‘Religion’ Category Archives

4
Jan

On the danger of Islamist terror

by Taliesyn in Freedom, Politics, Religion

Today, the Jerusalem Post published the best editorial I have ever read on the danger of Islamic fundamentalism and the so-called jihad being waged against western civilization.

Further, the JPost calls out western leaders who fear calling a spade a spade.  And the best part is right at the end:

Obama needs to tell Americans and Europeans willing to listen that, though the overwhelming majority of Muslims are not terrorists, pretty much all terrorists are Muslim, hence the need for profiling.

An overstretched army, supported by a weary home front, against an ill-defined enemy, does not offer a viable strategy for success. Better to tell people that the enemy is radical Islam, which wants to spread its religion using the sword, and that defeat would mean an end to Western values of pluralism, minority rights and democracy.

The war isn’t in Afghanistan, or Yemen. It’s everywhere. And until we the free peoples of the world realize that fact, we are losing.

9
Oct

Communism, Climate and Copenhagen

by Taliesyn in Climate change, Economics, Freedom, Politics, Religion, Science

The upcoming “negotiations” in Copenhagen will be the downfall of civilization if the so-called “Green” movement is successful and nations are foolish enough to sign on to the son of Kyoto treaty.  Kevin Libin writes at length in the National Post on the details of the draft Copenhagen Treaty that would take sovereignty out of the hands of nation states at place it in the hands of the UN bureaucracy.  It would demand massive transfers of wealth from rich nations to poor, in effect “climate reparations” to help the poor countries “reduce their emissions”.  It would also give poor nations the power to dictate terms of world trade, especially with rich nations who do not reduce their emissions to the levels prescribed by the UN…

One of my friends described many years ago that the whole Global Warming scenario was a plot by communists, derived as the Soviet Union collapsed and socialism was facing the doom it deserved and earned.  He believed that the communists looked at the free world and said “how do will kill them with their own actions” and that recognized that if they could convince the west that CO2 was destroying the world, they could cripple the capitalist economies.  I didn’t believe him then. I do now.

I think that the warmists can be divided into three groups:

  • True environmentalists, who earnestly believe that human activity is affecting the climate negatively and that action should be taken to limit the damage or even rectify the situation.  Arguing with these people can be effective if they are willing to recognize contrary scientific data.
  • Bandwagon hoppers, who are pulling the party line because they think it is the popular or “right” thing to do, or it will gain them political power in some way.  These people are not worth your time to fight.
  • Communists and socialists, who could care less whether the climate is changing or not.  They see this solely as a way to transfer wealth to the poor nations, to destroy western civilization and to create the “workers paradise” that Marx envisioned in the 19th century.  These ar the most dangerous of the “warmists”, and the ones the most effort should be focussed on unveiling and defeating.

Write to the Prime Minister of Canada and and your member of Parliament, explaining to them why they should simply skip Copenhagen and maintain Canada’s sovereignty.

3
Mar

Where do they get their numbers?

by Taliesyn in Climate change, Engineering, Politics, Religion

In Tuesday’s National Post, Juliet O’Neill of Canwest News Service quotes the climate change campaign manager of the WWF Canada, Keith Stewart:

The lack of reference to the oil sands was no accident, says Keith Stewart, manager of the climate change campaign at the World Wildlife Federation of Canada.

The federation estimates that while it may be technically feasible to capture 90% of carbon emitted by a new coal-fired generator, only an estimated 10% of greenhouse gases from oil sands can be caught.

“Carbon capture has the technical potential to dramatically reduce emissions from the electricity sector, although this hasn’t yet been proven at scale anywhere in the world,” Mr. Stewart said in an interview. But the amount that can be captured from the oil sands is so low, he said, that suggesting it’s the answer “can’t be seen as anything other than a public relations smokescreen.”

OK – I know more about the oil sands than your average Joe, and I can say that he’s wrong.   Far more than 10% of the emissions from oil sands can be captured, depending on what part you look at.

Read the rest of this entry »

22
Feb

Enlightenment vs. Multiculturalism

by Taliesyn in Politics, Religion

Pascal Bruckner posited an excellent paper (h/t SDA) late last month.

It is an excellent read that makes obvious the ridiculousness of multiculturalism…

12
Jan

Finally someone in Europe who understands

by Taliesyn in Politics, Religion

This is good news – now let’s hope the forces of “political correctness” don’t destroy this effort…BBC NEWS | Europe | Germany pushes Muslim integration

10
Jan

Islam and Freedom of Speech

by Taliesyn in Freedom, Religion

There is an interesting an fascinating comparison of the difference between Islamic countries and free ones this week.

