Posted on 12/07/2004 7:28:32 PM PST by naturalman1975
IT was one of those extremely rare moments when I found myself agreeing with John Howard. Asked what he thought of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore's reported plans to make Sydney's Christmas celebrations low-key and generic, the Prime Minister slammed them as "silly", "ridiculous" and "political correctness from central casting".
Out of sensitivity for a multicultural society, Moore was reported to have said she did not want the celebrations "to push any one religious belief".
In fact, Moore had said nothing of the sort. Quite the contrary: the council is increasing its Christmas celebration spending this year by 50per cent. The words were spoken by Jeff Fisher, chief executive of fast-food chain Oporto following news that the chain had banned a nativity display from its franchise in Hornsby in northern Sydney. Media had put the words in the wrong mouth, but Howard's assessment of them remained true.
Every Christmas it seems we go through this farce. Last year, Stonnington Council in Melbourne removed the word Christmas from its celebrations and prevented speakers at a carols night from quoting the Bible. Some kindergartens and daycare centres have stopped having Christmas parties, instead having end-of-year or fairy parties.
All this, it seems, is being done to include Australia's religious and cultural minorities. This is supposed to foster social harmony and tolerance.
But it doesn't. It does exactly the opposite. When Channel Seven's Sunrise recently ran an interactive segment on the issue, a common theme in the responses of viewers legitimately aggrieved by this emasculation of Christmas was anger towards minority groups -- especially Muslims -- who were cast as cultural warriors against the majority.
Muslims may not celebrate Christmas but it is ridiculous to suspect they are behind this absurd trend. Jesus is a revered, prophetic figure in Islam and, accordingly, we are the least likely to be offended by other religious groups celebrating his birth. An anti-Christmas campaign is more consistent with aggressive atheism than any Islamic imperative.
In fact, I know no member of any religious minority, Muslim or otherwise, who asked for or even wants this. In my experience, religious minorities are far more concerned that their right to religious expression is respected and protected. That, surely, is a right belonging no less to the majority than to minorities.
Driving Christmas underground only erodes this treasured Australian norm and that is far more troubling to me than any Christmas celebration. I find the idea of restraining religious expression substantially more offensive than I find any nativity display. The impoverishment of Christmas is done more on behalf of religious minorities than by them.
This is where political correctness loses the plot; what purports to inspire tolerance instead inspires hostility and intolerance. Diverse, vibrant and tolerant societies are created by allowing eclectic cultural and religious expressions, celebrations included, to flourish. You don't achieve that by surrendering a culture, replacing it with bland meaninglessness.
Denying the Christianity in Christmas or, worse, doing away with it altogether helps no one. This is not multiculturalism. It is anti-culturalism.
Waleed Aly, a Melbourne lawyer, is a member of the Islamic Council of Victoria executive.
It is disingenous to suggest that any of the other religions practiced in the world today spawn acts of terrorist barbarism as brutal as those coming out of the islamic faith. And the hatred that some might feel toward islam pales in comparison to the hatred coming from islam towards other religious groups.
No, it is time for civilized muslims to clean up their own back yards, start policing themselves and put an end to this cycle of barbaric violence.
More and more, voices are being raised in spite of the danger. Recently, a number of reknown scholars signed a petition asking the UN to condemn terror and to let the UN know that it is NOT Islamic. That was an extremely courageous stand for them to take. Those who speak up are frequenly silenced forever.
Islam can only go through that reformation once the terrorists and fanatics are beat back enough that those who speak up can have a reasonable expectation of continuing to live.
I fear you will have to keep holding it. I'm not the only one here who sees through you, so I'm sure you can find someone else to spar with.
Quite simply, I don't find debate with you particularly stimulating or any great challenge. Twenty-four hours of your non-sequitors is quite enough for me. You do seem to have a lot of pent up anger. Not healthy you know. Try laughing at yourself now and then; you really are not as impressive as you may think you are. Au revoir.
Bending down five times a day by the way is a good exercise.
but wife beating and honor killing are not!!!!
I think those who were burned at the stake and those who were tortured on the wheel, or in an Iron Maiden probably thought the priests during the inquisition were terrorists too. People lived in absolute terror that they would not be picked up by the Christian clerics and dragged before the Grand Inquisitor for their heresy.
I for one, am sick if the "peaceful Muslim" looking in the other direction while the Christians and Jews die to save them and their "religion".
Good Point !
