West Bank Miracle Lamb

Palestinians in the West Bank believe that a lamb born on the day that Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was killed bears a birthmark in the shape of the Arabic word for God: Allah. This, of course, is being treated as a sign that God supports whatever it is that people already believed.

The BBC reports:

"This sheep was born in memory of the martyrdom of the great hero Sheikh Ahmed Yassin," the farmer [Yahya Atrash, from the West Bank town of Hebron] said. "We hope that the birth of this sheep is a lesson for the living in the same way... the martyrdom is a lesson for us here in Palestine." Many Palestinians travelled through several Israeli army checkpoints to view the lamb, who some claim also has "Muhammad" written on his other flank, after the Prophet.

Both Jews and Muslims in the region are read to see "signs" in just about anything that happens. God conveniently tells people exactly what they want to hear and supports exactly what they always wanted to do anyway. Never, ever, do we hear about someone receiving a "sign" from God that informs them that they were mistaken about something important and that they need to set their live on a new course. Why doesn't this cause believers to think twice about it all? Well, they don't seem to imagine that the existence of people finding "signs" that are the opposite of their own "signs" poses any intellectual problem for their positions, so I guess they just don't bother to give serious and careful thought to what they are doing.

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• Palestine and Israel
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