The purpose of my Axis Mundi column in The Washington Times is to address issues, problems, solutions and encouragement for Christians about a range of issues that are important to faith and family. In the queue are drafts about ministers, religious freedom, elections and state- or event-specific issues.
The column to which Nihad Awad, national executive director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), objects is only one of several that have been published by a range of news outlets highlighting the fact that when churches close, they are replaced by something else. Within the last two decades churches have been rapidly closing, sold or demolished throughout Europe and the consequences are multi-faceted and dire.
To be clear: All of the columns related to churches closing are indictments of Christianity. Moral degradation, less-to-no procreation, broken families, reliance on a welfare state, abandoned and/or aborted children are all an indictment of empty pulpits and churches. Authentic Christianity results in human flourishing, as is the natural response to hearing and accepting the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The social problems inherent in our society are directly related to the failure of the church, both individual and corporate, which is not living as it has been called.
In these columns I maintain democratic freedoms must be safeguarded, including free speech — not hate speech — and demand government officials who have taken oaths to defend the U.S. Constitution actually keep them or be impeached. Keeping their sworn oath requires them to actively protect citizens from threats both foreign and domestic.
Being part of a solution first requires identifying threats. Mislabeling me or anyone else who advocates the Constitution be followed as “hatemongers,” “fear mongers,” “bigots,” “ignorant,” or “phobic” of some kind only expresses irrational hatred by accusers who offer no solution.
Being part of the solution is only part of the motivation. As a Christian, naming and fighting evil is rooted in love — love that seeks to safeguard the innocent and offer an alternative to those influenced by evil. Every Christian is responsible for identifying, warning and fighting evil — pointing to the alternative to choose life over death.
This is why I support policies and laws that protect women and children from violence — exposing child marriage, slavery, female genital mutilation, honor killings, and institutionalized prostitution and sex trafficking. Not to mention the Muslim genocide of Christians (Open Doors reports 2014 was the worst year in the modern era) and killing of journalists who report about or satirize Islam.
Because of what I do support — democratic freedoms — I unashamedly oppose ideology that seeks to destroy these freedoms, and those specifically that enslave women and children. I actively plead with individuals to seek refuge and flee from false ideology that enslaves them.
The more than 30,000 Germans who recently protested are not neo-Nazis. The hundreds of thousands of people protesting in France holding up pens in the air are not neo-Nazis.
To clarify, the Swedish crime statistics I cited are derived from 2012 city figures translated and confirmed by a fluent Swede. I also utilized translated Swedish news clips on English news sites and YouTube.
However, what I excluded, because my focus was not primarily about Sweden, evidences a much more prolific threat posed by the “criminal Muslim” psyche identified by Danish psychologist Sennels.
Last October, the Swedish police released a report listing the 55 no-go zones in which police have all but handed over law enforcement to criminal Muslim gangs. These no-go zones coincide with a map of 186 “exclusion areas” in which mostly unemployed Muslim immigrants live. Also around the same time, the Swedish Ambulance Union demanded they be provided with military gear if they were to enter these areas.
Muslim immigration and crime have caused great financial and cultural costs at Sweden’s expense.
Sweden, for example, witnessed the largest exodus in its history in 2011. More than 50,000 left their homeland, according to Statistiska Centralbyrån, more, by far, than those who left in 1887 to America. This is not surprising when considering that 67 percent of Swedes surveyed by the Swedish Integration Board, (reported on in 2006), felt that Islamic values “are not compatible with those in Swedish society.”
Despite this, the Swedish government announced it would increase taxes over the next four years to continue funding its immigration policies and subsequent welfare policy. Former Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt said, “It will cost you money, we will not be able to afford much else.”
With regard to Holland, Machiel de Graaf is not alone in his assessment of deporting Muslims who reject Western and Dutch laws. Last November, NIEUWS/the Post Online reported the findings of a PanelClix administered survey. It revealed, “more than the half of respondents have a negative view on Islam. More than 60 percent feel threatened by Islam, 20 percent even personally.”
I unashamedly agree with politicians in Holland, Belgium, Austria, France, Germany, and many others who advocate deporting Muslims — not because they are Muslims, but because of what Islamic ideology represents. As the European Court on Human Rights ruled more than once, Sharia law is “incompatible with the fundamental principles of democracy.”
Moreover, overwhelmingly the least safe countries for women are Muslim majority countries (2012 World Economic Forum report) and Christians are most persecuted in 40 out of 50 countries, all of which are Muslim (Open Doors 2014).
Numerous resources exist detailing why the United Arab Emirates designated CAIR as a terrorist organization. As noted scholars have repeatedly evidenced, “CAIR incites, funds, and does much more vis-à-vis terrorism.”
Muslims are committing violence against non-Muslim journalists, cartoonists, filmmakers and politicians who opposes Islamic ideology, or even innocent pedestrians, simply because they are Western.
Yet, what is the response throughout France to ongoing Muslim terrorist attacks? Protesters declare, “Je suis Charlie,” holding “I am not Afraid” signs, waiving pens. They aren’t burning flags or rioting in the streets, mowing down Muslims, or waving machetes. They are waving pens.
Et en réponse, Je sais: “Vive le France” parce que “Je suis Charlie” avec mes bons amis Français.
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