As I have mentioned on several occasions, Islam is quickly moving towards becoming the dominant faith and political force in Europe. Three things that should give all non-Muslims a reason to worry and then one positive thing to ponder:
1. Father Joseph Fessio, Catholic Priest and founder of Ignatius Press, was interviewed on Hugh Hewitt's radio show yesterday. The interview was important in the insights it gives to Pope Benedict XVI's view of the rise of Islam in the West. One simple point, however, stood out as worthy of repeating here:
I think there are 98 Islamic countries in the world, and 97 of them do not have religious freedom . . . And that's what's going to happen to Europe. Once there's an Islamic majority, it is . . . going to eliminate religious freedom . . . and therefore, Western civilization as we know it.
Read the whole interview here and Hugh's excerpts and comments here.
2. Part of that lack of religious freedom includes the fundamental tenet of faith that, once a person has become a Muslim, they are never allowed to renounce it apart from being under a sentence of death. A corollary to this is that the freedom to practice other religious beliefs in Muslim countries is either restricted or forbidden. (Read more about this here)
3. Some radical Muslim gang members in England have apparently carried this concept even further, telling another youth, in June 2004, that if he did not convert to the Muslim faith by the following Wednesday they would kill him. On Wednesday the boy's mother heard gunshots coming from a nearby park and wondered if it might have been her son. It turned out it was. He had been shot to death in the head. This sort of threat has few historical precedents in Islam. But it does show the level of radical insanity that is accompanying this new, intolerant and lethal strain of grassroots Islamicism around the world.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Jeff
Well, well, well. It's only a week into 2006 and I can see someone either didn't resolve to stop cloaking religious bigotry in pseudo-intellectual religious critiques, or they did and have already fallen off the wagon.
Regarding your first point: the long and bloody history of Christianity is nothing to be especially proud of, particularly viz-a-viz Islam. What began with the Crusades was largely continued through Colonialism and the current neo-colonial policies of the United States in the Middle East. Which regimes do we count among our "best friends" in the Islamic world? Generally the most oppressive - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and - as long as it was Russian blood that they spilt - the Taliban in Afghanistan. Militant, fundamentalist Islam isn't the cause of tyranny in the Middle East; it's a symptom.
As for the deadly nature of the religion and its adherents... I suppose you've never heard of Timothy McViegh? The Branch Dividians? James Kopp? The Christian Identity Movement? Pat Robertson? And before you pass the buck to the followers, consider the following passages from the Bible:
Genesis 6:7, 17
Genesis 7:21-23
Genesis 19:7-8
Genesis 19:24
Exodus 17:13
Exodus 17:14-16
Pretty much ALL of Leviticus (though I have a particular fondness for Leviticus 24:16)
Numbers 11:1
Numbers 15:32-36
Numbers 16:20-35
Numbers 21:34-45
Deuteronomy 2:25
Deuteronomy 2:33-36
Well, we could be here all day, but you get the idea...
Your closing bit is priceless. Tell me, is overturning Roe v. Wade the first step in this bold new eugenics program to ensure the survival of the Christian Master Race? What's next, "The Handmaid's Tale?"
There's good reason for Western civilization to be afraid of the spread of Islam, and it has much more to do with the West's own reaction to it than anything else. As the Bush administration has already proved - we don't need the terrorists to destroy the things that make America worth fighting for. That's what the Supreme Court appointing our presidents, the Patriotic Act, manipulating intelligence on WMDs, running the economy with loans from China, and domestic wiretapping programs are for.
2 - Aaman
Another post where my comment has disappeared - what's going on?
3 - RJ Elliott
Interesting. I just had a discussion with a liberal friend of mine over global religious demographics.
I cited data suggesting that the percentage of Christians in the world would be in free-fall over the next 50 years (due to declining birthrates), while the percentage of Muslims would increase enormously. I also pointed out that many European nations would likely become largely Muslim in our lifetimes. And I further pointed out that the complete lack of assimilation of immigrants in Europe countries could lead to the collapse of anything resembling "Western" civilization in these countries.
