Posted on 02/06/2006 9:29:24 AM PST by Pokey78
THE trouble with the West is that we have forgotten that some things are sacred.
We find it so difficult to comprehend the reaction of the Muslim world to that ham-fisted Danish cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist because our churches stand empty, our faith is weak and our God has left the building.
The idea that this is still a Christian country is laughable. We may haul in the local vicar for weddings and funerals, but that's about it. We worship our idols -celebrity and money, the sex lives of the rich and famous - but the Good Book is about as relevant to most of our lives as the ration book.
Christianity is widely mocked. The feeble humour of the Jerry Springer opera whipped up some half-hearted controversy, but nobody really cared beyond a few Bible-bashers considered to be humourless spoilsports.
Once this was a Christian country, back when we were all singing two hymns a day at school and fretting about burning in hell for our sins.
When I was a child, we could all chant the Lord's Prayer by heart. Do the Vicky Pollards of today know the Lord's Prayer? Can't see it, myself. So I feel an instinctive sympathy for Muslims who still hold to the belief that there is such a thing as blasphemy.
The Muslim community say that those puerile Danish cartoons should not have been printed, and they are right. It would not have been censorship or the curtailment of free speech to not print (and reprint) the offending cartoon. It would have been basic human decency. It would have been cultural restraint at a time when tension between the West and the Muslim world is higher than it has been for centuries.
I have read a number of commentators say that they would "defend to the death" the right of some crappy little Danish paper to print their nasty little cartoons.
But if I am going to die for a cause, then it is going to be a better one than the right of some Scandy cartoonist to print offensive rubbish.
If we are going to argue with Muslims, then let it be about something worthwhile.
The attitude of Islam to women. The attitude of Islam to gays. The attitude of Islam to Israel, which is routinely threatened with extermination by everyone from Hamas to the leader of Iran to mad mullahs with spit on their beards in Finsbury Park.
Printing that cartoon was supremely stupid. Muslims have a right to live their lives without seeing their religion vilified in a way that is designed to cause hurt, anger and offence.
What Muslims should never have the right to do is what they did on the streets of London on Friday. Around 500 demonstrators marched from the Regent's Park mosque to the Danish embassy, carrying the most sickening placards I have ever seen in my life.
On the streets of the city where Londoners were murdered and maimed on July 7, the pinhead protesters carried slogans boasting: "Europe, you'll come crawling when mujahideen come roaring" and "Behead those who insult Islam". On the same streets where four terrorists committed mass murder, a placard gloated: "Europe you will pay - fantastic 4 are on their way".
A toddler, 20-month-old Farisa Jihad, was dressed by some moronic adult in a hat that sneered: "I love Al-Qaida".
And they got away with it. Nobody was arrested for these sickening incitements to murder. Nobody was charged for spewing slogans of hate that gloated about the dead and broken bodies of July 7.
And that offends me. That offends me to the core of my being.
Responsible Muslim leaders have already condemned the appalling placards. But it happened. And I can't think of any thing more likely to create real loathing for Muslims. I can't think of anything more likely to make the BNP a real force in British politics.
I can't think of anything more likely to make the average British citizen - whatever his colour - ask: Whose country is it anyway?
MUSLIMS deserve the respect accorded to all our people. They take their religion infinitely more seriously than we do, and we should understand that. And if they want to burn down a few empty Scandinavian embassies in Syria because of crass depictions of the Prophet Mohammed, then personally I couldn't care less.
But when someone starts carrying placards in my city gloating about 9/11 and 7/7, when men with big mouths start promising death and destruction, when you tell us that we will be massacred if we offend you, then our tolerance is pushed to breaking-point. Muslims deserve to have their faith respected.
But if they want a Muslim country, then perhaps they should go and live in one.
ùìåí òìéëí
Shalom Aleichem
You are so right. It's just a shame that the truth can not be recognized by more.
You didn't read the entire article, did you?
