Ch-ch-ch-changes come again to England
Bookworm on May 28 2008 at 2:35 pm | Filed under: Britain, Christians, England, Islam, Jews, Religion
It’s been a long time since I’ve read anything this sad. It comes from the Church of England’s own newspaper:
If recent reports of trends in religious observance prove to be correct, then in some 30 years the mosque will be able to claim that, religiously speaking, the UK is an Islamic nation, and therefore needs a share in any religious establishment to reflect this. The progress of conservative Islam in the UK has been amazing, and it has come at a time of prolonged decline in church attendance that seems likely to continue.
This progress has been enthusiastically assisted by this government in particular with its hard-line multi-cultural dogma and willingness to concede to virtually every demand made by Muslims. Perhaps most importantly the government has chosen to allow hard-liners to act as representing all Muslims, and more liberal Muslims have almost completely failed to produce any leadership voices to compete, leading many Britons to wonder if there are indeed many liberal Muslims at all, surely a mistake.
At all levels of national life Islam has gained state funding, protection from any criticism, and the insertion of advisors and experts in government departs national and local. A Muslim Home Office adviser, for example, was responsible for Baroness Scotland’s aborting of the legislation against honour killings, arguing that informal methods would be better. In the police we hear of girls under police protection having the addresses of their safe houses disclosed to their parents by Muslim officers who think they are doing their religious duty.
While men-only gentlemen’s clubs are now being dubbed unlawful, we hear of municipal swimming baths encouraging ‘Muslim women only’ sessions and in Dewsbury Hospitals staff waste time by turning beds to face Mecca five times a day — a Monty Pythonesque scenario of lunacy, but astonishingly true. Prisons are replete with imams who are keen to inculcate conservative Islam in any inmates who are deemed to be culturally ‘Muslim’: the Prison service in effect treats such prisoners as a cultural block to be preached to by imams at will. Would the Prison service send all those with ‘C of E’ on their papers to confirmation classes with the chaplain?! We could go on.
The point is that Islam is being institutionalised, incarnated, into national structures amazingly fast, at the same time as demography is showing very high birthrates. Charles Taylor’s new and classic work on the Secular Age charts the rise of the secular mindset and what he calls the ‘excarnation’ of Christianity as it is levered out of state policy and structures. Christianity is now regarded as bad news, the liberal elite’s attack developed in the 1960s took root in the educationalist empire, and to some extent even in areas of the church.
Today the Christian story is fading from public imagination, while Islam grows apace. There needs to be some fresh thinking in this area where the claims of Christ are sensitively explained. Our church leaders must develop ways of explaining this, as our feature on mission and evangelism this week demonstrates.
Thirty years is a long time and things can still turn around – but the combination in England of inertia and hostility to the old establishment are so strong that it’s unlikely that any one will have the energy to make the change.
England once was pagan (Celtic and Roman), then Christian (early Christians), then pagan again (those Vikings and Danes pushing against the nascent Christian movement), and then well-and-truly Christian, a status that lasted more than a thousand years.
England’s Christianity was extremely significant to the entire Western world. Its empire — and its Christian values — touched everything. Indeed, its Christian values are the genesis of the United States of America, both because of the influx of disaffected British Christians who came here (bringing their dissident, but still very British beliefs) and because of the way the Founders interpreted their British-inspired religious beliefs.
Now, it looks as if England will be newly incarnated as a Muslim nation. I fear that this new religious identity will also shape our Western World.
One last thought on the subject: I suggest that Britain’s Jews get the Hell out of Dodge while they can still do it on their own terms. Otherwise, they may find themselves either quite dead, or forced out with the clothes on their back, as already happened to 20th Century Jews who were unlucky enough to live in Muslim-dominated countries after the fall of the British Empire.
Hat tip: LGF
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21 Responses to “Ch-ch-ch-changes come again to England”
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Yes, Bookworm, it is sad. However, the article fails to assign equal and proper blame to the Church of England itself, which allowed itself to be populated with mush-headed functionaries more interested in feathering their own nests rather than promoting issues of religious faith. People walked away because the Church of England allowed itself to become irrelevant.
