PART I: IS IT ANTI-IMMIGRATION HYPE?
I’ve realized maybe we need to step back and re-examine the anti-Moslem immigration hype that is coming out of the UK. I think the story of the UK blogger, Lionheart, and his woes with the British authorities because of his unbending and anti-Islamic posture has brought the story to the top of the dogpile. I’ve resisted writing about it because I needed to think. I believe the UK has a terrible problem with Islamic practitioners of hate. Is it a reflection of the whole immigrant community in the UK? I don’t know. I don’t live there. But – it would be abjectly hypocritical of me to wring my hands about the end of England being near while being such a strong critic of nativists here in the US.
I think it is time to sit back and examine a little of what has transpired these past few days. Yesterday, The Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Dr. Michael Nazir-Ali (born in Pakistan of a mixed Christian-Muslim background) said that there were parts of the UK where non Muslims could not travel, that they were taking over the nation. The Gates of Vienna has a list of these cities.
From the BBC – a profile of Nazir-Ali:
“…More recently, he said the Prince of Wales could not become the defender of all the faiths in the UK on becoming monarch because of serious differences between various religions.
On the question of splits within the Anglican Church, he said it was almost inevitable because of disagreements over the roles of women and gays.
He accused many Muslims of being guilty of double standards in their view of the world by seeking both "victimhood and domination".
On another occasion he touched on the subject of the Muslim veil, saying laws should be introduced to give some officials the power to lift the veil for security reasons….
…He opposed proposals to make IVF readily available to single women and lesbians, saying: "Children need parents of both genders."
Dr Nazir-Ali criticised Tony Blair when the former prime minister said he avoided talking about his religious views while in office because he feared people might think he was a "nutter".
Recently, he lost a "personal friend" when former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Dr Nazir-Ali described her murder as "a body blow for freedom and democracy".
There was further controversy when he said some communities in the UK had become no-go areas for non-Muslims….”
On the question of splits within the Anglican Church, he said it was almost inevitable because of disagreements over the roles of women and gays.
He accused many Muslims of being guilty of double standards in their view of the world by seeking both "victimhood and domination".
On another occasion he touched on the subject of the Muslim veil, saying laws should be introduced to give some officials the power to lift the veil for security reasons….
…He opposed proposals to make IVF readily available to single women and lesbians, saying: "Children need parents of both genders."
Dr Nazir-Ali criticised Tony Blair when the former prime minister said he avoided talking about his religious views while in office because he feared people might think he was a "nutter".
Recently, he lost a "personal friend" when former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated. Dr Nazir-Ali described her murder as "a body blow for freedom and democracy".
There was further controversy when he said some communities in the UK had become no-go areas for non-Muslims….”
From Ekklesia:
“Islamic extremism has turned some communities into no-go areas for people of a different faith or race, and Britain is disintegrating because it is no longer seen as a Christian nation, claims the Bishop of Rochester in a newspaper article. The Rt Right Rev Dr Michael Nazir-Ali has been strongly criticised by politicians, other faith leaders and community cohesion advocates after he wrote in The Sunday Telegraph that non-Muslims may find it difficult to live or work in some parts of Britain. He said there was "hostility" in those areas and described the government's multicultural policies as divisive. Dr Nazir-Ali was a candidate for the archbishopric of Canterbury at the time of the appointment of Dr Rowan Williams, and he is seen by some Anglican conservatives as a more credible 'alternative leader' for the divided Communion than Nigerian Primate Peter Akinola, who has dominated the self-styled 'Global South' faction. But Dr Nazir-Ali sees himself merely as someone prepared to "speak his mind", and though he is an implacable opponent of liberals in the Church, his instincts for loyalty and unity are likely to overcome attempts to turn him into a leading political figure in the internal batles over morality and biblical authority - though he has said he may find it difficult to attend the next Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishop in July 2008.
Muslims and some politicians have accused the bishop of scaremongering, while others say he is highlighting a real problem. Writing in a leading conservative weekend paper, Dr Nazir-Ali said there had been a worldwide resurgence of Islamic extremism, leading to young people growing up alienated from the country they live in. He writes that there have been attempts to "impose an 'Islamic' character on certain areas", for example, by amplifying the call to prayer from mosques - something the Muslim Council of Britain says is no more or less intrusive than traditional church bells. Dr Nazir-Ali said it raised questions about "whether non-Muslims wish to be told the creed of a particular faith five times a day on the loudspeaker". Ironically, hardline secularists are likely to use this as part of an argument that all overt manifestations of religion in the public sphere are an "imposition".
