On Islam [Hilaire Belloc]

Catholic-Pages ^ | 1919 | Hilaire Belloc

[JMJ333]

Absolutely. You gotta love the members of the church militant!

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Smart, handsome and Catholic is always a good thing :-)))))

[livius]

Very good post. Belloc was certainly right on this one, in many ways. The only aspect he passed over was the fact that Islam, because it does not separate religious law and secular law, has a much more iron grip on its adherents than Christianity (which does separate God and Caesar) could ever have. That is, it controls every aspect of their lives, with the threat of external force.

That's appealing to people with an authoritarian bent, or people who simply don't want to be bothered thinking things out. I read recently that many Mexican Indians in Chiapas, who had converted to evangelical or Pentecostal sects (which are usually quite authoritarian), are now converting to Islam. The odd thing is that Islam is being spread by the radical left - the head of ETA (Basque terrorist org, active in Europe and LatAm) in Latin America has converted to Islam, and the Islamic "missionaries" in Mexico spread a strange blend of religion and Marxist economic/social thought. Mexico even expelled a few of them recently, because they were a little too obviously tied in with terrorists.

But Belloc is very right on the fact that Christianity is being seriously undermined by heresy, which certainly makes it much more vulnerable to the Islamic threat. And the Islamic threat is a very, very real one.

[EODGUY]

Remarkable article when one considers when it was written and our current world condition.

Thank you for the ping.

EODGUY

[JMJ333]

Thanks for the observations, livius.

And you're right eod--his foresight is incredible.

[Aquinasfan]

Frighteningly prophetic.

I think it true to say that Islam is the only spiritual force on earth which Catholicism has found an impregnable fortress.

The liberals still think we can play footsie with these guys. Nuh-uh.

______________________________________________________

It is very difficult in our relativistic society to criticize another religion, even one as beligerent as Islam. But the virus in the computer is this simple fact: "Mohammed married a six year old and consummated the marriage when she was nine."

I've left plenty of people dumbfounded. "What? Is that true?" "Yup. Just look it up on the web." End of discussion. Virus entered into system. Reboot.

[Aquinasfan]

All in all, Islam sounds more like the mafia than a religion.

I think you hit the nail on the head. It's a mafia-like religion. Islam means "submission," not "peace."

[JMJ333]

Six....? =(

Ammo indeed. Thanks for the info.

[BlackVeil]

Belloc had many insights, and this is remarkable for that era. During most of the 20th century, Islam appeared to be a ossified religion definitely on its way out. For instance, during the 1960s when there was a great revival of Eastern religions among Western followers, Islam (then) attracted almost no one. It was bypassed by people on their way to Tibet, India etc. Not until the 1970s did it begin to exert any real influence. No one, except Belloc, was prescient enough to predict this.

Belloc is a bit soft on the Christians of Mohammed's time, as one of the reasons for the rise of Islam was the intractable theological divisions within Christianity. They were much worse than he writes of. Issues such as "monophysite controversy" - about the single and dual nature of Christ, had caused endless divisions and polemics in Christian communities across the Middle East. In order to be admitted to Communion, Christians had to explain where they stood in relation to Platonic and Aristolelean notions of substance and nature. Failure to give the right answers saw you excomminicated. Then a new Bishop would arrive, with a different take on the dual nature of Christ, and the whole thing started again. Christians in the Middle East argue about these issues to THIS DAY. It is quite common to see open antagonism between Copts, Orthodox, and Syrian orthodox, over very obscure theological issues. It starts as soon as they meet. "Oh a Copt - you should ask where he stands on the matter of the divine presence prior to the resurrection and subsequent to the incarnation and..." One does not have to be an anti-intellectual to just give up on it. Thousands did, as soon as new prophet came out of Arabia.

[Askel5]

Survivals & New Arrivals bump!

Thanks for the flag.

[JMJ333]

Thanks!

[JMJ333]

Agreed. I am of the opinion that Islam is predominantly more pagan than anything. il-Ilahi [or Allah] is the greatest of the 365 gods of Arabian mythology--the god of war, spear, and bow. Still is.

