Nature Abhors a Vacuum: Islam is Filling It

For those who realize Islam is the world’s fastest growing religion, have you wondered why, aside from their rapid population growth?

The United States and western Europe are prime examples of the decline in faithfulness toward Christianity.  Christian fervor is receding.  Islamic fervor is flourishing.

We don't feel our values, our religion (if any), our culture and form of government are worth defending.  The fact is, the decline of a dynamic Christian faith in this nation and much of the west has left a vacuum.  Nature abhors it – Islam is filling it.

We have become so critical of ourselves, who we are, where we came from, how we got here, that anything else - anything else – is seen as better.

The Obama administration is a prime example of this self-loathing and self-flagellation in action – his apology tours, and all his leftist cohorts who are ashamed of our history and our culture – just like his wife.

As many of the comments in the above link reveal, the decline of Christian faith in the west is being met with shouts of “good riddance. Now we won’t be encumbered by superstition and constrained by “Biblical morality.” 

That is why we were willing to embrace "hope and change" without even caring where the "change" would lead us to.  We are so desperate for something different that, when facing the challenge of a completely foreign and contrary ideology, our attitude might as well be - "Whatever."  We care that much.

It will be very interesting and tragic over the next couple of decades as we observe the Islamic ideology sweep in and fill the vacuum.  The advocates of amorality won’t know what hit them.  Don't it always seem to go; that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?

LiveJournal Tags: decline of Christianity,nature abhors a vacuum,Islam,Biblical morality,apostacy

While we abstain from making babies…

“Be fruitful and multiply” – that Biblical admonition is out of favor in the West.  The Mormon and Catholic churches have it right.  Large families serve a civilization-building purpose.  But many Catholics don’t care much for this doctrine, and Mormons are too few to have an impact.  Birth control, abortions, higher costs of raising kids, the popularity of deferring marriage and having promiscuous fun while single – these practices are hastening the demise of our western civilization.  “Why is that?”, you might ask.

Because at the same time the Islamic world IS being fruitful and multiplying.  They now constitute 25% of the world’s population and growing much more rapidly than any other sectarian or non-religious group.  Within as few as fifteen years several currently “Christian” countries will have Muslim majorities. France, the Netherlands and Britain are our canaries in the coal mine.  They will likely experience Muslim majorities within the next 15 to 20 years.  With the growing popularity of Sharia law, the tyranny of the majority is not far off.

The findings of a recent Pew research study are ominous for the West:

New Muslim Demographics Data Calls for Hard Decisions on Immigration

Watch the video…

Many European nations must address the issue of immigration quickly if they want a chance of preserving their existing culture and freedoms.  In this country, we need to decide whether Islam is a religion or an all-encompassing fascist political movement worthy of prohibition before we can stem the tide here.

Proliferate and Regulate or Succumb.  These will be our choices in the coming decades.

Two excellent books on this topic include Mark Steyn’s “America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It” and Pat Buchanan’s “The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization”.

Paradigm Shift: More Than Obamanomics

A paradigm shift is what appears to be a sudden shift of values of what is right and true.  A “paradigm shift” is occurring in our nation’s economy, health care, religious values and national defense, all at the same time.  I will coin a new word for this:  Megadigm shift.

To provide some perspective, here are several examples of “paradigm shifts” that have occurred in the social sciences:

• The movement, known as the Cognitive revolution, away from Behaviourist approaches to psychological study and the acceptance of cognition as central to studying human behaviour.

• The Keynesian Revolution is typically viewed as a major shift in macroeconomics.^[2] According to John Kenneth Galbraith, Say's Law dominated economic thought prior to Keynes for over a century, and the shift to Keynesianism was difficult. Economists who contradicted the law, which inferred that underemployment and underinvestment (coupled with oversaving) were virtually impossible, risked losing their careers.^[3] In his magnum opus, Keynes cited one of his predecessors, J. A. Hobson,^[4] who was repeatedly denied positions at universities for his heretical theory.

• Later, the movement for monetarism over Keynesianism marked a second divisive shift. Monetarists held that fiscal policy was unimportant for economic stabilization, in contrast to the Keynesian view that both fiscal and monetary policy were important.^[5]

• Fritjof Capra describes a paradigm shift presently happening in science from physics to the life sciences. This shift in perceptive accompanies a shift in values and is characterized by ecological literacy.^[6]

  ^{(Source: Wikipedia)}

Barack Obama is either blamed for or credited with our current megadigm shift.  But in reality, he is merely the spokesman and facilitator for it.  This shift has been brewing for several decades. I’ve known of Obama’s radical, socialist, communist, racist and terrorist connections since he first began his presidential campaign – he wrote about them in his second book that my daughter gave me two and a half years ago for Christmas.

