The War On Christians

Newsweek 18 February 2012 published an article with the above title by a 42-year-old woman who escaped Somalia in 1992 and lived in the Netherlands. She speaks 6 languages and served for a time as an MP in the Netherlands. She now resides in the United States. To read her bio, go to http://imdb.to/zAeaYp . (Her bio is, perhaps, the most interesting part of this post.)

In recent years, the violent oppression of Christian minorities has become the norm in Muslim-majority nations stretching from West Africa and the Middle East to South Asia and Oceania. In some countries, it is governments and their agents that have burned churches and imprisoned parishioners. In others, rebel groups and vigilantes have taken matters into their own hands, murdering Christians and driving them from regions where their roots go back centuries.

In Nigeria, a Muslim organization called Boko Haram is spearheading the thrust to eliminate Christians from that country. In the month of January, Boko Haram was responsible for 54 deaths. In 2011, its members killed at least 510 people and burned down or destroyed more than 350 churches in 10 northern states. They used guns, gasoline bombs, and machetes. They have attacked churches, a Christmas Day gathering (killing 42 Catholics), beer parlors, a town hall, beauty salons, and banks. They have so far focused on killing Christian clerics, politicians, students, police officers, and soldiers, as well as Muslim clerics who condemn their mayhem. While they started out by using crude methods like hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes in 2009, the latest AP reports indicate that the group’s recent attacks show a new level of potency and sophistication. Boko Haram has stated that its goal is to kill all Christians in Nigeria.

This kind of mayhem has been evident in Sudan, Egypt, the Middle East, Pakistan, the Punjab, Saudi Arabia, and Indonesia. To read more about this, go to http://bit.ly/ApSjFU.

State Department to Defend Islam Against Free Speech

The Wall Street Journal reported on 5 December on page A-17 that Hillary Clinton has invited the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to hold a conference in Washington to discuss ways in which governments can prevent their otherwise free newspapers from criticizing Islam. She has said that the conference is to build “muscles of respect and empathy and tolerance” into Western societies that criticize Islam.

For more than 20 years, the OIC has pressed Western governments to restrict speech about Islam. In 2009 the OIC issued fatwas calling for free speech bans, including “international legislation” aimed at protecting “the interests and values of [Islamic] society,” and for judicial punishment for public expression of apostasy from Islam. Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu emphasized that “no one has the right to insult another for their beliefs.” (I wonder if Mr. Ihsanoglu thinks that no one has the right to KILL other people because of their beliefs!)

The OIC does not define what speech should be outlawed, but its leading member states’ practices are illustrative. These states are in the practice of severely punishing de facto “insulters” of Islam and condoning the attack upon their lives and families by Muslim vigilantes.

Civil society must vigorously protect the freedom of its press and of its speech. Any religion or world view that is worth its salt should stand in the strong winds of public criticism and prove its value by open debate. All religions of the world must stand and protect themselves publically, answering the following questions: Which religion teaches us to love our neighbor? Which religion teaches that we should tolerate differing opinions peaceably without resort to violent means for winning converts? Which religion convinces people to believe by means of persuasion rather than force?

Any religion that fails these questions must resort to such agencies as the United States State Department and to legislative coercion in order to protect itself from open debate.

Furthermore, I do not believe that our government has any business meddling in the freedom of our press or speech unless that expression is openly subversive of law and order in our society. Clearly, open criticism of Islam in the press of a Western nation is not disruptive, nor has it advocated overthrow of government based on religion. On the other hand, I cannot say that Islamic regimes have not advocated overthrow of non-Islamic governments. Islam has claimed suzerainty over governments in order to take complete control of them by their religion.

The Golden Rule in Islam?? Not a chance!

Howard P. Kainz of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin writes in First Things March 2011, page 10:

“In my research, I have found that there are clear cognates to the Golden Rule in Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Judaism but that Islam mandates reciprocity and amity only among fellow Muslims—not with unbelievers. In fact, one finds in the Qur’an the exact opposite of the Golden Rule. For example, Surah 48:29 reads, ‘Muhammad is the messenger of Allah; and those who are with him are strong against unbelievers [but] compassionate among each other.”

Quran—A Dangerous Doctrine

I am making a careful study of the Quran; and I am increasingly concerned with the frequency of admonitions in that book that encourage Muslims to resort to violence in order to promote the cause of their religion.

The Quran, itself, is difficult to read. It consists of a collection of recurring themes in an apparent jumble of text without any ongoing stream of logically flowing idea. The themes that repeatedly recur are ideas that magnify Allah and show him to be “all forgiving and all merciful,” along with many other complimentary names. The book has some admonitions toward moral behavior and commands for integrated family life, erroneous historical accounts from Old Testament sources and other references to historical events from Muhammad’s own life and times. Mixed in with the above are many admonitions and commands favorable to violence against the enemies of Muslims and of Allah, himself. Followers of Islam are guaranteed passage into paradise where there will be very pleasant surroundings—all in response to the good things they do in this life. They are especially favored if they slay unbelievers or are slain in the act of killing enemies. There is no mention of kindness to enemies or to unbelievers—all these are relegated to punishment until they pay the “jizyah,” a tax on unbelievers that allows them to live in peace in a Muslim community. Especially prevalent in the pages of the Quran are erroneous statements about Jews and Christians—claims that these two religions add gods to Allah. The Quran claims that Jews and Christians have changed the books that were originally given to them by God in order to make their religions look better and to justify their pagan beliefs.

I think that those who would claim that Islam is a peaceful religion should read this book and then make their claims, because this doctrinal statement is disturbing to the MAX.