More Of It

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Yesterday's topic of the Fox journalists brought much commenting... and got me a bit up in arms about the seemingly obvious fact that islam is THE problem in our world. Believe it or not, there are still people trying to question that.

Fortuitously, the great Mark Steyn has weighed in and said with his trademark eloquence what others cannot.

[[ But Centanni and Wiig’s brief interlude as practicing Muslims is revealing in a larger sense. Ever since 9/11, the western multicultural mindset has been desperately trying to swaddle Islam within the fluffy quilt of diversity. It’s “just” another religion, like the Congregationalists and Episcopalians. To be sure, it’s got a few hotheads, but haven’t we all? Sticking with this line requires an awful lot of brushing under the carpet and there’s so much under there by now it looks like a broadloomed Himalayas. For a start, you can’t help noticing the traffic is mostly one-way: In Dr Mahathir’s country, where a long English Common Law tradition is under sustained pressure from sharia, a lady called Lina Joy is currently enduring death threats and a long legal battle because she committed the “crime” of converting from Islam to Catholicism.

Well, that’s Malaysia for you. But how about Michigan? Nazra Quraishi, a kindergarten teacher at a local Muslim school, wrote to The Lansing State Journal last month as follows:

“Islam is a guide for humanity, for all times, until the day of judgment. It is forbidden in Islam to convert to any other religion. The penalty is death.There is no disagreement about it. Islam is being embraced by people of other faiths all the time. They should know they can embrace Islam, but cannot get out. This rule is not made by Muslims; it is the supreme law of God.”

That seems clear enough, doesn’t it? In 1951, Eric Hoffer, America’s great longshoreman philosopher, wrote:

“The manner in which a mass movement starts out can also have an effect on the duration and mode of termination of the active phase of the movement.”

Christians and Muslims are both “people of the book.” But there’s a difference: Christianity started out as a religion of the weak, held by the lowliest in society and advanced by conversion and example, independent of the state. A distinction between religion and temporal power is embedded in its founding narratives. Compare the final words of Jesus to his disciples, on the day of his ascension …

“Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

… with the final words of Mohammed to his disciples:

“I was ordered to fight all men until they say, ‘There is no god but Allah.’” ]]

Yeah... that pretty much sums up what most of us simple folk have been trying to say.

Please read it all... I insist.

Achilles' Heel

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