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Europe and Muslims-The Asymmetric view
12/22/06
If there’s one group with which I’ve had nothing but positive personal experiences, it’s Muslims. I've dealt with them in business and in school. I've taught their children and served with them in Iraq. Some lobbed mortars at me, but that's not personal, that's war.
Yet, despite my own experience, I do think that the West and West-influenced countries like the Philippines have issues to consider as it attempts to integrate Muslims into its civic life and as it confronts Muslim hostility domestically and externally. Before I try to articulate these issues, however, I’ll tell you what these issues are not: Muslim religious practices or theology don’t concern me. I wouldn’t stone adulteresses as some Muslims advocate, but that’s a difference in punishment; adultery’s a bad thing in either society. Likewise, I don’t care about their concept of Heaven or their placement of Jesus in the economy of the universe. Race is also a non-issue; a significant expenditure of effort to preserve racial characteristics seems like a waste to me.
My only concern is the preservation of the Western tradition in Europe, the birthplace of American ideals and a natural ally to the United States. In recent years, as the European Muslim population has surged-over 20% in previously homogenous countries like Sweden- and enthusiasm for Christianity has declined, many Europeans fear a Europe stripped of its defining characteristics. In one recent example, Austrian schools ended the Christmas tradition of Santa Claus visits in deference to Muslin schoolchildren. Now, of course, Muslims aren’t going to celebrate Christmas (or the battle of Battle of Tours for that matter), and I wouldn’t expect them to, but aren’t lovers of centuries-old customs entitled to feelings of sadness if not outright fear at the prospect of sharing a country with a significant population indifferent or even hostile to those aspects of their society they cherish?
And current demographic developments don't only threaten quaintities like Santa Claus. An often-quoted ICS poll reports that 40% of British Muslims want Sharia law. Sharia and Western law are incompatible, coexistence unfathomable, and one group will have to abandon its preference.
Going further, prominent Muslims have openly called for Europe to Islamicize. Some Muslims have backed up their words with actions, committing acts of terrorism or other belligerencies towards their adopted country. I don’t blame Muslims for wanting to spread their religion; I want to spread mine. In fact, anybody with confidence in his world view prefers to see its influence expand whether he's a Christian, Secularist, Communist, Feminist, or Muslim. The Spanish spread Christianity in the Americas and I view it as having eventually been fortunate for both the Native Americans and Christianity in general. (I also decry the use of the sword for many of those conversions; Guadalupe would be my only choice) However, I also understand the indigenous Americans who fought to preserve their culture and religion. If evangelical Muslims feel violence is the route to their goal, then it’s legitimate for the others who wish a different future to react accordingly.
The Asymmetric bottom line: Of the possible scenarios for Europe, I sincerely hope for a peaceful resolution of tensions and tolerance for all beliefs while at the same time hope for the continued dominance of European ideals of justice and of European culture.
6 comments
I'd have to say that this is an exceptional commentary. However, you are still an idealist at heart, and that is not a fault, but trust me when I tell you that as time goes on you will temper that romantic view of the world with more grit. Muslims have no intention of just living in peace and harmony amongst other peoples -- there are no examples of such behavior in all of history, in fact.
We can all wish for the best, but in the end we will have to fight. That is the harshest truth of all and the one I do not look forward to witnessing, but I believe it is inevitable.
Western traditions can not be maintained when a culture of Islam tears down and constructs on top of every other tradition it encounters and comes to dominate. And do not believe for a second that Muslims in Europe and America have to even be a large minority to start gaining ground and bullying people -- that is what the terror is already about. The Nazis were a tiny segment of German society, yet they gained complete power. It is thuggery and fear that the average person caves into, and that is why it is so important that men and women of resolve and intelligence fight the evils of the world instead of ignoring them because it is more convenient.
However, with all that said, I'm confident that you are on the right track to understanding the truth as I have come to understand it. All it requires is more scholarly reading, patience and a few hundred cups of coffee.
“This nation was founded upon Judeo-Christian principles. The left is very fond of revisionist history and tells us that because our founding fathers were primarily Diests, they would have welcomed into this religious freedom any ideology that claims to pass for religion. . . Our nation’s founders never envisioned a time when issues of religious freedom would extend very far beyond differences in Judeo-Christain sects and denominations. They could not have envisioned such a dilemma when the constitution was written. . . Perhaps it’s time for a constitutional amendment? . . . I submit for example: “No person shall hold any office or public Trust under the United States who adheres to or gives allegiance to any religion, ideology, or organization which by word, nature, association, or action has shown intent to undermine the sovereignty of these United States!”
Source: http://faultlineusa.blogspot.com/2006/12/keith-ellison-islam-american.html
One of the initial difficult hurdles I certainly faced when first addressing this issue was the tendency to want to look at the problems presented by Islam from the perspective that "all religions are created equal", and that it's all a matter of a simple difference in cultural perspective.
While on a personal level, there are certainly any number of good, decent, peaceful people in this world who are culturally and spiritually Muslim, there are also intrinsic problems with the fundamental foundations of their faith that are faulty, and have yet to be straightforwardly addressed in any satisfactory way.
This is especially difficult since ecclesiastical examination and questioning within Islam itself is strictly prohibited. While not historically limited to Islam, the execution or murder of heretics and critics is not generally today practiced in any of the major world religions OTHER than Islam.
It is through these inherent fault-lines and theological cracks that the jihadic evils of Islamo-fascism, totilitarianism, and genocidal hatred are being promulgated and driven. These elements deserve neither sympathy nor support, and in fact require a determined and unified response.
If Islam is to remain in this world as a viable and living community of faith, it must energetically undertake to reform itself in a way that makes itself worthy of that stature.
As it stands today however, as represented and promulgated by the virulent jihadist elements within it, and acting under the orthodox inpiration, example, and fundamentalist tradition of Islam's founder(s) - a tradition that holds itself to be "perfect" and above question, challenge, or examination - Islam is currently demonstrating itself to be an ideology worthy only of rejection -- a horrible and twisted ego-maniacal perversion of both Judeo-Christian traditions and ancient Arabic culture, that needs to be religated to the trash-heap of history, just a quickly a possible, and by whatever means necessary.
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