Ex-Muslim Nonie Darwish explains the reasons that Islam has
absolutely NO harmony with the Western perception of values and religious
freedom. The last sentence of this essay Darwish asks:
Is the First Amendment a
suicide pact?
JRH 2/13/17
*****************
On Defining Religion
February 12, 2017 5:00 am
§ What the West does not understand is that Islam admits that
government control is central to Islam and that Muslims must, sooner or later,
demand to live under an Islamic government.
§ The majority of the world does not understand that much of
the American media is in a propaganda war against the Trump administration
simply because he names Islamic jihad and would prefer to see a strong and
prosperous America as a world leader rather than to see a dictatorship --
secular or theocratic -- as a world leader.
§ Islam claims to be an Abrahamic religion, but in fact Islam
came to the world 600 years after Christ, not to affirm the Bible but to
discredit it; not to co-exist with "the people of the book" -- Jews
and Christians -- but to replace them, after accusing them of intentionally
falsifying the Bible.
§ Islam was created as a rebellion against the Bible and its
values, and it relies on government enforcement to do so.
§ Political and legal (sharia) Islam is much more than a
religion. Is the First Amendment a suicide pact?
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) said that President Donald
Trump's 90-day ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries is
"a religiously based ban," and "if they can ban Muslims, why
can't they ban Mormons." This has become the position of the Democratic
Party and the mainstream media, which has influenced not only the American
public but has convinced the majority of the world that America is
"bad." How can we blame the world, and even a good segment of
American citizens, for hating America when such disingenuous and misleading
claims are aired to the world from US officials and broadcast by American
television channels?
The majority of the world does not understand that much of
the American media is in a propaganda war against the Trump Administration
simply because he names Islamic jihad and would prefer to see a strong and
prosperous America as a world leader, rather than to see a dictatorship --
secular or theocratic -- as a world leader. He ran as a Republican; meanwhile,
Democrats and the mainstream media refuse to engage in respectful and
legitimate debate on the most vital threat to Western civilization in the
twenty-first century: Islam. Truth has become irrelevant; people seem to prefer
a political game of tug-of-war to sway public opinion against the Trump
Administration, and, presumably, to elect Democrats forever. That is how the
system is set up.
Political discussions on television have become extremely
frustrating; they have turned into shouting matches and name-calling at the
least informative levels. Television hosts often become instigators and
participants in the shouting matches. The thinking is apparently that the
louder they get, the more attractive the program will be. Meanwhile everyone is
talking at once; the viewer cannot hear anyone, so the program could not be
more boring.
Under the US Constitution, freedom of religion is protected.
and Islam has been welcomed inside the West on that basis as one of the three
Abrahamic religions. According to Western values and the Western understanding
of the word, "religion" is supposed to be a personal relationship
with God, where free will is of utmost importance; the believer has authority
only over himself or herself when it comes to religious laws or punishing sins
(such as leaving the religion or committing adultery) -- quite different from
criminal laws intended to protect society. Western values also allow followers
of a religion the freedom to proselytize, but never by resorting to government
enforcement.
Bottom line, the Western definition of religion is in
harmony with the Biblical values of the human rights to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness, and that all human beings are created equal under the
law. It is considered a basic Western value to view God, family and country as
a top priority.
Now let us compare these values to Islamic values:
1)
Muslim citizens have the
right to punish other citizens with humiliating, severe, cruel and unusual
punishments such as death, flogging and amputation, for sinning against Allah,
the Quran or Islam. Those "crimes" include leaving Islam, being a
homosexual, or committing adultery. And if the Islamic government does not
enforce such punishments, any Muslim on the street has the right to apply the
punishment against another Muslim and not be prosecuted. That is why apostates,
such as myself, cannot visit any Muslim county; the fear is not only from
Islamic governments but from anyone on the street.
2)
Being a Muslim is not a
personal relationship with God, as it is under the Bible, but is enforced by
the state at birth. When a child is born in Egypt to a Muslim father, the birth
certificate is stamped "Muslim" and all government-issued documents
as well. A child must learn Islamic studies in school and practice Islam
throughout his life. In Egypt, the twin sons of a Christian divorced mother
were forced to take Islamic studies and become Muslim just because their
originally-Christian father converted to Islam. Today, in Egypt, I am still
considered Muslim and such a status could never change if I ever lived there
again.
3)
Islamic law and leaders
rely on government enforcement -- under penalty of death -- to keep Muslims
within Islam and to convert the minority Christian population into Islam.
Islamic sharia law, obliges Islamic states to enforce religious law, and if the
Muslim head of state refuses to follow religious law, sharia permits the public
to use force to remove the head of state from office.
4)
Islam claims to be an
Abrahamic religion, but in fact Islam came to the world 600 years after Christ,
not to affirm the Bible but to discredit it; not to co-exist with "the
people of the book," Jews and Christians, but to replace them -- after
accusing them of intentionally falsifying the Bible.
Islam was created as a rebellion against the Bible and its values, and relies
on government enforcement to do so.
The tenets above are just a few of the differences in values
between Islam, the Bible and the Western concept of religion. What the West
does not understand is that Islam admits that government control is central to
Islam, and Muslims must demand to live under an Islamic government sooner or
later. That might explain the reason for the eternal violence in nearly all
Muslim countries, between government being in the hands of a religious
theocracy or of the military. Islam, as it is practiced today, has violated all
Western definitions of religion and values.
Political and legal (sharia) Islam is much more than a
religion. Is the First Amendment a suicide pact?
___________________
Nonie Darwish, born and
raised in Egypt, is the author of "Wholly Different; Why I chose Biblical
Values over Islamic Values."
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