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Islamic Double-Standards
WND.com ^ | 01-22-04 | Farah, Joseph

Posted on 01/22/2004 5:33:22 AM PST by Theodore R.

Islamic double-standards

Posted: January 22, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

I've never been one to defend the French, but it seems to me Paris is getting a bit of a bad rap from the Islamic world these days.

Muslims throughout France and around the world seem to have become fixated on the nation's decision to ban religious symbols in public schools – including the hijab, or head scarves worn by Muslim girls and women.

There have been massive demonstrations and rallies around the globe over this "abuse of religious freedom."

What I find so amazing about this story is the shameless way the Muslims point with horror at this religious abuse in France while ignoring how their own societies deny even the most basic rights to other religions.

In Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam, no religious expression outside of that practiced by Sunni Muslims is permitted. There is not a single church in the country. There is not a single synagogue. Prayer by Christians and Jews is not even permitted in the privacy of their own homes.

Throughout the Islamic world, those practicing other faiths are persecuted severely – even killed for their beliefs. In Taliban Afghanistan, age-old Buddhist statues were destroyed as pagan idols. In the Palestinian Authority, the public schools teach children to kill Jews.

Yet, the Islamic world has the audacity to speak of religious freedom being restricted in France because of headscarves?

Don't get me wrong, I think the French act is despicable. It is not so much a result of the government's distaste for religion. It is that the country has adopted an official religion and is determined to shut down any competitors.

The official religion in France – and increasingly elsewhere in Western cultures – is secular humanism.

An example of the secular holy war under way in France, for instance, was a speech last month by President Jacques Chirac heralding the new law banning – not just Muslim headscarves, as news reports often suggest, but all signs of religious expression. Chirac said if France succumbed to the demands of its religious communities, "it would lose its soul."

Lose its soul?

What is a soul?

I always thought a soul was the immaterial essence of a human being, the spiritual component that transcended life on planet Earth and lived on for eternity.

It's interesting that a materialist like Chirac would use a theological term in this context.

But, nevertheless, France is not denying life and limb in its secular fatwa against non-secular expression. It is merely fighting back against what it sees as false religions. The one true faith in France is secularism. Any other is counterfeit and needs to be restricted to expression in those quaint little houses of worship. There is little room for them in secularism's houses of worship – the government's schools.

Much of the Islamic world, on the other hand, is denying life and limb as well as free religious expression.

That's why it is so amazing that Muslims are protesting France's policies all over the world – even in places where non-Muslims are being fiercely persecuted for their faith. And these Muslim protesters have the audacity to protest in the name of "religious freedom."

Do all people have an inalienable right to practice their faith or don't they? If they do, why don't the Muslims first pull the beam out of their own eyes before criticizing the cinder in the eyes of their neighbors?

Even more astonishing than this obvious double-standard in the Islamic world is the fact that I am the first to point it out. I have read dozens and dozens of news stories on the hijab controversy and have not run across even one person willing to point out the hypocrisy of the Islamic protesters who are silent when it comes to persecution in their own lands.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; buddhism; chirac; france; hijab; islam; palestinianauthority; religiouspersecution; saudiarabia; secularism; sunnimuslims; taliban; thesoul

1 posted on 01/22/2004 5:33:23 AM PST by Theodore R.
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To: Theodore R.
Saudi Arabia - Conversion by a Muslim to another religion is punishable by death. Bibles are illegal. Churches are illegal.

Yemen - Bans proselytizing by non-Muslims and forbids conversions. The Government does not allow the building of new non-Muslim places of worship

Kuwait - Registration and licensing of religious groups. Members of religions not sanctioned in the Koran may not build places of worship. Prohibits organized religious education for religions other than Islam

Egypt -Islam is the official state religion and primary source of legislation. Accordingly, religious practices that conflict with Islamic law are prohibited. Muslims may face legal problems if they convert to another faith. Requires non-Muslims to obtain what is now a presidential decree to build a place of worship

Algeria - The law prohibits public assembly for purposes of practicing a faith other than Islam. Non-Islamic proselytizing is illegal, and the Government restricts the importation of non-Islamic literature for distribution.

Jordan - Has the death penalty for any Muslim selling land to a Jew.

(All information is from US State Department Human Rights Reports)

I could go on with more examples.
2 posted on 01/22/2004 5:36:40 AM PST by 2banana
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To: 2banana
Almost makes me want to buy some land in Jordan just to see if they will enforce their law.
3 posted on 01/22/2004 5:39:48 AM PST by thoughtomator ("I will do whatever the Americans want because I saw what happened in Iraq, and I was afraid"-Qadafi)
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To: Theodore R.
Religious freedom to a devout Muslim is a one way street.

