That's good stuff, Pastorius! This was a revealing couple of paragraphs (from the Freedom House link you gave):
"The reality in much of the Islamic world is that democratic voices are opposed not only by tyrannical regimes but also by powerful Islamic political forces, some of them supported by the power of the mosque, which often promotes antidemocratic and anti-Western viewpoints," said Mr. Karatnycky.
"Of the world's 192 countries, 121 are electoral democracies. However, only 11 of the 47 nations (23 percent) with an Islamic majority have democratically elected governments. In the non-Islamic world, which comprises 145 states, 110 are electoral democracies (75 percent). Therefore, a non-Islamic state is over three times more likely to be democratic than an Islamic state. None of the 16 Arab states of the Middle East and North Africa is a democracy."
I wonder if you, or anyone else, has similar links to articles on conflicts in the world right now and how many of those conflicts involve Muslims?
That's a great idea, Epaminondas -- choosing something specific, and in this case, something that most everyone, including probably most Muslims, find abhorrent. Mutilating girls is just plain wrong, and not many would disagree. That is a specific issue to attack (rather than the more general issue, women's rights). And the attack would weaken the moral standing of Islamofascism for Muslims around the world.
In the eyes of the world and in the eyes of their own people, pure Islam -- a strict following of the Qur'an and the Sunnah -- would be seen clearly as immoral. This opens the possibility of a global push for women's rights even in Islamic countries (I mean a stronger push than already exists).
Another specific issue in the same category is honor killings. And there are organizations that have ostensibly nothing to do with stopping the spread of Islamofascism around the world, and yet they may be having a more practical impact on legallly-sanctioned applications of Shari'a than those coming at the issue head-on. These are organizations that are specifically working to stop female genital mutilation or honor killings. I'm talking about organizations like STOPFGMC.org, The Inter-Parlimentary Union, Petition Online, Karokari, and the International Campaign Against Honour Killings.
This might also be a way we can enlist into the cause those friends of ours who aren't sure about criticizing a religion or culture and yet can clearly see these two practices are wrong and must stop.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 7:35:00 pm
[Image]Serge Trifkovic said most of the conflicts in the world involve Muslims, and if you ended all conflicts that involved Muslims right now, the world would be a pretty peaceful place.
Muslims, both moderates and extremists, are always quick to point out that Islam is a religion of peace. But Trifkovic's statement made me curious, so I've been searching on Google for a map of world conflicts (and which ones involve Muslims). I haven't found what I was looking for yet, but I found two maps (on two different web sites that have nothing to do with each other) that are interesting when you see them together.
The first map is by Freedom House, an organization that tracks democracies around the world. It shows their map of world freedom. The purple countries are the least free:
[Image] A few clicks later, I found this map of populations of Muslims. It shows by color where the densest population of Muslims live in the world (the highest population of Muslims is darkest blue):
[Image] Pretty interesting, huh? One of the things I've advocated repeatedly is that we can reduce Islamic terrorism by pushing for women's rights.
In order for women to have rights, the Muslims cannot have Shari'a law. Or it would have to be so modified as to be unrecognizable. To weaken the hold of Shari'a would probably weaken the population's belief that the Qur'an is the perfect word of Allah, which would include the instructions to take over the world. This would make it more difficult for jihadis to recruit new soldiers. And hopefully those young men would find more productive things to do with their time than blowing themselves up.
And all this could be brought about by focusing solely on promoting women's rights.
Do you think every woman should have human rights? Yes? So does almost everybody else in the world. This is a place we can join together in a mutual and important purpose.
In the war against the Islamization of the world, this is the place where the strength of the free world can overcome the weak spot of Shari'a.
9 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formAnother excellent post, C-Dub.
Here's some info I think you will find relevent:
http://www.freedomhouse.org/template.cfm?page=70&release=101
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E04E3D91631F930A15751C1A9679C8B63
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/2384
I'll try to find more.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 2:25:00 am
Ah, here's what I was looking for. Read the report that is linked in this article:
http://www.meforum.org/article/513
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 2:29:00 am
That's good stuff, Pastorius! This was a revealing couple of paragraphs (from the Freedom House link you gave):
"The reality in much of the Islamic world is that democratic voices are opposed not only by tyrannical regimes but also by powerful Islamic political forces, some of them supported by the power of the mosque, which often promotes antidemocratic and anti-Western viewpoints," said Mr. Karatnycky.
"Of the world's 192 countries, 121 are electoral democracies. However, only 11 of the 47 nations (23 percent) with an Islamic majority have democratically elected governments. In the non-Islamic world, which comprises 145 states, 110 are electoral democracies (75 percent). Therefore, a non-Islamic state is over three times more likely to be democratic than an Islamic state. None of the 16 Arab states of the Middle East and North Africa is a democracy."
I wonder if you, or anyone else, has similar links to articles on conflicts in the world right now and how many of those conflicts involve Muslims?
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 2:46:00 am
Go to google, or blogsearch.google and type in
Islam's bloody border/Gates of Vienna
They did a good series on that subject about a year back.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 3:07:00 am
Thanks, Pastorius. Islam's Bloody Borders. What a grimly powerful title. I found two articles on Google worth mentioning. They're both entitled The Bloody Borders Project. One is by Baron Bodissey. The other is a different article with the same title by Dymphna.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 5:08:00 am
Quranic law is a totalitarian system, therefore anywhere the people wish to have a voice in their own lives conflict with this system is compulsory.
The Shafi house of laws mandates female gfenital mutilation as obligatory for muslims.
Women's rights?
Start right there
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 12:31:00 pm
C=Dub,
Baron and Dymphna are the two writers of the blog "Gates of Vienna."
It's a good site. You should check it out.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 1:30:00 pm
Epa,
What is the Shafi House of Laws?
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 1:31:00 pm
That's a great idea, Epaminondas -- choosing something specific, and in this case, something that most everyone, including probably most Muslims, find abhorrent. Mutilating girls is just plain wrong, and not many would disagree. That is a specific issue to attack (rather than the more general issue, women's rights). And the attack would weaken the moral standing of Islamofascism for Muslims around the world.
In the eyes of the world and in the eyes of their own people, pure Islam -- a strict following of the Qur'an and the Sunnah -- would be seen clearly as immoral. This opens the possibility of a global push for women's rights even in Islamic countries (I mean a stronger push than already exists).
Another specific issue in the same category is honor killings. And there are organizations that have ostensibly nothing to do with stopping the spread of Islamofascism around the world, and yet they may be having a more practical impact on legallly-sanctioned applications of Shari'a than those coming at the issue head-on. These are organizations that are specifically working to stop female genital mutilation or honor killings. I'm talking about organizations like STOPFGMC.org, The Inter-Parlimentary Union, Petition Online, Karokari, and the International Campaign Against Honour Killings.
This might also be a way we can enlist into the cause those friends of ours who aren't sure about criticizing a religion or culture and yet can clearly see these two practices are wrong and must stop.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008 7:35:00 pm