The bishop also returned to his regular theme that a multi-faith "mish mash" results from government promoting an integration policy at the expense of both difference and a predominant 'Christian culture'.
He said religiously rootless multiculturalism was "an agenda which still lacks the underpinning of a moral and spiritual vision", citing the role of chaplains in such places as hospitals, prisons and educational establishments being in jeopardy "either because of financial cuts or because the authorities want 'multi-faith' provision, without regard to the distinctively Christian character of the nation's laws, values, customs and culture".
"Not only locally, but at the national level also the establishment of the Church of England is being eroded," Dr Nazir-Ali said, adding: "If it had not been for the black majority churches and the recent arrival of people from central and eastern Europe, the Christian cause in many of our cities would have looked a lost one." Simon Barrow, co-director of the Christian think-tank Ekklesia, which has backed calls for disestablishment, said that some of the bishop's views were based on an outdated and counter-productive attempt to reclaim the social and political power of the church. But he welcomed the resulting debate. "Dr Nazir-Ali has echoed the fear many people feel about the changing demography and make-up of Britain, and while I disagree with his overall analysis it is better to get the issues out in the open than to mumble in the dark", he commented.
"The bishop has also named the core issue that needs addressing in terms of the future of Christianity and the West - the demise of Christendom, the era in which the church could expect privilege and largely unquestioned influence in society. Ekklesia argues that establishment religion is a contradiction of the subversive heart of the Christian message, but Dr Nazir-Ali has vividly illustrated the anxiety felt by its defenders. We invite him to consider a positive, alternative future in which Christians become known for modelling new possibilities of peace and justice rather than competing for control and power," added Barrow….”
Muslims and some politicians have accused the bishop of scaremongering, while others say he is highlighting a real problem. Writing in a leading conservative weekend paper, Dr Nazir-Ali said there had been a worldwide resurgence of Islamic extremism, leading to young people growing up alienated from the country they live in. He writes that there have been attempts to "impose an 'Islamic' character on certain areas", for example, by amplifying the call to prayer from mosques - something the Muslim Council of Britain says is no more or less intrusive than traditional church bells. Dr Nazir-Ali said it raised questions about "whether non-Muslims wish to be told the creed of a particular faith five times a day on the loudspeaker". Ironically, hardline secularists are likely to use this as part of an argument that all overt manifestations of religion in the public sphere are an "imposition".
The bishop also returned to his regular theme that a multi-faith "mish mash" results from government promoting an integration policy at the expense of both difference and a predominant 'Christian culture'.
He said religiously rootless multiculturalism was "an agenda which still lacks the underpinning of a moral and spiritual vision", citing the role of chaplains in such places as hospitals, prisons and educational establishments being in jeopardy "either because of financial cuts or because the authorities want 'multi-faith' provision, without regard to the distinctively Christian character of the nation's laws, values, customs and culture".
"Not only locally, but at the national level also the establishment of the Church of England is being eroded," Dr Nazir-Ali said, adding: "If it had not been for the black majority churches and the recent arrival of people from central and eastern Europe, the Christian cause in many of our cities would have looked a lost one." Simon Barrow, co-director of the Christian think-tank Ekklesia, which has backed calls for disestablishment, said that some of the bishop's views were based on an outdated and counter-productive attempt to reclaim the social and political power of the church. But he welcomed the resulting debate. "Dr Nazir-Ali has echoed the fear many people feel about the changing demography and make-up of Britain, and while I disagree with his overall analysis it is better to get the issues out in the open than to mumble in the dark", he commented.
"The bishop has also named the core issue that needs addressing in terms of the future of Christianity and the West - the demise of Christendom, the era in which the church could expect privilege and largely unquestioned influence in society. Ekklesia argues that establishment religion is a contradiction of the subversive heart of the Christian message, but Dr Nazir-Ali has vividly illustrated the anxiety felt by its defenders. We invite him to consider a positive, alternative future in which Christians become known for modelling new possibilities of peace and justice rather than competing for control and power," added Barrow….”
WHAT IS THE TRUTH?
