Posted on 03/29/2008 9:10:08 PM PDT by G8 Diplomat
ITALIAN editor and critic of Islamic extremism Magdi Allam, who converted to Catholicism from Islam and was baptised by Pope Benedict XVI, today branded his former faith as intrinsically violent. "I had to do this (abandon Islam)", Allam wrote in a long letter to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera.
"Beyond ... the phenomenon of extremists and Islamist terrorism at the global level, the root of evil is inherent to a physiologically violent and historically conflictual Islam," wrote the Egyptian-born journalist, who says he has received death threats and is under police protection.
One of seven adults baptised during an Easter vigil yesterday evening, Allam, 55, is an editorial writer and deputy editor at Corriere.
Regarding a combative tone that has made him famous in Italy, Allam wrote: "Over the years my spirit has been freed from the obscurantism of an ideology that legitimises lies and deception, violent death that leads to homicide and suicide, blind submission to tyranny."
He described Catholicism as "an authentic religion of Truth, Life and Freedom".
By baptising Allam in the public ceremony, the Pope "sent an explicit and revolutionary message to a church that until now has been too cautious in the conversion of Muslims ... because of the fear of being unable to protect the converted who are condemned to death for apostasy," Allam said.
"Thousands of people in Italy have converted to Islam and practise their faith serenely," he wrote. "But there are also thousands of Muslims who have converted to Christianity who are forced to hide their new faith out of fear of being killed by Islamist terrorists." Allam adopted the Christian name of Cristiano (Christian), not a common name in Italy.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
What Islam needs is its own Reformation.
I'm not sure it's the president's job to criticize a religion. His job is to run the country, and this country is founded on the principal of blind justice.
The president is to be commended for his grace and professionalism, as well as his restraint, among his many other surpassing leadership skills.
The Wall Street Journal had a good article on reaction of REAL Muslims
(aka “Islamists”) to the conversion in their Friday issue.
Amazing that more mainstream folks aren’t jazzed about Islam’s anger
over this man’s conversion...and the usual sentence of death for
apostacy from Islam.
Sounds like leaving Islam is as hazardous as leaving the Mafia.
(If the Mafia exists.../sarc)
Yet no mention of Jesus Christ. Odd.
The religious war has already started the front lines are now in Europe. The folks in Europe know exactly what is going on. The muslim punks burned a big chunk of the Paris suburbs last year. In other areas of Old Europe murders for honor and family are becoming more widespread every month. There have been several groups busted for sexually mulilating their young girls within the last year too, all of them muslim. These people have no intentions of fitting in or adapting to western civilization. They are determined to bring their 7th century cult crap with them. Islam tells us each and every day that they will impose their cult religion on the world by force. They tell us that we will either convert or we will be murdered.
Am I wrong because I believe that they are going to try and do what they say they are going to do???? I truly believe that it is time to lock and load and find out exactly where every potential enemy lives and attends mosque for their terrorist tutoring and instigation. If you don’t remember, there was a story posted a few weeks ago that had footage of many mosques right here in the US preaching the terrorist line. It was 4 out of every 10 mosques they visited and taped were teaching hate and death for non muslims. All this right here at home. We will eventually have to fight, be enslaved or die. I’ve made my choice.
I totally agree with you about the mosques here in the USA. Too many are bastions of jihad support, if not openly during Friday prayers then in the back rooms during smaller, more tactical activities and meetings and conferences.
Most big American cities have an Islamic Society umbrella that operates simultaneously on multiple levels, with an outward-facing benign disposition but not far beneath this surface, well, it’s a whole different story. It starts with simple stuff like “Sign up for the bus trip to the pro-Palestinian demonstration in Washington next week,” and degenerates from there.
Muslim immigrant presence in the US (especially those from Arab countries) is not at all about assimilation but is more like colonization. Our political leadership doesn’t have the stomach to push it back at this point, so I understand why you or anyone else would begin citing your right to defend yourself and your way of life. When I saw the government veering in the overly PC direction post-9/11, I was really worried that the message being sent from Washington to the American people was, “You’re on your own.” That’s not leadership.
not according to GW
I’m not sure it’s the president’s job to criticize a religion. His job is to run the country, and this country is founded on the principal of blind justice.
The president is to be commended for his grace and professionalism, as well as his restraint, among his many other surpassing leadership skills.
The US is a secular democracy in no small part so as to protect the practice of religion. “Tolerance” is a two-way street, and the religions owe some allegiance to the democracy, whether they like it or not. In this context, a “religion” that advises the killing or enslavement of the very people who comprise the democracy stops being a “religion” and simply becomes an enemy.
In essence, it is an error of thinking and tactics to grant the jihadis any “religious” standing at all. I wouldn’t say Bush has done this overtly, but he has veered in that direction too often. The fact of the matter is, Muslims in America and other parts of the free world have a special problem to deal with: they are guilty and must prove themselves innocent. All groups have their particular crosses to bear. There are ways a president can hold the Muslim world at large more responsible for the cultists within their ranks. And make them pay when they do not.
I think Bush has been too graceful, and possibly by orders of magnitude.
Of course the moonbats I expect this of...
Of course the moonbats I expect this of...
Read the article. Reformation is impossible for Islam, according to this man who’s lived it.
“What Islam needs is its own Reformation.”
You are in the middle of it. It is called Wahabism. That is their Reformation. Sad.
and not take forceful action against it??
Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran’s on the table....
But I do think he broaches the Islamic incursion here in the USA with too much tolerance. The new attorney general recently said that when he came into office he was stunned at how much jihadi activity the FBI JTTF’s are monitoring inside the US right now. The would-be terrorist groups and cells gain a foothold in part because umbrella Islamic organizations ISNA, MSA, and others get all kinds of protection as religious organizations do in America. If the IRA had come here under a slightly altered guise (say, the Irish Brotherhood), claimed religious standing, and then began bombing Protestant targets in the midwest or south in the name of radical Catholicism, well, how much would anyone care that Catholicism actually is a religion of peace?
You start knocking down buildings, shooting up malls or synagogues, hijacking planes, mailing anthrax, plotting to collapse the Brooklyn Bridge or blow up the tunnels, hey, why is there even a conversation about “religion?” If I’m Bush I say something like, “Forget religion. This is about war. Enemies are getting here in the guise of the Muslim faith and with the backing of Muslim organizations overseas and here, and until the Muslims here and abroad can assure me this has stopped happening, forget it. Nobody is coming in here from [and then read the list of the 35 or more countries where Islam is predominant].”
Instead, we put Poland on a list that was stricter than Saudi Arabia in terms of foreigners obtaining a visa. That’s not my idea of being “forceful.”
BTW: I love that map you posted from Emerson. If that doesn’t say it all, I don’t know what does.
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