Holland: Cabinet to act against 'extremist mosques'

But the way they're going, they'll probably close down a few churches, too, just to prove they're not discriminatory. From Expatica, with thanks to Anthony:

AMSTERDAM -- The Dutch government has committed itself to a plan of action against the 10 to 25 mosques in the Netherlands where "extremist sermons" are delivered, Interior Minister Johan Remkes has said.
Remkes told Parliament that if the criminal law can't be used against these mosques, the government will consider withdrawing subsidies and residence permits for the Muslim clerics preaching at the mosques. He made his remarks during a parliamentary debate about terrorism on Wednesday....

Criticising the coalition Christian Democrat CDA, VVD and Democrat D66 government for what she claimed was its inaction to date, Liberal MP Laetitia Griffith said "no single mosque has been disbanded nor an imam deported".

Remkes said the government was not trying to become a [censor] of mosque sermons. But he said the government planned to bring about "course corrections" in mosques where anti-western hate or anti-women sermons were being preached.

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5 Comments

Andrew | December 10, 2004 6:59 AM

Now really, this plan is just not any solution to the problem. Do the Dutch actually expect us to believe there are only 10 to 25 (what a wide range) of radical mosques there? That only the tip of the iceberg because the people who worship at most mosques in Europe are subjected to the Islamist's pure form of Islam.

They MUST impliment a strategy of thinning out their unassemble population wherever and whoever they may be. Any immigration offence, any Asylum claim rejected any violation of Dutch law while in a probationary peiriod as an immigrant must be grounds for deportation.

Especially Any tie to extremist philosophy and any utterance of facist Islamist ideology must be grounds for DEPORTATION. That would have a chilling effect and reduce the undesirables.

God man, that's what a "Crack-Down" is supposed to be, not a God-Darned psychological counseling service for the fragile Third World egos who have no respect for privledge of residing in a civilized society.

Do something now before IT IS TO LATE.

Kim Hartveld | December 10, 2004 10:56 AM

Take it from me: nothing will happen.

Ever.

Mike | December 10, 2004 11:02 AM

Why are they subsidizing the clerics anyway? Is there no separation of church and state in Holland??

Cato the Elder | December 10, 2004 12:13 PM

Mike, if Holland is anything like Germany in its religious laws - and I'm willing to bet it is - then no, there is no separation of church and state. At least not in the American sense.

In Germany there are "recognized" churches that receive state subsidies from tax revenues. These include the Catholic and Evangelical-Lutheran churches and the Jewish synagogues. When I lived there in the 1980's, I was not aware that Muslim mosques qualified, but I'll bet that's changed in the quick-march to dhimmitude which has gone forward in the fifteen years since I left.

The way it works is: When you go for the German equivalent of the W-4 form, you are asked to check off which "officially recognized" religious community you belong to. Then a (relatively small) tax is levied on your earnings, the proceeds from which go directly your religious community. Not to your specific church or synagogue, mind you, but to the coffers of the overall hierarchy.

This is one of the main reasons church attendance is so much smaller in Germany and than in America. Instead of free-will offerings, congregants are taxed, with no direct say in how the monies will be used. (Of course, those who wish may make separate contributions for specific purposes.) To get out of the tax, one can opt out of the church. I suspect many do this just to keep the money in their pockets.

Thus the great paradox: In America, where by virtue of the Constitution there is no establishment of religion, the houses of worship are full and their coffers bursting from free-will offerings or voluntary tithes. In Europe, which distinguishes between "recognized" religions and all others (the others get nothing from the state, by the way), the "official" churches can barely fill a pew and their coffers are empty, while the others are thriving because people contribute voluntarily, out of actual belief.

It's another example of how the state wrecks most things it tries to manage.

As to why, in the heart of Christendom, Islam is now included in the list of "official" religions is another story.

Mike | December 10, 2004 2:30 PM

Very enlightening, Cato. Thanks!

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