JS at Guardduty, posted a link to an article in the Guardian regarding the rise of Mosques in Europe and the looming conflict. Of course the opponents of this are labled as far right wingers and perhaps some of the are. However, if everyone who might be concerned about this is an extremist then I guess St. Pope Pius V and King John Sobieski of Poland would also be deemed "right wing" by those at the Guardian. Catholic leaders throughout Europe are justifiably concerned by appearance of Mosques During a recent summit on “Islamophobia” organized by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Arab League of Cordoba in Spain, the secretary general of the Arab League, Amr Moussa, demanded Muslims be granted the right to hold religious services at the Cathedral of Cordoba. The first day of the summit quickly became controversial when Moussa demanded that the Cathedral, which was once a Mosque, be made available for Muslim prayer. “All churches and mosques are built for prayer and to be used for this end; I think there wouldn’t be a religious clash at all; the clash would be instead of a political nature,” Moussa said. However, he ignored questions pertaining to why Christians are not only forbidden to pray in mosques but are even prohibited from building churches in some Muslim countries. Therein lies the crux of the conflict. Muslims in Christian countries demand rights that are not reciprocated. In the towns of Nazareth and Bethlehem the few remaining Christians that haven't been run out are continually harassed. Recently a prominent Palestinian Christian was kidnapped and killed by Islamic militants in Gaza. "Rami Ayyad, the director of the only Christian bookstore in Gaza, was abducted as he closed his shop on Saturday evening, October 6. His body was discovered the next day, riddled with bullet and knife wounds.
An active member of the Palestinian Bible Society, Ayyad had been threatened in the past by Islamic groups who charged that he was using his bookstore to attract Muslims, hoping to convert them to Christianity. In April the bookstore was the target of an arson attack. Just before his abduction, Ayyad had reported that he was being followed by a car that had no license plates." They believe that what was once Muslim always remains Muslim regardless of whether or not it remains continuously in their possession. Never mind the fact that before the Cathedral was a Mosque it was a Cathedral. “The seventeen centuries of Cordoba’s Christian history deserve to be respected,” Bishop Asenjo said at that time. Recent work by archeologists has shown that the Cathedral’s sub-floor dates to the 4th and 6th centuries. The Cathedral was completely destroyed after the Muslim invasion of 711. Individually we must always show Charity, even against our enemies. But we must recognize as our ancestors did that this is more than a difference of opinion between two monotheistic religions. Even as Amr Moussa stated, the clash is political, not religious. This is a clash between civilizations. One only has to look at a map of the Christian world before and after the growth of Islam to see the disappearance of Christianity it it's wake. As Belloc said decades ago, what exists is an unstable equilibrium that will not be sustained forever.
...But in Wangen, that message falls on deaf ears. “First it was a cultural centre, then a prayer room, and now a minaret,” says Mr Kissling. “It’s salami tactics. The next thing it will be loudspeakers and the calls to prayer will be echoing up and down the valley. Our children will ask ‘what did our fathers do’, and their answer will be - they did nothing.”
Read more at Guardduty.
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