In The Great Heresies, Hilaire Belloc predicted that Islam would one day challenge the West again. Belloc wrote this back in the 1930s. He saw Islam as a Christian heresy, adopting monotheism, the immortality of the soul and the final judgment. Islam appealed to Arabs who had known only the gods of grim pagan religions. It swept the Arab world in no time and far beyond Arabia, too.
Until recently, the past 15 years, that is, I saw Islam as a simple religion that was easily understood by the simple men and women who adhered to it. It promised them certain things after death, things that were unattainable while they were alive. It also forbade slavery.
Mind you, there was lots of hypocrisy involved. After Medina Mohammed went after everyone with his sword. Islam preached two houses: the House of Peace, Islamic; and the House of War, un-Islamic. Well, after Vienna Islam slinked back where it came from and never made another move towards us. As far as we were concerned, Islam was a busted flush. That’s why Belloc’s idea of a new Muslim challenge seemed so fantastical 80 years or so ago. Yet it now seems so prescient.
Belloc was no circus fortune-teller. He knew what he was talking about. Islam’s religious faith had remained strong whereas our Christian faith was being weakened by secularism. The reason Islam remained static, of course, was science and technology. Weaponry had eclipsed the Arabs, but as we see at present, that fact was not irreversible.
And now the chickens have come home to roost, as they say. Not only have the Islamists caught up with us weapon-wise, they have also infiltrated us to the extent that weak Western leaders are far more concerned with the reaction to the ruthlessness of ISIS than with the ruthlessness itself, Barack Obama included.
Which brings me to The Donald. Trump, like most normal people, has had enough of the curses, threats, demands for apologies, murders of innocents and the burning down of churches. He’s had enough of the Saudi- and Qatari-financed mosques that preach non-stop hatred of Christianity in our midst, especially as there are no Christian churches to be found anywhere in Saudi Arabia.
Yes, Christianity once upon a time, and contrary to the teachings of our Lord Jesus, who told us to turn the other cheek and pray for our persecutors, was wrong to use the sword. But this was long ago. Christianity now follows the maxim that our God is a God of reason. Faith and reason can never be opposed, although human reason has its limitations. Now compare what we Christians are taught with what Muslims are brainwashed daily with. Punishment seems to be at the heart of Islamic doctrine. Allah is a remote and forbidding God, and fear is at the basis of the faith.
So what is to be done? Do we turn the other cheek, invite every Muslim to come in, tear down our churches and disarm? Do we arrest Trump and turn him over to ISIS? Do we give in to those who shout “Kill cops now!” while condemning harsh rhetoric against the Islamists who murdered innocents in Paris and California, as the Attorney General of the United States did? Do we bow to the wishes of those who feel offended by the sight of Christmas trees or of crucifixes?
The constant attack on Christian values in general, and the Catholic Church in particular, has never abated. Atheists have had a field day, with Hollywood and other such progressives piling it on ad nauseam.
What these people hate most is the strong moral authority of Catholicism, an authority these people can never attain through secular means; hence the fear and loathing of the Catholic Church. Immoral Hollywood loathes morality, and fears it. When was the last time you went to the movies and saw a moral priest helping the poor? (Maybe in the 1950s.)
While the rest of the world veers off towards all sorts of fads, the Catholic Church retains a moral consistency, unlike other Christian denominations. The only way I see to counter militant Islam is to return to our churches, affirm our faith, refuse to turn the other cheek, vote for Donald Trump, and keep away from that sandy hellhole that is the Middle East. Have a very merry Christmas and happy New Year.
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