Catholic ping! (The author of the article is a Jesuit. Thank God there are some good Jesuits left. They are an endangered "species.")
Ping for later
This kind of tactic, intimidation by overkill, has been a Communist mainstay for years. The Muslims use it as do the Democrats. Any connection between Communism, Muslim Fascism, and the Democrats? If is looks like a duck, walks ...., "
Arabs and Muslims appeared on the world scene in 630 A.D., when the armies of Muhammad began their conquest of the Middle East. We should be very clear that this was a military conquest, not a missionary enterprise, and through the use of force, authorized by a declaration of a Jihad against infidels, Arabs/Muslims were able to forcibly convert and assimilate non-Arabs and non-Mulsims into their fold. Very few indigenous communities of the Middle East survived this -- primarily Assyrians, Jews, Armenians and Coptics (of Egypt).
Having conquered the Middle East, Arabs placed these communities under a Dhimmi (see the book Dhimmi, by Bat Ye'Or) system of governance, where the communities were allowed to rule themselves as religious minorities (Christians, Jews and Zoroastrian). These communities had to pay a tax (called a Jizzya in Arabic) that was, in effect, a penalty for being non-Muslim, and that was typically 80% in times of tolerance and up to 150% in times of oppression. This tax forced many of these communities to convert to Islam, as it was designed to do.
Well said:"European identity and it's value is being lost.Even a minimum amount of pride is missing."That applies here in the US as well.
Good analysis.
The Sharia has come to the West and the effects of that are becoming evident. Fear of the sabers and scimitars of Islam is already changing the culture.
The Muslims are united in their faith against the West. The West has become a house divided: people of Faith and secularists. The people of Faith recognize that the Muslims see us all as the enemy. The secularists group the Jews, Christians and Muslims as "religious nuts" so they're against religion. They erroneously believe that secularism is the true way of preventing a Muslim takeover. But if you want to know the results of this thinking, look at France.
"But meanwhile, the west is backtracking."
The US is not Europe. We are a generous people, a benevolent, and yes, a moral people. But we are no pacifists. The US was born from war, our decleration of independence created a war, our national anthem talks of rockets and bombs. We are no bad people, but we do not shy back from using force. Even with each other we are that way. We love UFC fighting and created American football, we have a fetish for guns, and we love our military. No nation has fought as many wars as we have since our inception. We have created some of the most marvelous machines of death. From the Gatlin gun, revolver, Turtle and Hunley, the A-bomb or GPS, we are good at using technology to kill and break things. We are a war-like people. Even liberal Hollywood has realized that ‘war’ sells in America. We like to hunt and fish. We use military terms in our common language. We have people who spend small fortunes on reenactments. Someone who is smart reads the signs. The so called Islamist does not fit this description.
Some confuse benevolence and decency with weakness. If our chain is jerked long and hard, if we really get pissed, God help them. We are neither economically mobilized, politically united, nor is our military operating to its full potential and with full freedom of decision. We are killing people all over the planet despite this. From Yemen to the Philippines and everything in-between is affected. So far two nations’ governments have been overthrown. That is without a draft, with only over 3% GDP spent on defense....... The Islamist is confused. If a fly keeps buzzing around and annoys you a little, it does not make you weak if you don't slap at him right away. If that fly keeps landing in your faces and angers you, he will die. The Islamist burning a flag and yes, even blowing up the USS Cole just annoyed us. 9-11 set us off. Do that again, and God knows what we’ll do next.
FYI ping
Europe brought absolutely unique values to the world: the human person, equality, human rights, freedom, democracy, ecology, a non-violent rapport with nature...
What the Pope is telling us is that the West's slide into materialism will allow the radical throat-slitters to take over and eliminate Christianity and Judaism.