He just kinda scoffed at the whole idea, and thought I was being very politically-incorrect about the whole thing.
Sigh...
4 - Dave Nalle
My comment here disappeared too. As did one I made on another thread. I think someone had to go to a backup of BC.
Dave
5 - Aaman
Repeating and expanding,...
Will this happen? Maybe - demographic forces are stronger than most
Should we worry? Maybe, probably not - Islamic empires have been rather more stable (The Ottomans, The Mughals) than others, and while their rise involves bloodshed and pillage (which empire doesn't?), they seem to be conducive to creativity, progress and science once stablized.
I had a comment about no Islamic ruler has killed 6 million people yet, but realize it was fatuous - all organizations/empires/states tend towards fascism, with its ills
6 - RJ Elliott
Well, I'm not exactly eager to see what life would be like under an "Islamic empire"...
But I can tell you that life is pretty good under the current secular Christian "empire"...
7 - Dave Nalle
Aaman, the 1.5+ million Armenians killed by the Turks are at least in the same league as Hitler's 6 million or so victims. Any substantial genocide is pretty much beyond the pale of acceptable conduct.
As for Islamic empires, the Caliphate and the Ottomans were relatively benevolent with minority religions - far moreso than modern Islamic governments have been. They were hideously corrupt and despotic, but had a kind of live and let live attitude. The problem is that the character of Islam has changed a lot in the last couple of generations and modern Islam is unlikely to be nearly as easygoing once it's institutionalized.
Dave
8 - RJ Elliott
I suggest the following two (long) articles:
Victor Davis Hanson
and
Mark Steyn
9 - Aaman
Modern Islam has had the force of money behind it like few religions since the medieval Church have, it's been relatively restrained, I would say.
That being said, it will be interesting which force will have greater effect - demographics or economics - in our generation.
It's unfortunate there are next to no Muslims willing to debate these issues here on BC. That, however, will not be a problem on desicritics
10 - SFC SKI
As with the other article, the problem with using a few examples or the religious (or irreligious) as representative of the whole does more harm than good to the argument.
11 - Bird of Paradise
I find it sad that Nazi Germany is used to support the moral equivilency of Christianity and genocide.
In point of fact, the Christian faith posed such a threat to Nazi-ism that Hitler was forced to co-opt and purge the German churches of their leadership before he could even begin his "final solution."
Nazi-ism was denounced by Christian leaders in Germany as being completely against the Christian faith as early as 1935 as can be seen in the still-remarkable document known as the Declaration of Barmen.
Some 2-4 million Christians were murdered in Nazi death camps along with gypsies, homosexuals, invalids, the elderly and, of course, the well-recognized 6 million Jews.
Those who operated the underground resistance against Germany on the European mainland and who sheltered and protected Jewish people were overwhelmingly devout, practicing Christians.
As far as the many atrocities committed in the name of Christ or under the authority of so-called Christian nations over the centuries these events have been repeatedly confessed, repented of, acknowledged, repudiated and, in many cases, atoned for by Christian churches and leaders as well as the nation's that participated in them.
I still await the day when Muslims and Muslim nations do likewise as regards their historic misconduct.
The many ruins of Byzantine era churches and communities in the Middle East and North Africa did not come about because of the demise of Christianity but because of the physical and violent imposition of Islam as it swept across these areas in the 7th and 8th centuries.
What had once been an almost universally Christian population became, within little more than two centuries, almost exclusively Muslim.
It is a stretch of the imagination to believe that this change ocurred willingly and voluntarily.
Were the Crusaders wrong to attempt to reclaim these lands from the hands of those who had conquered them and occupied them by force?
Were the Crusaders wrong to attempt to defeat an enemy that persisited in their efforts to destroy Christian civilization in Europe?
Historically there was cruelty and honor demonstrated in both sides of thise conflict.
The Christians have acknowledged where their behavior was contrary to the fundamental tenets of their faith.
With no similar apology coming from the Muslim world one can only wonder if they sincerely believe that they have nothing to apologize for....and that their behavior was, even at its worst, consistant with the fundamental tenets of their faith.
