Which Emotional Strategies Influence Orthodox Muslims?

Al Siebert, author of Survivor Personality, said something interesting in his book, and I've been thinking about it for awhile now. The book is about what personality traits survivors hold in common. Siebert has studied survivors of POW camps, concentration camps, plane crashes, boats sinking, etc. He's made this study his life's work. Here's the quote, and then I'll tell you what I've been thinking:

"Bob Mitchell, a marine who fought first on Bataan and later on Corregidor, told me that many of the POWs who gave up were unable to cope with the cruelty and hostility directed toward them by the guards. He said that many prisoners tried to influence the guards by feeling upset, expressing pain, pleading, or trying to win them over. When this didn't work, they had nothing left. Many gave up and died."

Siebert's main quest with his research is to discover what survivors do that non-survivors do not do. In the case above, the non-survivors didn't change their strategy when they could see it wasn't working.

Now here's what I was thinking: Most people I know who don't want to believe Islam is a political and supremacist ideology are good-hearted people. They believe we should all just get along, that killing is a bad thing, and that even hurting someone is bad and it should never be done. They are kind to dogs. They recycle their trash so as not to make things harder for future generations, etc.

I am overgeneralizing here, but I'm not too far off with this characterization. These good-hearted people don't want to believe there are millions of fundamentalist Muslims in the world who would like nothing better than to cut off their heads. It's unthinkable. Maybe these fundamentalists just need some clean water and enough to eat. Maybe they've been abused in the past. Maybe they just need to be understood.

These are all perfectly good strategies for normal interactions between healthy people within a liberal democracy with a good police force and an overwhelming majority of law-abiding citizens.

When you want to work out your differences with someone, and you have a disagreement or anger between you, it's a pretty good strategy to talk and try to come to some kind of mutually-acceptable compromise. That's one kind of strategy and it works very well in a particular context. The problem is, it doesn't work in every context, nor with every person.

One of the traits Siebert found common among survivors is the ability and willingness to change strategies. Siebert discovered it is one of the most universal traits survivors have that non-survivors do not have: They are flexible enough to see the strategy they're using isn't working in a particular situation, and they're able to come up with something else.

Those who can't do that in some situations die.

Flexibility means being able to be kind in some circumstances, and cold-blooded in others if it is necessary. It means being able to be cooperative with some people, and more competitive or even hard-nosed with others if it seems necessary.

A lack of flexibility means you'll run out of options for some situations.

I think that's what is happening with at least some blind multiculturalists. They don't realize that the strategies they might normally employ do not work with someone who is hell-bent on murdering us all for no other reason than we're not Muslims.

That kind of ruthlessness is hard to fathom for most people, I think, and multiculturalists seem even less willing to even entertain the possibility. They think there must be some other explanation. And because they think people can't really be that way, or that a large group of people or a religion can't be that way, they don't understand why anyone would criticize Muslims.

If you can't understand the strength and intensity of the ruthlessness arrayed against western democracies, then you can't understand the need to defend against it.

Those who can fully grasp the ruthless intentions of orthodox Muslims will recognize how profoundly indifferent they are to pleading, expressing pain, feeling upset, or trying to win them over with appeasements.

We need to use some other strategy if we are to survive. My guess is that in a serious situation such as a concentration camp, the people who are now multiculturalists would be the kind of people who would die first. Peaceful, cooperative strategies don't work against ruthlessness, and those who aren't flexible enough to change their strategies are less likely to survive.

Even with ample flexibility, ruthlessness is almost impossible to deal with successfully. I squirmed while I watched a Frontline program called Target America. It showed the clumsy, incompetent attempts of one American president after another trying to deal with Islamic terrorism.

I said ruthlessness is almost impossible to deal with successfully, but that's not really true. Ruthless terrorists would be easy to deal with if you were willing to be equally ruthless yourself. But it is very difficult to deal with within the parameters of humanity and human rights.

The jihadis, of course, are aware of the West's ethical restraints and so they tailor their strategies for us. Their strategies are carefully designed to put us in double-binds where we are damned if we do and damned if we don't. And where we make a horrible mistake no matter what we do. Orthodox Muslims constantly do their best to give us Sophie's choice.

The most obvious response is against our code of ethics, and any other response is inadequate.

You can watch the Frontline program online. It is painful to watch the presidents try (and fail) to deal with the jihadis' double-binds. The presidents just wanted the problem to go away. They were all seeking a short-term, quick-fix solutions, and refused to see this for what it is: A global, long-term strategy of millions of orthodox Muslims who will do anything to gain a political advantage, with the ultimate aim being something that to most westerners is unthinkable: An Islamic world.

I like Western civilization. I like normal interactions between healthy people within a liberal democracy with a good police force and an overwhelming majority of law-abiding citizens. I like not having to settle differences with my fellow citizens with violence. But I hope the island of civilization within which we live our lives doesn't blind too many of us to the fact that there are still people in this world who think differently and that different strategies than we're used to may sometimes be required.

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Why Now? Islam's Rise Explained

The question has been in the back of my mind for awhile. Why now? Why is militant Islam rising now? What has changed? Is it because western powers, in their colonizing days, had divided and conquered the Middle East, and for decades kept them weak? Is it because after defeating the U.S.S.R. in Afghanistan they have a newfound confidence? Is it because they learned something (from the CIA perhaps) during that conflict about training soldiers that they're now using in service of jihad?

I have been wondering how Muslims have changed or how their conditions have changed. But something else now seems more likely: The West has changed.

The change has been good in so many ways. But it has weakened our ability to protect ourselves against militant Islam.

Islam has been through two previous jihads. During the first one, Islam conquered much of western Europe, coming up through Spain and making it to the middle of France before they were stopped. In another wave of conquest, they came in through eastern Europe and made it to Austria before they were stopped at the walls of Vienna. They receded in power from that point on. Europe had united against them under the banner of Christianity.

But religious fervor has declined in the West. I personally think that's a good thing. But what uniting force has replaced it?

The bad news is the thing that replaced religious fervor has made the West less capable of defending itself. It is as if we have removed a form of immunity we once had.

Religious belief has been replaced by a belief in multiculturalism, which by itself (and generally speaking) is also a good thing. The passionate belief in everyone's right to believe what they want, and the belief that every culture is unique and special and worthy — these have replaced Christian dogmatism in the West.

A widespread belief in multiculturalism is great, but will it help us protect ourselves from invasion? Will it help us unite against a common foe?

Multiculturalism has become almost a religion and is very widespread throughout western countries. It is one of the reasons different cultures have been able to live together in relative peace in democratic countries.

This tremendous spread of tolerance is wonderful. But it has been allowing Islam to rise relatively unimpeded. After all, militant Muslims have a right to believe what they want, right? No culture is better than any other, and it is arrogant and old-fashioned to say otherwise, right? That means no religion is worse than any other. Everyone has the right to believe and preach what they want, even if it is jihad, even in downtown London and New York City. Muslim leaders have openly exhorted their followers to overthrow the government — something that in any other context would be treason and sedition.

