Defending the Christian faith and promoting its wisdom against the secular and religious challenges of our day.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Islam, Intimidation, and Might Makes Right
Here is something both truly bizarre and yet increasingly commonplace in the West today. The following is an account from the British Humanist Society:
• A talk organised yesterday by the Queen Mary Atheism, Secularism and Humanism Society on ‘Sharia Law and Human Rights’ had to be cancelled after threats of violence.
The President of the Society, describes what happened:
• ‘Five minutes before the talk was due to start a man burst into the room holding a camera phone and for some seconds stood filming the faces of all those in the room. He shouted ‘listen up all of you, I am recording this, I have your faces on film now, and I know where some of you live’, at that moment he aggressively pushed the phone in someone’s face and then said ‘and if I hear that anything is said against the holy Prophet Mohammed, I will hunt you down.’ He then left the room.
• ‘The same man then began filming the faces of Society members in the foyer and threatening to hunt them down if anything was said about Mohammed, he added that he knew where they lived and would murder them and their families. On leaving the building, he joined a large group of men, seemingly there to support him. We were told by security to stay in the Lecture Theatre for our own safety. On arriving back in the room I became aware that the doors that opened to the outside were still open and that people were still coming in. Several eye witnesses reported that when I was in the foyer a group of men came through the open doors, causing a disruption and making it clear that the room could not be secured. Unfortunately, the lack of security in the lecture theatre meant we and the audience had to leave and a Union representative informed the security that as students’ lives had been threatened there was no way that the talk could go ahead.
http://www.humanism.org.uk/news/view/966
This account is predictable. It is part of Islamic law that Islam cannot be criticized and therefore, Muslims will not tolerate any form of criticism of their religion. Here’s why -from the Koran:
• [Surah 33:57] Those who insult God and His Messenger will be rejected by God in this world and the next—He has prepared a humiliating punishment for them— 58 and those who undeservedly insult believing men and women will bear the guilt of slander and obvious sin. (Haleem)
• [Surah 33:59-61] Prophet, tell your wives, your daughters, and women believers to make their outer garment hang low over them, so as to be recognized and not insulted God is most forgiving, most merciful. If the hypocrites, the sick of heart, and those who spread lies in the city [Medina] do not desist, We shall arouse you [Prophet] against them, and then they will only be your neighbors in this city for a short while. They will be rejected wherever they are found, and then seized and killed. (Haleem)
However, what is more disturbing is the secular Western response to this intimidation. The talk was cancelled – the ultimate proof of success for this intimidation. Perhaps, even worse was the response of the secular humanists:
Jenny Bartle, president of the National Federation of Atheist, Humanist and Secular Student Societies (AHS), commented,
• ‘More and more atheist, humanist and secular student societies are forming on campuses across the UK and we deserve the same levels of respect as any other community. Our members have as much right as anyone else to participate in the free inquiry, discussion and debate which should exist in universities. The threats our members have received are both troubling and repugnant and we reject all attempts to counter debate with violence. At the same time, we welcome the support from across faiths that many of our societies experience on campus to help us secure the freedom to have our say, just as we support them in having the freedom to have theirs.’
Andrew Copson, Chief Executive of the British Humanist Association (BHA) gave support to the society:
• ‘The attempted intimidation that this society has experienced is shocking. Free expression, the free exchange of ideas and free debate are hallmarks of an open society; violence and the threat of violence should never be allowed to compromise that, especially in our universities. We will work to support our affiliate society at Queen Mary’s and look forward to a speedy police investigation and resolution of this case.’
What’s wrong with these statements? They both reflect a glaring failure to identify the problem – Islam. If you are being eaten alive by malaria-carrying mosquitoes, it does little good to identify the culprits as “insects.” They are mosquitoes! If we identify the problem as “insects,” we will wrongly go about killing all the insects, many of which are beneficial!
Our own nation is also falling prey to the fallacy of failing to identify Islam as the source of so much terror and intimidation. For instance in an essay entitled, “Criticism of Islam Could Soon be a Crime in America,” Clare M. Lopez writes of US capitulation to the anti-free speech Islamic agenda:
• In the wake of the cancellation of a number of scheduled official training sessions at national security agencies by deeply knowledgeable scholars of Islamic doctrine, law, and scriptures, such as Stephen Coughlin, Steven Emerson, William Gawthrop, John Guandolo, and Robert Spencer, Deputy U.S. Attorney General James Cole confirmed at an 11 October 2011 press conference that the Obama administration was pulling back for review all training materials used for the law enforcement and national security communities in order to eliminate all references to Islam that Muslim Brotherhood groups have found offensive. http://familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.10991/pub_detail.asp
Meanwhile, Muslims have been taken captive by a religion that forbids any criticism. Consequently, they are trained to regard Islam as good in all respects and any criticism as worthy of death. This mindset is the last thing that we should enable. Whenever the West caves in to Islamic demands, we reinforce the idea that might-makes-right and embolden more intimidation.
However, the West has become a cowardly pushover. It lacks the courage, vision and principles to stand against intimidation, and Islam smells blood. We need to return to the principles that have made the West great – the Christian faith!
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