12 - SFC SKI
Aaman, did India have a problem with exremist Islam between 1947 and now?
Also in your opinion, is Kashmir more a territorial clash amplified by religious diferences, or a pure jihad?
13 - Jess Turisch
Way to tow the party line regarding Nazism and Christianity. Too bad that's all it is. Anyone who's read "Hitler's Pope" or has an ounce of common sense knows better.
BTW, the holocaust claimed nearly 22 million lives; the 6 million Jewish victims just get the most press.
14 - Aaman
Kashmir has roots in the origins of the Bangladesh uprising, which India supported covertly, and Pakistan saw as a betrayal - the current (old) generation in Pakistan is resolved to 'pay back' - there are local nationalistic feelings, but which region doesn't have them? For other reasons of identity and to divert local opinion away from poor social progress, Pakistan funded separatist movements.
My father has 'drunk the milk of two mothers', as he used to say, and I find it personally offensive to see anti-Muslim (or anti-Christian) propaganda, whether it is cloaked in the garb of intellectualism or jingoism.
15 - Purple Tigress
Religious freedom is a relative notion. In theory we have religious freedom here, however, that originally meant religious freedom for most Christians.
It is not easy being a non-Christian and a non-Jew in the US. It is not easy looking Arab in the US either. I have friends who can verify this.
If you are going to look at the tenets of Islam, I suggest you quote their Holy book, the Quran.
Further, if one is to judge a religion by the radical segments of that faith, then surely you should also be quoting the radicals of the Catholic and Christian faith as well to make a good and equitable comparison. To do otherwise is to give a biased view.
16 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
No matter how you slice up the shwarma, Islam has a different status for non-Moslems. Where they rule, they impose Sharia (except for Turkey and possibly Indonesia)law which means that if you are a Jew for a Christian, you are a second-class citizen - a dhimmi.
This is fact.
Non-Christians in a Christian society may or may not have it good - it varies with the locality and the century. While Nazism itself condemned Christianity, it was Christian anti-Semitism that plowed the soil for a strong and hardy plant of Jew hatred to grow in Europe. And it was that plant of Jew hatred that allowed the Germans to succeed so well in wiping out one third of my people.
But Jess Turisch is right - WWII claimed 22 million victims.
17 - Jess Turisch
Ruvy, how is being a dhimmi any different for a non-Muslim living in an Islamicist state than being a Palestinian Muslim inside of Israel right now?
From public, verifiable information online (www.ifamericansknew.org - among others) they both sound like Apartheid regimes based on religion rather than skin color.
Does the numerical superiority of Palestinian Muslims in Isreal and its conquered, occupied territories somehow justify this butchery, or make it any less tragic than the horrors inflicted on innocent Israeli Jews by Islamic extremists?
18 - Richard Brodie
Islamic empires seem to be conducive to creativity, progress and science
The following link is the best debunking I've seen of the myth of Islamic "creativity". It's a letter from an Assyrian in response to Hewlet Packard's ex-CEO, Carly Fiorina, concerning a speech in which she puked up the usual bullshit glorifying Arab science, mathematics, engineering, etc.
19 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Jess, to answer your question in detail would take time that I need to devote to writing a piece for Blog Critics. Getting your information from sites like If Only America Knew and its brother sites is like getting your food from the rear end of a cow.
All you'll do is eat shit and all you'll spew forth will be what you eat. MY answer to you is that a fool proclaims himself to be fool.
If you want to criticize Israel from a realistic point of view, get your head out of the shit bucket and get some real information. Visit BarryChamish.com. Barry Chamish is an Israeli patriot - but you will NEVER read anyone more harshly critical of this country.
20 - Jess Turisch
Well, I can see that objective dialogue goes out the window as soon as fully referenced sources come out.
The "shit" you refer at ifamericansknew.org are statistics from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID); the World Bank; and the CIA Factbook (among others). I suppose Barry Chamish is more a more reputable and reliable source of information because he's a patriotic Israeli Jew?
There's a fool in the mix here alright, and I think you're him.
