A plaque near the concentration camp in Auschwitz:

Are Christians in any position to criticize Islam?

 

 

News, Switzerland

Christians, Catholics and the Uncomfortable Debate About Islam

 

"Democracy, free speech, religious freedom, equal rights for men and women, Gay rights, equal justice for all, separation of powers, accountability (for government officials as well), compulsory education, and a person's right to their own integrity and dignity are all things that have been hard-fought AGAINST the opposition of church and religion."

 

By Patrik Etschmayer

                                      

 

Translated by Toni Root Zalud

 

October 11, 2010

 

Switzerland - News - Original Article (German)

Muslim honor killings in Italy, Orthodox Christian homophobia in Belgrade, religiously slanted political fundamentalism in the U.S., and a German president who doesn't know his own country's history …

 

The present difficulty that Europe and the West have with Islam is a reality. But it isn't a Christian-Jewish problem, as President Wulff suggested, but rather one of an enlightened and secular Europe. Judeo-Christian Europe, which existed for centuries, was a virulently anti-Semitic continent that over and again used the mini pogrom as a method of debt relief and the provision of new areas for settlement - most recently in the concentration camps of the Third Reich.

 

It is at this moment that Hitler-youth Ratzinger babbles that this was the act of an atheist regime. Well … sure, Hitler and his cabal were not in fact part of the church; but nearly every bishop - whether Catholic or Reformed - blessed German arms and felt no inhibitions about standing at Hitler’s side. And presumably - how atheist was a regime that had "God Be With Us" engraved on its belt buckles?

 

One must add, National Socialism wasn't an enlightened ideology, but a crude mix of national racist myths, insane ideals and personality cult. Hitler raised himself to the position of a proxy for God from which he had to follow "Divine Providence," a concept found in Christianity as well as Islam.

 

And finally, the "Christian," "Jewish," or "Islamic" Europe are still guided by a further nonsensical fact: the majority of the population is non-denominational. More recently, however, it was, of all people, Barack Obama, as a practically novice politician in the substantially more religious United States, who at his inauguration explicitly addressed this group. Wulff didn't find it necessary to do this, which isn't surprising. But one can't help but wonder about it, since he has ties to somewhat radical evangelical organizations that conduct so-called "revival services" modeled after the American "free churches," the goal of which is to stun its members into losing their last bit of sense.

 

Therefore, this time very loud and clear: we live in an enlightened, secular and tolerant Europe. The important things that define our daily lives (and some of which, unfortunately, still aren't completely in place) like democracy, free speech, religious freedom, equal rights for men and women, Gay rights, equal justice for all, separation of powers, accountability (for government officials as well), compulsory education, and a person's right to their own integrity and dignity are all things that have been hard-fought AGAINST the opposition of church and religion. The Enlightenment, perhaps one of the most godless eras, gave us more freedom than the previous 1,500 years of Christianity.

 

If Christians are now to pose as cocky defenders of such achievements against radical Islam, then it's an absurdity; no, a perversion. Just recently there was a riot organized by radical-Orthodox Christians alongside a Gay pride march in Belgrade. And we see active campaigns by evangelical Christians conducted against Gays, Blacks, and Latinos.

 

If enlightened Europe is to avoid again becoming a place of religiously-motivated sectarian slaughter (does anyone desire a new Thirty-Years' War?), it's high time for us to defend the values of the Enlightenment - and indeed to the smallest detail!

 

First, the madness of allowing Sharia law for Muslims in private disputes (as happened in Germany) - must be ended. This is part of the National Legal Code - and anyone who wants Sharia law can kindly go to Pakistan or Saudi Arabia!

 

 

Forced marriages and similar nonsense must be banned. Young Muslim women - and men if necessary -  must be offered protection from family violence if they refuse to live a pre-determined life.  Contact points and places of refuge, on the one hand, and substantial punishment for domestic violence (of course, not only for Muslims) on the other, must accompany this protection. Compulsory education is a must for all children and if necessary must be enforced by the police.

 

Clerics of any religion that preach religious hatred, racial hatred or holy war must be immediately deported; if a native is charged with such sermonizing, they should be officially banned from further preaching. In brief: invoking criminal offences under a religious cloak must be banned.

 

It is also imperative to combat discrimination against foreigners. There is almost no better way to rush someone into radicalism than social exclusion.

 

These are just a few points from a much larger catalog that need to be enforced if we are to preserve our enlightened secular Europe. Does this sound strenuous? Certainly! It is strenuous. The fight for our freedom was long and sometimes bloody. Even in Switzerland, we had a brief civil war in which the liberal Catholic cantons, controlled directly from Rome as a special federation, had to bow down, allowing a liberal state to be founded in 1848. 

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

 

The challenges back then were no less than today's. The biggest mistake right now would be for us to think we can sit in ease, comfort and indifference to these expanding difficulties.

 

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