The following is a possibly controversial observation and assessment I've made: One of the reasons Islam is able to make the headway it has made is the relative lack of outward cultural impact the Christian religion can make. For most Christians, there are few if any MANDATORY--key word--practices or traits. No required ways of dressing, no specifically scheduled daily rituals, few annual observances (and those really not be "mandatory"), and honestly, no sense of enforcement of what little cultural impact it can make (compare Romans 14's rather tolerant attitude toward outward, physical matters of culture). The result is a sort of social and cultural vacuum in Christian-predominate societies.
Islam, on the other hand, has many such mandatory or nearly-mandatory traits to influence culture. These stand well in occupying the above-described vacuum in Christian-predominate societies, while both our predominate religiosity in the West nor our secular systsms have little on the same scale with which to push back, or even hold the line. It's almost like an osmosis action when one side of the membrane is of lower pressure than the other. The Muslim teacher who received clearance to take her Hajj could at least argue that the action--albeit not the timing--was mandatory. The MOST that typical Christians could similarly demand is a few hours off on Sunday, when school is not in session anyway. A Muslim demanding to wear a hijab can call upon Islamic jurisprudence to lift her demand higher in consideration than the Christian woman who was told not to outwardly wear a cross on her necklace. And few Christians adhere to any semblance of Levitical food laws, with which they could make demands for special treatment on a par with Muslim demands for halal.
The freedom- and liberty-centric nature of Christian-influenced Western civilization means that it simply has very few mandated or socially-compulsary culture traits, whether religious or secular. As a result, our culture is by nature open to efforts by a dynamic movement like Islam to impose its traits. Freedom itself as a trait fails because it has no substance--it is, by definition, a LACK of authoritative traits, no matter how some might try to express it. We in the West need to develop an OUTWARD construct which can fill this void, and perhaps ultimately unite our people(s) in a common stance against these enemies.
Sent: Saturday, May 12, 2012 11:53 AM
Subject: [New post] Western Sharia
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