The sleeping world is awakening to the dangers of Islam

This past week, I have received many responses from Muslims concerning my two most recent columns: ''Followers of Islam: Can You See the Blood on Your Hands'' and ''Here Comes the Arab/Muslim Outrage.''

In one breath, some of the writers would call themselves ''intellectuals'' and then accuse me of being a Jew when I put tough questions to them that they could not answer. They maintained that as an American, I just was not intelligent enough to understand Islam. The mistake these ''intellectuals'' made is believing that I have any intention of ''understanding'' Islam.

It has taken me since 9/11 to realize that civilized humans cannot understand Islam. I am just overjoyed and somewhat relieved that the world is finally waking up in time to see the rabid dog coming its way disguised as Islam.

If Bin Laden has done one good thing in his wretched life, it was to poke a stick in the eye of the world by bringing his radical beliefs forward and urging his followers to commit violent acts. It has taken some time for people to begin taking a look at Muslims in their own areas, but it is happening. The French and the English are beginning to ask themselves, ''When did this happen? When did 6 million Muslims get here and what are they planning to do?''

Approximately 33% of the world is Christian and 20% is Muslim, based on figures for the year 2000. The number of Muslims is growing at an alarming rate. Muslims immigrated to peaceful, mostly Christian countries in Europe where they had large families that were reasonably safe from the ravages of their own strict religious teachings. At least these Muslims were safe until the radical element migrated from the oppressive Middle Eastern countries and began exerting its power over the masses and started menacing the indigenous populations that took Muslims in and welcomed them over the years. The mind-control of the clerics over the average Muslim is frightening and total.

This problem is most notable in the smaller European countries such as the Netherlands and Sweden, where a backlash against Islam is growing because of the strict Islamic laws forbidding mingling with the non-Muslim citizens of a country. In short, Muslims do not fit in. They are not allowed to fit in. The religious leaders lose their total control of the people if those people are allowed to see and experience the freedom that others enjoy. This is why Islam loathes democracy. Democracy steals the power of the Islamic leaders. It gives the people the right to think for themselves and thinking people might start to question their laws. Free people will question the absolute authority and power of the Islamic leaders over every aspect of their lives from birth to often violent death.

These days, it seems that anyone who speaks out against Islam runs the risk of being murdered, as in the case of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh who was shot, stabbed, and then had his throat slit by a radical Muslim in the Netherlands. Van Gogh had made documentaries exposing the brutality directed at women under Islam. Now, mosques and Muslim schools have been burned and the normally peaceful Dutch are considering closing their borders at the very least and perhaps even expelling Muslims from their country. As one Dutch citizen said on a blog, ''This country is a free country but we can't even speak anymore without wondering if some Muslim will murder us.'' The hate and unrest towards the followers of Islam is growing. It is just a rumble now, but it will get louder as the killing and bombing continues across Europe.

A recent report on Fox News showed the hostility growing between the Swedes and their Muslim population. There are Muslim areas where firefighters and emergency personnel will not enter without a police escort because they will be attacked. Firefighters attempting to put out a fire in a mosque were stoned. The anger between these two forces in Sweden is growing and the most liberal country in Europe is contemplating the same action as the Netherlands. It seems Muslims feel their neighborhoods are not a part of Sweden anymore but theirs, to do with as they see fit. The Swedish government does not see it that way. In those pockets of Islamic rule, poverty is common, unemployment is high, and the clerics foment hate and point fingers of blame on the evil West for Muslims' lot in life.

In France, which has the largest Muslim population in Europe, Islamic clerics openly troll the streets seeking restless young men to indoctrinate and send out to kill for Islam. They weed out the weaklings by having them view videos of the actual torture and beheadings of human beings complete with the screams of pain and all blood and gore of a nightmare. They watch Islamic ''snuff films.'' This is what will be expected of them as ''warriors'' of Allah.