Most of the people who elected Obama knew of his radical associations – they were not kept secret. A man with this kind of background would not have been elected if this “megadigm shift” had not been brewing within the American psyche for some period of time.  Our current president didn’t come to power via a coup.  He was elected by American voters.  While there was considerable deception via his public rhetoric, most of his value system was already on the table.

The American voter was part of the megadigm shift now unfolding on the national stage:

• Shift from capitalism to socialism and beyond
• Shift from private sector to public sector services and ownership of major corporations
• Shift toward quadrupling the national debt in less than a year
• Shift from being a “Christian nation” to being a “Muslim” nation (in the president’s view) or at best, not a Judeo/Christian nation.
• Shift from discernment in morals and sense of right and wrong to a belief that those are outmoded concepts that are “judgmental, bigoted, and intolerant.”
• Shift from winning wars as a logical and essential objective, to winning becoming a poor, archaic objective because we no longer have the stomach, the sense of purpose enough to sacrifice to win.

These and other components of our megadigm shift are the ultimate consequence of a democracy that lost its self discipline – a consequence of losing faith in our own value system and believing every else’s values are just as good or better.  The people of this nation have lost their sense of history and purpose to the point of accepting the “un-American” principles we fought against for the past six decades.  We are at the point where what appears to be the easy road – the government doing for us what we should do for ourselves – is the most appealing.  And Hussein Obama, with his hoard of czars and community activists will help lead us down that path.  He is leading us toward losing our liberties.

God help us…if half our population can recognize Him.

The Good About Islam

Yes, Virginia, there is good in just about anything if you look hard enough. Just as the really positive person might find some good in the Swine Flu pandemic, there is good in the Islamic movement. (I've stopped labeling it a "religion". I'm still not sure how much of a "religion" it is because of the overt political methods and violent militarism of its most prominent adherents.) But I digress.

Several of the beliefs and practices of Islam are positives for human survival. (And yes, many of their other beliefs and practices work against human survival, but I digress again.)

These "positives" are:

Islam's moral code and their seriousness about it. Compared to Christians, most Muslims appear to be much more serious about and committed to their moral precepts. While the concept of morality may be dead or dying in the West, it is alive and well among fundamentalist Muslim, but also perverted in the manner they enforce it. While they often take enforcement too far (from a Christian and western cultural perspective), fundamentalist Muslims are no more extreme than the opposite amoral and moral relativist attitudes and behaviours of the growing preponderance of social liberals in the west, including many so-called "Christians." The Islamic moral code and amoral/immoral western behavior is the ying and yang of human existence. I understand that this moral contrast is a significant and effective recruiting/conversion tool of Islam.

Islam's commitment to their religious practices. It is a good, honest, non-hypocritcal thing to be true to what you say you believe. We have to admit that activist Muslims have become aggressive in promoting their beliefs and practices within western society. They are very dedicated to their prayer rituals. They are quite vocal, even characterized as "pushy" when it comes to imposing their customs onto the larger society, e.g. prayer rooms, no alcohol in taxis, wearing of traditional Islamic garb and other Islamic distinctives.

Islam's reproduction rate. The birth rate in Muslim-dominated countries, and in the Muslim demographic generally is several times higher than in non-Muslim countries and demographics. While the non-Muslim populations are stagnant or shrinking, Muslim populations are mushrooming. "Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth" is a universal mandate from the antiquities of most of the worlds' major religions. Not many nations populations take this mandate seriously. Muslims do, whether out of religious conviction or some other social cause.

Christianity, by contrast, appears to have lost its momentum. For the most part, its adherants seem to be indifferent, going through the motions, and not really fully engaged in or committed to the beliefs that their orgnizations proclaim. I understand there are exceptions. I speak of the apparent trend.

Islam is the new "growth industry."

All this makes me wonder why so many in our western society have been brandishing so much anti-Christian bias. At the same time, I wonder why there is so much tolerance toward a movement (Islam) whose actions have been so extreme and intolerant.

I'm wondering if there is some kind of sub-conscious sensing in the aggregate human psyche of weakness in the faith of Christians with a subsequent "piling on", much like the problem of bullying in the school yard where the confident bully goes after the recluse meek. Christians have lost their edge, their fire, their commitment to what they believe. They are being bullied and are on the run.

I am looking forward to seeing whatever might change this scenario.

The Challenge of Islam in America…

These comments are in response to those who wonder why some of us seem to be so concerned about the Muslim religion, including its’ practice in the United States. Let me explain my concern in a reasoned way – an argument other than “I’m not paranoid – they really are out to get us!!!!”

First, see if you agree with any of my opinions:

• Most Americans consider the great majority of Muslims to be moderate, benign, freedom-supporting people.

