Holy Land Foundation trial

FOR BACKGROUND INFORMATION SEE THE POST BELOW FOR JULY 15.

(Note:This posting is entirely too personal, but I have freedom of speech, too--HAK).

The PBS report originating from KERA in Dallas yesterday would have led one to believe that a) because the courtroom is packed with the Muslim family and friends of the defendants, the Dallas police and Homeland Security have brought in reinforcements in case there is "trouble"---even four "mounted" police standing watch on their magnificent horses (a magnificent the Appaloosa mare, which I covet) across the street---never mind that the defendants and their families have not been charged with a single act of violence;

and b) the prosecution presented a logical case in their opening statement.

Last night over dinner, a friend asked me what the "golden rule" is. I spouted it back to him, of course (being a good Christian who went to Sunday School as a child). He said, "I have a better one---the platinum rule: do unto others as they WANT you to do unto them!"

He asked me why I have, as he put it, "gone over to the other side." It's because I can do nothing else---that the one who spoke the Golden Rule in my tradition said I am to love my neighbor. And the "founder" of my church (Martin Luther), in his Small Catechism, explained the Eighth Commandment like this:

"We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light."

So much for needing the Dallas police to send in the troups in case of trouble.