I do know that Bishop Akinola is a problem. If Bishop Nazir-Ali is of that specific ilk, I am taking his words with a grain of salt, not because of what I know about the problems within the Moslem community in the UK, but because of Akinola’s character and the way he has, to a great extent, caused many of the problems the Episcopal Church is facing in the US. The Center for Vigilant Freedom has a different view of the Bishop of Rochester. I think part of the problem taking The Bishop of Rochester seriously, is his advocation of an agenda that is much the same as Akinola's extreme brand of Anglicanism, and his determination to basically destroy the Episcopal Church here in the US because of his hatred of homosexuals. In all likely-hood Nazir-Ali is correct about the UK, and from all I can tell, that is indeed the situation. Pat Dollard has more.
CANADA
The Canadian Islamic Congress is attempting to impose a version of censureship on anyone who writes or speaks against Islam in Canada.
UK MOSQUES
From the Bookworm Blog comes information about the mosques in the UK being quite radical.
From the Times online
“…Almost half of Britain’s mosques are under the control of a hardline Islamic sect whose leading preacher loathes Western values and has called on Muslims to “shed blood” for Allah, an investigation by The Times has found. Riyadh ul Haq, who supports armed jihad and preaches contempt for Jews, Christians and Hindus, is in line to become the spiritual leader of the Deobandi sect in Britain. The ultra-conservative movement, which gave birth to the Taleban in Afghanistan, now runs more than 600 of Britain’s 1,350 mosques, according to a police report seen by The Times. The Times investigation casts serious doubts on government statements that foreign preachers are to blame for spreading the creed of radical Islam in Britain’s mosques and its policy of enouraging the recruitment of more “home-grown” preachers. Mr ul Haq, 36, was educated and trained at an Islamic seminary in Britain and is part of a new generation of British imams who share a similar radical agenda. He heaps scorn on any Muslims who say they are “proud to be British” and argues that friendship with a Jew or a Christian makes “a mockery of Allah’s religion”.
Seventeen of Britain’s 26 Islamic seminaries are run by Deobandis and they produce 80 per cent of home-trained Muslim clerics. Many had their studies funded by local education authority grants. The sect, which has significant representation on the Muslim Council of Britain, is at its strongest in the towns and cities of the Midlands and northern England…
…The Times has gained access to numerous talks and sermons delivered in recent years by Mr ul Haq and other graduates of Britain’s most influential Deobandi seminary near Bury, Greater Manchester. Intended for a Muslim-only audience, they reveal a deep-rooted hatred of Western society, admiration for the Taleban and a passionate zeal for martyrdom “in the way of Allah”. The seminary outlaws art, television, music and chess, demands “entire concealment” for women and views football as “a cancer that has infected our youth”. Mahmood Chandia, a Bury graduate who is now a university lecturer, claims in one sermon that music is a way in which Jews spread “the Satanic web” to corrupt young Muslims. “Nearly every university in England has a department which is called the music department, and in others, where the Satanic influence is more, they call it the Royal College of Music,” he says. Another former Bury student, Bradford-based Sheikh Ahmed Ali, hails the 9/11 attacks on America because they acted as a wake-up call to young Muslims. This, he says, taught them that they will “never be accepted” in Britain and has led them to “return to Islam: sisters are wearing hijab . . . the lion is waking up”. Mr ul Haq, the most high-profile of the new generation of Deobandis, runs an Islamic academy in Leicester and is the former imam at the Birmingham Central Mosque. Revered by many young Muslims, he draws on his extensive knowledge of the Koran and the life and sayings of the prophet Muhammed to justify his hostility to the kuffar, or non-Muslims. One sermon warns believers to protect their faith by distancing themselves from the “evil influence” of their non-Muslim British neighbours.
“We are in a very dangerous position here. We live amongst the kuffar, we work with them, we associate with them, we mix with them and we begin to pick up their habits.”…”
…The Times has gained access to numerous talks and sermons delivered in recent years by Mr ul Haq and other graduates of Britain’s most influential Deobandi seminary near Bury, Greater Manchester. Intended for a Muslim-only audience, they reveal a deep-rooted hatred of Western society, admiration for the Taleban and a passionate zeal for martyrdom “in the way of Allah”. The seminary outlaws art, television, music and chess, demands “entire concealment” for women and views football as “a cancer that has infected our youth”. Mahmood Chandia, a Bury graduate who is now a university lecturer, claims in one sermon that music is a way in which Jews spread “the Satanic web” to corrupt young Muslims. “Nearly every university in England has a department which is called the music department, and in others, where the Satanic influence is more, they call it the Royal College of Music,” he says. Another former Bury student, Bradford-based Sheikh Ahmed Ali, hails the 9/11 attacks on America because they acted as a wake-up call to young Muslims. This, he says, taught them that they will “never be accepted” in Britain and has led them to “return to Islam: sisters are wearing hijab . . . the lion is waking up”. Mr ul Haq, the most high-profile of the new generation of Deobandis, runs an Islamic academy in Leicester and is the former imam at the Birmingham Central Mosque. Revered by many young Muslims, he draws on his extensive knowledge of the Koran and the life and sayings of the prophet Muhammed to justify his hostility to the kuffar, or non-Muslims. One sermon warns believers to protect their faith by distancing themselves from the “evil influence” of their non-Muslim British neighbours.
