Posted by
Eric Jay on Friday, June 29, 2007 11:08:16 AM
In light of today's event(s) in London I wanted to bring attention to my readers an article by Melanie Phillips, author of Londonistan (Hattip:
The Interface). Britain is under attack, and the attackers seem to be mainly coming from those who live within their society.
In many areas
Sharia Law has replaced, or is being allowed or simply overlooked, by the British government. Ms. Phillips argument is that liberalism, at it's fundamental core, is "commitment to a free society, founded above all on the separation of secular government from religious worship — from which follow the concepts of equal respect for all people, freedom of conscience, tolerance and the rule of law." While Islamism is dominated by a "politicised version of Islam which mandates jihad, or holy war against the infidel and conquest of the non-Islamic world for Islam. I’m well aware of the argument that there’s no difference between Islamism and Islam: that’s a theological argument for others to have."
What has scared me about reading this article is that we in the United States are headed in this direction. The core values, Judeo-Christian values, are steadily being attacked and replaced by liberal mores. The attack on marriage, the attack on the display of the Nativity Scene, the display of the Ten Commandments, the Cross here in San Diego. We are now debating marriage and what it means. Does it mean "one man, one woman?" Or can it's definition be replaced by something else? Civil Unions, marriage between those of the same gender? Multiple partners (mainly one man and many wives)- polygamy; this is now a social norm in some areas of Britain, and there is discussion of recognition for inheritance purposes.
This is the slippery slope we are headed here in the United States. Those on the left have begun to make the argument that there is no right and wrong (a basic argument in Ms. Phillips article). Minorities must be treated equally- whether or not they have been assimilated into our communities. We now print on virtually ever label both English and Spanish. What would our founding fathers have thought of that when English was chosen over German as the official language of the United States (by a mere one vote)?
What used to refer to immigration here in the America was we would accept all who wished to come and seek a better life. When they came from Ireland, from Italy and elsewhere, they gravitated to areas of similar immigrants. They set up communities of their own, and set about to become American's first. They spoke our language, and many worked to better their lives and those of their successive generations.
Now, we merely want to accept even illegal immigrants. We must learn their language, not the reverse. We can't even call them illegal, they are merely "undocumented" or some other benign term. We do not ask them to assimilate into our culture any longer. We want to accept them as they are.
Soon, will we too have pockets of Islamic areas where Sharia Law trumps American law, and civil liberties. When we abandon any concept of right and wrong, truth and lies, we are headed down a slippery slope. And, we are headed in that direction. The
Marriage Amendment is a classic example of this debate. If you say that marriage is (recognized historically) defined as between one man and one woman you are a bigot. Recognition of polygamy is wrong, bestiality is wrong, marriage between the same gender is wrong, honor killings or maiming is wrong. What people do within the confines of their home is their business, and not that of the government. When it becomes the norm, and/or legalized we are headed down to the destruction of our civilization.
The argument in Ms. Phillips article is that we have abandoned the principles of the Enlightenment, and I hold that of our Founding Fathers. Islamofascism (my term, hers being Islamism):
"
What we are living through in the west is nothing short of a repudiation of the Enlightenment, a repudiation of reason; and its substitution by irrationality, obscurantism, bigotry and clerical totalitarianism — all facilitated by our so-called ‘liberal’ society, and all in the name of ‘human rights’. Western liberalism now embraces its Islamist mortal enemies and attacks its American and Israeli allies in the fight to defend civilisation.
We are giving the Islamists the message that we are theirs for the taking. This is how liberalism may disappear up its own backside."
That is a scary proposition. If we lose in Iraq, if we cannot contain or overthrow the Islamofascists in Palestine, in Iran, in Saudi Arabia, and replace it by democracies, we will be under attack for millennia...
Londonistan