Anyone vaguely familiar with the history of the Conservative movement knows what a critical and pivotal role William F. Buckley and his National Review Magazine were to the eventual success of our movement. The two pillars of Conservative thought that he firmly established
1. Conservative ideas and philosophy are demonstrably, intellectually superior to liberal thought, and we can prove that by engaging liberals in debate and defeating them.
2. There is no place in the Conservative movement for bigots, anti-Semites and racists. Blacks, Jews, Muslims, Hispanics are not only welcome in the conservative movement, but they are to be sought out and encouraged to join our movement.
For precisely the same reason that William F. Buckley and the National Review drew a bright line between Conservatism and prejudice; the Free Republic, as one of the most visible torch bearers for today’s conservative movement, must take a stance against anti-Muslim bigotry on its pages.
If you are posting hateful and vicious anti-Muslim remarks then you are in direct opposition to the beliefs of William F. Buckley, Ronald Reagan, our president and virtually every conservative writer commentator and thinker of note and you are indirectly undermining our cause.
By the way, Welcome to FR.
"there is intelligent life in cyber space here at FR"
INTRESTING, my exact feeling also, when I first started coming here.
One thing I like about FR is how many of the people who post her have studied and thought about the issues a great deal and the variety of insights that produces. Liberals tend to all sound alike after awhile, like magpies reciting DNC talking points.
When you read posts from someone like NUCONVERT on controversial issues, your first reaction may be I disagree with them, they must not be one of us. I think if you research their posts over the last year you will see they are very much "one of us". In some cases I believe they are more conservative then some of the people who criticize them. I personally think the anti-Muslim animus some people display on FR is harmful, and at odds with the general philosophy of FR, the Republican Party and the conservative movement as a whole.
If you find yourself accusing someone of being a phony conservative, when they are echoing precisely the often stated beliefs of George Bush himself, then I would say maybe it is time for you to step back and review your own position on these issues. You may be right, George Bush may be wrong, but he is certainly a good and faithful conservative.
Again welcome to FR and to the quest for the Truth, which is our common bond here on FR.
Thank you. Absolutely right!
And that deserves a PING to others ..................
The Real face?
That's kind of a tough one to give a simple answer to.
Are you talking about Sunni , Shia, Sufi, Wahhabi...
A good place to start would be
The Encyclopaedia of the Orient
http://i-cias.com/e.o/index.htm
Conservative ideas and philosophy are demonstrably, intellectually superior to liberal thought, and we can prove that by engaging liberals in debate and defeating them.
I used to love watching him chop the left into little pieces on Firing Line. And his interviews with Malcom Muggridge were not to be missed.
FYI He's just published his auto-biography. I haven't gotten it yet but maybe santa will give it to be, as I've been a very good boy this year....well I have
(That's my story and I'm sticking with it!)
If you are posting hateful and vicious anti-Muslim remarks then you are in direct opposition to the beliefs of William F. Buckley, Ronald Reagan, our president and virtually every conservative writer commentator and thinker of note and you are indirectly undermining our cause.
I've actually had people say that the president secretly believes we are at war with Islam, but he can't come out and say it because it not PC. When asked to show one thing that leads them to belive this the silence is deafening.
If they do, they are advocating and perhaps commiting murder and other evil things.
If they don't, they aren't really Muslims. It's simple.
Yep. There are bad Hindus, Buddhists, Jews and Christians DESPITE those peaceful religions, and there are good Muslims DESPITE that primitive, bloodthirsty death-cult.
But there is no moral equivalency between Mohammadism and any legitimate religion.
It's not tough at all. Either they believe in the Koran or they don't.
If they do, they are advocating and perhaps commiting murder and other evil things.
"And seek not occasions for mischief in the land: for Allah loves not those who do mischief"
Beware of excesses in matters of religion. For, as a matter of fact, those before you were destroyed by religious immoderation"
"He who kills himself with anything, Allah will torment him with that in the fire of Hell"
"...If anyone killed a person not in retaliation for murder or to spread mischief in the land, it would be as if he killed the whole of mankind. And (likewise) if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the whole of mankind"
If you want we can swap verses until the cows come home.
"nuconvert seems to be one of those CAIR trained Islamists"
Actually he is exactly right.
You DO of course understand that all REAL freepers and ALL real true blue Americans never say anything remotely positive about Islam? And anyone who does is a traitor, like this guy. (never did trust him)
“All of us here today understand this: We do not fight Islam, we fight against evil.”
- President Bush, November 6, 2001
I tend to agree. There are a lot of newbies around lately who seem to be trying to live up to the liberal stereotypes of conservatives.
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