This story shows one of the fundamental conflicts that exists between the West and the Islamic world. These journalists are on trial, and their publication banned, due to publishing jokes deemed insulting to Islam in an article entitled “Jokes: How Moroccans laugh at religion, sex and politics?”. If Muslims are unwilling to accept that making fun of their religion is acceptable, then freedom of speech and the press will never be acceptable to them. And in the West, the freedom we all enjoy, and often take for granted, is primarily due to freedom of expression.

What should happen in Morocco is that the King intervene to ensure freedom of the press, even if they choose to “insult” the state religion. If he wants his country and people to advance, freedom of expression is critical.

In Canada on the other hand, we have a television comedy, Little Mosque on the Prairie. When you first go to the website it declares “Muslims around the world are known for their sense of humour”. I watched Little Mosque and found it entertaining – and there were even jokes that made light of certain aspects of Islamic faith and practice.

Interesting that both events revolve around jokes told by Muslims (Little Mosque is the invention of a Muslim). But in one country the government wants to imprison the publishers, while in the other the government is the publisher…

3
Nov

Perhaps Arar knows something…

by Taliesyn in Canadian, Freedom, Religion

This article raises some questions about all the apologies to Maher Arar:

globeandmail.com: Documents tie Khadr to tortured pair

Abdullah Khadr, whose father was a ranking member of Al-Qaeda and friend of Osama bin Ladin, acquired radio equipment from Abdulla Almalki. Almalki went to Syria and was detained and supposedly tortured by the Syrian authorities. Almalki’s acquaintence Maher Arar was also investigated and subsequently detained by the United States and deported to Syria for questioning.

Abdullah Khadr apparently learned of Almalki’s shop from his father… which means that a ranking member of Al-Qaeda knew of this source of equipment. Is it possible that Al-Qaeda had shopped there before? If so, perhaps Almalki is supporting terrorism. And is Arar just a third party who knew none of this? I wonder….

31
Oct

America Alone

by Taliesyn in Freedom, Politics, Religion

I have just completed Mark Steyn’s tome, America Alone, the End of the World as We Know It. I recommend this book to EVERYONE, regardless of political persuasion.

Steyn lays our clearly that western civilization may be doomed by it’s own social-welfare state policies and the consequences of same.

The difference in birthrate between western nations and Islamic states is startling and the fact of the matter is Europe may be majority muslim during this century. Do you think liberal democracy in Europe has a chance of surviving a majority who follow imams show preach hatred of infidels? Steyn doesn’t think so and I must agree with him.

The other key aspect of Steyn’s arguments is that Western Civilization has lost the will to fight for what it’s values need to be in order to survive. Multiculturalism and tolerance will not protect free speech or freedom of religion. They cannot if a significant a growing part of the population despises everything that the West stands for. Allowing the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to protect an imam who preaches what can only be described as treasonous behaviour is ludicrous if we have any hope of survival in the next 100 years.

After reading Steyn, it also frustrates me that we are arguing over things like “climate change” when it may be irrelevant if the next century ushers in a new “dark ages”, and industrial civilization collapses in the face of a seventh-century ideology. We need the ideology of freedom to stand up for itself and fight this battle.

The big question is, what ideals are you willing to fight for, to send your sons into combat for? If there is nothing, then you must be willing to let the enemy win.

6
Oct

Utopian Dreams lead to Chaos

by Taliesyn in Freedom, Politics, Religion

Celestial Junk has an excellent commentary on where the Utopian Left would lead us in the relationship between Western Civilization and Islamic Fundamentalism.

26
Sep

On Ijtihad

by Taliesyn in Religion

I recently finished reading Irshad Manji’s The Trouble with Islam Today, and I definitely recommend this book to every person on earth. It can not only be a guide to Muslims seeking another way outside the “desert Islam” of al-Wahhab and Qutb, it can be a guide to anyone who needs a little refresher in the Enlightenment.

Individual exploration, expression and discovery (Itjihad in Arabic) made Western Civilization. They made the “golden age” of Islam in the early centuries after the Prophet. Failure to continue on this path will doom civilization and the Dark Ages will return.

I commend Ms. Manji for the fortitude it must have taken to publish this book, and in particular to translate it into Arabic for readers in countries that ban such thought provoking works.