[Cap'n Crunch]

Thanks for the ping, Belloc is fantastic. I've got just about all his books. I sometimes end my posts with a few words I borrowed from him:

"All hail the New Paganism"

[Catholicguy]

I too have many of his books. Of course, he, like Chesterton, was, falsely, labelled an antisemite but his book "The Jews" was very accurate and sympathetic to their place on earth and in society etc.
"In Catholic countries,
where ever I go;
the good times and the red wine flows,
at least I've always found it so. Benedicamus Domino"
Belloc loved Catholicism, history, wine, the sea....he was the real deal

[Cap'n Crunch]

Thanks for the quote and the info., I agree, he was the real deal. I saw his picture in the dictionary under "passionate."

I really liked the red wine part LOL. Take care.

[Domestic Church]

"I read recently that many Mexican Indians in Chiapas, who had converted to evangelical or Pentecostal sects (which are usually quite authoritarian), are now converting to Islam. The odd thing is that Islam is being spread by the radical left - the head of ETA (Basque terrorist org, active in Europe and LatAm) in Latin America has converted to Islam, and the Islamic "missionaries" in Mexico spread a strange blend of religion and Marxist economic/social thought."

Wow! This kind of confirms my worst fears...that the left has decided to use Islam as one of their modus operandi to undermind and destabilize Capitolist societies. This also fits with the influx of Islam in the US during the Clinton years. You'd think they would recognize that the USSR never was able to grapple with Islam within its borders.

[Fithal the Wise]

I am of the opinion that Islam is predominantly more pagan than anything. il-Ilahi [or Allah] is the greatest of the 365 gods of Arabian mythology--the god of war, spear, and bow. Still is.

Interesting, never heard that before. Could have implications for the identity of the anti-christ who worships the god of forces [il-Ilahi??] but would also probably be a convert not worshiping as his fathers.

[Catholicguy]

Chuck Colson has been quoted as saying that during his years of prison ministry he has seen a big increase in the conversion of blacks - nominally Christian - to Islam.

[Cap'n Crunch]

Remember when alot of blacks were wearing the "X" hats, for Malcolm X? We did see alot of "jailhouse Muslims" then, especially when they had a special diet: no pork. I used to love it when we'd ask their name and they'd give a new Muslim name, instead of their old, what they called "slave name."

Most of the jailhouse muslims just went back to paganism after they got out of the joint, at least around here, but they are usually very sympathetic to the muslim movement.

From my experience anyway.

[JMJ333]

The origins of Islam stem from Judeo-Christianity but the Koran and Allah have little to do with the bible or the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.

The Christians and Jews, who he tried to convert, rejected his teachings and he turned to the pagans of Mecca and Medina, as well as the whole arabian peninsula. The Judeo-Christian origins of Mohammed's beliefs were tossed aside and the arabian pagan origins of Islam were emphasized.

According to arabian paganism, there were 365 pagan gods, one for each day of the lunar year. The greatest of these gods was al-Ilahi, the war god. In order to build his new religion, Islam, on a montheistic basis, mohammed abolished the other 364 lesser gods leaving only Allah [pagan name for a monotheistic god].

il-Ilahi [moon crescent] is a war god. Islam is a war religion, a warrior religion and was merciless from the very beginning, with beheading, crucifixtion, and severing arms and limbs as common practice--and is still practiced in some more remote places.

From the beginning there has always been an eternal war between the house of peace of Islam and the house of war of the infidel non-moslem. Mohammed taught a strident ideology of war between "good and evil" i.e. Islam against the infidels. All who embraced Islam were of the house of peace, or in Arabic "Dar es Salaam" while all the infidels were grouped together in the "Dar el-Harb" or house of war which, according to mohammed, will not end until the entire world becomes moslem.

Within a hundred years after the death of Mohammed in 732, the Arab Moslems had succeeded in brutally conquering North Africa and Spain, the entire arabian peninsula and most of the middle east--Islam didn't start to fall until the middle ages with the emergence of the renaissance. Islam basically fell into backwardness.

History lesson of the day. ;)