The current Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed by Tony Blair (a good friend to the U.S., a disaster for the U.K.) is a Exhibit #1.
As far as British Jews getting outa Dodge…I am with you on this one. Methinks something very wicked this way comes.
I recommend both of the blogs below. The first is primarily political, and focuses specifically on the encroachment of islam(hence the name of the blog), but has definite opinions on the political maneuvering of the EU. The second is obviously a religious site, the focus of which is to provide links to articles concerning religion from around the world that are of interest. I’ve never determined the source of the website, but I believe it’s located in England. Most of their articles are sourced from either GB and/or Europe. Many at this time have to do with the influence of islam, for obvious reasons.
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/
http://www.realclearreligion.com/
I’ve been a fan of Gates of Vienna, but I would suggest a bit of caution reading it, since Charles Johnson, whose opinion I respect, thinks it’s also a front group for the traditionally racist European far right. So, read it by all means, but understand where its authors might stand ideologically.
The guest writer for Gates of Vienna, El Engles, both has an axe to grind against people (like Shrinkwrapped) and will spout off nonsense if you give him the time of day.
It has been so polarized in Europe that people who recognize Islam as a threat is now set against those that aren’t. However, that doesn’t mean everybody that recognizes Islam or Jihadists as a threat is somebody you want to invite to your house for a cup of tea or to trust them to make life and death decisions impacting upon your family.
Political ideology does not, in fact, make a person good or evil.
PS. Gates of Vienna and thus Dymphna and company do not get brownie points from me for welcoming and praising El Engles simply because El Engles wrote a piece about needing to export, police state garrison, and eliminate the threat of Islam domestically in Britain.
Bad judge of character based upon solely political viewpoints does not lead to better judgment of character latter on, all things being equal.
El Engles, because I can’t speak for Dymphna’s writings on this subject, would rather belittle American problems in Iraq than to learn from Petraeus and his Surge there in order to counter Islamic JIhadism in Britain. This speaks of arrogance as well as foolishness. Character traits which are not things that are all that useful when fighting against foolish and arrogant Jihadists.
Exclude the “company” after Dymphna, since I didn’t read any comments about El Engle except from Dymphna. So it cannot be justly attributed in any other way to the other authors of Vienna.
The progress of conservative Islam in the UK has been amazing, and it has come at a time of prolonged decline in church attendance that seems likely to continue.
That’s what happens when you take hard work and traditions and destroy them and say “look at us, we are bad and descended from evil”. Don’t be surprised when somebody comes in and clears the “evil descendents” away with a more certain, righteous, and non-suicidal system of belief. Although in the case of Islam, it remains to be seen whether Islam will self-destruct first compared to Code Pink and Company.
Christianity is now regarded as bad news, the liberal elite’s attack developed in the 1960s took root in the educationalist empire, and to some extent even in areas of the church.
War is about teamwork and it is always easier to conduct teamwork when you have teams working the inside to prepare for outside invasions and attacks. The employee that knows security protocols, codes, persons, and daily schedules is often more valuable than an entire platoon of soldiers.
Today the Christian story is fading from public imagination, while Islam grows apace. There needs to be some fresh thinking in this area where the claims of Christ are sensitively explained. Our church leaders must develop ways of explaining this, as our feature on mission and evangelism this week demonstrates.
This is very simple, Book, and you will perhaps like this analogy given how young your children are.
When the teeth enamel is worn away by plague, holes develop and without the enamel, starts to deepen inside the tooth until it reaches a nerver cluster and then infections+pain+swelling develops.
This is because when you carve out a hole, things start filling it. When you carve out the soul of your civilization and society, something will come in and fill it.
The Left’s philosophy with Western traditions and foundations is that there are problems with the enamel protecting the West, so that means we must drill and make the hole larger in order to replace the tooth, meaning the foundation, with something better. That might be doable if the Left was competent and sane, Book, but you know they aren’t.
