Yesterday I tweeted this . . . “If you read the escalating fighting in Israel with anything other than sympathy for Israel, then you need to turn the book right side up.” . . . and the responses I got indicated I needed to say something more. So here it is. A few qualifications first. …
An Indonesian Book Burning
There is currently a ruckus over in Indonesia over a book I wrote, 5 Cities That Ruled the World. The publisher there (Gramedia) has formally apologized for their role in it, and has burned their copies of the book. The first thing about this that I should note is that people on the other side …
Just Me Being Silly
Yesterday the House approved the National Defense Authorization Act, and the Senate is likely to do the same today. There is a possibility that the president will sign it, but he might veto it, and things have come to a pretty pass when I am hoping that Obama will protect us from the Republicans. What …
Al-Awlaki and the Smell of Boiling Cabbage
A few days ago, a predator drone took out Anwar Al-Awlaki, an all-round bad guy, and American citizen. The ACLU (and Ron Paul and Gary Johnson) complained about it, saying that this was a violation of due process. Those who maintain we are in a state of war against terrorists are exasperated by the claim, …
In Burkas in No Time
We are now seeing another round of international silliness, in which we can clearly see (if we are looking straight at it) just how social justification works. A Florida pastor with a whopping two dozen parishioners recently burned a Koran, which set off a round of riots in Afghanistan. These riots ended with with some …
Nice and Nasty Sharia Bits
The real problem with Rowan Williams’ acquiesence to Sharia-creep in the UK is not so much the fact that he did so. He is the archbishop — that kind of thing is his job. Theodore Dalrymple points to the “opacity of the language that he habitually employs” and correctly identifies the problem with it. “There …
Incoherence at the Top
Nancy and I are visiting the kids in Oxford, and a friend of ours rang up (see?) to say that the Archbishop of C was going to be on the radio talking about the need to accommodate Sharia law. I couldn’t find the interview on the radio, but there is a link to the story …
Polygamy Preferred
[Concerning Surah 4:3] “Muhammad recommends monogamy for those males who may have some kind of personality problem that prevents them from treating more than one wife ‘with equity.’ Muhammad’s policy seems to be polygamy for the strong, monogamy for the weak” (Peter Hammond, Slavery, Terrorism & Islam, p. 83).
Right From the Start
“The Hadith records the names of at least 27 individuals who were murdered on Muhammad’s orders” (Peter Hammond, Slavery, Terrorism & Islam, p. 64).
Mary and Miriam
“Surah 19:29 . . . claims that Mary, the Mother of Jesus, was a sister of Aaron. Because Surah 66:12 describes Mary as the daughter of Imram (the Amram of Exodus 6:20), it would seem that Muhammad was again confused about the facts. He had evidently mistaken Mary (the mother of Jesus) for Miriam (Moses’ …