In other words, no matter how passionate we may be about multiculturalism or how many of us are united about its rightness, it won't help us defend ourselves.

What could help us defend ourselves? That's the question. What is worth defending? If we can't figure that out, the orthodox Muslims will win. Commitment always beats half-heartedness. Absolute commitment crushes it easily.

What are we westerners absolutely committed to? What is worth fighting for and even dying for?

I believe the answer is freedom.

In fact, one of the reasons people have come to respect and value multiculturalism is that it helps us live in freedom. It helps people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds to live together without harassment and in relative peace.

People in the West value freedom, and they value it enough to defend it — conservatives and liberals and everywhere in between. We believe in freedom of speech, freedom to worship (or not) as we wish. We believe in the power to vote for both women and men, and the freedom to think and read whatever we want.

Orthodox Islam is passionately anti-freedom.

None of the rights above are allowed in an Islamic state, and make no mistake, an Islamic state is what orthodox Muslims are after. They want to make western countries into Islamic states, and you may be surprised to discover, they are already doing it.

This is a war. Freedom against slavery. Am I overstating my case? Not even close. When you live in an Islamic state ruled by Sharia law, you have to pray 5 times a day. Women have to be accompanied by a male relative wherever they go, and they cannot get a job. They have no voice, they have no rights. Men are slaves to the Islamic state, and women are the mens' slaves. (Read first-hand accounts of what it is like in an Islamic state.)

You probably know all this already. But many people, in their passionate commitment to multiculturalism, refuse to entertain the idea. Try talking about the nature of militant Islam in polite company, and most people will gasp as if you had blasphemed, and they will passionately defend Islam, even if they know nothing about it. This is multicultural tolerance working to defend the right of everyone to believe as they wish. If it wasn't so dangerous in the long run, even a blind commitment to multiculturalism would be beautiful in its own way.

But if orthodox Muslims gain more power, recruits, and technology, militant Islam will become harder and harder to ignore, and the situation will become increasingly serious.

We the people of the West, people who live in liberal democracies, will need to unify to preserve our liberties. We will need a powerful unifying belief we can passionately defend. When that time comes, remember: One possible answer is freedom.

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Modern Revelations About Islamic Revelations

A friend of mine, Phil, was in town to promote his new book. We went out to lunch with another friend of ours from this area, Stan, a man who runs a multi-station radio conglomerate. We were talking about this and that and then Phil mentioned an experience he had in a church in the Midwest.

At the church, for awhile they had a speaker from a different religion come speak to them. One week they had a Hindu teacher come speak to the congregation, and the next week it was a Buddhist priest (this is a very open-minded church), and the third week it was a Muslim imam, and Phil said, "I couldn't believe the imam. He scared the old ladies. Every other thing he said was about cutting off someone's head." Phil looked surprised.

Now I hadn't seen either of these guys for awhile and as you can imagine, I had a lot to tell them. I said, "Awhile back I read the Koran because I wondered about Islam."

"Wondered?" asked Stan. "What do you mean?"

"Well, I've heard terrorists quoting the Koran, talking about the obligation of all Muslims to subjugate the infidel and their responsibility to wage jihad, and then I've heard people quoting peaceful passages from the Koran and saying Islam is a religion of peace, and I just wanted to know what the real story was. So I read the Koran cover to cover.

"It's been a real eye-opener," I said. "First of all, the copy I first started reading jumped around and it was hard to follow and then I found out that the traditional way to print the book — the traditional order of the chapters — is simply from the longest to the shortest chapter. So I found a book (A Simple Koran) that prints it in the order it was actually written, in chronological order, and it's much easier to follow that way."

Stan looked puzzled. He has a curious, inquiring mind. "I wonder why they printed it that way? That seems like an odd order to print a book."

"Yes," I said. "A secretary for one of the caliphs, I think his name was Zayd, decided that's how to arrange the chapters. Even at the time, people argued with his strange arrangement. But he was the secretary and that's the way he wanted it. Now it's just traditional.

"But something is revealed by reading the book in chronological order that I don't think you could see in the traditional chapter order: You see a dramatic change in the kind of revelations Muhammad has over time."

"Muhammad is the main guy, right?"

"Yes, he's the prophet. He's the one who first recited the Koran."

"What changed?" Phil asked. "What do you mean?" They were both curious now. They leaned forward, interested.

Glad to be sharing something so important with two people I care about, I said, "The nature of the revelations changed. And the book I read (A Simple Koran) gives you some of the surrounding history too, so you can see why the revelations changed.

"Muhammad was originally in Mecca and he was in a minority. Obviously when he first started, he and his wife were the only Muslims on earth. Everyone else there in the city of Mecca already had their religions. Muhammad went around preaching his new religion and criticizing everyone else's. People didn't like that."

My friends laughed. Of course people didn't like it. "So after about thirteen years of preaching," I went on, "Muhammad had gained 150 converts, but they were still a minority, and the Muslims' relations with leaders of other religions had become increasingly hostile over the years. It was getting pretty hot around there, so Muhammad moved to Medina, where he had some friends.

"And that's when the revelations really started changing," I said. "For the first three-fourths of the book, the revelations were mostly about heaven and hell and how if you are a good Muslim and follow the rules you'll go to heaven and if you don't follow the rules or if you doubt Muhammad is really the Prophet, you'll burn in hell and the only thing you'll have to drink is boiling, stinking water, etc.

"But the last fourth of the book is very different. Once Muhammad gets to Medina, his group starts raiding caravans that are going to Mecca."

"Muhammad did that?" Phil and Stan both looked surprised.

"Yes. Muhammad went on some raids himself, and sometimes he just sent some of his Muslim followers on raids. And they would sometimes kill the men and take the women as slaves, and of course take all the valuable goods in the caravan. But sometimes they held the people for ransom."

Again, both of them looked shocked. Astonished. Surprised. And yet, on their faces it looked as if years of accumulated confusion vanished in an instant. Stan said, "So that's where the terrorists got the idea." Stan has a great sense of humor and he was making a joke, and we all laughed, but that's the light bulb I could see go on in these guys' heads.

I went on. "So they started doing pretty well, financially. Muhammad kept a fifth of the booty from the raids and the rest of the Muslim raiders split up the four-fifths. Muhammad started getting more recruits because this was a pretty sweet gig. He started growing an army. And the revelations changed accordingly.

"Up until this time, Muhammad had been trying to get the Christians and Jews to admit that in their own scriptures Muhammad's coming had been foretold. He thought his arrival was prophesied in their holy books. He was sure of this, and he wanted the Jews and Christians to say so. He wanted them to validate his legitimate prophethood as one of a long line of prophets (Abraham, Moses, Jesus, etc.) but the Christians and the Jews wouldn't validate him.

