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Why the Odds Favor Islam (Nails it! Excellent points)
Crisis Magazine ^ | June 12, 2017 | WILLIAM KILPATRICK

Posted on 06/12/2017 3:55:28 PM PDT by NYer

On May 22, an Islamic suicide bomber detonated himself outside a pop concert in Manchester, England, killing and wounding dozens, many of them young children.

The terrorist was a 22-year-old named Salman Abedi. A few days after the attack, I was reading an article about the mosque he attended—the Didsbury Mosque. “That’s funny,” I thought looking at the accompanying photo, “that doesn’t look like a mosque, it looks like a church.”

Sure enough, as I discovered, the Didsbury Mosque was once the Albert Park Methodist Chapel. It had been bought by the local Syrian Muslim community and transformed into a Muslim place of worship.

Similar transformations have been taking place in other parts of the UK. St. Mark’s Church in London is now the New Peckham Mosque, St. Peter’s Church in Cobridge was sold to the Madina Mosque. The Brick Lane Mosque in London was originally a Methodist church. But church-to-mosque conversions are only part of a larger story. There are now 423 mosques in London, and the number is expected to grow. Meanwhile, 500 London churches have closed since 2001, and in all of England 10,000 churches have closed since 1960.

The transformation of the Albert Park Methodist Church to the Didsbury Mosque is emblematic of one of the most significant shifts in history: the transformation of Europe from a largely Christian continent to a largely Islamic one. The transformation is far from complete, and there’s an outside chance the process can be reversed, but time and demographics favor Islam.

In several of Europe’s cities, the Muslim population now hovers around the thirty percent mark. In ten years’ time, that will be forty percent. Of course that doesn’t mean 40 percent of highly committed Muslims facing 60 percent of deeply devout Christians. Both faiths have their share of half-hearted “nominals” for whom religion is more a cultural inheritance than a deeply held conviction. Still, the “nominal” problem is a much greater problem for European Christians than for European Muslims. In many European countries, Sunday church attendance is the 5-10 percent range whereas mosque attendance is very high in relation to the size of the Muslim population. In England, there are already more Muslims attending Friday prayers than there are Christians attending Anglican services on Sundays. A study by Christian Research predicts that by 2020 the number of Muslims attending prayer service in England and Wales will exceed the number of Catholics attending weekly Mass.

It’s also noteworthy that the expanding Muslim population in Europe is relatively young, whereas the declining “Christian” population is an aging one. Sixty-forty seems like good odds until you realize that the average age of the 60 percenters will be around 55 while the average age of the 40 percenters will be around 25.

You may object that if there is any fighting to be done, most of the fighting on the “Christian” side will be done by the army, not by citizens in walkers and wheelchairs. But keep in mind that the military draws its recruits from the ranks of the young. As the population of the people that Islamists refer to as “crusaders” ages, European governments will be forced to draw more of their new recruits from the Muslim population. The same goes for the police forces. Many Muslims will serve their country or their city faithfully, but many will have divided loyalties, and some will have signed up in the first place with mutiny in mind.

Most likely, however, the transformation will be effected without major battles. It won’t be a matter of numbers or of military strength, but of strength of belief. Those with the strongest beliefs will prevail. Those who are not sure what to believe will submit without a fight.

Will Europe Defend its “Values”?
That’s the theme of Michel Houellebecq’s Submission, a novel about the gradual Islamization of France. The protagonist, a middle-aged professor, has a number of qualms about the Islamic takeover of the university system, but nothing sufficient to resist it. The things he values most—literature, good food, and sex—are, in the end, no impediment to accepting Islam. True, he is offered several inducements to convert—career advancement, plenty of money, and several “wives”—but one gets the impression that, even without these incentives, he would still eventually convert. At one point prior to his submission, he thinks about joining a monastic order as his literary hero, J.K. Huysmans, had done, but he soon realizes that he lacks the necessary Christian conviction. Indeed, he has no strong convictions.

His plight is the plight of contemporary Europe in a nutshell. Many Europeans see no sense in resisting Islamization because they have nothing worth defending. To be sure, European leaders still talk about “our values,” but they can’t seem to specify what those values are, beyond appeals to “diversity” and “pluralism.” For example, after the Manchester massacre, British Prime Minister Theresa May stated that “our values—the liberal, pluralistic values of Britain—will always prevail over the hateful ideology of the terrorists.”

