Posted on 02/18/2006 6:57:38 AM PST by Frank T
Anyone who believes that opponents of Muslim extremism are necessarily defenders of tolerance should see my e-mails from last week.
I strongly condemned the violent reaction of many in the Islamic world to the now-notorious cartoons of Mohammed printed in a Danish newspaper, but also stressed that the cartoons were wrong, that Muslims had a case and that as a Christian I have little in common with western secularism.
There was much support, but to hundreds of others I was either an idiot or a liar. How ironic that alleged defenders of free speech should abuse a journalist for, well, speaking freely. But I won't be silenced, in spite of the insults and threats.
Generally speaking, we don't comprehend the anger of the Islamic world because, unlike them, we threw God out of the house years ago. There are of course many observant Christians in Europe and North America, but they face a constant struggle against decadence, immorality and materialism and, more often than not, they lose.
The media are so confident that they can kick religion around that they are genuinely shocked when religious people turn around and protest. And then the media pretend this is some culture war between Islam and western culture.
Well, just hold a moment. My culture is not that of Brokeback Mountain, gay marriage or publicly funded abortion, any more than it is of going to a mosque or praying to Allah. My culture is not that of prime-time TV pornography, teen promiscuity and commercial greed any more than it is making a pilgrimage to Mecca.
In other words, I pursue a third way and will not take artificial sides in a battle that has nothing to do with me. Nor will I accept the hypocrisy of the West.
A hypocrisy that for example, forms alliances with Egypt and Saudi Arabia but invades Iraq.
A hypocrisy that imposes so many censorship demands on Al-Jazeera TV that it will likely never be broadcast in Canada, but simultaneously welcomes Howard Stern to one of our new satellite radio networks -- one partly owned by the CBC.
Beyond hypocrisy is dishonesty. It is dishonest to argue that the West stands for tolerance and does not enforce its religion on anybody. It is tolerant only of that which it considers acceptable and has abused genuine Christians for more than a generation.
As for having no religion, Canada and Europe are profoundly religious. They practise fundamentalist secularism, where any serious discussion of faith is derided. The West worships not at the altar of a creator but at the boots of the created. Money, thrills and instant success. It has replaced God with a new car and a second vacation, put selfishness and exploitation in the place of the Christ.
It is tragic that we cannot empathize with hundreds of millions of Muslims who put God at the epicentre of their lives. But then our leaders and opinion-makers can't even empathize with evangelical Christians and observant Catholics who are their neighbours and fellow citizens.
Think back to when Paul Martin was filmed as he bought a wreath last December. He was asked by a reporter whether it was a Christmas wreath or a "holiday" wreath. The wretched man paused, obviously in agony, then exclaimed, "It's a $250 wreath!"
A prime minister who campaigned as a Catholic and a man of faith was too embarrassed, too frightened, too politically devious to even imply that he was buying an object remotely connected with the religion he claimed to follow.
Muslims cannot understand this and, frankly, neither can I. Let me say again, this is not my war.
As I see it, he believes that pro-abortionist, vacationing, pleasure seeking, Howard Stern radio listening people are the ones who are behind:
a) the comics b) the ongoing war on terrorists, and the doctrine of pre-emptive war
This is nonsense, however, and I would be one of the people who would call Coren a liar. He is setting up a strawman argument, and knocking the thing down.
The people behind a & b are concerned about sovereignty and freedom. The decadent secularists that Coren describes are the kind of people who are the Democrats' base, and who make up most of the political culture in Western Europe. In other words, the very same people who are on Coren's side, vis a vis appeasement, and being anti-war.
Is Coren really this stupid? No, of course not. He knows as well as anyone that those of us who would think of this as a "clash of civilizations" are much more conservative leaning. So why is this self described Christian bashing fellow conservatives?
That's kind of the essense of paleoconservatism. It isn't the same kind of conservatism that demands freedom and liberty to say things that can piss off people who are not of your own people. His European based conservatism is based on lying down in bed with Islam, and not putting up a fight to maintain our way of life. His kind of conservatives lost Europe to the secular fundamentalists, and now he wishes for us to adopt the same loser attitude. No thanks.
A separate observation is this: much like the lefties who appease jihadist Islam and approve the expansion of the Muslim ummah (empire) as a means of undermining us horrible freedom loving conservatives, so too, it appears, that a paleocon like Coren, and others of his school of thought, want Islam to be the instrument that brings down our "decadent" society.