Here in the United States we have a different set of problems. America is just too large for Islam to overpower by reproduction. It has also been impossible to isolate its followers from the American population and American Muslims are far less likely to follow the path of death and destruction. Here, they take a different tact.

Radical Islam is rampant in the prisons, converting the worst of the worst so that when they leave prison they are unleashed on society as pre-programmed, radical Islamic killing machines. On the outside they appear as average Americans which allow them to move about the country unencumbered and overlooked. These killing machines wait for their orders to kill and terrorize, cared for and protected by the radical Islamic element within our own borders.

Muslims live in the past where they had their glory days of conquest and power. They often refer to the Crusades, which ended around 1300, as if they happened last year. I am constantly reminded of Wounded Knee and American slavery. Wounded Knee took place in 1890 and slavery ended in the 1860s.

Muslim writers love to point out the Spanish Inquisition, which was an over-reaction to the conquests of Islam in Spain and was just as much political as religious. The Inquisition officially ended in 1834. What they fail to mention is that it was not only Muslims that were persecuted, but Jews and Protestants as well. Muslims always see themselves as the only victims of injustice in the world. Muslims also fail to mention that the Pope tried to intervene and stop the Inquisition but was unable to exert his power on the political machine.

We Catholics look at this period in our history with shame, not pride. Belief in God or Jesus cannot be forced on someone; it must come from the heart. Forced conversion is not done out of love, but fear. Islam can control one's body, but it cannot control one's thoughts. Converts that are forced will not stay with Islam. They will leave it at the first opportunity.

This is knowledge that has escaped the Islamics. As they condemn the Spanish Inquisition, Islam is doing the same right now in countries such as Sudan. What Muslims are doing in Sudan is far worse than the Spanish Inquisition. Humanitarian groups estimate that since 1983, an estimated 2 million people have died from war and related famine in Sudan at the hands of the Islamic leaders. Anyone refusing to denounce Jesus and accept Islam is executed. Rape is used as a weapon. It seems that all modern-day Islam needs is a coliseum with some lions. Trapped in the past, Muslims call the coalition forces ''crusaders.''

Since the attack on 9/11 here in the United States, the enemy has been exposed. The havens of safety in Afghanistan and Iraq have been taken from the Islamics. In its fury, Islam has made many mistakes. The attacks in Spain and in Bali and murders in the Netherlands and elsewhere have made the world realize that Islam is not just the enemy of America, but the enemy of the entire free world.

Some people were foolishly saying that America deserved to be attacked but when death came to their shores, they were taken aback. They had welcomed Muslims with open arms and this is how they are repaid for their kindness? Some countries are instituting laws that make our Patriot Act pale in comparison. Threatening tapes released by Bin Laden have had the opposite effect.

Instead of cowering, the world is beginning to look Islam in the eye and say, emphatically and collectively: ''NO! This will not be allowed.'' If it was a final crusade that Islam wanted, they have it.

Barbara Stock is an RN of over 23 years and is fairly new to political writing. She has had articles posted on BushCountry, GOPUSA, AmericanDaily, RepublicanDailyNews, Town Hall, OpinionEditorials, and the Judson Cox Newsletter. She has her own website called Republican and Proud and welcomes comments at dickens502003@yahoo.com

