I think the comparison to people emigrating from Norway to the US is appropriate. Many of the Muslims in Europe are better categorized as "settlers" rather than "immigrants". And just as the Norweigan settlers to the US didn't embrace the culture of the native Americans, neither are the Muslim settlers going to embrace the native European culture in the long run.
The BBC's pro-Islam, anti-Christian bias has been obvious for quite a while. On the one hand, I suppose it's good that the BBC director is willing to discuss it honestly, but on the other hand, it's quite disturbing to think that he doesn't even feel the need to deny it, and instead freely admits that, rather than reporting the truth objectively, one of the foremost news agencies in the world helps to distort the truth by minimizing the degree of extremism emanating from Islam, and exaggerating the extremism of Christianity.
Right, no civilization is better than any other. It's just a big, big coincidence that millions and millions of Muslims want to get out of Islamic civilization and move to Europe, and virtually no Europeans want to go live in the Islamic world.
Islam already instructs Muslims as to how they should relate to Christians and Jews. Christians and Jews are to be dhimmis, and accept Muslim "protection", enjoy certain rights, and second-class citizenship. Nowhere in the Quran or in the history of Islamic jurisprudence have Muslims ever accepted the idea that Christians and Jews should enjoy social and legal equality with Muslims. When Christians and Jews enter into these organizations, do they really imagine that the Muslims are going to disregard Islamic teaching on this subject that SPECIFICALLY tell them that Christians and Jews should be relegated to a lower legal and social status? I'm sure many Muslims want to have amicable relations with Christians and Jews while Muslims are still a minority, but it's crazy to imagine that they're just going to forget about Islamic teachings in the long run.
Yes, regarding the author's point about churches in Saudi Arabia, I agree that we shouldn't be looking to the most repressive countries as a model for our notions of religious freedom. However, I think this author misses a huge point. The fact that churches and synagogues are so restricted in the Muslim world is pretty clear evidence that Western concepts of religious freedom are generally not embraced by countries with Muslim majorities---and when Muslims in the West ask for special allowances for Islam, it is usually NOT coming from some notion of religious liberty and tolerance that they share with the West--rather, it's coming from a desire on their part to make Islam dominant.
“Europe and the US are often anxious over what they view as political expression of the Islamic faith, when in fact there are differences among Muslims about the nature and appropriateness of that expression."
Yes, as with any large-scale ideology, whether Islam, Christianity, Buddhism,Communism or fascism, there are differences within that ideology, and they're not monolithic. However, what the author seems to be implying is that there are major, orthodox schools of Islam which are compatible and jibe with modern Western liberal values, and accept the idea of separation of mosque and state---I don't see the historical evidence of this. Many different versions of fascism arose, and there were many disagreements among fascists---but that doesn't mean that any of those versions of fascism comported with the values of a liberal democracy.
I don't have the answer to that. But to paraphrase something Fjordman said: "I don't know if there are solutions, but there will be outcomes."
Yes, Islam is not a race--it's a worldview and a set of values. When a society gives up the right to criticize, debate, and yes--even hate--worldviews and sets of values, then they're in deep trouble.
Excellent summary, DP111---very accurate, IMO.
I think it's a huge, huge mistake for Europe to look at the issues of race relations in the United States as a model for Europe. The history of slavery and racial discrimination faced by blacks in the US is drastically different than the history of Muslims in Europe. Also, when you look at a the civil rights movement in the US, it was largely centered around the black Christian churches, and the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr preached non-violence and integration. Blacks in the US didn't want special religious allowances, they didn't want separate facilities, they didn't want a whole different legal system---they just wanted to be fairly treated and accepted within the American system.
This is very different than the problems with the Muslim populations in Europe today, and it's silly to try to approach things in the same way.
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Thingamajig