"So in the first three-fourths of the Koran, the revelations are relatively tolerant of Christians and Jews. He was trying to curry their favor. But once Muhammad had an army, and once he realized they would never acknowledge him as a prophet, his revelations became less and less tolerant, and then they became violent.

"Now here's one of the strangest things," I said. "When the nature of the revelations changed, the Koran started accumulating contradictions. It had these tolerant passages earlier and then less tolerant passages later. But the Koran itself, conveniently enough, has a passage that tells Muslims what to do about this. In the Koran, Allah says, 'If something I say now contradicts something earlier in the Koran, the later revelation overwrites the earlier one. The earlier one is null and void, and the newer one is the better one.'

"The bad news is the tolerant passages are earlier and the intolerant, violent passages are later.

"So finally I realized how it was possible to have peaceful quotes and violent quotes, both from the Koran. The Koran is not like the Bible. It isn't written by different people at different times. There are no vague analogies or symbolic passages given to multiple interpretations. It is written by one man and is very direct, straightforward writing. So how could it contain contradictions? Now I know."

"So, wait a minute." Phil looked concerned. "You're saying the peaceful passages don't count any more?"

"Right. They don't count. They have been overwritten by passages that say things like, 'Kill the unbelievers wherever you find them,' which is a passage from one of the last revelations of Muhammad.

"Not only that," I said, my head now swimming with things I've discovered that these guys didn't know, "but they're supposed to follow Muhammad's example. It says in the Koran, and says it 91 times, that Muslims should follow Muhammad's example. He is the model. He's the one to imitate."

"That's not good," said Stan.

"No, that's not good. Muhammad didn't think well of 'monkery.' He didn't think it was a good thing for devoted religious people to seclude themselves in a monastery. He didn't believe in asceticism. He thought that was the lazy coward's way out. According to Allah, you show your devotion — you demonstrate your faith — in the real world by fighting in jihad, fighting for Allah, doing things you're afraid to do, fighting against the unbelievers, working to make sure all governments follow the law of Allah.

"Muhammad believed anyone could talk a good story or say a good prayer, but jihad is putting your money where your mouth is. Do you really believe? Prove it: Die in combat. If you really believe what the Koran says, if you really believe Muhammad is the Prophet then you will have faith that when you die in jihad you will go straight to Paradise without judgment, and all your sins will be instantly forgiven. If you are afraid of fighting, war, or death, it proves your unbelief.

"Jihad is so highly valued by Allah that dying in jihad is the only way to guarantee your passage to heaven. You may have a chance of getting into heaven if you do good works and don't sin. But if you die fighting against the infidels, you are guaranteed passage to heaven."

"Wow," said Stan. They both looked amazed. Stunned, really. These are grown men. They read a lot. Both of them are well-informed, successful people. Both are very bright, intelligent men. And they didn't know any of this.

More of these kinds of conversations need to happen. I would love to hear about your experiences (and your listener's reactions to what you say). Leave them in the comments so we can all benefit from your trials and successes.

I'm sure I don't have to remind you that this is deadly serious business. It makes a huge difference when people know about it. Just the two pieces of information — that later passages overwrite earlier ones and that a good Jihadi will deliberately deceive infidels — is enormously clarifying and damaging to their cause. Plenty of Jihadis are hacking websites to stop this kind of information from spreading, but they can't hack into your one-on-one conversations, and that's really where the rubber meets the road.

Share what you learn. If you want to curb the spread of jihad, if you want Jihadis to run into the impenetrable wall of an informed population, share what you know. The sooner the better.

For those peace-loving Muslims who don't like what I've said here, please read the article: A Message to Peaceful Muslims.

This article was excerpted from the book, Getting Through: How to Talk to Non-Muslims About the Disturbing Nature of Islam.

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The Video "Three Things About Islam"

A group calling themselves "White Roses" created a video to inform non-Muslims about Islam. It's called Three Things About Islam. You can view it on YouTube or click here to see it on Citizen Warrior.

White Roses is headquartered in Sweden. The name "White Roses" is based on a student resistance group "Die weiße Rose" in Nazi Germany. The group became known for an anonymous leaflet campaign, from June 1942 until February 1943, which called for active opposition to Adolf Hitler's regime.

A spokeswoman for White Roses told me, "We see a parallel here concerning the protection of free speech. As you posted today, freedom of speech is getting more and more limited. The intention in choosing this name is to make a point that there will be groups opposing the doctrine of the state and speaking their mind."

We're honored to say the video was inspired, in part, by three Citizen Warrior articles:

The Least You Need to Know About Islam

What "Religion of Peace" Really Means

What is the Root Cause of Islamic Terrorism?

We've given White Roses the Citizen Warrior Hero Award because they are doing exactly what needs to be done — what we should all be doing: Sharing with non-Muslims key information about Islam, making it interesting and easy to hear, keeping it non-partisan, focusing on Sharia and not on Muslims, keeping it clean and not staining it with racism or hatred, and in this case, putting it in a form that is easily shareable by others.

I've posted the video on a new site I'm building. The purpose of the new site is to help us reach people who might be put off by anything that smacks of Islam-bashing. I suggest you use that site to share the video with those friends and family who don't yet know much about Islam. Here's the video on that site: Three Things About Islam Video.

One last thing: The video presents information you already know, but its "target market" is people who don't know very much, so it's a good tool we can use to share with them. I hope you use it.

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Columbus and Islam

In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. We all know the New World was discovered because Christopher Columbus was looking for a trade route to the East.

But why was he looking for a trade route? Because during its second great jihad, Islam had invaded Central Asia and defeated Constantinople in 1453, cutting off the overland route for Europeans. Islamic armies continued their jihad northward, and conquered much of what is now Eastern Europe, until they were finally stopped at the gates of Vienna in 1683 (on September 11th).

Learn more about historical jihads here: Jihad Through History.

Learn more about the principles of jihad as they are still applied today.

Another way jihad helped create America: Thomas Jefferson's Quran.

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Five Interesting Historical Facts About Islam

While reading about things totally unrelated to the counterjihad movement, I have occasionally come across some interesting historical facts about Islam. I was surprised to discover that Islam had a hand in many important historical events I already knew about without ever knowing Islam had anything to do with them. Here are a few of the most interesting:

1. The first foreign was fought by the United States was against Muslims. The Barbary Coast pirates were following in Muhammad's footsteps, raiding caravans (in this case, oceangoing ships), taking slaves, capturing people to hold for ransom, and demanding "protection money" from any kafirs who didn't want to be raided. This had been going on for centuries along the North African Mediterranean coastline.