The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition
by Ellen Rice
"The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition," a 1994 BBC/A&E production, will re-air on the History Channel this December 3 at 10 p.m. It is a definite must-see for anyone who wishes to know how historians now evaluate the Spanish Inquisition since the opening of an investigation into the Inquisition's archives. The special includes commentary from historians whose studies verify that the tale of the darkest hour of the Church was greatly fabricated.
In its brief sixty-minute presentation, "The Myth of the Spanish Inquisition" provides only an overview of the origins and debunking of the myths of torture and genocide. The documentary definitely succeeds in leaving the viewer hungry to know more. The long-held beliefs of the audience are sufficiently weakened by the testimony of experts and the expose of the making of the myth.
The Inquisition began in 1480. Spain was beginning a historic reunification of Aragon and Castile. The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile created a unified Hispania not seen since Roman times. Afraid that laws commanding the exile or conversion of Jews were thwarted by conversos, i.e. synagogue-going "Catholics," Ferdinand and Isabella commissioned an investigation or Inquisition. They began the Inquisition hoping that religious unity would foster political unity, and other heads of state heralded Spain's labors for the advent of a unified Christendom. The documentary clearly and boldly narrates the historical context, which intimates that the Spanish were not acting odd by their contemporary standards.
The Inquisition Myth, which Spaniards call "The Black Legend," did not arise in 1480. It began almost 100 years later, and exactly one year after the Protestant defeat at the Battle of Mühlberg at the hands of Ferdinand's grandson, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. In 1567 a fierce propaganda campaign began with the publication of a Protestant leaflet penned by a supposed Inquisition victim named Montanus. This character (Protestant of course) painted Spaniards as barbarians who ravished women and sodomized young boys. The propagandists soon created "hooded fiends" who tortured their victims in horrible devices like the knife-filled Iron Maiden (which never was used in Spain). The BBC/A&E special plainly states a reason for the war of words: the Protestants fought with words because they could not win on the battlefield.
The Inquisition had a secular character, although the crime was heresy. Inquisitors did not have to be clerics, but they did have to be lawyers. The investigation was rule-based and carefully kept in check. And most significantly, historians have declared fraudulent a supposed Inquisition document claiming the genocide of millions of heretics.
What is documented is that 3000 to 5000 people died during the Inquisition's 350 year history [10-20 per year]. Also documented are the "Acts of Faith," public sentencings of heretics in town squares. But the grand myth of thought control by sinister fiends has been debunked by the archival evidence. The inquisitors enjoyed a powerful position in the towns, but it was one constantly jostled by other power brokers. In the outlying areas, they were understaffed - in those days it was nearly impossible for 1 or 2 inquisitors to cover the thousand-mile territory allotted to each team. In the outlying areas no one cared and no one spoke to them. As the program documents, the 3,000 to 5,000 documented executions of the Inquisition pale in comparison to the 150,000 documented witch burnings elsewhere in Europe over the same centuries.
The approach is purely historical, and therefore does not delve into ecclesial issues surrounding religious freedom. But perhaps this is proper. Because the crime was heresy, the Church is implicated, but the facts show it was a secular event.
One facet of the Black Legend that evaporates under scrutiny in this film is the rumor that Philip II, son of Charles V, killed his son Don Carlos on the advisement of the aging blind Grand Inquisitor. But without a shred of evidence, the legend of Don Carlos has been enshrined in a glorious opera by Verdi.
The special may be disturbing to young children. There are scenes of poor souls burning at the stake, and close-ups of the alleged torture devices. Scenes depicting witches consorting with pot-bellied devils are especially grotesque. For kids, this is the stuff of nightmares.
Discrediting the Black Legend brings up the sticky subject of revisionism. Re-investigating history is only invalid if it puts an agenda ahead of reality. The experts - once true believers in the Inquisition myth - were not out to do a feminist canonization of Isabella or claim that Tomas de Torquemada was a Marxist. Henry Kamen of the Higher Council for Scientific Research in Barcelona said on camera that researching the Inquisition's archives "demolished the previous image all of us (historians) had."
And the future of the Black Legend? For many it may continue to hold more weight than reality. There is the emotional appeal against the Church. The dissenters of today may easily imagine Torquemada's beady eyes as a metaphor of the Church's "dictatorial, controlling, damning" pronouncements. The myth is also the easiest endorsement of the secular state: "de-faith" the state and de-criminalize heresy. Who will be the revisionists in this case? Will the many follow Montanas' lead in rewriting history?
Our 20th century crisis of man playing God - usurping power over conception, life, and death - leaves us with no alternative but to qualify our demythologization of the Inquisition with a reminder: 3,000 to 5,000 victims are 3,000 to 5,000 too many.

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