Posted on 01/04/2008 3:10:32 PM PST by Hammerhead
Stephen Coughlin, the Pentagon specialist on Islamic law and Islamist extremism, has been fired from his position on the military's Joint Staff. The action followed a report in this space last week revealing opposition to his work for the military by pro-Muslim officials within the office of Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England. Mr. Coughlin was notified this week that his contract with the Joint Staff will end in March, effectively halting the career of one of the U.S. government's most important figures in analyzing the nature of extremism and ultimately preparing to wage ideological war against it. He had run afoul of a key aide to Mr. England, Hasham Islam,...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Aula Magna of the University of Regensburg Tuesday, 12 September 2006
Faith, Reason and the University Memories and Reflections
This profound sense of coherence within the universe of reason was not troubled, even when it was once reported that a colleague had said there was something odd about our university: it had two faculties devoted to something that did not exist: God. That even in the face of such radical scepticism it is still necessary and reasonable to raise the question of God through the use of reason, and to do so in the context of the tradition of the Christian faith: this, within the university as a whole, was accepted without question.
I was reminded of all this recently, when I read the edition by Professor Theodore Khoury (Münster) of part of the dialogue carried on - perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara - by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both.[1] It was presumably the emperor himself who set down this dialogue, during the siege of Constantinople between 1394 and 1402; and this would explain why his arguments are given in greater detail than those of his Persian interlocutor.[2] The dialogue ranges widely over the structures of faith contained in the Bible and in the Qur'an, and deals especially with the image of God and of man, while necessarily returning repeatedly to the relationship between - as they were called - three "Laws" or "rules of life": the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Qur'an. It is not my intention to discuss this question in the present lecture; here I would like to discuss only one point - itself rather marginal to the dialogue as a whole - which, in the context of the issue of "faith and reason", I found interesting and which can serve as the starting-point for my reflections on this issue.
In the seventh conversation (διάλεξις - controversy) edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war. The emperor must have known that surah 2, 256 reads: "There is no compulsion in religion". According to some of the experts, this is probably one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under threat. But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Qur'an, concerning holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels", he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness, a brusqueness that we find unacceptable, on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.” The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God", he says, "is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably (σὺν λόγω) is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats... To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death...".
This is still timely. It appears that the Muslims still believe that they do need a "strong arm or weapons of any kind" to force their theocracy on the USofA. The only way REASON and LOGIC will prevail is if we continue to proclaim the truth "Veritas Vos Liberabit" here.
The Second Amendment is designed to protect the rest of the Bill of Rights, and the rest of the Constitution for that matter, against just such "infiltration" of "enemies foreign and domestic".
If I, and many others who took the oath to "protect and defend", have anything to do with it, it will do so as the need arises.
BTTT!
Muslim pressure
Pro-Muslim officials at the Pentagon are putting political pressure on one of the U.S. military’s most important specialists on Islamist extremism, according to defense officials.
Stephen Coughlin, a specialist on Islamic law on the Joint Staff, met recently with Hasham Islam, Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon R. England’s close aide. The officials said Mr. Islam, a Muslim who is leading efforts for the Defense Department’s outreach to Muslim groups, sought to convince Mr. Coughlin to take a softer line on Islam and Islamic law elements that promote extremism.
Unfreakinbelievable!!!! There needs to be some butt kicking in the DOD. My personal experience with the DOD is that many of them can be bribed easily. Unfortunately, once a bribe taker is identified within the DOD, the identifying person or organization is then rendered obsolete by the politicians in with those specific members of the DOD.
We are so screwed!
The very people who are encouraging the muslims into our country are the ones who will be most astonished when Sharia law in put in place and slavery is re-established in the United States as a result of it.
Which candidate will decry this news and promise to correct this grievous wrong?
“The land of the free is about to become the land of submission”
When islamomuzzies are what, less than one half of one percent of the U.S. population? That’s hardly critical mass.
Lots of pig races before that happens.
Anyway, my .45 bullets are lubricated with pig grease.
I believe that England was a sucky SecNav too.
“We are so screwed”
BY WHOM!!!??
This America’s citizens are armed to the teeth! Notice that our domestic islamomuzzies are always calling for gun control!
OK, worst case: TSA Muslim auxilliaries empowered to kick in doors to disarm citizens and take away their guns.
New Orleans, you say? Never again! Talk about civil war!
Molon Labe!
