warren and Pat are awesome hosts. They even came and visited us in Hong Kong.
Now we are packing up and getting ready to go to the Northern California CHOG camp at Diamond Arrow. I haven't been there since 1980--but I remember that it was beautiful. Everyone raves about this camp. We will be speaking three times over the course of the week. They say internet coverage and even cell phone coverage is spotty to non-existent up there, so diary entries may be light.
What on earth? What are people supposed to do? Hang out in nature, talk walks, and canoe on the lake? For crying out loud.
It's been great being back in California. My first time since a brief sojourn to L.A. and San Diego in 2009. I forget how awesome California is and how much I miss it.