Since they are the chosen people of this time, they believe that they should get preferential treatment.

Non-Muslims are pagans.

Islam will suffer the same fate as Nazism eventually, with a little help from our "friends".

4 posted on 01/22/2004 5:50:25 AM PST by CROSSHIGHWAYMAN (I don't believe anything a Democrat says. Bill Clinton set the standard!)
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To: CROSSHIGHWAYMAN
Where is A.N.S.W.E.R when you need em?
5 posted on 01/22/2004 5:54:10 AM PST by Dallas59
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To: Theodore R.
In Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam, no religious expression outside of that practiced by Sunni Muslims is permitted. There is not a single church in the country. There is not a single synagogue. Prayer by Christians and Jews is not even permitted in the privacy of their own homes.

That has been true as long as I can remember.
Why is it just now being "descovered" and deemed "significant"?

I have based my view of islam, and the "religion of peace and tolerance" though that reality since before 911... and laughing.
And the idiot ignorant fools continue to "support" "palestine" and other loser muslim places.

6 posted on 01/22/2004 5:58:22 AM PST by Publius6961 (40% of Californians are as dumb as a sack of rocks.)
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To: Theodore R.
What's the life expectancy of someone wearing a yarmulka in Tehran or Damascus?
7 posted on 01/22/2004 6:07:28 AM PST by tdadams
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To: Theodore R.
I never thought I would stand up for secularism, but France has the right idea here. Secularism is the better of the two religions when carparing Islam and Secularism. Islam needs to be stopped in it's tracks.

There is nothing redeeming about the "religion" of Islam. It goes against the very foundation of humanity. This false "respect" that the rest of us are forced to show for this religion that worships itself is the most damaging thing happening on the earth right now.

If Islam is not evil, I don't know what is. It stands for everything Liberals pretend to be against, yet they are it's biggest cheerleaders. That alone should tell the good and decent people that Islam walks hand-in-hand with evil.
8 posted on 01/22/2004 6:24:53 AM PST by whereasandsoforth (tagged for migratory purposes only)
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To: 2banana
They hate the West. Why are they here ?
9 posted on 01/22/2004 6:46:24 AM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: whereasandsoforth
>>>This false "respect" that the rest of us are forced to show for this religion that worships itself is the most damaging thing happening on the earth right now.

Amen.

I do not respect, nor acknowledge, islam. I've been called worse than a "bigot" for this Christian stance.
10 posted on 01/22/2004 6:47:47 AM PST by Roughneck (". . .For there is going to come a time when people won't listen to the truth. . .")
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
"They hate the West. Why are they here ?"

To take us over, just like they have done throughout history to every country they are in.

America is easy pickin's because they use our freedom against us, and liberal, apathetic Americans, in their mis-interpretation of "freedom of religion," permit them to get away with it.

11 posted on 01/22/2004 6:58:46 AM PST by nightdriver
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To: Dallas59
Where is A.N.S.W.E.R when you need em?

Cowering on their knees with their heads on the ground.

12 posted on 01/22/2004 6:59:58 AM PST by CROSSHIGHWAYMAN (I don't believe anything a Democrat says. Bill Clinton set the standard!)
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To: nightdriver
There are some Christian Arabs, amoung others who are in the West because they fled Islam.
13 posted on 01/22/2004 7:30:06 AM PST by banjo joe
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To: 2banana
(All information is from US State Department Human Rights Reports) I could go on with more examples.

Please do, or post a link to where I can read more. I love telling people about this stuff!

14 posted on 01/22/2004 7:43:14 AM PST by Teacher317
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
I think two reasons: 1) make a lot of $$$ (some are very good engineers, scientists, doctors) and 2) convert the US to being a muslim nation.

Thats why I say: ship them out of here NOW!
15 posted on 01/22/2004 7:53:20 AM PST by texson66 ("Tyranny is yielding to the lust of the governing." - Lord Moulton)
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To: whereasandsoforth
If Islam is not evil, I don't know what is. It stands for everything Liberals pretend to be against, yet they are it's biggest cheerleaders.

Well, not everything. They both hate America. That's the most important commonality. Overlooking the repression of women, execution of gays and drug users, and killing of innocent children... well, that's a Faustian bargain leftists are all too willing to make.

16 posted on 01/22/2004 9:34:47 AM PST by tdadams
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