America, such as it is, is not really a continuation of Western civilization at all, but a strange throwback to Hebraic rather than Greek origins."
I would agree with this.
The Bible is a larger source of philosophy to a majority of Americans than the Greeks and Romans. In fact America was the first Judeo-Christian civilization, something noted by Catholic writer Michael Novak in his book On Two Wings: Humble Faith and Common Sense at the American Founding, in which he credits the Hebrew scriptures and the Protestant Faith of New England as the major sources for the sources of America's founding.
With regard to Ralph Peters, whose views I usually count on as valuable, he is missing the evidence in front of all of us when he states:
"The really ugly "domestic insurgency" is among right-wing extremists bent on discrediting honorable conservatism. How? By insisting that Islam can never reform, that the violent conquest and subjugation of unbelievers is the faith's primary agenda - and, when you read between the lines, that all Muslims are evil and subhuman." "The problem isn't the man or woman of faith, but cultural environment. Once free of the maladies of the Middle East, Muslims thrive in America. Like the rest of us."
What I, and other Americans, are waiting for is evidence that Islam can be other than a totalitarian ideology when it holds power. Whether Muslims thrive in America or Europe is not the point, in fact it aludes to the other issue that Fjordman raises, that both immigrants and citizens see the nations of the West as economic entities only, with no larger cultural loyalties.
What I, and other Americans have seen, is an increase in the adoption of the hijab and other outward manifestations of Islamism in this country and in Europe, which serve to proclaim a resistence to assimilation, and even a thumb in the eye of the larger culture. Since 9-11, we have had agitation for foot-washing basins; special considerations for Islam's "sensitivities" with regard to the larger culture's "uncleaness"; special treatment for Muslims in schools with regard to their religion, such as prayer rooms, establishment of Arabic language public schools in NYC, and special provision for prisoners for food and holidays. Sure they've thrived, but do they want to be loyal Americans, and give their lives for this country, as many of our ancestors have done, or are they here just to "thrive"?
As Fjordman further states:
"When some Muslims complain about their religion being slighted, the entire Islamic world seems to support them. Unfortunately, the same is not the case with the infidels using their freedom of speech. They are too frequently left to fight alone, with little support... It is totally unacceptable that Muslims try to intimidate the citizens of free nations from speaking their minds, and it is time that this is made clear in no uncertain terms."
This is further evidence that Muslims are not here in the West to assimilate, but, in fact, to bend us to their ideology, contrary to what Ralph Peters asserts. I maintain that our dealings with Muslims should be based on reciprocity and mutuality, and this should be the baseline for any engagement with Muslims in this country or elsewhere in the West. Unless and until Islam treats other religions in their sphere of control with the same respect that Muslims would like their faith to be treated out of their sphere of control, then there is not reciprocity or mutuality, and they have no right to assert their demands here in the West. This is not an issue of freedom of religion, but an issue of ideology: we did not allow other totalitarian ideologies free rein.
I'm also not fully convinced that Americans, despite frequent claims to the contrary, will prove that much more resistant to Jihad than Europeans are right now. I will be thrilled if they are,...
Fjordman underestimates the difference that the strength of religion in America provides as an antidote to Jihad. People of faith are willing to sacrifice in a way that people of consumerism are not. Fjordman hope that they political values of the West will be sufficient to rally the West, but, in Europe, at least, they haven't been sufficient to provide an existential basis to replicate themselves as the demographics of ethnic Europeans attests.
If there is one argument that Fjordman raises that deserves significant examination it is this:
I have heard many Americans complain that the US saved Muslims in Kuwait, Bosnia and then later in Kosovo, yet few Muslims seem to appreciate this. This indicates how little key policy makers understand the mindset of Muslims in general.
Westerners are told to find ways to win the hearts and minds of Muslims. Very few care to ask whether or not this feat is possible at all. What if the hearts and minds of Muslims are already occupied by Allah and Muhammad, and there is little room left for infidels? If that is the case, it means that projects aimed at giving financial assistance to Muslims are at best a waste of money, at worst outright counterproductive.
Jizya is a punishment tax that non-Muslim dhimmis according to the Koran 9,29 are supposed to pay for "protection", "in willing submission", as a sign of their inferior status to their Islamic rulers. Muslims will thus see payments from non-Muslims as a sign that you accept having been defeated and being subjugated to Islam's might. As a result, they may in fact become more aggressive and demanding, not less.
The evidence that Muslims demand more and more since we have come to their aid bears this out.
Westerners who believe that providing financial assistance to Muslims, or even bombing non-Muslims on their behalf as NATO did in the Balkans, will somehow buy them gratitude from Muslims reveal a fundamental lack of understanding of how the Muslim mind works. Muslims are fatalists. For them, everything that happens, good or bad, is the will of Allah. If something bad takes place, this is a punishment for being lax Muslims. If something good happens, for instance a bombing of Christian Serbs that paves the way for ethnic cleansing of non-Muslim in Kosovo, this is a reward for being good Muslims. Muslims will feel gratitude, but to Allah who caused this, not to the infidels who actually carried out the bombing.
There is no reason to believe that they don't also believe this about the open door of immigration to the West. We are opening the floodgates of Muslim immigration to our own peril.
Good analysis. BTTT!