These old school right wingers hated America when it was created, and they hate it now still.
Free speech means just that. The author is free to postulate in any way he desires and others are free to call him an idiot or a fool. Seems as if this is another example of a media type believing his rights of expression are somehow beyond criticism.
Detractors of this view claim that Allah is the arabized version of the Hebrew God, Eloyhim; however, the Hebrew God is not really named Eloyhim. I can't say the name of that God (my family is Bal T'ushava) but other people on this board know what I mean.
It depends on which part of the "old school" you are referring to. Russell Kirk could be considered part of the "old school" European-style conservatism, but he certainly didn't hate America.
This war of culture and religion has only two sides. One defending Christianity and Judaeism, and one defending Islam. Those who choose to ride in the neutral zone are only helping the Islamic side of the influence sphere. They stand for little constructive except the home mortage in a nice neighborhood, two cars in the driveway and cable tv. That empathy totally relates to the caliber of politicians who are elected to represent them. And we wonder why our culture sends so many mixed signals?
Durka durka.
Cannot be repeated enough times.
Islam isn't a religion. It's totalitarian cult with a genuine ambition to dominate the entire world. It's NOT a religion of peace, it isn't tolerant, and these riots are NOT because of some stupid cartoons. They are just a convenient excuse.
Allah is NOT the same god as the God of the bible, despite the LIES of those who tell you it is. This is propagated by those who have never taken the time to learn what islam is about, and rely on equally ignorant news reporter for thier information, and of course Islamic appologists who do all they can to hide the TRUTH of what Islam is. The longer authors like Cohen, the public and politicians are blind to the truth of Islam, the more blood it will cost them to correct their mistakes.
Hubal had three daughters, which were literaly chips of stone that had broken off the black rock called hubal, they became known as Al Uza, Alat Manat.
The problem today is people are stupid. They don't know the bible, and certainly don't know what the "scripture" which makes up islam says.
If they did, they would know that the God of the bible and the god of the koran are complete opposites.
Not just in small ways, but in ALL ways. The koran god is dumb, makes mistakes, contradicts himself, and utters satanic things. for all perposes, it IS Satan.
Those who would kill you as a “crusader” might tend to disagree.
- snip -
[B] It is tragic that we cannot empathize with hundreds of millions of Muslims who put God at the epicentre of their lives.
Coren is a very bright guy. But I do not see how even he can purport to reconcile these two statements.
Proposition [A] is consistent with the premise that Coren does not pray to a [sole] Deity called 'Allah'. It is well-known that Muslims call their [sole] Deity 'Allah'.
Proposition [B] is consistent with the notion that 'millions of Muslims who put God [i.e., a sole Deity] at the epicentre of their lives' are worthy of empathy.
So Coren seems to be saying that he does not pray to the same sole Deity as do Muslims but that these same Muslims who place the sole Deity at the 'epicenter' of their lives are worthy of empathy.
I resist the conclusion supported by the plain meaning of Coren's words, that we should empathize with those who place a sole Deity, to Whom we should not pray, at the epicenter of their lives. Isn't a God Whose dictates should order our actions also One to Whom we should pray? And if people misunderstand the dictates of the God Who is worthy of our prayer -- such as when such people advocate the slaughter of innocents -- should we not rather pity them for their misunderstanding rather than empathizing with them for having at least some theology, however misguided, to ground their views?
Let's be honest here. Coren is, as far as I know, (Roman) Catholic and evidently must remain open, in keeping with the Second Vatican Council, to the notion that the sole Deity of the Catholics is the same as the sole Deity of the Muslims. But on Coren's expressed view, he does not pray to Allah.
Michael, if you're reading this, please set us straight.
The Christians who are fleeing Muslim states would also disagree. He needs to remember Lepanto.
It seems to me that the end product of Mr. Coren's views is that Christians in the west should make common cause with Muslims and help impose new rules on public speech, to stifle rancorous, ribald, satiric quips about anyone's religion.
How long would it take from that end to where the public voicing of anything viewed as "blasphemy" by a religion was no longer part of "free speech".
Sorry, I will take the religious abuses of our free speech rights over any religious/philosophical/political alliance with Muslims that would diminish those rights.
If they cannot live with our "tolerance", let them start their own space program and find their own world. We are not going away and neither is our "tolerance".
Yeah.... That's the name of the Hebrew God.
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