§ 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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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."