I’m not so sure of that. In an earlier era, Brits would have connected their values to God, country, family, and honor. In other words, things worth fighting for. But “liberal, pluralistic values”? That’s not very solid ground on which to take your stand. Who wants to die for diversity? Indeed, it can be argued that the worship of diversity for its own sake is what allowed terrorists to get a foothold in England in the first place. No one wanted to question all those diverse preachers spreading their diverse message about Jews, infidels, and homosexuals. The trouble is, unless there are higher values than diversity, there’s no way of judging between good diversities and bad diversities—between, say, honoring your wife and honor-killing her if she displeases you.

The same is true of freedom. Freedom is a fundamental right, but what you do with your freedom is also important. There has to be some higher objective value that directs our choices to good ends rather than bad ones. Otherwise, freedom becomes a license to do anything one pleases.

An Attack on Childhood
Here we touch on a very touchy subject. I would not like to be in Theresa May’s shoes when, after a horrifying attack, she has to come up with just the right words. But one thing she said struck me as not quite right. She said: “We struggle to comprehend the warped and twisted mind that sees a room packed with young children not as a scene to cherish, but as an opportunity for carnage.”

It’s possible to fully agree with May’s sentiments while, at the same time, noting that there once was a time when a room full of children watching an Ariana Grande concert would not be considered “a scene to cherish.” “Her dress, dancing, and song lyrics,” wrote one columnist, “are deliberately decadent and immodest.” And, after watching some YouTube clips of her performances, I would have to agree. I’m pretty sure that most of the parents I know would not want their children to attend one of her concerts.

While the world was justly outraged at Salman Abedi’s attack on innocent children, no one seems to notice the attack on childhood innocence that the typical pop concert represents. The two “attacks” should not be equated, of course. The producers of pop concerts are not the moral equivalents of a suicide bomber. Still, the fact that so many parents saw nothing wrong with dropping their children off at the Manchester concert suggests a great deal of moral confusion in the West.

Unfortunately, such moral confusion leaves people vulnerable to those who are absolutely certain about their beliefs. The moral relativism of the West is one of the chief reasons why the Islamic cultural jihad has been so successful. People who can’t see that the soft-porn style of Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, and Ariana Grande is not good for children will have difficulty seeing the problem with polygamy, child marriage, and other aspects of sharia law. In a relativistic society, the safest default position is “who’s to judge?”

Relativism Leads to Islamic Dominance
Earlier I said that Europe is being transformed from a Christian culture to an Islamic culture, but that’s not quite accurate because it’s actually a three-stage transformation. Much of Europe has already transitioned out of its Christian stage and into a post-Christian or secular stage. There are still many Christians in Europe, but Europe’s Christian consciousness has been largely lost. The next stage is the transition from secularism to Islam. That’s not inevitable, but it’s likely because without a framework of Judeo-Christian beliefs, secularism becomes relativism and relativism can’t offer much resistance to determined true believers.

Back in 2014, Theresa May said “we celebrate different ways of life, we value diversity, and we cherish our freedom to lead our lives as we choose.” But if your culture stands for nothing more than the freedom to shop for different lifestyles, it won’t last long. The contemporary Western fascination with pop culture highlights the problem. Pop culture is by its very nature a transient phenomenon. What is pop today won’t be pop tomorrow. Indeed, the popular culture of tomorrow may very well favor burqas, multiple wives, and male supremacy. There may still be a place for singer-dancers like Ariana Grande and Miley Cyrus, but that place would most likely be as a harem dancer in a Sultan’s palace or as entertainment for a Saudi prince who has bought up a country estate in Oxfordshire.

It’s hard to beat transcendent values with transient values. That’s especially the case when the transcendent crowd are willing to die (and kill you in the process) for their values. Most Brits, on the other hand, are not willing to lay down their lives for the sake of keeping bacon on the menu or porn on the telly.

