We are told, especially after terror attacks against Muslims around the world, that Islam is compatible with the west. OK. I understand that. We are not barbarians. We, in the West, promote diversity. And as a Chaplain, caring for people of all faiths and no faith, I have always been most alarmed by the attacks on places of worship. But if we accept the premise that Islam is compatible with the west, then shouldn’t western values be compatible in Muslim countries, all fifty of them?
Here are the leaders who have told us that Islam is compatible with western culture.
President Obama said in 2016:”So let’s start with this fact: For more than a thousand years, people have been drawn to Islam’s message of peace. We are all God’s children. We’re all born equal, with inherent dignity.
In 2014 President Obama sent these wishes to the Muslim community
While Eid marks the completion of Ramadan, it also celebrates the common values that unite us in our humanity and reinforces the obligations that people of all faiths have to each other, especially those impacted by poverty, conflict, and disease.
In the United States, Eid also reminds us of the many achievements and contributions of Muslim Americans to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy.That is why we stand with people of all faiths, here at home and around the world, to protect and advance their rights to prosper, and we welcome their commitment to giving back to their communities.
A spirit of competition has too often marked past relations between Christians and Muslims, the negative consequences of which are evident: jealousy, recriminations and tensions…“Such interreligious competition,” the Council said, “wounds the image of religions and their followers, and it fosters the view that religions are not sources of peace, but of tension and violence.”
Recognize common values, respect differences
(This is) the message called on Christians and Muslims to recognize the “religious and moral values they share” and respect their “ legitimate differences” in order to bring about an “effective cooperation for the common good.”
…The Pontifical Council thus called on both communities to work together and honour each other in order to further peace and fraternal relations and promote harmony in society which is becoming increasingly multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural.
Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau.
Muslim communities continue to make Canada stronger, more open, and more prosperous. Today, let’s celebrate their major contributions to our country
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has stated unequivocally that Islam is compatible with the west. Or as he puts it “Islam is not incompatible with the West.”
And PM Theresa May has told us Islam is peaceful.
How many times have we been informed that Islam is compatible with the west and that we should welcome Islam as a sister? We should not fear the ethic that underpins Islam, BECAUSE Islam is compatible with western ideals. And to say otherwise is to commit an act of Islamophobia. And the last thing anyone wants is to be accused of Islamophobia; because if you are you will be silenced.
Like Tommy Robinson and Lauren Southern and Jordan Peterson and Armin Navabi-horror of horrors, an Iranian Canadian atheist in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He had been sponsored to speak by the Atheist Society of Calgary because his speech would take place 6 days after the mosque attack in New Zealand. It was considered “Too soon.” How long is the world to mourn when Muslims are attacked anywhere in the world? How much time is considered respectful? How many people were prevented from speaking after the Manchester Terror attack? I don’t know. If you do, please send me a note or post it as a comment.
I also don’t see world-wide mourning for the hundreds of Christians murdered; for being Christian.
So tell me, if we are taught to tolerate, accommodate and include Islam in our way of life, why is our way of life not included, accommodated and tolerated in the Muslims countries around the world? Why are Jews and Christians not welcome in fifty or so Muslim majority countries? Where are their synagogues and churches? Where are their rights to pray at work? Jews pray three times a day. Where are the gay communities? Where are the women at work?
I am guessing it has something to do with these teachings from modern day Islam.
ICNA Canada shares with its members, followers and supporters the book Riyad us Saliheen” where it says
“The political system of Islam is totally incompatible with western democracy.
“The concept of government party and the opposition is alien to Islam.
“All belong to one Ummah with only one goal and pursue the same aims and objects of Islamic guidelines!”
If we are all so cozy and chummy, why is the ethic that underpins western culture is not shared in the Islamic world?
From the Ethics of the Fathers: “Rabbi Tarfon used to say, it is not incumbent upon you to complete the task, but you are not exempt from undertaking it.”