A dentist may drill in the tooth to extract it by disintegrating it, but imagine if the dentist was both insane and incompetent.
A Leftist of the European and Britain variety, also doesn’t take care of themselves with any real vigilance. Why do you need to brush your teeth every day and use mouthwash when the government will cover both the anesthesia and the dental work if your teeth go bad?
If you don’t like the state of your teeth, have it taken all out and replaced with something else. That “something else”, of course, is Islam.
The current Archbishop of Canterbury, appointed by Tony Blair (a good friend to the U.S., a disaster for the U.K.) is a Exhibit #1.
Once religious leaders are appointed by the secular political leaders, then the religion just becomes another branch of government. Thus as Tony Blair’s government was feckless yet appeared to be sweet talking and good, the same applies to these “archbishops”.
Tony Blair was also a disaster for the United States, Danny. It was Blair that convinced Bush to go to the UN, because Blair needed UN approval to carry his nation. Bush told Blair that he could leave if he wanted to, but Blair decided not to. Which led to Bush focusing on the UN, which meant focusing in on WMDs, which meant dead Americans and negative propaganda against the US later on.
http://purpleslog.wordpress.com/2007/03/25/an-act-of-war-by-iran-against-the-uk/#comment-42501
http://shrinkwrapped.blogs.com/blog/2008/05/this-is-how-the.html
England is a nuclear power. We worry about Iran and Syria, but if , God forbid, England could eventually transform into a British Islamist state- aaaagggghhhh!!!!then we should all be very very very worried, and it wouldn’t just be England’s problem. God forbid England could become a heavily armed, wealthy Gaza, Syria, Iran.
The world can change very very quickly in surprising and unexpected ways. What Jew in Europe in 1937 could have expected a complete annhiliation of Jews from Europe in just a few years? What Tibetan could have anticipated Tibet becoming China? What Aztec could have anticipated that all their descendants would be Spanish speaking, practicing Catholicism, and having names like Maria Teresa and Jesus, just like their conquerors? Who would have predicted that in 2008 the most popular name for baby boys in the Netherlands would be Mohammed? Who on earth would have ever dreamed, after defeating Hitler, that England would be committing suicide internally?
thinks it’s also a front group for the traditionally racist European far right. So, read it by all means, but understand where its authors might stand ideologically.
El Ingles sounds more statist than conservative or American Republican, Book.
The primary deal breaker isn’t even about racism or Nazism, assuming it exists over there, it is about idiotic secret police actions that won’t work given the state of Britain today.
They would have far better luck with a counter-insurgency or even insurgency strategy as practiced and proven by Petraeus.
Who on earth would have ever dreamed, after defeating Hitler, that England would be committing suicide internally?
Id’s say Churchill had a pretty good idea given that he was sacked right after Churchill defeated Hitler, and replaced with a Labor and Socialist leader that promised the “fruits of warfare in peace time”. Meaning, socialism and welfare.
Talking about England, how do you like this (from LGF):
http://ibloga.blogspot.com/2008/05/universities-and-colleges-union-britain.html
And here is Melanie Philips’ Article:
http://www.spectator.co.uk/melaniephillips/736686/the-universities-witchhunt-against-the-jews.thtml
Churchill must be rolling in his grave. Britain definitely came very far away from her “finest hour”.
Eric.
I must absolutely agree with Book and others above who posted a warning to the British Jews.
Caps On: GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE!
It is hard to see how Britain could morph into something where Jews would be trapped inside of Britain. But I can see it becoming very difficult to get your assets out. They will be more than glad to let “the swine” go, so long as everything must be left behind.
And in the meantime, the Jews will find themselves, in the coming-slowly-to-a-boil scenario, under greater and greater threat. How long before every British Jew knows another that was a victim of violence?
Start making your plans now.
When the entire apparatus of British official culture is absolutely hostile to anything Christian, and yet can be involved in turning hospital beds towards Mecca five times daily… you can see where this is headed. Hatred of one’s own cultural identity combined with blind enthusiasm for a foreign cultural identity… and when that foreign cultural identity has its official attaches to the government all of the hard-line jihadist bent, and are severely devoted to ranting hatred seeking the immolation of all Jews, you need to be clear about what’s coming.
