'Vulgarity and aggressiveness in language fuel a climate that brings out the worst in people and impedes efforts toward a peaceful coexistence. There is a terrorism of language, and you can kill with calumny,' he said.
'It is not a clash of civilizations, 'he said. 'I do not believe it.'
We also learn in the article:
Galantino was personally appointed to his leadership role in the Italian Bishops Conference by Pope Francis, in a rare move where the pontiff circumvented the usual elective process to name his own man.
I'm sorry if I offend Catholic readers, but I'm starting to question the sanity of the Pope.
The song prominently features a xylophone. Now the word xylophone is interesting. The word came to us via Greek xylon [wood] + phone [sound]. The instrument is probably an ancient one as suggested by the photograph below, but the name is actually quite recent.
Xylon also appears in the chemical term "xylene" because the molecule* was first isolated from wood tar.
The etymology link above mentions that the word xylon is the same as "the Cross" in the original Greek language New Testament. Curious, I looked into that. It turns out that the very symbol of Christianity has a contentious word history. The actual word used by the Greeks was stauros:
The word "stauros" occurs 27 times in the Christian Greek Scriptures (the 'New Testament'). This word has been consistently translated in the New World Translation as "torture stake" and never as "cross". It is the implement on which Jesus Christ was affixed and executed. Also, another Greek word was used by the Bible writers "xylon", as the same implement of execution in regard to Jesus, which denotes, "wood, a piece of wood, anything made of wood..." At those places where "xylon" is used in connection with Jesus' execution the New World Translation has rendered it as "stake". Is there any justification for the New World Translation to do this with these Greek words? link
The link goes into excruciating detail. I don't know what to make of it other than the Greeks wrote stauros [stake] and the Romans wrote crux [cross]. But surely there is plenty of extant evidence that the Romans did crucify as a primary means of execution?
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*Xylene is usually plural (xylenes) because there are three closely related (and hard to separate) xylene species designated ortho, meta, and para:
The Yazidi are on everyone's radar at the moment. I was struck by the mention of their religion as being "Zoroasterian-like." The "real" Zoroasterians, founded by Zoroaster (cf. Zarathustra of Nietzschean fame) were known to early Christians as the Magi -- see for example the 13th century story of The Fire Worshipers first related by Marco Polo.
The Sunnis of ISIS (or ISIL depending on what the meaning of IS is) despise the Yazidi, mostly because they identify their most venerated angel as Shaitan. Shaitan is a species of Jinn (associated with Barbara Eden in American culture) but despised by ISIS zealots for denying Eve's lineage. Go figure.
