The continuing pointless criticisms of Europe’s continuing surrender to Islam

In the 19th and early 20 centuries, says Robert Spencer at FrontPage Magazine, political leaders such as Gladstone and Churchill declared, without causing scandal, that Islam is a dangerous and violent religion. Today those famous leaders would be charged with hate crimes for making such statements, as, indeed, Dutch parliament member Geert Wilders has been charged. Under Islamic law, it has always been a crime to insult Islam; and now, under European law, it has become a crime to insult Islam. How did this fatal reversal in Europe’s attitude toward Islam come about? While Spencer has nothing to say on the subject, the answer is that it came about through the settlement in Europe of millions of Muslim immigrants. Once the Muslims were in Europe, with their numbers, their clamor, and their threats steadily increasing, Europe, seeking to avoid social conflict, accommodated itself to Islamic sensibilities and standards, including the idea that Islam cannot be insulted. Europe’s ongoing surrender to Islam is thus a function of the physical presence in Europe of millions of Muslims. So long as critics of Islam fail to drive home this brute fact, their criticisms of that surrender amount to pointless kvetching. So long as we accept without challenge the growing presence of Muslims in the West, we will be unable challenge the growing power of Muslims in the West.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at January 26, 2009 11:47 AM | Send