Any ships that wanted to do business in the Mediterranean were at risk. Many European countries did the easy thing and paid the protection money to the Muslims to avoid being raided, which, of course, helped fund their operations against anyone who wasn't paying. The U.S. did not have enough military resources to protect its ships, so it paid the protection money too. This bothered Thomas Jefferson. Before he was president, when he was an ambassador to France, Jefferson had a chance to meet with an ambassador from Tripoli, and he asked why Tripoli did this. The Muslim explained it was written in the Koran.

So Thomas Jefferson bought himself a Koran and read it. Then when he became president, he knew what he needed to do: He expanded and then mobilized the United States Navy to protect American ships from Muslim piracy and then sent Marines to the shores of Tripoli, who soundly defeated the Muslim warriors.

This was the first foreign war fought by the United States. America's victory was the beginning of the end of the "Barbary Coast Pirates." The military aggressiveness of Islamic countries remained contained and weakened for over a century.

Read more about that here: Why Did President Jefferson Read the Quran?

2. The New World was discovered because of Islam. Christopher Columbus was looking for a new trade route to the East. But why was he looking for a trade route?

During the Second Jihad, Islam invaded Central Asia and defeated Constantinople in 1453, cutting off the overland route for Europeans. Islamic armies continued their jihad northward, and conquered much of what is now Eastern Europe, until they were finally stopped at the gates of Vienna in 1683. Read more: The Second Major Wave of Jihad: the Turks, 1071-1683.

Europe had been trading with the Far East for centuries, and their old overland route now went through territory that was hostile and dangerous to anybody but Muslims. The economy of Europe was threatened.

So, in 1492, the year Islam was finally defeated in Spain, ending Islam's 780-year occupation, Columbus set off to find a passage to the Far East by boldly sailing West into the unknown. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

3. The .45 caliber 1911 semiautomatic pistol was created to stop Islamic warriors. From 1902 until 1913, the United States fought a war with the "Moro Warriors" in the Philippines. These Islamic warriors were named "Moros" by the Spanish. Their unstoppability was legendary. "In one instance," writes Robert Boatman, "a Moro warrior received 14 bullet wounds in five minutes, three of which penetrated his brain, and yet he fought on."

At the time the army was using .38 caliber guns, which were unable to stop the Moros, so in 1906, they began testing different guns to find something better. In 1911, they chose the .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol. It had enough stopping power to kill even a Moro warrior with one shot. Read more about this interesting piece of history here, here and here.

4. The Great Pyramid of Giza looks unfinished because of Muslims. The pyramid was once covered by a smooth, beautifully polished layer of white stone. This outer layer was removed by Muslims, who used the white stone for mosques and palaces, leaving the ancient pyramids with their somewhat unfinished appearance.

The physicist, John Zajac, wrote: "This protective covering was made up of...hard, white limestone, similar to marble but superior in hardness and in durability against the elements...The casing stones, 144,000 in all, were so brilliant that they could literally be seen from the mountains of Israel hundreds of miles away...The people of the area had viewed the pyramid and its polished stones with awe for centuries. But when a 13th century earthquake loosened some of these casing stones, the Arabs recognized a great quarry of precut stones that could be used to finish off palaces and mosques. For instance, the casing stones were used to rebuild the new city of El Kaherah plus Cairo mosques and palaces, including the Mosque of Sultan Hasan."

Historically, this is Islamic standard operating procedure. Wherever Islam established itself throughout the world, it destroyed or defaced monuments that represented the previous (conquered) culture and replaced it with Islamic structures and mosques. Afghanistan used to be Buddhist. Turkey used to be Christian. Pakistan used to be Hindu. The former cultures and any symbols of them were annihilated and replaced by Islam.

5. The Crusades were a limp, late, defensive response to four hundred years of Islamic war against what was then largely Christian lands (the Middle East, Northern Africa, and Europe). Four of the five main centers of Christianity, including the Byzantium and Constantinople, were eventually conquered by the Islamic warriors' relentless conquests, and the countries were forcibly converted into Islamic states. But before the Crusades, Byzantium was still fighting to defend itself, and repeatedly appealed to Rome for help.

The different nations of Europe were largely competitors with each other. They were not a united force — far from it — but the Pope thought he could unify Europeans if he made it a matter of "defending Christians," so that's how he made his appeal. It helped unite Europeans against a common threat, and it may have saved Europe from the forcible Islamization suffered by the nations of the Middle East, part of India, and North Africa. Read more: What About the Crusades?

Here's another interesting historical tidbit about Islam's influence: The defense of Europe during the Crusades was devastatingly expensive, and the Church of Rome tried many ways to raise funds. Some of these fundraising efforts were deeply offensive to Martin Luther, so he initiated the Protestant Reformation.

Islam has had a profound impact on important historical events throughout its history, and it is still being felt today.

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Clarifying Some Misconstruings

ON THE ARTICLE, The Ground Zero Mosque, someone asked some questions and I answered them like this:

Question: You sure about this? If Islam is really about world domination and the article is true, why is it that we have always killed a lot more of them than they have of us?

Answer: So far, Muslim warriors have killed 270 million people. That is more than any person, country, group, or empire has killed at any time in history. By a long shot. In second place is communist China, which has killed 77 million people.

Question: And again, how can the work of a few individuals at 9-11 be construed to be the work of the entire congregration of Islam?

Answer: You missed the point of the article. My point is that mainstream, established Islamic doctrine is supremacist, aggressive, intolerant toward non-Muslims, and imperialistic, and the orthodox Muslims who flew the planes into the Towers share that same ideology with orthodox Muslims all over the world. The heterodox Muslims do not agree with those core Islamic doctrines. They are essentially Muslims in name only, apatheists, or heterodox (follow only select parts of Islamic doctrine, which is against the dictates of Islamic doctrine), and these make up a significant proportion of "the entire congregation of Islam."

Question: Why is it the Islam nations like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Iraq have never attacked us?

Answer: We provide them with huge sums of money, and they are not powerful enough to win.

Question: No Muslim country has ever invaded a Western country, when we have invaded theirs?

Answer: Please read more about Muslim countries invading non-Muslim countries, including Western countries here and here and here and here.

Question: Islam followers are in all walks of life in the USA from politicians to judges and military personnel. As such, is the article really saying that all were complicit in 9-11?

Answer: Anyone who shares the same ideology and goals are part of the problem. If they want to be part of the solution, they will overtly reject those aspects of Islam that endanger women's rights, freedom of religion (including the right to apostasy), and freedom of expression (including the right to criticize Islam).

Question: A history lesson for the writer — the US has no greater friend that the Islamic Republic of Kosovo ... a country that we in the west liberated a short while ago? So the point of the article?

Answer: The point of the article is to explain why allowing the Ground Zero mosque is a bad idea for the free world.