Wonder how many FReepers are on Muslim hit list? We have a wealth of offending material for them.
I agree, it is obvious that they worship a pedophile pigs be upon you founder of the Religion of Satan. They obviously don't believe in the word of God (Ten Commandments-Thou shalt not commit MURDER.) <p. But now England and the rest of the spineless Eu'ers are finding out that having them in their midst is VERY dangerous.
"The Muslim community say that those puerile Danish cartoons should not have been printed, and they are right. It would not have been censorship or the curtailment of free speech to not print (and reprint) the offending cartoon. It would have been basic human decency. It would have been cultural restraint at a time when tension between the West and the Muslim world is higher than it has been for centuries."
If it is NOT a good idea to argue with irrational people then why begin one with a cartoon? I contend it is also NOT a good idea to needlessly incite them. With FREEDOM comes responsibility.
The only good from the entire incident is that it reveals the exact nature of the enemy.
"Europe will not let their countries be transformed into Islamic states. This short period of apathy won't last long. The history of militant Europe proves that."
That's the impression I got, too, having just returned from living in Spain for 2 years.
That, my friend, is one EXCELLENT post!
my personal arsenal says the towl heads will have trouble succeding in my area.
I think the world is really, really starting to see the hypocrisy of Muslims.
The world may be, but the Leftists in most of the World's governments are not even beginning to get it yet.
It is, when so many people in the civilized are in denial about the irrational people's irrationality. And especially, when that state of denial is really the only weapon the irrational people have. It's not like the Muslim world could beat us in a straight fight. Their war is a 95% propaganda war.
Well, here again, let me just point out that in the minds of Muslims you could be talking about modern day Western Civilization.
Please understand that I am not defending them. I was raised a Christian and fully embrace Christian philosophy, even if I stray as far as taking part in its rituals. And it seems to me that if there is such a thing as a "devil's religion" it would be Islam.
Being an American, and not having a particularly strong ethnic or tribal loyalty, I can't get my head around some of the crap I am seeing from the Middle East. It is beyond rational comprehension to me. So I am really just trying to get at the motivation of these people. Evil? Absolutely. Rational? Absolutely not.
You could be right. The world may very well be at a threshhold where we are being forced to choose between civilizations. One has no music, no art, no poetry, and women as slaves. Hmmmm. Tough choice.
Well, if dishonoring God is a valid rationale for men to partake in genocide, then I guess that explains it. Replace the word "God" with "Allah" and their justification is just as good as yours. It then becomes just a question of whose God is the stronger.
Now it could very well be that we are headed inexorably toward an irreversible clash of civilizations in which the evil one must be destroyed. But so long as there is some glimmer of hope for peaceful resolution, my New Testament upbringing suggests to me that we must pursue a relatively benevolent and peaceful course and encourage a change of heart in these people. So far, I think GWB has done that, even though I gag every time he calls Islam a "religion of peace."
'hate to be the tatoo artist...
Even Jesus took a belt to the Money Changers, turned over thier tables in the temple yard...
God doesn't need men to commit genocide, He did a smashing job in Sodom and Gammorah...
To the guy who wrote this bit:
(1) I (and billions of other Catholics and Christians of other denominations on this planet) take my religon very seriously. After all, this life is only for 80 years or so, if we're lucky, and what comes after lasts for eternity.
(2) I don't like mockery of God, but I don't go killing people or burning buildings when I see a nasty cartoon.
* * *
As an aside I think it would be great if President Bush gave asylum to all the cartoonists in this Country. Clearly Europe can't protect them.
"You could be right. The world may very well be at a threshhold where we are being forced to choose between civilizations. One has no music, no art, no poetry, and women as slaves. Hmmmm. Tough choice."
That's the bottom line really. Muslims realize that their religon's values are incompatible with ours. And we (by which I mean everyone besides Freepers) need to realize the same. Compromise isn't possible when they want the whole world to be Muslim.
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