Friday, June 26, 2009

Ana Kefr: A One Band War on Religion

I was browsing in a nearby chain bookstore today in an uncharacteristic place. Instead of looking through the science or computer books, or looking to see if Dan Brown has published his 5th book yet, I was over in the Philosophy/Religion section.

And I found something interesting had happened there at some time in the past.

Leafing through Lee Strobel’s The Case for Christ: A Journalist's Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus I found that someone had inserted a leaflet in the book. And considering the kind of book I was browsing through, at first I took it for a religious tract.

But it was far from a religious tract.

It was a very unique message from a heavy metal rock group called Ana Kefr.

Here it is below (click to enlarge):

Then I looked in another nearby book promoting Christianity, and I found another one. Then in a copy of the Holy Bible, another one. Then in a book on commentary on The Torah, another. But in a book on archeology of the Holy Land, none.

So it appears to me that a heavy metal rock group, one that is actually based in California, seems to be planting warning notices in books about religious faith, warning potential purchasers that “the contents of the book were entirely fictitious,” and that adherents to the religion “advocate ethnic cleansing, misogyny, slavery, misanthropy, bigotry, ignorance . . .” etc., etc.

So I took one of the leaflets, as you can see, and came back to do a little research, finding their MySpace website here.

And then I figured out what “The Infidels Rise” at the bottom of the leaflet means. Ana Kefr is not the name of some girl that got stoned for being raped or something, the words Ana Kefr translates from Arabic as “I am infidel.”

An infidel is an unbeliever.

So it kind of makes sense.

This band dedicates itself to unbelief in all religions, campaigns against organized religion, and named itself appropriately. Now I am not even close to being a fan of metal music, but this band seems to have its narrative put together, and a message to deliver.

Literally.

How it is that their leaflets found their way to a bookstore in Texas is something that I am unable to fathom, however.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kudos to Ana Kefr, finally someone publicly stands up to the corruption of religion.

Anonymous said...

I don't think religion are the only names on the bullets in their guns.

Ana Kefr said...

This is great. Thanks for the mention, Mr. Hal. We're just spreading the 'good news.' :)

Ak

MetalSensi said...

Awesome story.. I've been listening to Ana Kefr for a while now, they are very good and do have a powerful message.

Anonymous said...

is this for or against AK?

Hal said...

Definitely FOR, Anon. I am marginally attracted to metal, but I am old, OK? I like a group with a narrative. Ana Kefr has a narrative. I discovered it accidentally.

My discovery was personally ironic, and if you read the theme of my blog, you will discover that I love irony.

The irony here is that Texas is virgin ground for Ana Kefr. And that makes me smile.

Anonymous said...

ok thanks cause the way things are worded it almost sounds like your against AK.

Anonymous said...

Ana Kefr is truly my favorite band, they make sense unlike a lot of other bands, they play music that actually means something. I'm glad someone else relizes that.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Hal, we recently made a video and mentioned your blog in it a couple of times. Hope you enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olQT5nv4h2w
_
Ana Kefr

Anonymous said...

It it true that in the name of religion, there have been way too many atrocities commited. Too much blood shed and hipocracy... but that is religion, not a Relationship with our Great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. Furthermore, the Bible is truly the inspired word of God. It is not a book designed to deceive or to keep people in line. It is a love letter to the human race. Jesus died for everyone so that we can have eternal life. If I am wrong about that, then you win. If I am right about that, it hurts my heart to think about what will happen to your soul when you die. I am very proud of your musical talent, don't really agree with your lyrics and can't understand half the things you sing, but you guys have a future. Please make sure that future includes eternal life in Heaven. God will always love you and is always there waiting for you... Follow Him and live forever!

Anonymous said...

I appreciate you not being condescending, Anonymous, and thank you for the kind words about talent and music, I really do appreciate it - especially since it's coming from someone who disagrees with the message! But a love letter to the human race? If this were true, it would have to be the most sadistic form of love ever conceived!

