“Allahu Akhbar” --- God is (the) greatest! was shouted by a man as he swung his fists at an innocent bystander in Glasgow, Scotland. The screamer was involved in a botched attack on that city’s airport. He and his accomplice planned to kill or maim enough UK citizens to release a fresh wave of fear over the nation.
What he lacked in skill he made up for in zeal, and, to a certain extent, he succeeded. After all, he made the front page of most newspapers and was the lead story on most radio and television news programs.
Unholy acts of torture, suicide bombings, and beheadings have become choice methods of religious expression for some Islamic radicals. There have been too many incidents to dismiss these attacks as isolated outbreaks. Only the naïve believe that the flare up of radical Islam is a temporary response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We ask, “How is it that a tolerant, politically correct society like Britain provokes people to respond to the nation in such a manner?” This is an inappropriate question that presupposes that the West is creating an atmosphere of conflict. A more appropriate query is, “Why is Islam trying to dominate the world again?”
We are observing an age old pattern of Islamic imperialism. This is not the result of U.S. and British foreign policy glitches, alone. These are the pervasive and dangerous manifestations of an ancient ideological war. Traditional-minded Islamic families and mosques are raising a new generation of terrorists as intolerant advocates of jihad. While I would be the first to say not all Muslims are evil, I would be very quick to add that we cannot separate the political aims of Islam from its spiritual goals. Unfortunately, in the name of religious tolerance, western cultures may actually be emboldening a terrorist element in their society.
This past week, terrorism was on the mind of every American traveling overseas. My wife and I were in Greece during the tumult. Modern day Greeks are painfully aware of the nearly 400 years of domination their ancestors suffered under Turkish Muslims. Churches and historic buildings were desecrated during the Muslim occupation of the land. The Greek light of democracy and freedom was snuffed out during a long night of national fear. One of the greatest civilizations in human history lay ravaged and imprisoned by a backward, brutish occupation force that only understood the politics of the sword.
Further, religious intolerance was practiced in Greece just as it is every nation in which Islam has the upper hand. For example, “non believers” paid higher taxes, had no say in the government, and were not free to evangelize others. In some modern nations non-Muslims cannot even enroll in school until they change their Christian names to Muslim names.
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