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An Unusual Birthday Party

WHAT DO WE hope to achieve eventually? What would it look like? This is worth thinking about because it can inform and direct our actions now. The following story was written by one of our many incredibly talented readers, and explores one possible future...

~~~~~

It was Ali Qureshi's ninetieth birthday today. That evening, as always, after his afternoon's work, he sat down for an early meal at the Mecca Mosque Resort cafe and waited for the waitress to approach; a young smiling blonde woman with notepad ready.
"The usual felafel with a glass of beer, thank you," Ali said, taking off his hat and sitting back in the chair. The wait staff in Mecca were always changing as backpackers and university students stopped for a while to earn some money to continue their travels around Saudi Arabia, but Ali didn't mind as he knew how important it was for young people to understand history. He was thankful for the air conditioning in the outdoor seating area, where he and the many other diners could enjoy the scenery in front of him; the ancient Sacred Mosque, the park around it where people walked their dogs, or jogged, the new Zamzam swimming lagoon that was built on an old spring, and made to look like an oasis, and the Kibla Disco that opened each night. The superimposed new-over-old made sure that history could be enjoyed in a comfortable and fun atmosphere. Turning ninety, he had not slowed down one bit. In fact, he was still just as fit as he was when he was thirty. If anything, he felt younger today than he did when he was thirty years old; back in the olden days, when the world was a very different place to how it was now ... the year 2090 ...
Ali loved his job as historian and museum curator, especially this time of year when groups of school children flew in from all around the world to see the old mosque and the Museum of Islam. He loved their wide-eyed looks as he described how the region used to look, and their infectious laughter as they tried on old burkas and played at ghosts, scaring each other.
That afternoon he had been tour guide to two groups of 15 year olds from Israel and Yemen who were bubbling over with energy, most of them already dressed in their swimming gear so they could jump into the Zamzam lagoon straight afterwards. He had made them circumnavigate the kaaba so they could get a taste of what the ancients used to do, and burn off a bit of energy at the same time. He told them how the pilgrims used to kiss the Black Stone on the kaaba, and how archaeologists have proven it to be a Hindu Yoni stone. They had all crowded around the stone, out of breath after the laps around the mosque's interior. Once the Black Stone silver casing was observed more closely, there was the usual sniggering and elbowing amongst the male portions of this age group, and the eye-rolls from the girls. It was always the same; no matter which country they came from, confirming that we were all brothers and sisters the whole world over.
As usual, there had been the tour of the old mosque, that had been converted into a museum. Ali had begun telling the teenagers the same story that he had been telling for the past twenty five years, to thousands of youth and tourists who came through this way, from every country on earth. He never got tired of it.
"It all began here in the 630AD when a leader named Muhammad captured Mecca," said Ali.
"These conquered people here were my ancestors ..." Ali guided the children past the life size hologram reconstructions, thanks to late 21st century technology, showing how Muhammad and his gang made the siege, captured and killed dissenters. The children moved past the images cringing, as if they expected them to come to life at any time. A boy boxed the hologram of Muhammad brandishing a sword, his fists going right through the image. He glanced at his friends for approval, laughing.
"These ancestors you see cowering here," said Ali, pointing to the holograms of ancient people holding up their arms, pleading, "... were Jews and Hindus. But were forced to follow Islam or die."
They filed past another hologram of stone idols being smashed.
"The kaaba was a Hindu Temple and they used to worship Brahma here," Ali told them.
"Wasn't that Abraham?" a boy interrupted.
"Same thing," Ali said, as he waved the children through the walkway of history.
"Then we move through the centuries ... "
Ali led the now subdued teenagers through the Museum of Islam as it was set out to show the development of Islam through history, leading to its final demise. There were cases showing old artifacts from archaeological digs in the area, maps and photos of Islamic conquests and developments through the centuries.
They stopped at a large century-old aerial video of millions of people circumnavigating the kaaba. Some of the children laughed.
"Hey, it looks just like one of those black-holes in space!" exclaimed an Israeli girl.
As usual the children were especially in awe at the hundreds of photos of terror attacks.
"They used to actually strap bombs to themselves, stand in a crowd and blow up themselves and everyone in range, as they thought they would go to paradise afterwards," Ali told them.
The children laughed uproariously.
"Here we arrive at the year 2030, children, long before you were born ... " Ali said, pointing to the colourful timeline along the wall. They were getting more restless, so he knew he had to make the finale a good one. One that they would remember and tell to their own children.
"Islamic law, which was known as Sharia, took over the state governments of all Islamic countries once their dictators were removed. This was democratically elected by the people."
Some of the children laughed, some rolled their eyes. On the walls were old photos of protest demonstrations in Europe. There was a photo of a man holding up a sign that said: 'Behead those who insult Islam' to which the children pointed and laughed.
"Sharia laws courts in Europe had expanded in number and power and the population of Muslims and their converts had grown to nearly 30%, mostly because millions of Islamics went to Europe and the US claiming they were refugees. Europe was poised to become Islamic as more imams became emboldened to encourage a revolution against the non-Muslim government institutions which they had already infiltrated, while governments could do nothing to stop them, since they still fitted in the box of "freedom of religion", and the UN had passed laws making criticism of religion illegal. Intelligence suggested that there was also an enormous stockpiling of weapons of mass destruction throughout the world," Ali pointed to the grainy pictures that were supposed to be old satellite photos.
He was familiar with the usual teenage "I'm-too-cool-for-this" attitude, so he made his conclusion short.
He pointed to a document locked in a glass case, lit up from behind.
"This did it," said Ali more dramatically, "a piece of paper saved the world."
The children peered over each other to get a closer look at the artifact — a signed document.
"A brave move by the United States that officially reclassified Islam as a political organisation, and no longer a religion, had a snowball effect. Europe followed suit, and within a space of five years all non-Muslim countries had reclassified Islam as a political organisation, like the old communism. They arrested those same imams for sedition and stopped funding their organisations."
An Israeli teen had raised his hand: "Why didn't the Islamics bomb us then?"
Ali smiled; "It had the opposite effect. It weakened the organisation since it had no more psychological pull on anyone. It was named as the thing it was — a totalitarian ideology. We in the then-Muslim countries began to question this whole thing our parents and their parents had passed down to us. We rebelled against our parents, especially when we learnt that our ancestors had been forcibly converted."
The teens brightened up and there were some sounds of approval.
"And, as you already know, many took on the religion of their ancient ancestors, before they had been forced to submit to Islam ... like Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism ... Or they simply became agnostic."
"Excuse me, sir!" a Yemenite girl put her hand up, "but what's this black stuff in the jar?"
She pointed to an exhibit in a glass box.
"Oh! That's oil," said Ali, knowingly. But the children's eyes glazed over. 'Oil' made no sense to them as they'd never seen it in their lifetime.
"Yes, the whole world depended on this black stuff from the Middle East, would you believe! And Islamic countries refused to sell any more oil to any country that had reclassified Islam, and it seemed as though the entire world might come to a stand still! But," Ali smiled warmly, "in times of chaos like that, great discoveries are made ..."
How their lives had improved since then. No more need for oil or coal, no more wars or terror. No more "ozone" problems. But all this the children already knew. They were restless now and jostling towards the door, anticipating their much awaited time in the Zamzam pool.
"Islam collapsed almost overnight, and now we all live in secular nations ..." Ali concluded, smiling, but the children were already out of the door and running for the water.