“We are in a very dangerous position here. We live amongst the kuffar, we work with them, we associate with them, we mix with them and we begin to pick up their habits.”…”
Terror in the UK
“…The Home Office estimates between 10,000 and 15,000 British Muslims support Al-Qaeda or other terrorist groups. The document, to be published this month, will express concern that extremists are targeting young people aged between 16 and 35. “Extremists’ operation methods and use of technology are becoming ever more sophisticated. They are exploiting ungoverned spaces such as the internet, bookshops and cafes and using new media to put across slick and seductive messages,” a draft of the paper says. “This is about giving the silent majority a stronger voice in their communities and equipping people with the skills and strength to withstand the messages of extremists preaching division and hatred.”Muslims have three times the unemployment rate of the general population, with more than half economically inactive..”
HOLLAND
Gateway Pundit tells us about an artist in Holland forced to go into hiding after she insulted Islam.
“…THE Dutch were debating the limits of freedom of expression last week after an artist who photographed gay men wearing masks of the prophet Muhammad was forced into hiding and her work removed from a museum exhibit. Speaking on the telephone from an unspecified location in the Netherlands last week, the artist, an Iranian exile who goes by the pseudonym of Sooreh Hera, said she had been threatened with “execution”. She accused the director of the municipal museum in The Hague of cowardice for caving in to Muslim extremists. Her story is a reminder of the tensions that have put the Netherlands and other European countries on the front line, sending dozens of people threatened by extremists into hiding since 2004, when a Dutch film-maker was murdered on the street and his collaborator driven into exile. This leaves Hera, 34, in no doubt that she is in real danger. “They said to me, ‘We’re going to burn you naked or put a bullet in your mouth’,” she said, referring to menacing e-mails. “They say, ‘Now you are locked in your home and you cannot go out any more’.” She said that by photographing gay Iranian exiles in masks of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and Ali, his son-in-law, she had wanted to expose a “hypocritical” attitude towards homosexuality in countries such as Iran, where men can be hanged for homosexual conduct…..”
“…THE Dutch were debating the limits of freedom of expression last week after an artist who photographed gay men wearing masks of the prophet Muhammad was forced into hiding and her work removed from a museum exhibit. Speaking on the telephone from an unspecified location in the Netherlands last week, the artist, an Iranian exile who goes by the pseudonym of Sooreh Hera, said she had been threatened with “execution”. She accused the director of the municipal museum in The Hague of cowardice for caving in to Muslim extremists. Her story is a reminder of the tensions that have put the Netherlands and other European countries on the front line, sending dozens of people threatened by extremists into hiding since 2004, when a Dutch film-maker was murdered on the street and his collaborator driven into exile. This leaves Hera, 34, in no doubt that she is in real danger. “They said to me, ‘We’re going to burn you naked or put a bullet in your mouth’,” she said, referring to menacing e-mails. “They say, ‘Now you are locked in your home and you cannot go out any more’.” She said that by photographing gay Iranian exiles in masks of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, and Ali, his son-in-law, she had wanted to expose a “hypocritical” attitude towards homosexuality in countries such as Iran, where men can be hanged for homosexual conduct…..”
ISLAMIC ABUSE OF WOMEN
We need only look at the murders in Dallas this week to see that extreme Islam and the modern world are completely incompatible – if not on a religious basis, simply because of their barbaric treatment of women. Atlas Shrugs has a very detailed report on the murders this weekend. The worst part of all of this, is due to Bush Derangement Syndrome, the liberal media and women's groups are choosing to ignore this assault on women's rights everywhere.
The Amboy Times
Trackposted to Rosemary's Thoughts, Mark My Words, 123beta, Right Truth, DragonLady's World, Cao's Blog, Conservative Cat, Nuke's, third world county, Faultline USA, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Pirate's Cove, Global American Discourse, Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker, Dumb Ox Daily News, Right Voices, and Stageleft, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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