1. The Bible tells parents to murder their children for disobedience. (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)

2. The Bible tells believers to slaughter those who question the faith or try to reason with you. (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 says to kill a whole town over one nonbeliever; Deuteronomy 13:7-12 says to kill even your own family if they try to convince you to leave your faith)

3. Jesus, the 'prince of peace,' speaking in parable, said to bring his enemies before him so that they might be slaughtered. (Luke 19:27) What ever happened to turning the other cheek or the Golden rule, two things that happen to be good advice?

4. God's command to slaughter all the tribes (and, in many instances, endorsing rape and the slaughter of innocent children and animals) in ancient Palestine to keep the Hebrew bloodline pure and to give over the 'Promise Land' to his 'Chosen People' is no different from Hitler ethnically cleansing Germany of the Jews to secure the ethnic purity of the 'Mother Land' for the 'Master Race.'

I understand that many people see in Christ, or any other God figure, some form of hope and the giving of meaning to life, but there exists a deep denial about the content of these faiths. If the Bible were a constant beacon of love, hope and tolerance, then I wouldn't really care what people choose to believe. However, it churns my stomach when it is claimed that it is some kind of love letter because, as the Bible says itself - Love is patient, kind, long-suffering, endures all things, is not jealous. I see no patience, kindness, long-suffering or endurance of all things in the command of a self-proclaimed jealous God to engage in wholesale slaughter of people. The God of the Bible operates on the same morality of Al Qaeda - destroy the nonbeliever and engage in world conquest in the name of an allegedly good god.

Yes, we can separate the believer from the faith, but when the faith is the reason for the maniac believer then we must stop and look at the content.

The thing that makes me sad is that many great, intelligent, kind people - people I'm sure as yourself - adhere to these beliefs and willingly excuse and apologize for what are, in all honesty, absolutely barbaric morals and beliefs.


PS - and if the Bible is truly the inspired word of God, why did God get facts wrong? Was God ignorant?

Claiming the mustard seed is the smallest seed in the world when the orchid seed is the smallest (Matthew 13:31-32)? And getting something as crucial as mathematics wrong with an inaccurate calculation of Pi (1 Kings 7:23)? It is either all love and truth, as people say it is, or it has cracks and is a purely human document. Clearly it must be the latter.

Obylysk said...

All of the scriptures mentioned are from the Old Testament. . .after the death of Christ there was no need to shed to blood of children because Christ shed HIS blood to cleanse sins. Now we are not called to kill the nonbeliever but we are called to separate ourselves. And a lot of times scriptures are taken WAY out of context.

Obylysk said...

Also concerning the mustard seed. . .quoting the scripture "which is indeed the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest AMONG HERBS". He was saying that the mustard is the greatest seed of herbs not of all plants or seeds.

Anonymous said...

Pete, I find it pretty humorous that you chose to ignore the verses that you can't find an argument for - Jesus' blatant hypocrisy regarding the Golden Rule or something as essential and universal as mathematics.

I find it less humorous, and more horrifying, that you find no problem overlooking the point that God condones/condoned genocide, infanticide, ethnic cleansing, murder in general. Apparently the wholesale slaughter of human beings doesn't get a rise out of you, but pointing out the inaccuracy and lies of your religion does. That's sad. If only you'd react stronger to something as disgusting as ethnic cleansing and a religion that essentially sees the world through similar eyes as the Nazis - if only.

There is no taking anything out of context when Jesus said that he came to turn families against one another, that he came to bring a sword and not peace, that his enemies should be brought before him so that he could kill them. This is your Prince of Peace? If that is the Prince of Peace, then Osama Bin Laden is the Prince's right hand man.

And, for the record, unless you've studied the Bible in its original language - as I have - then you have no leg to stand on. There are so many mistranslations in the KJV and NIV and any English versions. Simple things, like the true translation being that it is easier to get a ROPE through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. The difference between the word for 'rope' and 'camel' is one dot over a letter.

And "among herbs" is a later addition. The earlier versions have none of that. In fact, if you did some research, you'd find verse after verse after verse of passages that were added much later, additions made by a totally different author in a totally different time period. But, of course, you'll still believe this is the word of God.

Luther Powell, Jr. said...

Half Empty, thank you for sharing this.

ilovechristianmetal said...

Nothing u say will Chang my belief

ilovechristianmetal said...

I still believe in the bible