Was there a flaw in my argument? That’s what I wondered after submitting a piece to Front Page on the Islamization of Europe.
I argued that several large European cities were nearing a population tipping-point after which they would become majority Muslim. The implication of my article was that this was bad news for native Europeans. But I’m not sure that I explained exactly why.
Large population shifts are not uncommon in recent history, and although they are a cause for friction, they do not usually end in massacres and mass imprisonment. Over time in America, German neighborhoods turned into Irish neighborhoods, which eventually turned into Italian neighborhoods, and so on. And life went on.
One can argue that a population reversal in one or many large cities is not necessarily a disaster, and might even lead to cultural enrichment. For example, many large cities in the U.S. are majority black. The list includes Detroit, Birmingham, Memphis, Montgomery, Baltimore, Augusta, New Orleans, Newark, Mobile, Cleveland, Savannah and almost a dozen others. In addition, blacks are near a majority in two dozen other major cities. Yet, very few worry about a black takeover of America in the way that many now worry about a Muslim takeover of Europe. So, why worry that Birmingham, or Marseille, or Rotterdam may soon have Muslim majorities?
The difference, of course, is that despite whatever cultural and historical differences exist, blacks and whites in America share a common culture. Above all, they share the same Constitutional principles and the same religion. The success of the Civil Rights movement in America owed a great deal to the emphasis that the Reverend Martin Luther King put on these shared values.
The situation in Europe, however, is not comparable to the American situation. The two cultures—Islamic and Western—are not merely different. In many ways they are antithetical. Because of this religious and cultural incompatibility, many feel that an eventual clash of civilizations is inevitable. Unless, of course, Muslims learn to assimilate to Western values.
The problem is that many of the European elites subscribe to the multicultural theory that assimilation is a bad thing. It’s bad, they contend, because it forces minorities to give up too much of their cultural identity. Assimilation, it is argued, is simply, another form of Western cultural imperialism.
Many Muslims feel the same way. Their religion teaches them that Muslims are the best of people and that non-Muslims are decidedly inferior. If any assimilation is to be done, the Westerners will have to do it. This view is reinforced by the traditional Muslim belief that Islam is meant to rule over all other religions.
Unlike American blacks who were simply seeking equal rights with other Americans, radical Muslims in Europe are seeking something else—not equality but submission. According to this view, non-Muslim Europeans will either have to submit to Islam or they will be subjugated by Islam. Maybe not all at once, but bit by bit, and sooner or later.
That’s the pessimistic view. The optimistic view is that, given time, Muslims will assimilate into the larger culture and all will be well. Here, from Canadian scholar Hicham Tiflati, is an example of the optimistic outlook:
As for Muslims, many scholars believe that what we see today is only a passage to social cohesion and they too will, sooner or later, become part of the mainstream.
In fact, many of the fears expressed today regarding the integration of Muslims in the West are identical to the fears of a century ago about the integration of Catholics, who were seen as undemocratic and unpatriotic because of their perceived refusal to integrate and their allegiance to the Pope. But all that changed as Catholics paved the way to acceptance and full citizenship.
So, if Father O’Malley and Imam Osama are really brothers under the skin, there’s nothing to worry about. If the gulf that seems to separate their two faiths is merely a narrow trench, then let’s relax and celebrate diversity.
But, of course, the analogy limps. Protestants and Catholics in America had their differences, but they also shared much in common. Both shared a common allegiance to America, and both shared a common belief in the truth of Christianity.
By contrast, many Muslims in Europe feel little loyalty to their host nation and its culture. And the gulf that separates the Islamic faith from Christianity is far greater than the one that separates Protestants from Catholics.
Is there enough common ground between Muslims and Westerners to ensure that the majority of Muslims will eventually assimilate? It’s true that both share a common humanity. But what’s the common ground on social and cultural values? What’s the common ground on the equality of men and women? On child marriage? On waging jihad? On the belief that Islam is the supreme religion? On the equality of Jews and Muslim? On the execution of apostates? On the superiority of sharia law over civil law?
As evidenced by the full mosques and empty churches that dot the European landscape, Islam is on the rise and Christianity is in decline. Why should Muslims want to assimilate to a dying culture with a dying religion?
What seems more likely is what Michel Houellebecq describes in his novel, Submission—namely, a process of reverse assimilation whereby native Europeans convert or submit to Islam in growing numbers. That, after all, is the historical process by which Islam grew—through conquest, not assimilation.
That’s not the inevitable outcome in Europe. But only a revitalization of Christianity and Christian culture is likely to prevent it. But it will need to be a radical renewal. The kind of happy ending that Professor Tiflati envisions—the one where enemies suddenly discover that they are brothers—is a pipe dream.
Unfortunately, many Christians are placing their bets on that dream. Foremost among them is Pope Francis who, together with Grand Imam Ahmed el-Tayeb, has formed a real-life Father O’Malley-Imam Osama team. The two have been busy signing documents that claim that Islam and Christianity are essentially the same religion. The general idea is to dilute both religions to the point where they can blend together.
So far, Francis has kept his end of the bargain. He has watered-down Catholicism to the point where many Catholics now think that the essence of Christianity lies in patting transgender children on the head.
The fact that Francis believes el-Tayeb will keep his end of the bargain and do something to stop the slaughter of Christians in Africa, tells you a lot about the quality of our current crop of Western leaders. It also speaks volumes about their ignorance of history.