Christianity vs. Two Forms of Totalitarianism
When I use the word “transcendent,” I refer only to a belief in an eternal life beyond this worldly existence. Quite obviously, as in the case of Salman Abedi, transcendent values can be twisted. The idea that God will reward you for murdering innocent young women in Manchester by furnishing you with virginal young women in paradise is a truly twisted concept. But apparently it is widely shared in the Muslim world. When, during a World Cup qualifier in Australia, a minute of silence was called to commemorate the London terror victims, the whole Saudi soccer team refused to observe it. As Sheik Mohammad Tawhidi later explained:

In their eyes the attackers are martyrs who are going to paradise. And if they stand for a minute of silence they are against their Muslim brothers who fought for jihad and fought the infidels.

As twisted as these values may be, it’s beginning to look as though secular values aren’t up to the job of opposing them. The trouble with secular values when they are cut off from their Judeo-Christian roots is that they are arbitrary. Autonomy? Dignity? Equality? Says who?

“If there is no God,” wrote Dostoevsky, “everything is permitted.” Secularism has no God and, therefore, no ultimate standard of judgment. The end result is that each man becomes his own god and does his own thing—even if that “thing” involves the exploitation of childhood innocence. Islam, on the other hand, does believe in God, but not the God Dostoevsky had in mind. The God of Islam is an arbitrary despot whose commands are not rooted in reason, love, or justice.

So we have two arbitrary systems vying for control of the West—the soft totalitarianism of secularism and the hard totalitarianism of Islam. Both are really forms of slavery. Muslims are slaves of a tyrannical God, and secular man becomes the slave of his own desires and addictions. It may seem unthinkable that the West will ever submit to Islam, but many Western citizens are already in submission mode. Submission to their desires has put them in a bad spot. As a result, they are looking for something bigger to submit to—something outside and above their own fragile selves. Some have already turned to Islam. Many more will unless…

Unless, that is, there is a recovery of the Judeo-Christian belief that God is a God of love, justice, reason, and goodness—and that we are made in his image (a concept which does not exist in Islam). In the context of that vision, belief in human dignity and the rights of man is thoroughly justified.

People who believe that they and their neighbor are made in the image of God will generally have a strong sense of their responsibility to act accordingly. Such people will be far from perfect, but they will at least realize that it is wrong to submit both to Islam’s warped image of God and to secularism’s degraded image of man.

In the end, the choice for the West is not between Islam and pluralistic secularism. A rootless secularism will almost certainly submit to Islam. The only real hope for the West is the recovery of the faith that once inspired Christians to build a beautiful church near Albert Park in West Didsbury, England.



TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: atheism; christendom; christianity; culturaljihad; dhimmi; dhimmid; dhimmis; dhimmitude; eurabia; europe; hijrah; humanism; islam; jihad; londonistan; manchester; muslim; secularhumanism; secularism; sharia; shariah; uk
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1 posted on 06/12/2017 3:55:28 PM PDT by NYer
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To: Tax-chick; GregB; SumProVita; narses; bboop; SevenofNine; Ronaldus Magnus; tiki; Salvation; ...
Earlier I said that Europe is being transformed from a Christian culture to an Islamic culture, but that’s not quite accurate because it’s actually a three-stage transformation. Much of Europe has already transitioned out of its Christian stage and into a post-Christian or secular stage. There are still many Christians in Europe, but Europe’s Christian consciousness has been largely lost. The next stage is the transition from secularism to Islam. That’s not inevitable, but it’s likely because without a framework of Judeo-Christian beliefs, secularism becomes relativism and relativism can’t offer much resistance to determined true believers.

Catholic ping!

2 posted on 06/12/2017 3:56:17 PM PDT by NYer ("You are a puff of smoke that appears briefly and then disappears." James 4:14)
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To: NYer

“The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets, the faithful our soldiers.”

DISMANTLE totalitarian base camps/barracks.


3 posted on 06/12/2017 4:01:11 PM PDT by PGalt
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To: NYer

In the end, the muslim and the agnostic/athiest all converge into the same congregation: hell.


4 posted on 06/12/2017 4:03:05 PM PDT by Salvavida (The restoration of the U.S.A. starts with filling the pews at every Bible-believing church.)
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To: NYer

“The god of this world [Satan] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” 2 Corinthians 4:4. Whether they be secularist or Islamic, the ability to tell right from wrong is lost to them. This should be no surprise, knowing who really runs the world system.


