Maybe all the missionary hordes can move to Qatar.

Posted by: t-ham at November 11, 2005 8:55 AM

Freedom of conscience is a clearly ennunciated human right. If any government restricts freedom of conscience as expressed in religious practice, it is in contravention of a fundamental human right and ought to be subjected to economic sanctions until such time as their is a change in policy.

This will never come, however, until such time as the so-called Free World develops the political will to prosecture such sanctions. That political will in its turn cannot arise while foreign policy is dictated by big oil interests and their minions, who go whoring after oil without a thought to the real bottom line: the quality and dignity of human life.

Posted by: Chatillon at November 11, 2005 9:47 AM

I have a hard time understanding what it must be like to be an evangelical Christian in Algeria. Talk about having to watch your back at all times.

Posted by: johnb at November 11, 2005 10:01 AM

Or a Copt in Egypt !

Posted by: Anti-PC at November 11, 2005 12:40 PM

They're obviously afraid of more conversions to Christianity. This from Middle East Forum 2001:

Christianity Is Life"

The Islamist campaign of violence in Algeria has turned some Muslims, especially Berbers, away from Islam and toward Christianity, reports the Algiers daily Al-Yawm in late December 2000, as reprinted in Courrier International, January 4-10, 2001, p. 29. The following extracts are translated from the French.

In Kabylie, people of all ages are converting to Christianity.

In certain towns and villages of Greater Kabylie, there is at least one church, as for example at Ouadhias, Draa Benkhedda, Ain el-Hammam, and Boghni. In the latter village, for instance, two churches have opened their doors during the last two years. Although the original builders of these two churches had worked in absolute secrecy, the number of citizens who have embraced Christianity has grown rapidly. The [Protestant] church of Ouadhias has played an important role in the proliferation of the number of conversions in Kabylie, and it is considered the Mother Church, never having ceased its activities, even after [Algeria's] independence [1962] and the departure of the French and humanitarian missionaries.
http://www.meforum.org/article/104

Posted by: Silvester at November 11, 2005 2:00 PM

So - the usual islamic double standard. Others may convert to islam, but not muslims to other religions.

And yet, they say they're fair. Now, how can that be?

Geoff

Posted by: Geoff at November 11, 2005 2:14 PM

This is it, the end, the one and only true way to defeat the Jihad. Convert them.

Imagine for a moment, a president who quitely, convertly, supports missionary activity in the Muslim world. Bibles distributed (or Hindu, Buddhist, and other texts of proselytizing religions). Comparisons of Muhammad and Jesus. A hundred little pinpricks, and the political will to confront intolerance in other nations with the full weight of American diplomacy.

We can roll back Islam, one heart at a time. You know truth is stranger than fiction when a Jew is wishing for Christian conversions.

Quijybo

Posted by: Quijybo at November 11, 2005 2:16 PM

What!!!! How DAre these cowardly infidels convert good Muslims! These good Muslims must be turned Back to Islam at once at all costs!! These Crusaders should be sent back to there lands where they can wait to be conquered with their intelligent leaders who realise the foolishness of fighting Islam!!

Posted by: The Englishman at November 11, 2005 9:24 PM

I agree efforts must be taken to proselytize among Muslims. However, the few European countries facing the demographic nightmare of a Muslim majority in a few generations don't have the time to do the slow work of converting their culturally confident Muslim populations. Moreover, the Church is weak in Europe and is not up to the task. I fear what we saw in France over the last fortnight is a harbinger for worse things to come.
It’s interesting that Spain was facing this very problem after the reconquest 500 years ago. In Fernand Braudel's excellent history of the Mediterranean, there is a chapter about what the Spanish crown and the church were facing after the reconquest in 1492. There was no demographic threat from the Jews and it was stupid to expel them, but from the beginning, Spanish Christians recognized that even after their military victory over the Moors a growing Muslim population would soon nullify it. (Muslims practiced polygamy, and many Christians both male and female joined the church) After much debate with secular authorities, the Church concluded that expulsion was the most humane course of action and the last Muslims from the Sierra Nevada were booted out of Spain in the 16th cent.

Drastic yes, but what are the alternatives?

Posted by: spencerd at November 11, 2005 10:53 PM

NONE. Not all muslims are like that though. It is not true to say that they all should be expelled

Posted by: The Englishman at November 11, 2005 10:58 PM

Englishman, don’t get me wrong I'm married to a lovely Muslim women, so as you can imagine I am quite torn with feelings that I never fathomed I would have. (But I would give one-way tickets to Pakistan to her four brothers) My rhetoric is partly due to fact that the Muslim population in my country is still relatively small, so I know in my lifetime I would never have to face the decision of a Frenchman or a Dutchman.
But the problem with Islam is its ugly side can skip a generation, a secular father who enjoys single malt scotch and all the finer things in life can sire a radical son(which seems to happen a lot in the west) The movie "My son the fanatic" had a grain of truth to it.

Posted by: spencerd at November 12, 2005 6:57 AM

Can there be solutions to absolutist threats that are not absolutist themselves in nature? If rational thought, debate, and cooperative compromise are rejected by one party, and seen as signs of moral decadence, weakness, and counter to authentic human nature, and a liberal society constructed around democratic values is held in contempt, what solutions can there be to threats both from without and within, which do not themselves become fascist in nature?
Fascism holds that the individual is subjugated to the greater good, that individual rights compromise and weaken the "nation", be it political or religious, that the individual serves, indeed has no higher calling than sacrifice for, the "nation", not the other way around.
If the aim is not just spreading Islam, but the destruction of capitalism, liberal democracy, and Modernity, then this is not merely a political or diplomatic quandry which the solution to has escaped us to date. This is a life and death struggle, the outcome of which can and will decide whether we, our children, and theirs will stand as free men and women, or grovel on our knees as civilization is swept into the dustbin of history.
Throughout history, there is no time or place where mens lives have ultimately been improved by Fascism. This is no different.

Posted by: t-ham at November 12, 2005 7:26 AM

Great points t-ham but how many of us have the conjones to even brouch this delicate subject with family, friends or colleagues. If I did I imagine they would give me a mocking stiff armed Roman salute.

Posted by: spencerd at November 12, 2005 11:21 AM