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Establishment of Religion

Reader comment on item: British Government Worries about Radical Islamic Teachings at Universities

Submitted by Stephen Berman (United States), Jun 16, 2006 at 10:19

I respectfully suggest that it is highly presumptuous for a non-Muslim to try to tell Muslims what Islam really teaches.

Moreover, it is certainly a novelty that the government of any country should be in the business of deciding what people are allowed to believe in terms of their religions. It is nearly 400 years since John Locke and others in England questioned the government's authority to do such things. The citizens of the U.K. have not delegated to their self-proclaimed elites any authority to tell them what to think. Charles the First learned this the hard way.

And indeed, religious beliefs back then had enormous political implications. Being a Catholic in Protestant England, during the height of the counter reformation, would seemingly be even more threatening, than being a Muslim in modern day England.

If Locke was wrong, and the government does have the authority to decide what people should be allowed to believe, then we will really have to rethink everything we have been doing for the last 400 years. We should have no objection at all to the establishment of a Sharia based government in the U.K., and anywhere else that can be subjugated. So, how will it be? If we will be free, then we cannot interfere with Islam and its adherents. If to do so would be suicidal, then perhaps we just cannot be free anymore, and we should admit that our experiment in democracy was a failure. Hurray for the Restoration! (May Hashem save us).

Submitting....

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Reader comments (14) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Reflections On British Education [113 words]Philip W. ChapmanFeb 5, 2007 20:3376167
Right Wing Christianity [427 words]StephenJun 24, 2006 12:1348114
HM Government is a paper tiger vis-a-vis Islamists [233 words]VijayJun 17, 2006 08:4947827
HM Government is a paper tiger vis-a-vis Islamists [108 words]VijayJun 18, 2006 11:4047827
Further proof our system is in danger [83 words]Stephen BermanJun 18, 2006 12:4447827
Islam and Terrorism [38 words]Frank WilliamsonJun 17, 2006 08:3947825
Bill Rammell Muslim Education in British Universities [124 words]malcolmdocherty@aol.comJun 16, 2006 19:3047801
British Government Worries about Radical Islamic Teachings at Universities [29 words]steven lJun 16, 2006 17:2547791
Reality [122 words]E. J. BlumbergJun 16, 2006 16:2347780
Establishment of Religion [251 words]Stephen BermanJun 16, 2006 10:1947764
Oh, but the teachings of Islam are perfectly clear [154 words]Alain Jean-MairetJun 17, 2006 03:0847764
What's the point of worrying ( from the song penned by McCartney ) They lost [123 words]nabil shawarmaJun 15, 2006 15:5347727
Well, the real problem is that that fringe actually is the very core [26 words]Alain Jean-MairetJun 15, 2006 14:1247723
Call spade a spade [94 words]JaladhiJun 19, 2006 10:1647723

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