The One With Aldacron

Christians have been known to make death threats to atheists, employees of abortion clinics, homosexuals and others they view as a threat to their way of life. But I think it’s safe to say that those behind the threats are not representative of the majority. I think all Christians are deluded, but the nutjobs are a small minority. Not so with Islam.

Moderate Muslims will tell you that Islam is not a violent religion. They get prickly when you imply that it is, or group them with the extremists. But by far the nutjob ratio is much, much higher in the Muslim population than it is for Christians. Well known examples are the Muslim reaction to the infamous Danish cartoons, the fatwa against Salman Rusdie, the murder of Theo van Gogh, and the perpetual threats against Ayaan Hirsi Ali. Now, you can add Wafa Sultan and her family to the list of people who are forced to live in hiding because of their criticism of Islam.

When the threat of death is a common response of a number of Muslims to criticism, you have no basis for saying that Islam is a religion of peace. If it truly were a peaceful religion, these incidents would be few and far between. Buddhism, for example, teaches peace. Buddhist violence is extremely rare and has historically been in response to oppression or invasion. Criticize a Buddhist monk and he will likely wish you a nice day. Criticize a Muslim cleric and he will likely call for your head.

The Western practice of tolerating immigrant cultures is a noble ideal on paper. Bigotry, hatred, and intolerance have no place in a modern society (though we still have a long way to go toward eliminating it). But when a culture is so diametrically opposed to your own, when it threatens the very foundations upon which your society is built, then you tolerate it at your peril. Islam certainly fits that description in regards to Western society. We are seeing the fruits of our tolerance of Muslim culture in both Europe and North America, with the Muslim schools teaching immigrant children to hate their fellow citizens who are non-Muslims, homegrown terrorists plotting and executing attacks, and Muslim immigrants continuing to practice their brutal, barbaric lifestyle (wife-beating and honor killings come to mind) instead of adopting the ideals of freedom and human rights.

When Westerners go to Muslim countries, we are expected to abide by their rules. How many times have you seen Western female reporters on TV with their heads wrapped in a scarf while in a Muslim nation? If you travel to a Muslim country on business, don’t get caught drinking alcohol. Conversely, when Muslims come to Western nations, they expect to bring their culture with them and not abide by ours if it conflicts with their religion. Honor killings have no place in Western society, but they happen. Sharia law is incompatible with Western law, but Sharia courts now exist in the UK.

Let’s face it, Muslim culture is a cancer on Western society. And it’s viral. The longer we tolerate it, the more we risk becoming subsumed. How much longer before homegrown terrorists begin carrying out suicide attacks on a regular basis? How much longer before Muslims in Denmark, the UK, or some other country rise up in rebellion? How much longer before we find ourselves in armed conflict on our city streets with deranged jihadists? Ideally, no religion should be allowed to influence any society, but especially Islam.

I’m not advocating the ad hoc expulsion of Muslims from Western nations, nor am I encouraging discrimination against them. That’s never the answer to a problem. Muslims should be allowed to immigrate and should be allowed to practice their religion. But their culture, which is so intertwined with their religion, is a problem. What we need to do is to take a look at the bits of Muslim culture that are illegal in the West or which are an obvious violation of human rights and heavily crack down on them. Muslim men who beat their daughters and wives should not be given a free pass just because it’s part of their culture. Muslim immigrants who publicly support honor killings should be deported. See this article about an honor killing in Berlin for example.

Free speech is a wonderful ideal and should be protected at all costs. But there is a line that has been defined in courts. In the US, offensive speech is protected speech, but speech that incites people to violence is not. Muslim clerics who encourage the murder of non-Muslims should not be protected under free speech. Muslims who make death threats should no be protected under free speech. Muslims who advocate honor killings or the murder of infidels should should not be protected. All such cases should be grounds for deportation.

It’s time to get tough. It’s time to tell Muslims that our arms are open to them, but they have to leave the backward and barbaric parts of their culture outside the border. If they can’t do that, then they don’t belong in the West. In other words, the people can immigrate, but their culture is not welcome. If we don’t do this, we will one day face the consequences.

Technorati Tags: Muslims, Islam, Western culture, immigrants, honor killings, terrorists, religion