Deluded or devious?
The beheading of 21 Coptic Christians on a beach in Libya - for being Coptic Christians - has "brought ISIS to the doorstep of Europe". Italy has been warned that Libyan jihadists are ‘just south of Rome’. We are assured by all and sundry that these people are not Muslims, they are terrorists, but has no-one in authority noticed that there is an elephant in the room?
Dr Shuja Shafi, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain says that he has “no idea” why some young people become radicalised. Really? He should watch this video. He says "many British Muslims feel very disillusioned that the government is not treating us as equal." Really? Read here and about discrimination against Christians in British Society here.
"All we are looking for as British citizens is to be treated as British citizens. Anything that is done with a community identified as having the potential for extremism or terrorism is not going to make you feel comfortable" said Dr Shafi. "That is one of the problems: there is a trust deficit.... The Muslim community as a whole is being "treated with suspicion" pointing to instances such as counter-terrorism officers visiting nursery schools.
To avoid charges of Islamophobia we are expected to show tolerance and understanding of everything Muslim regardless of the circumstances while Islamic states see no problem suppressing Christianity and exporting Islamic extremism around the world. Saudi Arabia has being identified as "a cash machine for terrorists". The French government has announced a series of measures to clamp down on radical Islam being spread in mosques and wants to cut financial support from countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia. We should do the same.
According to a report in The Spectator, "British mosques aren't that moderate after all" and "only two out of 1,700 mosques in Britain follow modernist interpretations of the Koran". Hard line Sharia Islam has no place in Britain. If British Muslims are genuine in wanting to live as British citizens they should be demanding change holding up their faith to the same scrutiny as others. Excuses are wearing thin.
No doubt the majority of Muslims in this country want to live their lives peacefully as British citizens but being a British citizen requires more than being "treated as such", there are obligations. One is to be honest about the problems facing us all, Muslims included. It is no good pretending that the footsteps on the Libyan beach have nothing to do with Islam when the perpetrators are following verses in the Koran. The facts are here.
These facts must be faced. If a religious ideology can be used to justify barbaric executions of believers and non-believers, followers are either deluded or devious in denying that it has anything to do with their religious faith when the evidence to the contrary is freely available. Here is the important test:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance". The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 18).
Every British citizen must be able to subscribe to that. If not there are serious questions to be answered.
Further reading:
Beheading of Christians is clearest indication yet of religious cleansing. Evangelical Alliance
If ISIS could kill us all, they would. Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith, Catholic Herald
What will it take to stop Isis using rape as a weapon of war? The Guardian
The True History of Christendom and Islam Raymond Ibrahim, FrontPage Magazine
"All we are looking for as British citizens is to be treated as British citizens. Anything that is done with a community identified as having the potential for extremism or terrorism is not going to make you feel comfortable" said Dr Shafi. "That is one of the problems: there is a trust deficit.... The Muslim community as a whole is being "treated with suspicion" pointing to instances such as counter-terrorism officers visiting nursery schools.
To avoid charges of Islamophobia we are expected to show tolerance and understanding of everything Muslim regardless of the circumstances while Islamic states see no problem suppressing Christianity and exporting Islamic extremism around the world. Saudi Arabia has being identified as "a cash machine for terrorists". The French government has announced a series of measures to clamp down on radical Islam being spread in mosques and wants to cut financial support from countries like Qatar and Saudi Arabia. We should do the same.
According to a report in The Spectator, "British mosques aren't that moderate after all" and "only two out of 1,700 mosques in Britain follow modernist interpretations of the Koran". Hard line Sharia Islam has no place in Britain. If British Muslims are genuine in wanting to live as British citizens they should be demanding change holding up their faith to the same scrutiny as others. Excuses are wearing thin.
No doubt the majority of Muslims in this country want to live their lives peacefully as British citizens but being a British citizen requires more than being "treated as such", there are obligations. One is to be honest about the problems facing us all, Muslims included. It is no good pretending that the footsteps on the Libyan beach have nothing to do with Islam when the perpetrators are following verses in the Koran. The facts are here.
These facts must be faced. If a religious ideology can be used to justify barbaric executions of believers and non-believers, followers are either deluded or devious in denying that it has anything to do with their religious faith when the evidence to the contrary is freely available. Here is the important test:
"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance". The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 18).
Every British citizen must be able to subscribe to that. If not there are serious questions to be answered.
Further reading:
Beheading of Christians is clearest indication yet of religious cleansing. Evangelical Alliance
If ISIS could kill us all, they would. Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith, Catholic Herald
What will it take to stop Isis using rape as a weapon of war? The Guardian
The True History of Christendom and Islam Raymond Ibrahim, FrontPage Magazine
I have not heard a representative of IS claim no allegiance to Islam. My deduction is that if they say that they are Muslim ,or rather fail to deny being Islamic, yet continue to commit their evil acts in the name of the Koran, then these 'terrorists' are clearly Muslims.
ReplyDeleteIf the naive and ostensibly good Muslims do not speak out to deny the terrorists acting in their name, then the moderate people are acting as a false front ,a mere facade or bluff for the murders.
A large part of the solution to the dreadful problem of IS, rests within the hands of the everyday Muslim communities, and only then shall we able to all live at British citizens.
Je suis Jesus,
ReplyDeletetherefore Je suis the Coptic Martyrs,
Je suis all persecuted Christians.
( 'Je suis ' taken from the verb Suivre - to follow).
It is telling that the leading Islamic authority has refused to declare ISIL to be apostates:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/02/azhar-egypt-radicals-islamic-state-apostates.html#
Until all of the leading authorities of the so-called "religion of peace" make it clear beyond question that ISIL is not islamic, then the rest of us are free to draw our own conclusions.
Islam is not an "Abrahamic" religion. The Jewish people are the descendants of Abraham, and Christians share his faith in God. Islam categorically rejects any notion that salvation comes about by the Cross and calls for its followers to kill Jews. It was invented in the 7th century and has remained fossilised in the 7th century. The Mormon religion is a good analogy, invented by someone claiming to have direct personal inspiration, cloaking itself in some of the outward appearances of Christianity (""The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints") but in reality rejecting the very gospel which Jesus proclaimed and the Cross on which he died for our sins. We should not accept any of the propaganda on behalf of islam which tells us otherwise: it sets itself in direct opposition to everything that is truly Abrahamic.
ReplyDelete