):^(
The decay of this country is accelerating at the speed of light
when it finally decays, it will stink for all, not just the White Man..........You did good Mr. Anglo Saxon, you built the city on the hill, a wonderful place, the rest got jealous, they hate you but, covets the country you built.
Our leaders or so called learders are giving away that which they never worked one day to build.
It is becoming very sick.
bttt
I wish THAT was the worst cae. People still generally do not understand what we are dealing with. These Muslims are fascists. They will convert poor Americans to their cause the same way the Nazi's did in Germany, by brute force,emotional diatribe, misuse of the legal system to censor free speech in opposition ( already happening in England and Canada), and scaring decent people into hopeless silence. Its already happening as Coughlin and his strategic papers for victory over Islamofascism are turfed out of the DoD!Thats administrative censorship. Coughlin is guilty of nothing more than being right, and being in opposition.
Now the Muslims will begin expanding, getting the government to submit administratively, using liberals to make cultural pluralism in schools so that dress and prayer sessions can interupt school, special classes for Muslims for their language. Its all lined up and ready to go.
And if you think that what happened in Germany in the 1930s can't happen her, take a good look at Mr. and Mrs. John Q. Public these days. Do Americans have the ability to withstand this without politicians like Eugene McCarthy to tackle this insidious un-American activity? Such men are no more.
Economically, this is about keeping the Arab oil barons happy. Since we happen to be buying their Muslim oil, they will devolve our political system, using its freedoms to take our culture, freedom and economy apart.
We have a serious fascist problem. Even the CIA has convinced the FBI to start a criminal probe into waterboard "torture" in which no interogee has been known to have been injured or have died.
This news about Coughlin is terrible, just terrible.And if it is not treated as a wake up bell, for all of us , those who love freedom and have sacrificed for it, then I can tell you:
Checkmate! Game over.
How dare England conduct himself so! We have young soldiers dying each day while he bends over and takes it up the a$$ from the Islamic Brotherhood!
Someone should be screaming blue bloody murder!!!
NOW!
Donald Rumsfeld, we miss you!
Game over? I respectfully disagree clear to the gates of Hell!
So our ruling classes are ready to fold to Islamofascism? Since when we ordinary folks follow like sheep?
Gun Control? 55 mph speed limit? Fatty foods? Political correctness? Drive smaller cars? Gays are beautiful? Silence the churches? Go vegetarian?
I think we regular Americans are just a little more contrary than to knuckle under when the patricians tell us to.
Here’s a suggestion: those `Islamic footbaths’ in public airport spaces can’t LEGALLY say, `For Muslims Only’, now can they? Let’s have mixed groups of non-muslim men and women crowd into these footbaths and insist on our right to soak our tired infidel feet after hours of journeying or just waiting.
Let the muslims cry out! Let them get violent! Then it’s time to start snatching turbans and to hurl bacon!
Holy moly, folks, let’s not sink into despondency and inevitability!!
Thoughts?
Your post is great. I wish you were running for President.
I don’t think it’s inevitable, but I think it’s pretty likely. Muslims are busy using our all-powerful judiciary against us, and that combined with a little aggressive interpretation of recent legislation (”hate speech,” for example) gives them all the ammo they need.
And it will all be done in a way that we can’t resist. That is, it’s not a matter of electing someone, not electing someone or putting pressure on elected officials. We will simply be sitting there subject to the whims of a Muslim-manipulated judiciary, the decisions of which will be enforced by federal powers.
I don’t know how this is going to work out, but I think we’ve got to start getting involved. Watch the “Flying Imams” case - I think it’s going to be a pattern for future Muslim actions. Fortunately, the airline (United, I believe) is resisting and is demanding a jury trial. But the strategy is going to be that of legally silencing anyone in the US who objects in any way to Muslim aggressive behavior or to special Muslim privileges. I hope we fight back somehow before it’s too late, but I’m not optimistic.
Thank you. I don’t know what to say.
Except, I would hope that my beliefs as a most ordinary citizen are shared by millions upon millions of my fellow citizens.
It’s too easy. You don’t have to be an ideologue to see enlightened self interest in preserving the social, political and (dare I say it?) spiritual framework that made these United States both free and great!
Personal liberty is a treasure beyond understanding. Except, when I was deployed to Uzbekistan in 2003-04, I listened in abject horror as a very attractive young Uzbek woman told me that she admired Josef Stalin! Being part of the huge and mighty USSR meant more to her than my small attempt to persuade her of the advantages of freedom and human rights.
Even so, I have faith that this great America will never be conquered.
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