{"id":8887,"date":"2013-11-27T23:07:03","date_gmt":"2013-11-27T23:07:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/?p=8887"},"modified":"2013-11-27T23:07:03","modified_gmt":"2013-11-27T23:07:03","slug":"on-the-persecution-of-christians-by","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/on-the-persecution-of-christians-by\/","title":{"rendered":"On the Persecution of Christians by . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"homs\"<\/a>Cross-posted on the Corner<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Cranmer picks up<\/a> on a curious exchange in Britain\u2019s House of Lords between a UKIP peer (Lord Pearson) and a Conservative minister (Baroness Warsi). The whole thing is well worth a read, but this section, in particular, caught my attention. The discussion between the two has gone on for a while and Lord Pearson is, as Cranmer noted, getting a little vexed:<\/p>\n

An exasperated Lord Pearson intervened:<\/p>\n

\u2018With respect, that does not answer the question. The question I put to the noble Baroness was about the persecution of Christians . . . Is it or is it not mostly the work of the jihadists? That was the question I put to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so she [replied]:<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was mostly the work of extremists who do not follow any faith, as far as I am concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, those who burn down churches, blow people up or cut their heads off while quoting the Qur\u2019an, declaiming \u201cAllahu Akbar\u201d and invoking the name of Mohammed are not Muslims at all: they are really followers of no faith: they are secularists or humanist atheists; buddies of Professor Dawkins. This is the socio-religio-political depth of understanding of the UK\u2019s first ever Minister for Faith and Communities. She says it is her job \u201cto ensure that freedom of religion and belief remains at the top of the Government\u2019s agenda both at home and internationally\u201d. But while doing that, there can be no scrutiny of the virulent salafi-wahhabi strain of Sunni Islam, for, to her, that is not Islam at all. And even to mention the possibility that it might be invites allegations of bigotry. These \u2018extremists\u2019 are simply not true Muslims and are completely ignorant of the real Islam.<\/p>\n

And yet.. and yet..<\/p>\n

At a Muslim Peace Conference in Norway (yes, a peace conference in Europe), when asked if the Muslims in attendance agreed that adulterous women ought to be stoned, the speaker praises Allah that all the men\u2019s hands were raised. His Grace says \u201cmen\u2019s hands\u201d, for there appears to be no gender diversity at this gathering. Unless, of course, the women were in the basement. When asked if they believed in the strict separation of men and women, all hands again were raised (except the bloke on the front line, whom the speaker ignores). This video is not of a group of \u2018extremists\u2019, but ordinary believers in a run-of-the-mill expression of moderate Islam\u2026.<\/p>\n

These ordinary, everyday moderate Muslims want sharia law in their country; not secular democracy and human rights. The moderate and enlightened speaker mocks the media portrayal of their beliefs as \u2018extreme\u2019. One wonders, if they had been asked, whether all hands would have been raised to affirm the death penalty for apostasy. Surely, if stoning women for adultery is considered just, then hanging for apostasy or blasphemy is a fortiori the will of Allah. And it is a very small step indeed from that belief to burning down the odd church and beheading the occasional kafir.<\/p>\n

But these are not Muslims. They do not follow any faith.<\/p>\n

As far as Baroness Warsi is concerned.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cross-posted on the Corner: Cranmer picks up on a curious exchange in Britain\u2019s House of Lords between a UKIP peer (Lord Pearson) and a Conservative minister (Baroness Warsi). The whole thing is well worth a read, but this section, in … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[15,711],"tags":[50,804,812,468],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8887"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8887"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8889,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8887\/revisions\/8889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/secularright.org\/SR\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}