1lulu…”The world can change very very quickly in surprising and unexpected ways”…it sure can. According to a book I was recently reading, **Germany** in the late 1920s was viewed as a place of refuge for Jews fleeing anti-Semitism in Russia and Eastern Europe.
Every place in the world is a refuge for Jews, because usually they only move around because the local Prince or Potentate have found it convenient to blame the Jews for political or economic problems.
And it’s not just Britain but a good part of the rest of Europe as well. The EU is going to face a tremendous number of economic and social stresses over the next 10-years. Guess who will eventually get the blame? Presbyterians?
>>I’ve been a fan of Gates of Vienna, but I would suggest a bit of caution reading it, since Charles Johnson, whose opinion I respect, thinks it’s also a front group for the traditionally racist European far right. So, read it by all means, but understand where its authors might stand ideologically.>>
I think one should read _all_ blogs with a bit of caution! It’s one of those funny things that you can think you’re in complete agreement with someone, and all of a sudden something comes up where you discover the someone holds a position that you find is totally out in left field.
That being said, I was reading GofV during that spat between them and LGF. I don’t know enough to make a really informed conclusion, but it seems to me that the party he condemned as racist was in fact associated with the Nazis, but those in control of the party today are oriented against muslim takeover of the Netherlands, not anti-semite. Just as there are those of the Libertarian Party who feel that the incursion of B Barr is antecedent to a take-over of the LP to move it to the Conservative position, there may have been the same sort of action on the part of the present members of the Dutch party. Taking over a weak but established party is apparently a quicker means to affect the local politics than trying to start a party from scratch. Given the relatively recent and developing strength of muslims in Holland, they felt that time was of the essence.
So, it seemed to me that LGF objected to the party that _was_, and GofV was supporting the party that _is_. Nevertheless, whichever you may agree or disagree with, it’s the only blog I know that addresses the issue. They are preparing the ground we may be treading soon, and I think we need to attentive to what is happening there.
Suek, you are absolutely right, both about the risks inherent in reading blogs and about the kerfuffle over the GoV people. It’s a reminder that, as we are all aware, there’s a thin line between standing up against a genuine danger and becoming a paranoid ranter.
>>…there’s a thin line between standing up against a genuine danger and becoming a paranoid ranter.>>
The occasional “WHAT????” is good to make you think about what you think, though!
Here’s another article on the topic that’s good. As usual…!
http://wolfhowling.blogspot.com/2008/05/god-save-caliphate.html
I agree with suek, absolutely, about Gates Of Vienna.
Charles Johnson, at LGF, is engaging in a paper tiger here. He may be somewhat justified. However, in his absolutist vitriol, he is not justified.
There is great worth at the Gates Of Vienna. There is some hyperbole. And with El Ingles, there may be more. But overall, I have found them invaluable. And warnings of potential genocide are ALWAYS welcome! How can anyone condemn warnings of genocide, when they are merely warnings? It is possible, I suppose, to accuse racism. But I myself did not see racism in the genocide warnings of El Ingles. I did not see what Charles Johnson saw: blatant racism.
I simply saw a reasonable warning about cultural genocide, and the risks of appeasement and subservience. If I am wrong, I apologize in advance for my stupidity. But in this case I think Charles Johnson is stupid, and I am not.
In case you decide, based on the above post, that I am rantingly opposed to all things Muslim, including genocide, I can only direct you to this post that I have found absolutely earthshaking, though it is written by the New Republic, and though it is opposed to anything you might read on Gates Of Vienna. Thouogh it gives no credit to Bush, nor to the real Nobel-Prize-worthy Surge, if you read it the way I did, it is simply astonishing beyond belief: Many hardline Muslims reject Al-Qaeda oriented terrorism… at least, now, today, they SEEM to.
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=702bf6d5-a37a-4e3e-a491-fd72bf6a9da1
Thank you for your time and attention,
~mike