In a series of just published articles not so subtly titled Murderers and Martyrs: The Difficult Struggle of Christians in the Orient, the German newsmagazine Spiegel details the sorry plight of Christians in Egypt and Pakistan. Although the facts and reporting are unfortunately accurate, this is sure to ratchet up the already considerable levels of [...]
Tags:Bernard Lewis·Christians·colonialism·Coptic Christians·Copts·Edward Said·Egypt·essentializing·Germany·imperialism·Murderers and Martyrs·Muslims·Orient·orientalism·Pakistan·persecution·radical Islam·Spiegel
One of the great tragedies associated with Afghanistan’s recent history — aside from all the killing, which is both obvious and horrific — is our inability to explore this region’s rich, varied, and fascinating past. In this time of war, it is easy to forget that Afghanistan has always been a crossroads and meeting place [...]
Tags:Afghanistan·Bamiyan·Bamyan·Buddhas·Buddhism·Chinese mining·destruction·dynamite·idolatry·intolerance·Mes Aynak·mineral wealth·monastery·monks·Mullah Omar·radical Islam·Silk Road·stupas·Taliban·trade route
Nearly all the interesting discussions about Islam are coming from Europe rather than the United States. In Germany the debate was given a major jolt by Thilo Sarrazin, as I noted in German Angst and Islam. Unlike debates in the United States — which are usually reduced to simple dichotomies that can be quickly judged [...]
Tags:Bolshevism·essentialism·Europe·Germany·Hamed Abdel-Samad·Ho Chi Minh·Islam·Islam is like a drug·Lenin·Mao·Marxism·moderate Islam·Muslims·political action·radical Islam·The Downfall of the Islamic World·Thilo Sarrazin·vanguard
In the 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1852), Karl Marx famously observed that “The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living.” Nowhere is this more true than in Germany, where the mass of history is heavy and sometimes suffocating.
With this in mind, the recent furor over Thilo [...]
Tags:18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte·adultery·Arabs·Craig Martin·dead generations·enlightenment·execution·Fremdarbeiter·German Muslims·Germany·honor killings·integration·Islamist·Karl Marx·Koran·Matthias Matussek·nightmare·pre-Enlightenment·radical Islam·Religion Bulletin·separatist Islam·stoning·terrorism·Thilo Sarrazin·tradition·Turks·weltanschauung
In yesterday’s post on the religion of nationalism, I noted that Ground Zero is sacred ground for the believer-patriots of American national religion. If you questioned this assertion, doubt no more — the GOP has produced an incendiary video which declares that Ground Zero is “sacred ground” and that an Islamic mosque cannot be built [...]
Tags:American national religion·blasphemy·Christian America·Civil Religion·Ground Zero·Islam·jihad·Kill the Ground Zero Mosque video·Muslims·nationalism as religion·patriot·patriotism·radical Islam·sacred ground·sacred site
Whether or not you like Christopher Hitchens, one thing is certain: he can turn an incisive phrase. At his best, Hitchens writes with an acerbic aplomb that can be charming; at his worst, he is downright nasty.
With the latter Hitchens in mind, I have not yet been able to bring myself to read his jeremiad, [...]
Tags:atheism·caliphate·Christopher Hitchens·consumerism·crystals·fundamentalists·Galileo·God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything·Islamic empire·jihad·Khalil Gibran·Laurens van der Post·materialism·Muslim·mysticism·mystics·New Age·Prince Charles·radical Islam·religion·science·sharia·soul·universal soul
