We could be operating without the separation of church and state, as Britain is.

What a great idea: public funding of Islamic schools, without any particular oversight.

Personally, I don't see what the European aversion to headscarves is all about, and I don't have any problem with non-Muslim girls wearing headscarves in Muslim schools. After all, we expect non-Catholic kids to wear uniforms when they go to Catholic schools, and we expect goyim men to wear yarmulkes when they attend synogogues. This is perfectly appropriate.

What I don't get—as usual—is tolerance of the intolerant. Such as accrediting or authorizing schools that refer to Jews as monkeys, and Christians as pigs. And I don't see providing public funds for educational establishments that promote values sharply at odds with those of the society at large.

Just as the Constitution wasn't meant to be a suicide pact, Classical Liberalism was not intended that way. What is going on in the West?

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:21 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Among the Cotillion bloggers, we argue about this a great deal: some feel that Islam itself is a threat to liberalism and democracy. Some see the possibility that "moderate Muslims" can be brought back from the verge of extinction; others remain tremendously skeptical.

I think we all know that columnist Mark Steyn—a stud/god in so many other respects—is in the latter category.

I agree that Islam must be reformed, but I sympathize with those who are to do the reforming, since they risk death. That's why I admire the members of Muslims for America, and it is why I salute the participants in the recent Secular Islam Summit in St. Petersberg, Florida. Tashbih Sayyed reports at Family Security Matters:

Muslims being brought up under the tutelage of Islamism refuse to allow their co-religionists to think independently and indulge in individual reasoning. The situation has forced the world to believe that Muslims will always remain a threat to world peace and stability unless they find a way to challenge some of IslamÂ’s perceived foundations that are frozen in a time when barbarism, cruelty, ethnic cleansing and muzzling of opposing voices was the norm.
These were some of the thoughts on the minds of many who participated in a recently concluded Secular Islam summit in St. Petersburg, Florida, that was organized by the Center for Inquiry of New York. The summit provided Muslims with a platform to voice their concerns regarding the regressive hold of radical Islam on their lives. The summit empowered the Muslims to challenge the growing power of political Islam that threatens freedoms totally and absolutely. The SummitÂ’s success ensured that the free thinking Muslims now have a stage and visibility to propose new ideas, introduce new concepts and advance the causes of secularism without being lynched.

It's hard to forget what happened to Theo Van Gogh, and to so many others who dared to criticize Islam and Islamism—both from within the faith and outside it. Read the whole thing for some of the grim stories, and a message of hope.

All we can do in this country is protect speech, encourage debate, and create a "zone of safety" around those who have left Islam and those who attempt to cure its pathologies from within. I'm not sure whether we are "America alone." But we are the foremost promoters of free speech in the world; we are the nation that placed it first on a list of entitlements God grants to human beings. And we are its primary safeguard in the world.

That could make us Islam's best hope. And that's irony you can take to the bank.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 10:22 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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God bless him, he still wants to persuade people that Islamofascism is a real menace. (As do I, of course—in case you weren't paying attention.)

She had just told me that “we’re all in this together. I don’t care if you’re Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist.” Good for you. Unfortunately, they do care. In Gaza, in Sudan, in Kashmir, in southern Thailand, they care very much. But the great advantage of cultural relativism is that it absolves you of the need to know anything. For, if everything’s of equal value, why bother learning about any of the differences?

On the whole I prefer those Americans who tune out the foreign-policy bores for wall-to-wall Anna Nicole Smith coverage: at least theyÂ’ve got an interest—ask them about the latest scoop on the identity of the father of her child and theyÂ’ll bring you up to speed. By contrast, a large number of elite Americans are just as parochial and indifferent to the currents of the age; the only difference is that they choose to trumpet it as a moral virtue.

Holy shit. What if he's right? I'm always afraid of that with Steyn, you know.

Posted by: Attila Girl at 08:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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