The most devout Christian that I have ever known about is king Charles the III.

Submitted by Prashant (India), Sep 12, 2022 at 00:41

Dear Dr Pipes,

In the light of Charles becoming King Charles the III, I re-read the entire article about the possibility of his being a closet Muslim. I think Charles is just naïve about Islam and is not a convert. His pro-Islam statements will can possibly be explained by the following macro-phenomena:

1. Charles spent most of his political life in an era when the West was rediscovering Islam. After three hundred years of Colonialism, the Christian world was guilt-ridden and had forgotten its original relationship with Islam (the last crusade had ended in the 13th century). In the post-colonial world, as Islamic terrorism rose in the world, there was a tendency to "understand" Islam and apologize for Islam. Politician like to sound modern and liberal. Prince Charles was no exception.

2. In the decades of 50, 60 and 70, Britain went through a massive wave of Muslim immigration from Pakistan and elsewhere. It must have been 'fashionable' in those days in Britain to make these immigrants feel welcome. Charles might have made his pro-Islam statements to appear good to the Islamic immigrants to the UK.

3. With wealth flowing into them, the oil-rich Islamic theocracies wanted to appear rich and modern. It only makes sense that they would invite a western political personality to speak on their behalf. Unlike Mrs. Clinton and other western liberal politicians who are naïve about Islam but still could not completely offend their conservative voters, Charles had no such dilemma. He could make as many pro-Islam statements as he wished without offending any potential voters. Recall that supporting Muslims goes hand in hand with supporting the poor, the immigrants, the LGBTQs, the people of color, and even the women.

4. If a lonely prince of the UK wanted to find another rich prince, the ME was the only place to find him during the last fifty years. Kingdoms of Europe were declining and rest of the world was turning democratic. So, it is not a surprise that Charles found friends in the ME.

5. Muslims are different from everyone else. When it comes to converting to Islam, if someone gives Muslims a small mole-hill, and they will make a mountain-load of it and grab it. On the other hand, even when someone gives us a mountain-load, non-Muslims will make a mole-hill out of it. Muslims will always magnify and relish the idea that Prince Charles, Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson, etc. converted to Islam. On the other hand, non-Muslims will try to attempt to disown even the people who have formally converted out of Islam. For example, no one invited Barak Hussain Obama to give a speech entitled 'My journey from Islam to Christianity'!

Islamic world will always exaggerate any sympathies that Charles has for Islam. As Charles became King Charles the III, we should invite him to preside any and every church/Christian ceremony that he can be invited to. As the world understands the truth about Islam (that Islam is a formidable political force hiding in the shadow of a religion), King Charles will also learn it. The entire Indonesian archipelago converted from Hinduism to Islam in few short years, after their king converted. This method of conversion is one of the standard operating procedures of Islam. It is unlikely that any such thing can happen in the modern times in the UK, but why take a chance?

As far as I am concerned, the most devout Christian that I have known about is king Charles the III.

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