21 - RJ Elliott
Quick, unscientific poll:
Would you, personally, rather live in Israel, or Gaza/West Bank?
Would you rather live under the laws of Israel, or the laws of the Palestinian Authority?
Would you rather your neighbors be Israeli Jews, or Palestinian Muslims?
22 - Bird of Paradise
Purple Tigress, Sorry to make such a belated reply. I have been away on a two-day retreat and just returned home.
I can understand that it is not an easy thing to live in a nation that is grounded in a different cultural and philisophical (Judeo/Christian) world-view (over 85% of Americans identify themselves as Christians) when you are of both a minority faith and a minority race. It is hard not to feel "different," "disconnected" and "unaccepted" by everyone else under those circumstances.
I wish I could give you an encouraging word but that would only sound condescending. I can only say that the United States is enriched by its diversity. Immigration has been the fuel that has kept this country growing and prospering since its beginning. While it is vital that each person be able to maintain their personal heritage, culture and identity it is also vital that each person who establishes permanent residency and citizenship also adopt the identity of being an American, including the affirmation of the foundational truths of our unalienable God-given rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness (as stated in the Declaration of Independence) and the manner in which those rights are both protected and adjusted for the benefit of a just and ordered society (as articulated in the Constitution).
Those living in the United States who cannot personally affirm those principals will, by their own choice, be "aliens in a strange land."
I'm not saying that all Americans are "color-blind" but I will say that there are many other countries in the world that are less accommodating, welcoming and accepting of people of diverse races, beliefs, cultures, etc. than this one.
It is, of course, always an advantage to be a member of a "majority" group (just ask anyone who has ever lived in Utah!). But, as one who has sponsored Laotian refugees to the United States from refugee camps in Thailand, I believe that those who have the will will find a way in the United States. In some cases (such as the Laotian) it may take several generations to adapt. But it does happen.
As long as a person respects the law, does not seek to undermine or destroy the American foundations of freedom and equality under that law, and does not seek to blow me to pieces, I will embrace them and welcome them and support them as both an American and as their new neighbor.
Fortunatly I am not alone in these sentiments. Unfortunatly there are a few who do not share them. For these, I apologize to you if you have experienced bigotry or intolerance. In this country, and according to the basic tenets of my faith, this is wrong.
By the way, you state, "...if one is to judge a religion by the radical segments of that faith..." I was not aware that I was judging the religion of Islam. I was critiquing a spreading sect within Islam that has publically declared war on my country and the values of freedom that it represents...a threat which includes the forced imposition of Islamic sharia over the entire planet.
Yes, I will judge such a belief and I will judge those who advocate and advance such beliefs.
I will do so in the same way that I judge those who promote "anti-semitism" or racism or bigotry in the name of Jesus Christ and the Christian faith as well.
The only Muslims that I could possibly have upset in my article would be those who support the beliefs of those I have criticized. For them I make no apology.
As long as my Muslim friends refrain from supporting this particular "version" of the teachings of Islam and the Qur'an, they will remain my friends.
I frequently criticize Christians (see Pat Robertson for example) but that does not mean that I am criticizing Christianity!
Aloha, Peace, Shalom & Salaam
23 - Shark
Father Fessio: "maintain ...our fidelity to family life, and our fidelity to fertility and fruitfulness in marriage."
1) Ironic coming from a "celibate"
2) wonder what he'll say when the world population reaches around 15 billion and his Catholic sheep have to start shearing each other in order to eat....
3) Time we told these irresponsible medieval motherfuckers with no marketable skills (imams, preachers, rabbis, priests, etc) TO SHUT THE FUCK UP.
And get a real job.
24 - Bird of Paradise
Shark, Thank you for the kind vocational advice. I had no idea that being a pastor disqualified me from protection under the First Amemdment or that my holding personal religious beliefs was so offensive to folks like yourself. Please forgive me for my ignorance. I submit to your wisdom and will be forever grateful for your thoughtful and articulate guidance in this matter.
25 - Mike
didnt tell me what I wanted!