PrairiePundit

Jonah Goldberg: Banning ‘crusader’: A ludicrous new low in social justice ... ... For most of last millennium, if you talked about the Crusades, you’d offend Christians. Why? Because the Christian West lost the Crusades, for the most part. Meanwhile, Muslims rarely talked about the Crusades, and if they did it was a matter of pride. In the last century or two, the story of the Crusades was rewritten to fit an anti-imperial, anti-colonial, anti-capitalist narrative. The European invasion of the Middle East was the first chapter in the evil empire that was Western civilization. This is all nonsense. Christianity — which is older than Islam — was in the Middle East far earlier (and Judaism has squatter’s rights going back millennia). ... Bernard Lewis, arguably the greatest living English-language historian of the Muslim world, writes: “The Crusades could more accurately be described as a limited, belated and, in the last analysis, ineffectual response to the jihad — a fai...

Bruce Thorton: ... Of course Obama, who has serially groveled before Muslims and praised Islam, has continued this sorry practice. After his administration blamed the Benghazi murders on an obscure Internet video, he lectured that “the future must not belong to those who slander the Prophet of Islam.” The 2 gunmen in Garland Texas obviously agreed. His quondam Secretary of State and now presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is on record extolling Islam’s “deepest yearning of all––to live in peace.” How is that going in Nigeria, Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan? Worse of all, training materials used by our military and security services have excised any mention of jihad, which Western infidels have redefined as “a quest to find one’s faith in an external fight for justice,” as the New York Times put it in 2008. So Obama identifies the 13 slaughtered at Fort Hood to the traditional jihadist cry of “Allahu Akbar” as victims of “workplace violence.” Never mind the Koranic command t...

NY Times: Bangladeshi Blogger Who Wrote on Site Promoting Secularism Is Killed Four men chased down Ananta Bijoy Dash near his home in the city of Sylhet, in the third fatal attack on a Bangladeshi blogger since February. This is yet another example of the evil ideology of radical Islam.  It appears that some think it is so fragile that they must murder anyone who challenges their weird beliefs.

This is not a religious blog but the apostle Matthew makes it pretty clear what is acceptable: Matthew 7:15-20 King James Version (KJV) 15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Red States has a discussion of those who seem to think it was wrong to have a draw Mohammad contest, but they present examples of how false prophets and false gods are treated in the Bible.  

Jeffrey Tayler: Whatever her views on other matters are, Pamela Geller is right about one thing: last week’s Islamist assault on the “Draw Muhammad” cartoon contest she hosted in Texas proves the jihad against freedom of expression has opened a front in the United States. “There is,” she said , “a war on free speech and this violent attack is a harbinger of things to come.” Apparently undaunted, Geller promises to continue with such “freedom of speech” events. ISIS is now threatening to assassinate her. She and her cohorts came close to becoming victims, yet some in the media on the r ight and the center-right have essentially blamed her for the gunmen’s attack, just as far too many, last January, surreptitiously pardoned the Kouachi brothers and, with consummate perfidy to human decency, inculpated the satirical cartoonists they slaughtered, saying “Charlie Hebdo asked for it.” No. ... There is no legitimate controversy over why the Kouachi brothers targeted Charlie...

Doug Giles: According to Bill O’Reilly and Juan Williams we shouldn’t have drawing contests that mock Mohammed because that’ll “unnecessarily” get Muslims miffed. FYI, to O'Reilly and Juan: Most of Islam lives in a 24/7 state of unnecessary rage. They’re more moody than my buddy’s nutty wife who makes a rabid Rottweiler on meth look like Mr. Rogers after seventeen bong hits of Bruce Banner #3. Look, gents (and you know this), everything we do ticks Islam off. We don’t have to doodle Mohammed cartoons to get them in a full-on hissy fit. They’re there. Like in, already. As in, right now. For example: I had an applewood, avocado, bibb lettuce, farm fresh tomato, herb aioli on pressed sourdough double-bacon BLT for lunch today served up by a definite non-Muslim girl who looked just like a 22-year-old Britney Spears in a black T-shirt. You think Islam liked that? Uh, no. It’s an ”abomination” to them, worthy of lashings. Oh … speaking of BritBrit, they are also no-fan of Miss Spears...

AP/Houston Chronicle: Two armed men who opened fire on a security officer outside of a provocative contest for cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad have been killed, authorities in the Dallas suburb of Garland said Sunday night. The City of Garland said in a statement posted on its Facebook page Sunday night that two men drove up to the Curtis Culwell Center and began shooting at a security officer. Garland Police Department officers engaged the gunmen, who were both shot and killed, the statement said. The statement did not say whether the shooting was related to the event. The security officer's injuries were not life-threatening, the city said. The gunmen's vehicle may contain an "incendiary device," according to the statement. A bomb squad was on the scene, and nearby businesses were evacuated. The New York-based American Freedom Defense Initiative had been hosting a contest at the center that would award $10,000 for the best cartoon depicting ...

Neil Stevens: Again and again we are told that when Islam or its prophet Mahomet are treated unfairly or insulted, the streets in the Islamic world will erupt in rioting. They rioted in Benghazi over Danish cartoons published in a newspaper. They allegedly rioted over a Youtube video exposing Islam’s history. And yes, they rioted over Charlie Hebdo . So where are the riots against the Islamic State? Think about it: what could be a greater insult to Islam than to put up a state, call it the Islamic state, and then perform every form of barbaric butchery, every crime against humanity, and every form of evil you could possibly imagine? The existence and naming of the Islamic State should be the greatest libel of Islam anyone has perpetrated in this century. These savages in charge of the Islamic State are acting more like wild animals than people, and they drape themselves in the shahada, the Islamic statement of faith, going as far as to put it on their flag. They are doing everythin...