5 posted on 06/12/2017 4:05:44 PM PDT by Telepathic Intruder
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To: NYer

And in the ‘Concert for Manchester’ the headline song, sang while a 12 year old girl survivor of of the bombing, danced on the stage with Araina Grande was about a man ejaculating on a girl’s hand while she rode the ‘Dick Bicycle’”.

Europe is over


6 posted on 06/12/2017 4:06:23 PM PDT by heights
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To: NYer

When I lived in Britain in the mid 80’s, I was shocked at the lack of religiosity. I blamed it on Socialism. People would ask me what the biggest difference was between Britain and the USA. I had been struck by the difference in how success was viewed. Growing up in the USA, successful people were to be emulated; success was something to be aspired to, no matter what avenue that success took. While living in Britain, I was often surprised/shocked to watch how successful businessmen were denigrated. I heard a radio interview from Britain, during the rioting in 2012.The girl being interviewed was asked why she was ransacking a shop in her own neighborhood. She said ‘I want this stuff.....and why does he (the shop owner) have this, he doesn’t deserve it’. The unemployment rate for youths aged 16-24 is down to around 10% now, in Britain and that’s good. But why would anyone think that they deserved something they had not worked for? The waning of religiosity is stealing the necessary character that previously meant taking responsibility for oneself........in Britain and here.


7 posted on 06/12/2017 4:13:03 PM PDT by originalbuckeye ("In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." - George Orwell)
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To: NYer

This is truly frightening when you fully comprehend what this means.

A must-read for all FReepers and their friends.

Post the article on Facebook and wherever we can spread the message.


8 posted on 06/12/2017 4:18:01 PM PDT by Erik Latranyi (The largest and most dangerous hate-group in the US is now the Democratic Party)
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To: NYer
In their eyes the attackers are martyrs who are going to paradise. And if they stand for a minute of silence they are against their Muslim brothers who fought for jihad and fought the infidels.

I would have either refused to play the Saudis, or played to maim.

9 posted on 06/12/2017 4:18:31 PM PDT by kiryandil (Never pick a fight with an angry beehive)
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To: originalbuckeye
When I lived in Britain in the mid 80’s, I was shocked at the lack of religiosity. I blamed it on Socialism.

In countries with established churches religion was identified with the government and the ruling classes (even if the ruling classes weren't very religious). Faith came to be seen as something imposed from above rather than something rooted in the ordinary lives of ordinary people.

Socialism has much to do with the decline of religion in Britain and Europe -- the energy that traditionally went into religion turned toward socialism in the 20th century -- but affluence and consumerism may have dealt religion the worst blow.

10 posted on 06/12/2017 4:21:21 PM PDT by x
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To: originalbuckeye

The girl being interviewed was asked why she was ransacking a shop in her own neighborhood. She said ‘I want this stuff.....and why does he (the shop owner) have this, he doesn’t deserve it’. The unemployment rate for youths aged 16-24 is down to around 10% now, in Britain and that’s good. But why would anyone think that they deserved something they had not worked for? The waning of religiosity is stealing the necessary character that previously meant taking responsibility for oneself........in Britain and here.

_______________________

I remember when the Vet and very successful author James Herriot died, how the British media castigated him for not having left more to charities. As if it was their treasure to spend (or get). It was brutal. Then and there I realized that GB is not like the US yet.


11 posted on 06/12/2017 4:22:12 PM PDT by Chickensoup (Leftists today are speaking as if they plan to commence to commit genocide against conservatives.)
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To: NYer

Very good.


12 posted on 06/12/2017 4:22:48 PM PDT by Eagles6 (My weapons are lubricated by liberal tears.)
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To: originalbuckeye

......... it’s beginning to look as though secular values aren’t up to the job of opposing them. The trouble with secular values when they are cut off from their Judeo-Christian roots is that they are arbitrary. Autonomy? Dignity? Equality? Says who?


Major point, No reason to fight.

Pretty true here too but the one difference we have is the 2nd amendment and guns in the hands of citizens. Will it be enough?


13 posted on 06/12/2017 4:23:22 PM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: NYer

The practice of Christianity is way down, and what remains has gone far left. Even the pope has gone far left. Christianity is Christianity in name only. Those who still are counted as Christians are not having babies.
m*slims are strong in the practice of their religion. They are having enormous numbers of babies, thanks to our money, their 4 “wives”, and the fact that our money frees them from the need to work.