~~~~~

Ali finished his felafel and beer. They'd tasted great. He watched as the children swam in the turquoise waters in front of the cafe, and heard muffled sounds of splashing, shrieks of excitement. This was the new generation of an era that had not known fascism of any kind. This part of the world was now called the "Tourist Mecca", and it opened up a new and innovative tourism economy after the oil trade collapsed. Noone followed Islam any more. In fact, the Koran had even gone out of print. It was such a boring thing to read!
After he paid and tipped the backpacker waitress generously, Ali set off towards the kaaba, as he did every evening. He wanted to make sure it was swept and clean, just as 1400 years of his Bani Shaiba ancestors had done before him. He reached the stone monument and stepped up inside.
"Surprise!!!!" Ali almost jumped out of his skin. Suddenly he found he was surrounded by family and friends, streamers and balloons, a birthday cake and bottles of champagne, right inside the kaaba!
"Open the champagne!" said cousin Samira, who was already opening it. The cork popped and hit the roof.
"Hey, careful of the marble and ancient writings on the wall!" cautioned Ali, "it is our family honor to preserve this amazing history."
Cousin Samira clumsily jumped outside onto the wooden step, and a large splash of champagne accidentally landed on the Black Stone.
"Oh well, it could do with a good wash ... and a Christening!" she laughed.
The birthday cake was brought out with candles lit.
"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you! ... " they all sang.
"Here, cut the cake grandpa!" shouted six year old Saeed, "and make a wish!". Ali cut the cake, closed his eyes tightly and made a secret wish: that the world will never be pulled into any 'black-hole' of fascism, ever again.
The End

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Tolerance

Further reading:

How a Tolerant Country Can Avoid Being a Doormat for Intolerant Countries

Tolerance Should Go Both Ways Or Neither

Multiculturalism and the Defense of Liberty

The End of Political Correctness is Near

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Freedom of Cuisine Versus Freedom of Speech

In an article in the Telegraph, Ed West writes, "Geert Wilders’s Freedom Party is on course to top the polls in the Dutch election in the summer, after tremendous gains in local elections this week – it came first in Almere and second in The Hague, the two only local authorities the party contested, and this despite Wilders being put on trial earlier this year for 'insulting Islam.'

"Or maybe because of… Despite the media consensus that Wilders is 'far-Right' and Islamphobic, and a trouble-maker with a dodgy haircut, the Dutch people obviously saw his trial for what it was – proof of his point that multiculturalism threatens freedom. They decided that, whatever the benefits of 'diversity,' the most important thing is diversity of opinion. Freedom to eat two dozen different cuisines in an evening or visit half a dozen religious buildings is small comfort if it is at the expense of freedom of speech.

"...unlike many opponents of mass immigration, he’s not a fascist or a racist – the British establishment would love Wilders to reveal himself to be another Nick Griffin or Jorg Haider, someone with lots of skeletons dressed in SS uniform in his closet, but he’s not. He’s just a normal mainstream conservative who sees, like many others, that the liberal establishment suffers from sort of groupthink madness when it comes to the subject of immigration."

Read the article here: Is Geert Wilders the new William of Orange?

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12 Strange Muslim Rules

The following is a list of twelve odd facts about Islam — a list I found at SIOTW.org:

1. It is a sin to pluck your eyebrows.

2. It is against Islamic doctrine to have pictures in your home.

3. If a Muslim wife refuses to wear a veil, others will see her as her husband's slave rather than his wife.

4. The punishment for having unmarried sex is whipping with a hundred lashes and then being exiled for a year.

5. Getting into Paradise is usually not a sure thing. Your good deeds must outweigh your bad deeds, but who knows for sure if they do? But there are three things you can do to guarantee you'll make it to Paradise: a) killing a non-Muslim in battle, b) if two of your children were killed fighting for Allah, or c) memorizing the ninety-nine names of Allah.

6. Allah not just allows, but encourages Muslims to deceive non-Muslims if it will further the goals of spreading Islam.

7. Women are not allowed to wear hair extensions or a wig.

8. Wearing the color yellow is forbidden.

9. A Muslim must avoid yawning. Mohammad said, "Yawning is from Satan."

10. Dogs should be killed. All dogs.

11. Mohammad recommended women breastfeed young men. Then the men are considered family and would be allowed to talk to the woman unveiled. However, once she breastfed him, he would not be allowed to marry her.

12. It is a sin to lie on your back and cross your feet.

Okay, so SIOTW.org chose some largely unimportant and quirky things to put on their list. It has certainly caused a lot of commenting, but mostly what people are commenting about are the silliest, most unimportant items on the list. Who cares if Muslims pluck their eyebrows? What IS important is what educated non-Muslims don't like about Islam. Read about that here.

But if you're interested in more, this page on WikiIslam lists some of the most humorous texts found in Islamic doctrine: Qur'an, Hadith and Scholars: Islamic Silliness.

And for still more: Some of the Absurd Teachings of Muhammad.

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Why Don't We Just Concentrate On The Taliban?

SOMEONE ASKED me today, "Why don't we just concentrate on the Taliban?" The question makes assumptions that are so off base, it took me a few minutes to marshal my answer. And here it is:

There are two kinds of Islamists. An Islamist is a Muslim who practices the "full version" of Islamic teachings, including the political part. So just as there are politically-active groups such as Socialists and Capitalists, there are also Islamists — adherents to a political ideology, in this case, the Islamic political ideology.

There are two kinds of Islamists: Hot-headed Islamists and long-range Islamists (read more about this). The hot-headed Islamists blow stuff up and kill people. The Taliban, al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah — these are all hot-headed Islamists. The standard way of dealing with them is to wait until they kill someone and then hunt down the particular people who did the killing and put them behind bars. This is the law-enforcement model.

Dealing with Islamists, the law-enforcement model is inadequate. The Islamists are not simply criminals. They are political revolutionaries and they are working toward political goals such as intimidating Spaniards to vote for a wimpy leader (which was the purpose of the Madrid bombings, and it worked) or preventing newspapers from publishing anything critical of Islam (such as the "cartoon riots" that left 187 people dead because some cartoons were published in a Danish newspaper).

Even if you hunted all those people down who were responsible for the deaths, and put them all in jail, you would have done next to nothing that would actually stop the violence, because the ideology driving the violence would still be alive and well and held in the minds of 1.3 billion people.

