I wonder how many of you have heard of this. I hope you understand the implications and why it is not just coincidence that the suggestion to call God “Allah” comes from a Catholic Bishop from the Netherlands. Intimidation and murder have obviously done the job for the Islamic jihadists that were behind the stabbing death of film maker Theo van Gogh. Just as I have warned over and over again here at the Anvil that the Islamists have nothing but time on their hands to erode our will as long as Muslims live among us and prosper, this suggestion of further dhimmitude comes like a warning flare out of the darkness of ignorance.
Report from Kathleen Parker at the Kansas City Star:
It was bound to happen — and it seems fitting that a cleric named Tiny would think of it.
Roman Catholic Bishop Tiny Muskens of the Netherlands has decided that the way to ease Muslim-Everybody Else tensions is to start using “Allah” instead of “God.” Noting that God does not care what we call him, Muskens thought, why not yield a little to Muslim ways?
Or would that be submit, the literal meaning of “Islam”?
“‘Allah’ is a very beautiful word for God,” Muskens said on Dutch television. “Shouldn’t we all say that from now on we will name God ‘Allah’?”
Muskens pointed out that in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country where he spent eight years, priests use the word “Allah” in Catholic Mass.
For the sake of peace, prosperity and clarity in the shire, let the record reflect that Muslims did not ask for this, though some in the Netherlands embraced the idea as a conciliatory gesture, and in the United States, some Muslims greeted the suggestion with enthusiasm.
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told Fox News.com that calling God “Allah” wouldn’t require a theological leap for Christians. “It reinforces the fact that Muslims, Christians and Jews all worship the same God,” Hooper said.
Besides, as Muskens pointed out, “Allah” is a lovely sounding word. Thus, in the spirit of Christian charity and Western tolerance, I’ve been trying it out with mixed results.
The Doxology of my Protestant childhood is problematic with the two-syllable Allah instead of the monosyllabic God, but not impossible: Praise Allah, from whom all blessings flow. Praise him, all creatures here below. Not perfect, but workable.
America’s familiar childhood blessing is downright euphonious: Allah is great, Allah is good, let us thank him for our food. But the Apostle’s Creed is a mess: I believe in Allah the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ his only son … . Oops.
Contrary to Hooper’s one-God claim, Christians and Muslims don’t really worship the same God. Although both religions are monotheistic — and if there’s just one God, there’s just one God — Christians believe Jesus was the Son of God and Muslims think otherwise. That’s not a small doctrinal difference. In fact, at the risk of exhausting the obvious, Christianity doesn’t exist without, um, Christ.
Changing Western language, symbols and making other accommodations to ease relations between old Europe and new isn’t only a conciliatory gesture or even mere appeasement. It is submission by any other name.
Language may be a manmade limitation, as Janaan Hashim said, speaking for the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, which endorses Muskens’ idea. But language is not meaningless.
Muskens conceded that his idea likely wouldn’t catch on right away. We might need another 100 years or so, but he predicted that, eventually, “Allah” will be the word. Given that European Muslims are procreating at three times the rate of non-Muslims, it may be sooner than that. Peace be upon us.
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“It reinforces the fact that Muslims, Christians and Jews all worship the same God,” Hooper said.
Every time I hear this it makes me want to tear my hair out. Muslims would be horrified at the thought of worshipping Jesus Christ the way Christians do.
Mr. Hooper should (and probably does) know this. It’s just that most people are so incredibly ignorant that they hear this statement and just smile and nod in agreement.
***
I was thinking about something earlier. I was listening to a program on an entirely different topic, global warning. I was listening only casually, but they mentioned something about a book or DVD or something that they were going to put out, countering some of the claims made by the Al Gore crowd.
My first thought was, “Good. We need to do this sort of thing in so many areas these days - put forth FACTS to counter the non-stop brainwashing we get from every side, in everything from global warning to terrorism, and everything in between.”
But you know, I’m at the point in my life where I am weary of banging my head against a brick wall, especially when it comes to Islam. How many times have I (have we all) heard the spiel: ‘Islam and Christianity are equal in violence. All religions can lead to violence. Islam is a peaceful religion. People who link Islam with violence are bigots and racists.’ Or my personal favorite, ‘WHAT ABOUT THOSE CHRISTIAN EXTREMISTS?!’ The same stuff over and over and over again.
How many times have we all taken those statements and proved them wrong - with factual information? And yet the same people continue to say the same things. It’s happened to me numerous times. I feel like I am repeating myself. It’s hardest when it’s among friends whom you care about deeply. I have no desire to be nasty with these folks. They are friends.
But what do you do when they won’t really discuss the issue? Oh, they’ll discuss it, but only to repeat statements like those listed above. When I am specific and try to point out how each of these statements are not backed up by fact, there is either silence or the subject is changed. They won’t go to a link. They won’t read even parts of the Koran. They won’t compare the Koran with the Bible. They won’t listen to an interview with someone speaking on the subject. Etc.
I bend over backwards to provide information. I’ve given links to articles, to audio, to video. I have offered some of my own books to them - to borrow or to keep, for free, and at my cost of shipping! I offered my copy of ‘Islam: What the West Needs to Know’. (Someone finally took me up on it, but that’s someone who already knows what Islam is all about and also speaks out about it. She just hadn’t had a chance to view it yet. Hopefully she’ll have more luck in passing it along.)
I just feel like I am constantly repeating the same things, yet the conversation doesn’t move forward at all. Even if they looked at these things and still came away disagreeing, that would be SOMETHING. At least they attempted to give the subject a fair hearing.
But they just… don’t. And I cannot comprehend why or figure out how to get past this.
Here is some info from a Netherlands blog which you might find interesting. I post a part of the posting and refer you to Kayces’s Corner. The owner is insightful and knows an enemy when Islam comes knocking.
kayceskorner.blogspot.com/2006/12...oretold-sometimes-gods-holy.html
“Sometimes God’s Holy Spirit plays a word game in the Bible.
Have you read for instance Daniel 9:11? It says:
“All Israel has transgressed thy law and turned aside, refusing to obey thy voice. And the curse and oath which are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against Him.”
The Hebrew word for the curse used here in 9:11(!) is ‘Ha-alah’.
Well now, we have heard of Allah as a deity, but here we see him mentioned as a curse falling upon Israel (and, if I may add, on all of us who have turned our backs to God) for their sins.
Islam has infiltrated almost all countries of the world, facilitated in the West by politically correct politicians who refuse to open their eyes to the mess resulting from their weakness that they uphold as virtue. Countries completely in the grip of Islam rule us with their scepter of oil, which causes politicians to dance to their tune in order to secure a continuous supply of oil to feed our energy dependent societies.
Allah came into our societies by invitation, blind as we have been in our rebellion against God.” Cont’d at site