Washington Times: At least 10 people have died in protests and riots around the Islamic world, as demonstrations showed no signs of easing over the “survivor issue” of the French satiric weekly Charlie Hebdo that depicts the Prophet Muhammad on its cover. The protests erupted just over a week after 12 people were killed in an attack by Islamist gunmen on the magazine’s Paris offices. The attack set off a global debate that is still smoldering over freedom of speech and respect for religious beliefs. ... Similar protests, including violent demonstrations in Niger and Pakistan, erupted in other nations with large Muslim populations. Flags flew at half-staff in Niger at the start of three days of mourning Monday for those who were killed and injured during riots since Friday in Niamey, the country’s capital. The violence left 10 people dead and 173 injured in both Niamey and Zinder. The Niger government said at least 45 churches have been set on fire in the country as part of...

Asra Q. Nomani: Meet the honor brigade, an organized campaign to silence debate on Islam Self-styled blasphemy police count on a shame-based culture that values face-saving. The longer this war being waged against those who don't follow radical Islam goes on the less respect people have for this religion.  Killing people who don't agree with them is not going to work and attempting to silence critics is not working.

Andrew McCarthy: In Cairo on Wednesday, a Coptic Christian blogger named Alber Saber was convicted of blasphemy and “contempt of religion.” There’s a tragic irony: As any of the country’s Christians can tell you, contempt of religion is not merely permitted but encouraged in the new, post-Mubarak Egypt. What is criminal, what has become increasingly perilous, is any criticism of Islam. Nor is truth a defense. Another Egyptian court recently  upheld the blasphemy conviction of Makarem Diab, also a Coptic Christian. Diab had gotten into a discussion with a Muslim acquaintance, Abd al-Hameed, who, in the course of mocking Diab’s faith, insisted that Jesus was a serial fornicator. Diab countered Hameed’s baseless taunt with an assertion most Islamic scholars regard as accurate: namely, that Mohammed had more than four wives. Yet, because the context of Diab’s assertion evinced an intention to cast Islam’s prophet in an unfavorable light, Diab was prosecuted for “insulting the pr...

Observer/Guardian: Bahrain police deploy teargas at anti-Kim Kardashian protest Will Obama try to find an excuse to arrest her too?

NY Times: From Man Who Insulted Muhammad, No Regret How Nakoula Basseley Nakoula came to make “Innocence of Muslims” is a bizarre tale of fake personas and subterfuge. While Nakoula has not led an exemplary life, he is far from alone in not having a high regard for Islam.  In fact the non Muslim world sees Muhammad as a false prophet who created a brutal religious movement that attempts to persuade converts through coercion and sometimes the threat of death.  In fact, criticism of the religion is met with tantrums and solicitation of murder.  What is surprising is that many on the left who normally favor freedom, seem unconcerned for those who seek freedom from the oppression of Islam. They have no empathy for Nakoula because many Muslims reacted badly to his amateurish efforts at film making.  They blame him rather than those who reacted worse than a two year old who lost a toy.  Both Obama and Secretary Cli...

Telegraph: A protest by 10,000 Muslims outside the offices of Google in London today is just the first in an orchestrated attempt to force the company to remove an anti-Islamic film from website YouTube in Britain. Thousands had travelled from as far afield as Glasgow to take part in the demonstration, ahead of a planned million-strong march in Hyde Park in coming weeks. Anger over 'The Innocence of Muslims', an American-produced film which insults the Prophet Mohammad and demeans Muslims, according to protesters, remains available to watch on the website YouTube, a subsidiary of Google. Organiser Masoud Alam said: "Our next protest will be at the offices of Google and YouTube across the world. We are looking to ban this film. ...  These people are making Islam look ridiculous.  They are allowing someone with no power to pull their string and get them all wee weed up.  Why would they give that much power to someone who is not a conceivable threat to their a...

Town Hall: Algeria at UN: Limit Free Speech, Protect Islam There is something weird about all these special pleadings for Islam because it is too fragile to survive free speech.  What does that say about the religion?

Greg Gutfeld ask where is the outrage over the arrest of the film maker millions of critics hate.

Katrina Trinko: Obama: ‘The Future Must Not Belong To Those Who Slander the Prophet of Islam’ When people are engaging in mass murder in his name, they are provoking insults, at a minimum.  If Muslims do not want insults they should stop their fellow Muslims from engaging in mass murder of those of other faiths and quit driving them out of their homes. They should stop the practice of kidnapping and forced conversions.  If they want to be treated with respect, they should start acting respectful.  It is really hard to generate respect by throwing tantrums and engaging in murderous rage.  I find insults one of the lowest form of argument, but followers of Islam have sunk lower in response to insults.

Washington Times: Muslim-led nations seek ban on insult Just because their religion is so fragile that it cannot withstand insults is no reason for the rest of the world to give them a pass when it comes to free speech.  This is a ridiculous idea and it should be rejected out of hand.  These are the same people who go well beyond insults in their attempts to denigrate and destroy other religions.  We are witnessing a near weekly mass murder for Allah attacks against Christians in Nigeria and these people are worried about insults?

New Yorker: Why do Americans believe in Muslim rage?   It reminds me of the joke about two guys sitting on their front porch discussing theology.  One turns to the other and says, "Do you believe in infant baptism?"  The quick response was, "Believe it hell, I have seen it." Muslim rage is a mad dog response to perceived insults.  I think it is counter productive because it makes most people have a lower regard for Islam.

Gateway Pundit: Obama to Release One-Third of Gitmo Detainees – Despite 27% Recidivism Rate I think they should stay in Gitmo until the end of the war.  As we have seen in the demonstrations, releasing these guys earns zero good will, and only offers manpower and leadership to the enemy.