The politicians are well aware of this. They have written off the nominal Christians as not worth their time. Not so with the m*slims. m*slims are given special privileges including the freedom to rape and murder. Nominal Christians are thrown in jail for complaining.

Yes, the m*slims are going to have an easy time of taking over Europe, and then the USA.


14 posted on 06/12/2017 4:23:58 PM PDT by I want the USA back (Le Pen: "Islamism is a totalitarian ideology that has declared war on our nation, on civilization.")
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To: Telepathic Intruder; RushIsMyTeddyBear; metmom; CynicalBear; SkyPilot; tuffydoodle; tang-soo; ...
[2 Corinthians 4:4. Whether they be secularist or Islamic, the ability to tell right from wrong is lost to them. This should be no surprise, knowing who really runs the world system.]

Absolutely correct. Which is why the Antichrist will arise to cheering tens and hundreds of millions. We saw a foreshadowing of it in 2008. With "christ" references. Antichrist means "false christ" or "substitute christ". Can it easily happen? You betcha.

Things that ought to grab the attention of any Christian who understands Bible Prophecy:























15 posted on 06/12/2017 4:24:42 PM PDT by SaveFerris (Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for ... some have unwittingly entertained angels)
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To: NYer

I wonder if these people in England understand that under Sharia law, once a place is a mosque, it can never be anything else after that. If you so much as say certain prayers in a church, it becomes a mosque. That is why they love those interfaith services. They are setting it up for later, when they are strong enough.


16 posted on 06/12/2017 4:25:40 PM PDT by Defiant (The media is the colostomy bag where truth goes after democrats digest it.)
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To: NYer

In the end, the choice for the West is not between Islam and pluralistic secularism. A rootless secularism will almost certainly submit to Islam. The only real hope for the West is the recovery of the faith that once inspired Christians to build a beautiful church near Albert Park in West Didsbury, England.


An very true concluding paragraph. Who knows with a common enemy, even C and P might fight together................


17 posted on 06/12/2017 4:26:13 PM PDT by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: NYer

Good article. It echos James Burnham, Suicide of the West, which I highly recommend.


18 posted on 06/12/2017 4:26:27 PM PDT by Cboldt
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To: originalbuckeye
“When I lived in Britain in the mid 80’s, I was shocked at the lack of religiosity. I blamed it on Socialism.”

There is something to this (although Islam is indeed the real reason we are doomed). Facebook has highlighted something I've always been aware of, but now has become inescapable: liberalism has usurped religion for many Americans. As soon as one of my FB friends posts a mildly conservative economic point along the lines of, say, increasing the minimum wage ends of hurting poor people (because employers simply hire fewer people), many other people on FB respond along the lines of, “You have no compassion.” There is almost no objective argument made; it is simply about we-care-about-poor-people-and-you-don't. Overwhelmingly, the politically liberal people do not practice a religion, regardless of which box they check on a form, while the more conservative types are much more likely to go to church or synagogue regularly. (An exception are the libertarian types, who may not be churchgoers, but also don't feel compelled to prove how virtuous they are by reflexively voting for government spending on social programs.)

My point is that many people believe their political liberalism fulfills their religious obligations. And many Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish clergymen are partially to blame, having given up preaching about God years ago. Now, they lecture their dwindling congregations about how they should help “the poor” by higher taxes. Well, be careful what you wish for...

19 posted on 06/12/2017 4:26:46 PM PDT by utahagen (but but)
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To: PeterPrinciple

“Will it be enough?”

No, because the local government takes a dim view of citizens killing people. Only the state is supposed to kill people. Therefore, anybody who shoots a Muslim had better be in immanent danger; and not even that will work as a defense in some cities and states. Florida has the castle doctrine. Other states insist you must retreat and only when you can’t retreat (run) further can you shoot. In some places, not even then.

Our government has invited a culture here that boldly says it will enslave us and extract taxes. They have zero intentions of assimilating. We need to get to the ballot box at every opportunity to help prevent being overrun by our “guests.”


20 posted on 06/12/2017 4:29:24 PM PDT by Gen.Blather
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