Not all of them are hot-headed, however.

The long-range Islamists may actually be more dangerous in the long run. Long-range Islamists work toward the same political goals as the hot-headed Islamists. They just use different methods.

The primary political goal of all Islamists is to turn all countries into Islamic states. Even democracies. Especially democracies, as they have recently done with the previously-democratic country of Lebanon. The number of tactics for a long-range Islamist is almost unlimited.

For example, long-range Islamists put political pressure on television stations and radio stations and newspapers to get journalists fired whenever they utter a criticism of Islam. Long-range Islamists encourage Muslims to raise as many children as they can to increase their numerical voting power. I'm not guessing about this. Islamist networks publish their goals and methods online for anyone to see.

I've been a subscriber to many of the mainstream Muslim organizations in America and I read their publications. They are fairly open about what they're doing and why they're doing it. They are not ashamed of the fact that they think Islamic law is the only good way to govern and that it is their religious duty to work toward the Islamification of governments around the world.

Rich oil billionaires in Saudi Arabia and Iran are pouring money into building mosques and madrassas all over the world and because these are their mosques, they get to choose who speaks in those mosques and what they speak about, and they control what is taught in the madrassas. They teach jihad. They teach hatred toward non-Muslims. And they articulate the Islamic political goal of dominance over all other religions and governments. They teach a supremacist ideology.

Mosque-goers are taught to avoid assimilating into the host culture, and to avoid making friends with non-believers. (It says in the Qur'an that a Muslim should never be a true friend to an unbeliever. A Muslim can pretend to be a friend, but must never actually feel kinship or friendship with a kafir. It is a sin.)

So they create their own little Muslim states within the democracies and then push for concessions. In Germany, Belgium, and Britain they can now practice Shari'a law — which is Islamic law — and their decisions, even the ones that violate women's rights enjoyed by others in that country, are upheld by the government. Muslims are gaining concessions constantly.

The rich Saudis, and the political activists taking advantage of democratic processes, and the Muslims deliberately having as many children as possible are all "long-range Islamists." In twenty years, they will have produced tens of millions of young Muslims steeped in hatred for kafirs and willing to die for Islam. These will be native-born Muslims, not foreigners who can be deported or barred from entering.

Many people think Islamic terrorists became terrorists because the United States didn't give enough money to poor countries. And they think what we ought to do about terrorism is to hunt down the ones who kill people and put them in jail.

In other words, these people have no clue about the cause or cure of Islamic terrorism. The Islamists are not playing around. Hamas and al Qaeda are actively seeking a nuclear weapon and they would not hesitate to use it. They are perfectly willing to martyr their fellow Muslims in the cause as they have shown innumerable times when they kill fifty unsuspecting Muslims just to kill 20 kafirs.

It would be nice if we could just hunt down the terrorists and put them in jail. Problem solved. We could go about our business. But unfortunately, that won't solve the problem.

What can be done? Good question. This is such a huge issue that the solution will have to be long-range and carefully planned. The organization doing the most to solve the long-term problem is ACT! For America.

There are many practical and effective things you can do, some of which you can start today. Go here to find a list of actions that can make a real difference in defeating the Islamists' long-range plans.

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Love and Freedom

THE FOLLOWING WAS written by PinkNeck and published here with her permission. PinkNeck explained some of the basic (not-so-pleasant) teachings of Islam to a woman, and the woman said, among other things, "Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy? Do you want the world to change so you can feel safe and happy? If you want a world of peace add only love. Every event in life is either loving or a cry for love — so love — just love."

This was PinkNeck's response:

Oh I admire your intentions. I believe in love. Truly. But what we must also face is the truth that not all people are good people. About one in twenty-five men, and about one in fifty women have bodies that lack any receptors for oxytocin (a bonding hormone). So, their bodies have no ability to bond with other human beings. These kinds of people have been called many things throughout history. Sociopath is the current word to describe them. And these few people, these cold-blooded humans, DO NOT CARE ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE. And there is no medicine, no therapy, no operation, no way on earth to change them. And they create hell on earth in their wake.

Clearly Mohammad was a sociopath. No one can read the Qur'an and not see that. And the men of Islam are told to try to be just like the prophet Mohammad: Lie and kill and torture non-believers with no regard for anyone who has not submitted to the will of Allah.

I love people deeply. I am loyal and courageous. I am one of the most responsible humans on the planet. But no matter how good I am, it makes no difference to a sociopath. And as long as there are sociopaths (or their followers), the only way to have peace is to have the good people strong enough to defend the innocent.

You want peace, but peace is not laying down your weapons. Peace is only bought by being powerful enough to stop the sociopaths, the Hitlers and Saddams, and now the terrorists of Islam, from taking whatever they want from whoever they want.

You and all those who put their "Give Peace A Chance" stickers on their cars want to be happy just like I want to be happy. But the reality is as long as there are people who don't care about others, you simply MUST have a military able to protect us from those willing to do violence to get what they want. POWER IS THE ONLY MEANS TO CREATE PEACE.

Peace is not bought with love. Peace is bought by being stronger than the sociopaths and the armies they lead. And now the army of Islam has declared war on the Infidels. That's you and me. And every day they lie and kill and torture to try to once again take over the world. This is not the time to be holding good thoughts and trying to act out of love for our enemies. This is a time to face the horrible truth that a so-called "religion" has declared WAR on everyone who won't submit to Allah. And the longer we wait to deal with it, the more their movement grows, the harder it is to stop them. Now they are trying to pass a law in the United Nations making it illegal to say anything bad about Islam.

The people who protest war have caused millions of deaths. Look at WWII. The people protesting the war in the U.S. managed to keep us out of the war for years! Think of how many millions of gypsies and Jews died before the U.S. joined the fight. And think about how powerful Hitler became during that time, making it more difficult and making it cost even more American and British lives to stop his war machine.

In the time it took for you and I to have our little conversation, the count in this Islamic war went from 11,998 attacks (since 9/11) yesterday to 12,009 attacks today. (Here's a site that keeps track of all the attacks since 9/11: http://thereligionofpeace.com/.) In only one day, another eleven attacks!

And every person who is sitting on their hands doing nothing to stop this is allowing innocent people to die at the hands of Jihadis (Islamic warriors). Every time someone says to pray for peace or tells me to find peace in my heart or, like your message that says we should respond in love, well, it allows another innocent human being to die. Every person seeking peace by responding in love alone is letting down those too weak to protect themselves from the violence of jihad.

I personally think that love would be trying to save those people from the hands of the terrorists. I think true love is trying to stop Islam's relentless encroachment. Love is trying to save lives, not just having good feelings for others.

I hope you and your friends join me in the fight. We can make a difference. Go here to read a list of Citizen Warrior Heroes. These are regular people trying to save the world from jihad.