• The great majority of Americans don’t understand the basic doctrines of the Islamic faith nor the alignment of their “moral compass” as contrasted with that of practicing Christians.

• The great majority of Americans consider Islam through Christian-colored glasses, that is, from the religio-moral perspective of Christianity

• The great majority of Americans believe that most Muslims in the US are Americans first (believers in the values of freedom of expression, choice, etc.) and Muslims second.

• Most Americans greatly underestimate the Muslim threat in this nation.

Many Americans probably do not agree with the last bullet. So, I will especially focus on that issue: Why we are underestimating the Muslim threat in this nation.

Here is why I hold these opinions - based on the reality many do not yet understand.

Muslim growth and numbers:

Nothing is wrong with the growth of a benign group which has no intention of imposing its moral will and their form of government on me and my country.. I have no concern about the growth in numbers of Hindu’s, Buddhists, Shinto’s, Jews, or Baptists. It is the growth of an organization whose primary beliefs include coercion as the ultimate means of essential conversion and a highly repressive legal/moral code that is enforced by means that our culture believes is barbaric that is a problem. This spells trouble, especially for our culturally liberal friends (who are defenders of the Islamic faith) who hold the ability to do anything they please, no matter how morally outrageous or irresponsible, as their highest value. What an irony this will prove to be in the coming years! I almost wish I could be around to watch.

Back to the numbers. There are currently about 1.3 billion Muslim in the world and 3.9 million in the United States. The numbers of Christians is in decline in the world and in the United States. The rate of increase in the numbers of Muslims is increasing in both the world and in the United States.

Based on the rate of growth of Islam and the rate of decline of Christianity, in 2025 (18 years from now) Islam will be the majority religion in the world, with 30% (over 2.3 billion) versus 25% Christian. The number of Muslims in the United States will almost double, to over 7 million.

What difference do these numbers make? Let’s assume for a moment that the great majority of the 2.3 billion are “moderate” Muslim. Let’s say 90% are peaceloving and don’t really want to blow people up as an acceptable means of imposing their Sharia law and placating Allah. That leaves only 10% who tend toward the more literal version of Jihad…but how many constitute “only 10%.” Let’s see, that would be only 230,000,000 people that want to blow themselves up in our malls, restaurants, subways, and aircraft for their reward in heaven.

Muslim doctrine:

The point is, even 3, 4, or 5% who believe in and practice violent Jihad is a lot of folks creating a lot of trouble. But that is not my major concern. What exactly is a “moderate Muslim” and what does he believe?

Christianity went through a “reformation”, a return to traditional teachings of the faith, back in the 1500’s. These rebels against the Catholic church attempted to expunge the sectarian abuses and influences that crept into the Catholic church up till that time. They returned to the teachings of Christ, which centered on love, forgiveness, mercy, worship. The Catholic church itself instituted many reforms to correct the acknowledged abuses. In any event, neither coercion nor forced conversion were ever a teaching of Christ or of the early Church.

Many considered Islam a benign religion up until the last two or three decades. (Unfortunately, many still do.) A number of Muslim leaders themsleves have acknowledged that they have been a religion in decline in need of resurgence. Islam is felt to have strayed from its' roots, its' basic doctrinal teachings. That is why they have been benign until recently – they have not been practicing what their founder, Muhammad, has preached.

Islam is in a period of reformation – a return to their roots. Although unlike Christianity, their roots are not love, forgiveness, mercy, the sweet Christ-like attitudes that we take for granted. They are the attitudes of Muhammad. Let’s just say that they are the opposite of Christ. While during the early part of his life Muhammad practiced a degree of tolerance, during the latter part he practiced anything but. He taught war, he taught retribution, he taught conquest. He developed Sharia law (this is a whole topic unto itself). Let’s just say it involves the removal of various body parts for various infractions of the law. And oh yes, it does not involve freedom of expression, or religion, or women’s rights – take note, cultural liberals!

Those who point to portions of the Koran that sound peaceful and Kum Bay Yah-like…those are mostly in the early sections, the equivalent to the sequence of our Old Testament relative to the New Testament. The violent teachings occur in the latter portions of the Koran. And just as in Christianity where the later teachings of Christ supercede the teachings in the Old Testament (turn the other cheek, not eye for an eye), the Koran sequence is just the reverse. It started with turn the other cheek and later became “cut off the other cheek”. These later sections of the Koran supercede the earlier sections in this current Islamic “reformation.

So, who is a moderate Muslim? Who are the 90+% who are not involved in violent Jihad? What do they really believe? Are they the equivalent to the liberal Christians who doubt the literal messages and real significance of the New Testament? Are they in fact liberal Muslim who do not literally believe the teachings of Mohammad in his later life? Or are these “moderates” to some degree sympathetic to the recent Muslim reformation – the return to the glory days of the conquests of Muhammad? How many are sympathizers and in what ways are they lending support to the "reformed" core values of their faith?

