The thing is this:
When the Christian Enlightenment happened some 700 years ago it was a major event. It came out of major conflict between the Catholic church and those who refused to accept its teachings at face value. The fight was bitter and barbaric, it saw heretics being burned at the stake, because what was at stake was the overwhelming control of people via Catholicism. It involved the Monarchy, the 'Divine right of Kings' and it was about subjugation of the individual in favour of the élite.
Science and philosophy rose up and asked questions, were resisted and thank God (deliberate use) they prevailed. And we now have a society in which the values taught by God (if one believes in that stuff - I don't but have no problem if you do), influence our way of life in a good way.
Essentially the Enlightenment allowed us to scrutinise the teachings of the Bible and either embrace them or not. It became an issue of belief or not, but it was not governed by the threat of death, it was about faith and belief, freely arrived at. And by being about free - not imposed - faith, it has not only survived but has flourished and shaped our modern world, our laws and our ways of life. Whether you're a believer or not, that is a pretty powerful outcome and I think it is a welcome one since we have chosen the 'good stuff' over the bad controlling, threatening stuff. It has allowed people to be free from the control of religion and to be able to choose whether to believe, to devote one's life to God, or not, without fear of reprisal on either side.
At the same time it has allowed us to pick and choose some of the great 'love thy neighbour' stuff and include those fantastic sentiments into our modern outlook. It has guided us into the modern world and I personally think that is a great thing regardless of whether one is religious or not.
Without it (that guidance) where would we be?
However, we are now faced with Islam, which in historical terms is 700 years younger than the Christian religion and seems to me to be going through the same process that Catholicism went through at the same period in its history: Namely that it is resisting scrutiny, resisting modern interpretation, resisting modernisation and for exactly the same reasons: Because its leaders don't want to give up the ultimate control that it affords them over their believers and because its most devout believers fear the scrutiny and inevitable change that may arise from it.
And in our modern, media-driven, 24-hour news society, this change will happen in days, weeks and years, rather than the decades and centuries that the Catholics were afforded in order to adapt to change in the 14th Century. That means it's much more of a jolt and that resistance to change will likely be much more extreme, but also much more short-lived. We just happen to be at the epicentre of it right now.
My concern is that we in 'the West' are denying that a problem exists. And by doing so we are prolonging the agony and the violence.
Instead of siding with and helping the peaceful Muslims who surely must want their religion to be acceptable in a modern world through the inevitable process of 'enlightenment' (so that they can live their lives in a modern context rather than the frankly medieval practises that are being implemented in most if not all Muslim countries around the world); we are effectively supporting the desperate men who seek to maintain their control over their cowed 'followers'.
Instead of working to bring Islam into the modern world for the benefit of its own followers and the wider population of the planet we are, through appeasement and trying not to offend, working towards the exact opposite of what is the right thing to be doing for everyone including Muslims.
The simple fact is that the Quran needs to be translated and examined; Made more accessible to everyone. Isn't that the point (if one is a believer) of God's teachings? To spread the word and the faith in people's hearts and not via the barrel of a gun? The good bits need to be embedded into modern life not just for Muslims but for everyone. And the bad, frankly medieval, bits discarded. Respectfully, but discarded nonetheless. We need a modern 'Enlightenment' of the Quran for the good of everyone - especially those of the Muslim faith.
At the moment we are ignoring the bad bits and turning away from a fight that we will ultimately have to face. We are appeasing a radical doctrine that demands death for apostates (people who turn away from the faith), that describes non-believers as Kuffars or third class human beings. A doctrine that demands the killing of people of other faiths - not just 'demands' but actually carries out.
On what planet can these views ever be sanctioned? On what planet can these views be ignored for fear of offending someone?
Why don't we have any leaders in the world who are willing to stand up and say these things?
Have we given up? Are we resigned for this image to be our future? Because if we don't stand up, and soon, it will be.
The only people our current 'politically correct' policies are helping are people who have guns and murder in their hearts. People who want to change our ways of life fundamentally, who want us to be either under the yolk of their barbarous and medieval interpretation of a book written when the common view was that the world was flat, or dead.
For these people - radical Islamists - there is no such thing as compromise. They are simply not interested in a 'tolerant free society'. Indeed they are using our tolerant, free society against us, making use of our welcoming generosity to infiltrate 'free' countries around the globe and propagate their extreme beliefs.
If these 'free' and modern societies around the world don't change course - and soon - the numbers game (population growth) will mean that Islam will become the dominant religion and if it (Islam and the Quran) is left unchanged, unenlightened, un-modernised and frankly not de-fused of its current medieval radicalism, we will then be (technical term) fucked.
This take-over is not fanciful on my part. It is already happening to a significant and frankly terrifying degree in Denmark and Sweden; it is fermenting massive unrest in Germany and, following recent events, in France as well. It has touched Australia and Canada in recent weeks. It is part of daily life - and death - in Pakistan and Nigeria. It is only, I think, a matter of time before we see major attacks on British soil. Sadly. Tragically. Because we all know it's coming. All of us that is, except those who could recognise that we do have a problem and then do something about it - our government. More on the problem in Sweden here - 5% of the population responsible for 77% of crime and an 'out of control' rape epidemic.
I think it's inevitable now that there will have to be (and sadly will be) an atrocity in the UK before our politicians wake up to this threat.
If they carry on trying to deny that there is a problem, there will then be more actions.
Sooner or later the British people will call time on such actions and will probably begin to take matters into their own hands. At which point none of us - but particularly 'peaceful Muslims' living in the UK - will be safe. And there may well be pitched battles on our streets in towns and cities across the UK.
If you think about this thoroughly you know that what I say is true. I'm not saying it from an anti-Muslim perspective, I'm saying it from the perspective of wanting a coherent, free and safe society in which we can all live together peacefully.
I think that this is a clear and present danger facing our country and I also think that our politicians, by ignoring it for fear of losing a few votes by offending people rather than carrying out their duties to protect the citizens of this land, are putting us in deliberate danger.
It's becoming a powder keg 'out there' and our leaders and representatives are ignoring it for their own selfish interests.
If they don't wake up soon it could get completely out of their control.
Not many laughs, but thanks for reading.
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