We fight by telling the truth about this war. And we fight by supporting those willing to stand up and face the threat of jihad — women like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Wafa Sultan and Nonie Darwish, and the men like Robert Spencer and Geert Wilders. They have seen the threat. They lived it and understand the threat, and they are trying to tell the world. Please listen to them and their stories.

I hope you join me. Please. The future of freedom, and love, depends on it.

The woman wrote back to say PinkNeck doesn't understand the sacred truth of life on the spiritual level and that the solution is for her to go within and find out where her perception of Islam resonates within her.

Here is PinkNeck's response:

This is the TRUTH...on the physical level. These women are scarred for life, victims of Islamic ideas (about the subjugation of women, the total control over women by men, and the justified use of force by their male relatives and husbands to punish them, and even kill them).

The people listed below have all died since we started talking...and your response is you want me to "go within and try to figure out where my perception of this religion resonates within me"? You've got to be kidding!!! Go play on your mystical level. I don't have the time to deal with such utter nonsense.

Latest Offerings from the Religion of Peace:

10/6/2008 (Mogadishu, Somalia) - al-Shabab terrorists lob mortars into a marketplace. Children are among the seventeen civilians killed.

10/6/2008 (Merka, Somalia) - Islamic militia attack a humanitarian vehicle, leaving one worker dead.

10/6/2008 (Punjab, Pakistan) - Holy Warriors strike a party held at a home. Nearly two dozen people are blown to death.

10/5/2008 (al-Tayeba, Egypt) - A 19-year-old Christian is shot to death by a Muslim mob.

10/5/2008 (Zanjili, Iraq) - Terrorists attack a funeral with automatic weapons, killing four innocents.

10/5/2008 (Mosul, Iraq) - Fundamentalists gun down a butcher in his shop.

Figures above are from thereligionofpeace.com.

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The Situation Is Urgent

THE BLOGGER, PinkNeck, wrote an article about the movie, Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West. It is a great summary of why we are working so hard to stop Islam's relentless encroachment. One of the points she made is:

I know when you watch Obsession you will wonder if this is an exaggeration. It is not: It is only the tip of the iceberg. In fact, in the year since this DVD was released in September of 2007, Islam has attacked Infidels 2,317 times! Since 9/11 they have attacked non-believers 12,091 times. Across the world they have killed thousands upon thousands of people. (Figures listed are from thereligionofpeace.com which keeps extremely accurate records of all the attacks since 9/11.)

So why haven’t you heard more about this? For one thing, the liberal media and our politically correct societies feel all religions have a right to worship any way they want. But Islam is not a religion like any other on the planet. It is more accurately a government out to destroy all other forms of government. And it is far worse than any communism or dictatorship.

While we are helping our kids with their schoolwork, while we are watching our favorite television show, and while we are putting in the extra hours at work to get that promotion — while all of this is going on, Islam is marching forward, worming its way through the cracks, gaining concessions, and out-and-out killing innocent people all over the world.

PinkNeck published this article just a little while ago, and already the total number of attacks is significantly larger. And some of these attacks kill or maim a lot of people in a single bomb-blast, causing unspeakable suffering to the families of the victims. Many times a day these bombings and shootings are occurring around the world. On The Religion of Peace site PinkNeck mentions, scroll down a little and you can see what Jihadis have done in the last couple of days. I just looked at it, and it describes six attacks in the last two days. The top item is from yesterday: "Assam, India — Harkat-ul-Jehadi-e-Islami terrorists massacre over seventy people in six deadly blasts across several towns."

They must be stopped.

The first step is for enough people to be aware it is happening and to understand why it's happening. You are the key. Be as gentle as you can, but help people understand what's going on. This information is not getting out fast enough. Getting this information out there — making people understand this and getting through their resistance to the information — this is not a prelude to the battle; this IS the battle!

If you need to learn more about Islam, read PinkNeck's entire article: Obsession the Movie. It's a great overview of the problem and the solution.

If you want some coaching on how to introduce this topic to people, go here: The Least You Need To Know.

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Why Is Islamic Militancy On The Rise?

WHAT CHANGED? Why is militant Islam on the rise? There are several reasons, including increased mobility (so jihad recruiters can travel to other countries, for example), the multicultural and liberal democratic desire to stop dividing and conquering even militant countries, and letting them be, and new technologies like roadside bombs that allow small groups to inflict damage on larger groups.

There is also the added benefit of oil money, which is a large factor in global influence.

But let's look at one of the most interesting causes of the new rise of militancy: A side-effect of media technology such as radio, television, and the internet — unfavorable comparisons.

As long as Muslims lived in their own little village and didn't see much of what was happening in other villages or other countries, they had nothing to compare their situation with, and they could rest content with the fact that their religion was clearly superior, and Islam was the greatest thing ever.

But when they got television, radio, and the internet, they could clearly see something disturbing: Compared to the rest of the world, Muslim countries are backward, poor, third-world nobodies.

Now you would think that when someone sees their beliefs called into question, they would abandon them. And some certainly will. But an entirely different and perhaps counter-intuitive response is also possible: To become zealous believers.

An interesting experiment shows this surprising response from the inside (read more about it in the book, Influence). Two researchers joined a little cult undercover (in other words, the other members of the cult thought these two researchers were genuine believers). This cult had a leader who prophesied that aliens would come take them away right before the earth was destroyed. And the prophesy had a specific date and time.

On the night of the big event, the believers (including the two undercover researchers) sat around in the home of the Prophet, waiting for their alien taxi to pick them up.

Time ticked on. No taxi.

The researchers chose this group because the prophecy had a specific date. They wanted to find out what the believers would do with this obvious invalidation of the core belief of their "religion" (when the prophesy didn't come true).

What happened was fascinating. The believers up until the big event had pretty much kept their religion to themselves. They didn't try to push it on anyone or try very hard to recruit new believers.

But afterward, they went on an evangelistic rampage, working tirelessly to recruit new believers.

The researchers theorized that the recruiting was for the purpose of bolstering their flagging faith. In other words, they had doubts, and you can dispel doubts with numbers. If you and two other people believe in The Great Flying Spagetti Monster, you can be justifiably considered a nutcase. But if 10,000 of you believe the same thing, you will feel a lot more comfortable in your belief. It will bolster your faith. It will give you confidence.

I believe that's what is happening now with Islam.

Islam is going in two directions. There is a strong push to secularize and modernize Islam by some, as Muslims realize one of the reasons they are economically and culturally backward compared to the rest of the world is that their religion has limited them. So they want to change it. They want to alter the religion.

But another push is going in the opposite direction: Rampant recruiting, and upping the ante. Becoming more zealous and trying to follow the dictates of the religion more strictly. Unfortunately, it is a militant religion at its core, and so we see the recent rise of Islamic militancy.

Read more about the specific beliefs of Islam: The Terrifying Brilliance of the Islamic Memeplex.

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