Violent Jihad aside for the moment, there are several basic tenets of Islam. These deserve separate study apart from the space I want to allocate here for their understanding. But I will simply remind you what they are:

· The strictly narrow and subservient role of women
· Sharia law: Muslim law that takes precedence over all other forms of national government
· Dhimmitude: The second class and extra taxed condition of those who do not claim the Islamic faith.
· Taqiyya: The divine right to lie to advance the cause of Islam.. Examples of the use of this doctrine include Muslims deceptively pointing only to the early portions of the Koran to illustrate how peace-loving they are. A more outrageous example is the President of Iran claiming there was no holocaust and others claiming 9-11 was perpetrated by the United States or Israeli government to incite anti-Muslim outrage.
· Role of free choice in selecting a religion or no religion: None.

This latter tenet, the suppression of free choice, presents a real moral dilemma for this country. We cherish freedom and free choice as our highest value. Yet there is an organization out there (Islam) that wants to use our freedom of choice as a means to install their form of government and religious values that contends that free choice is evil.

Many of us question what business is it of ours to be concerned about a religion that does not share their values with most of us. How narrow minded and bigoted it is to be concerned about another religion in this manner.

Let’s pretend, for a moment, that Islam is not a religion, but is a political party. Let’s say that political party desires to overthrow our government by violent means and install an oppressive government that the political organization promotes? What would our attitude be toward that political party? Should such political group be outlawed?

This is exactly what is being taught in many of the Islamic schools within this nation, and certainly in most Muslim nations. Except for the fact of it being a “religion”, the resurgent “Islam” is another organization that desires to impose an oppressive form of government and faith on the people of the world and of this nation.

We are grossly and dangerously under prepared for the next jihadist event in this nation. Our national ignorance of the basics of the reformed Islamic faith are a big part of our problem. Blind tolerance and political correctness is another.

There are more Islamic jihadi sympathizers and helpers willing to assist in the next attack and the establishment of Sharia law in this nation than the public and possibly the federal government imagines.

For every example that can be shown of an American Muslim condemning terrorism or Jihadi terrorist acts by fellow Muslims, there are ten examples where they defend such actions, make excuses for such actions, or express outrage and offense that we are singling out Muslims for their terrorist acts. Nine out of ten times, Muslims express more concern over protecting their rights and privacy than they do over Islamic violence, murder, and terror.

I want to elaborate on this last point through the words of Brigitte Gabriel. She says it much better than I because she has lived through the Muslim torment.

Brigitte Gabriel is a Lebanese Catholic who, as a child in Lebanon experienced the Islamic revolution in her former Christian country. In her book “Because They Hate”, she ponders the "moderate" Muslim American…

“It is certain that there are genuinely moderate Muslims, perhaps a substantial number, who do not seek to impose Islam on this country and the world through violent jihad. However, they are conspicuous by their silence regarding the more problematic doctrines of Islam. To the extent that Muslim “leaders” and lobbying organizations in the United States even address the issue, they offer nothing more than vague, tepid condemnations of terrorist violence and heated denials that the behavior of Islamic terrorists has any connection with Islam.

Where is the Muslim outrage in this country over the supposed few who hijacked their religion? Where is the Million Muslim March on the Mall in Washington, D.C., sending a message to all Muslims in the Arabic world condemning the killing of human beings in the name of Allah? Where is the cry to raise the consciousness of the rest of the Muslim world about their hijacked religion? If something of yours had been stolen, wouldn’t you scream to the world that someone had hijacked it?

Where are the voices of Western Muslims, particularly the American Muslim community, sending a clear message to the Arabic world that we are American, and when you attack one of us you attack all of us? We condemn and consider the enemy Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, al Gamaat al Islamiya, and the rest of the collection of barbaric Islamic thugs and murderers who have neither conscience nor humanity. Where is the outrage of the Muslim community? Why aren’t the imams of every mosque holding press conferences, and inviting the media to tell the American public, “We are Americans first. Any enemy of America is our enemy. We will work to find, stop, arrest, turn in, and condemn anyone in our community who aspires to radicalize our religion and harm our country”?

Why do we not hear this condemnation? Because their allegiance is to their Muslim religion, not to America. They may be “moderate” Muslims. But that moderation is only an abstention from violent Jihad. They still maintain their allegiance, and it does not include us.”


Sources for further information:

http://jihadwatch.org/
http://jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/
“Because They Hate” by Brigitte Gabriel (book)
http://www.danielpipes.org/
http://www.homelandsecurityus.com/