Multi Culturalism like Diversity sounds nice but isn’t like the song Lemon Tree LEMON TREE VERY PRETTY,AND THE LEMON FLOWER IS SWEET, BUT THE FRUIT OF THE POOR LEMON,IS IMPSOOIBLE TO EAT
TRANSGENDER CHILDREN!!!!!You mean poor kids who’ve been told that deciding whether you”re a boy or a girl is like deciding whether you want chocolate icecream or strawberry icecream, so they decide amd the school hides the transition from the parents, or the paremts risk losing the custody of the child if they say “No, sweetie, you’re a girl,” and the kid is put in line for mutilating surgery and hormone treatmemts, that are paid for by who, ny the way?
I loved that song, when I was a kid
I loved that song, when I was a kid.
“The difference, of course, is that despite whatever cultural and historical differences exist, blacks and whites in America share a common culture. Above all, they share the same Constitutional principles and the same religion. The success of the Civil Rights movement in America owed a great deal to the emphasis that the Reverend Martin Luther King put on these shared values.”
You obviously fail to see the unbelievable irony in your assertion. In point of fact, the Marxist-Leftist Democrats are attempting to turn America into exactly what you describe is happening all over Europe.
The problem is, modern black leadership pays little lip service to MLK, and almost completely rejects his thinking, often publicly. It’S gone from racial equality to “equity,” (racial supremacy).
If you’ve read his writings, most are about this topic. I believe WK has been warning us of what’s to come. We’re right behind Europe as have let progressives allow this population shift without thinking of the consequences we’ll all face. Our leaders did not bother to learn from history.. It’s about too late for Europe. We’re next…
TRANSGENDER CHILDREN!!!!!You mean poor kids who’ve been told that deciding whether you”re a boy or a girl is like deciding whether you want chocolate icecream or strawberry icecream, so they decide amd the school hides the transition from the parents, or the paremts risk losing the custody of the child if they say “No, sweetie, you’re a girl,” and the kid is put in line for mutilating surgery and hormone treatmemts, that are paid for by who, ny the way?
I loved that song, when I was a kid
I can’t help wondering what Americans would do if entire streets were taken over by Muslims at prayer as in the photo above. A caption for it could be “The Suicide of the West” described by James Burnham in his book of that title.
Black and White America used to share a common culture in the Constitution as the author states, but that common culture is under attack and being undermined by the Left with its “systemic/systematic racism” hoax
being used to destroy the country. Christians are next in line.
I loved that song, when I was a kid.
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are all three, enemies of REASON, and therefore enemies of the rational, scientific, technological, modern, and capitalist West. You can add Hinduism and Buddhism to that list of unreason, malarkey, and magical thinking.
The unreason, magical thinking, of Judaism prepared the ground for the unreason and magical thinking of Christianity and both belief-systems of unreason prepared the ground for Islam and Marxism. What Marx did was to strip Judeo-Christianity of its overt and explicit supernatural elements and replace them with secular window-dressing. Marxism keeps all the essential points of religion but hides them beneath a pile of pseudo-scientific, pseudo-secular, gibberish. Marxism is religion pretending to be secular science.
If totalitarian state is the desired goal then Marxism will have to unite once again with religion in order for the totalitarian state to last more than 75 or 100 years. The Christians were able to make their totalitarian theocracy last 1,000 years.
“I believe that the medievals understood much better than the moderns on what basis to build a totalitarian society that would last and not collapse in less than a century. They did it. The people in the rising religious movement today, know that full-well…. Socialism is really helping religion. The bigger the statism, the more people are accustomed to government rule over everything, the more people are ready… for religionists to take over the lead away from the more secular side…. The socialists are building the basis for totalitarianism but only the religionists are going to cash in on it and take over.” – Leonard Peikoff
“Is religion more dangerous in America than socialism or collectivism?” https://peikoff.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/2009-07-20.071_B.L.mp3
Oil and water will never mix.
My friends often say that Islamists will simply assimilate. if they are in contact with the West. They have been in contact for 1300 years and have not assimilated. Instead the conquer, subordinate and assimilate their colonies. So, why would they be any more assimilable now? Christians have been fighting among themselves for most of 2000 years. But they at least share the Bible and the Christian religion, which offers a possibility for reconciliation. The Koran and other Islamic texts are the opposite of the biblical teachings and are oriented to subordinating Christians and Jews to their own ideology. So the bridge is lacking Francis and other apologists can point out how Islam recognizes Christian figures in their theology, but Jesus, Mary and Joseph are treated more with subjects of Islam to be exploited and not as equals. So, at least a large amount of assimilation would have to occur, and that could require centuries. And instead of them assimilating to Christians, the opposite seems not unlikely.
23% 0f the Worlds humans are of the Caucasian Race, meanwhile the other 77% want to come into the countries populated by the 23% in order to tell the 23% just how racist they are while demanding the 23% house and feed them as somehow they cant seem to house and feed themselves in their own wonderful islamic Nations around the World.
Why is it ONLY the countries of the Western World, the 23%, that are being forced to be multicultural as I don’t see such actions happening in ANY country across Africa, nor India, nor Japan, nor China, nor any mega rich Middle Eastern Kingdom.
Why do we in the West have to take care of everybody else.
I have lived in countries around the World, live in one right now that is nowhere near my birth land, but I have never even thought of demanding the people of that culture to take care of me as I have came a long ways to get here.
islamism is the new nazism.
The difference between then and now is that immigrants flooding into America then came legally and intended to become Americans while keeping certain meaningful parts of their cultures, which they hold onto today. Today the illegal aliens flooding the nation intend to keep all their culture and harvest the benefits with none of the responsibilities. In terms of mortal enemies of a United States, the most dangerous is the National Democratic Party and its woke agents in media and academe, then the U.S. Congress, and following the Congress a growing Muslim population. After that, the nation’s foreign enemies beginning with China.